[Stephen Lau]

....out of my Sony MD stock earbuds

. So I've been using my AD900's for a month now and haven't touched my MD for a while. My friend wanted to go with me to buy his PX100s, so I decided to bring my MD and AD900s along to see how it would sound like. So the night before, I plugged my MD into my Sony DVD player's optical out, recorded the Rach 2 and 4, while listening to it with my AD900s. Well, I got a bit carried away, cos by the time I ended, it was 2am

because it sounded so good.

On the train, I brought the Sony earbuds with me because I'd figure the AD900s would make me look a bit weird

, and I haven't heard them for a while so I want to know the differences between it and the ADs. So when I sat down on my seat, plugged in my earbuds, and started up Rach 2, I nearly fell off my seat! The stock earbuds were bright, shrill, had no soundstage, sounded like static radio, and the strings and piano sounded worse than synthesised music! I thought, "hang on, something is definitely not right. I've been using these earbuds for more than 3 years, and before my AD900s, they DEFINITELY did not sound this crap". So I took out my Rach MD, put in my HK pop MD, and played the first track. Oh, how agonising was this train trip....I really acutally felt nauseous listening to it after 10secs - the treble was so shrill I had to take it out of my ear. No matter how I tried to adjust the bass and treble, the earbuds sounded like crackled, static, radio, devoid of any quality. My 30min train trip was ruined

I'd been SHOCKED to see how MUCH of the difference the AD900s had made to my listening. When I first put the ATs on, I certainly noticed a difference in sound when I was listening to my CDs, but definitely not as much as this. I'd realise how prolonged listening to a certain crappy headphone/IEM/earbuds can make you get used to its quality, making you oblivious to it's totally crap sound quality. This difference I think is realised more when you listen to a good headphone for a while, then switching back to the old one, rather than the opposite. Has any of you had similar experiences?

 

[Elephas]

He he, you seem like an ideal canditate for multiple headphones and relentless upgraditis.

I think going down in quality is more obvious than going up. If you're not used to a certain type of sound, you might not appreciate it much when upgrading. Then, after your ears have become accustomed to the new sound, the difference is very obvious when you go back to the previous, lower-quality sound.

I listened to the Bose TriPorts and Sony EX70 earbuds out of a 1st Gen iPod for a couple years before discovering this site. Now, I think my ears were being tortured and I didn't even realize it.

Enjoy the AD900... for now.

 

[Woosh]

when my CX300 were out at service i switched back to my stock Apple Buds, that was the longest and most painful week of my life.

 

[Stephen Lau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas He he, you seem like an ideal canditate for multiple headphones and relentless upgraditis.

Haha, don't jinx me ....although Head-fi is slowly sucking me in.....

 

[PaulRivers]

I don't like being all contradictory, but I know that when I tried it, the same pair of headphones sounded noticably crappier when I used them on a plan versus using them in my apartment. They sounded pretty good at home and around town, but they sounded very undetailed and crappy when used with all that background noise (which I imagine a train also has).

Seriously - I'm only saying this because I was so shocked my headphones sounded so crappy until I realized it was because of the immense background noise and rumble.

 

[funkadelic]

You see this sort of think all the time with the stock Apple buds. A massive proportion of iPod users use the stock buds and are happy with them. To be honest they are kind of OK plus for bundled buds, and if you've never heard better you will be happy with them.

If you have heard better, even lower-end stuff like the PX100 or EP-630 the Apple bundled buds sound terrible. Until recently I thought my Apple in-ear buds (Not the bundled ones) sounded OK. Yesterday went back to them after a month with the EP-630's and was shocked by the boomy bass and lack of detail.

As your ears develop, imperfect sound becmes harder to tolerate, still not sure if that's a good thing though!

Simon

 

[lostbobby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas He he, you seem like an ideal canditate for multiple headphones and relentless upgraditis.

You must buy: Beyers, Grados, AKG, Senn, Stax, Qualia, E500, a balanced amp, a tube amp, a SuperMacro, silver and cardas cables for all the above.

Seriously, when you start buying stuff off the 4sale forum to audition already burned-in stuff for a few weeks or months, it's a lotta fun. And then you sell the stuff for maybe slightly less than you paid. Unless you recable/woody, that's not a great ROI (return on investment.

 

[003]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Lau ....out of my Sony MD stock earbuds . So I've been using my AD900's for a month now and haven't touched my MD for a while. My friend wanted to go with me to buy his PX100s, so I decided to bring my MD and AD900s along to see how it would sound like. So the night before, I plugged my MD into my Sony DVD player's optical out, recorded the Rach 2 and 4, while listening to it with my AD900s. Well, I got a bit carried away, cos by the time I ended, it was 2am because it sounded so good. On the train, I brought the Sony earbuds with me because I'd figure the AD900s would make me look a bit weird , and I haven't heard them for a while so I want to know the differences between it and the ADs. So when I sat down on my seat, plugged in my earbuds, and started up Rach 2, I nearly fell off my seat! The stock earbuds were bright, shrill, had no soundstage, sounded like static radio, and the strings and piano sounded worse than synthesised music! I thought, "hang on, something is definitely not right. I've been using these earbuds for more than 3 years, and before my AD900s, they DEFINITELY did not sound this crap". So I took out my Rach MD, put in my HK pop MD, and played the first track. Oh, how agonising was this train trip....I really acutally felt nauseous listening to it after 10secs - the treble was so shrill I had to take it out of my ear. No matter how I tried to adjust the bass and treble, the earbuds sounded like crackled, static, radio, devoid of any quality. My 30min train trip was ruined I'd been SHOCKED to see how MUCH of the difference the AD900s had made to my listening. When I first put the ATs on, I certainly noticed a difference in sound when I was listening to my CDs, but definitely not as much as this. I'd realise how prolonged listening to a certain crappy headphone/IEM/earbuds can make you get used to its quality, making you oblivious to it's totally crap sound quality. This difference I think is realised more when you listen to a good headphone for a while, then switching back to the old one, rather than the opposite. Has any of you had similar experiences?

I know what you mean, when I got my K1000 it was noticeably better than the HD650, but not that much better, but when I went back to the HD650, OMG the veil, the totally bloated and uncontrolled bass, the congested soundstage, lack of imaging, 3-blob in your head effect and rolled off highs!!