[zergjs]

Hi everyone.

Please, don't laugh at my question. I'm the newbie here and have no experience with really good headphones or high-end stuff. I just enjoy music and would like to make my silly setup a little bit better and pleasant for my ears

I'm looking for headphones and need your help. The thing is that I'm going to use them with my iPhone. The budget is $500.

As I wrote I'm not quite an experienced headphone listener. I've been using AirPods 1 for almost 2 years. I like the mids there but now I feel that I need something that sounds better in general. I bought Audio-Technica ATH-AR3BT but the vocal sounds much worse in them than in AirPods and I still use AirPods as my main headphones. So I realized that I need more expensive headphones than my Audio-Technica.

I've read a couple of reviews and tend to the following headphones:

1. Bowers & Wilkins PX7 (Favorite in the list)
2. Sennheiser momentum 3
3. Dali io-6

ANC and form factor doesn't matter, the main thing for me is sound quality. I'd prefer Bluetooth headphones, but if there's a really good wired option which's suitable for the iPhone, I'd consider it as well.

I like to listen Indie/folk/rock (mostly female vocals) and older rock (Guns N'Roses, Queen, etc). Use Apple Music. I don't have any big store nearby, so I was able to hear only Sennheiser Momentum 3. I use iPhone 7 for now but I will update soon probably - new iPhone and/or dap.

I'd love your recommendations. Thank you in advance.

 

[mattiav]

If you can wait a little, Drop.com’s Panda seems like it could be what you’re looking for. I’m assuming based on your list that wireless is where you want to be.

 

[zergjs]

Thank you for the recommendation. I'll definitely take them to my list as well. But I'm afraid It'll take too much time for them to come to the market.

I'm indeed considering the wireless headphones. I guess wired headphones won't sound much better with the iPhone, will they?

 

[CTR640]

Why would anyone laugh at your question?

You listen a lot to rock? Then maybe Marshall headphones might suit your needs as their headphones are made for rock and music. I own the Marshall Mid AND (the looks and the included cool travel case attracted me) and this one is very good for rock and other genres of music. Pretty sure Guns 'N Roses might sound very nice with it. There are other Marshall headphones and they also have wireless.

 

[zergjs]

Why would anyone laugh at your question?

You listen a lot to rock? Then maybe Marshall headphones might suit your needs as their headphones are made for rock and music. I own the Marshall Mid AND (the looks and the included cool travel case attracted me) and this one is very good for rock and other genres of music. Pretty sure Guns 'N Roses might sound very nice with it. There are other Marshall headphones and they also have wireless.

I thought it's pretty ridiculous for true audiophiles here to read a question about headphones for the iPhone without any DAC or something

I'll try to find Marshall Mid in local stores to hear the sound. Honestly, I don't always listen rock like Guns 'N Roses - it's 25-35% of the time maybe. The other time it's mostly Indie/folk/rock (mostly female vocals, guitar), sometimes trance. So actually I wouldn't like to get only the good bass.

Do you think Marshall Mid is compared to my list (PX7, momentum 3, io-6) in terms of general audio quality?

 

[CTR640]

I thought it's pretty ridiculous for true audiophiles here to read a question about headphones for the iPhone without any DAC or something

I'll try to find Marshall Mid in local stores to hear the sound. Honestly, I don't always listen rock like Guns 'N Roses - it's 25-35% of the time maybe. The other time it's mostly Indie/folk/rock (mostly female vocals, guitar), sometimes trance. So actually I wouldn't like to get only the good bass.

Do you think Marshall Mid is compared to my list (PX7, momentum 3, io-6) in terms of general audio quality?

Well, every one has their own tastes and preferences As for me, I use high-end headphones such Amiron Home/Wireless and Meze 99 Classics as all-round usage. So for music. gaming, movies, youtube and for everything. I use the DT770 too, especially if I want noise to be isolated. So yeah. who the @#$% cares You say you have iPhone with any DAC? Well, my Samsung YP-U3 wants to have a word with you.

The headphones you mentioned are on a whole different level when it comes to the price. The Marshall Mid is cheaper and yet it has good sounds. Bass is well-controlled and not overwhelmed which I like.
There are more other Marshall headphones:
https://www.marshallheadphones.com/nl/en/headphones/

Make sure to buy it from the stores in your country and not directly from their webstore as they are more expensive there. But I'm sure the Marshall headphone will sound good in indie/folk/rock and also female vocals and guitar. And Marshall originally is a guitar brand back in the 60's. There are on-ear and over-ear, it comes to your preference.

 

[zergjs]

Thank you for your answer. I will try to hear Marshall Mid by myself. But I see on their website, that Marshall Mid does support only apt X which makes them useless with my iPhone as it supports only AAC. Don't you know whether Marshall Mid supports AAC codec as well as AptX?

 

[mjkpolo]

Apparently the Audeze LCD-1 is a really good low impedance portable headphone. I use grado sr80e with L pads and they are really good off the iPhone. I can't tell the difference between magni and modi shiit stack and the lightning to 1/4 in DAC amp that comes w the phone

 

[CTR640]

Thank you for your answer. I will try to hear Marshall Mid by myself. But I see on their website, that Marshall Mid does support only apt X which makes them useless with my iPhone as it supports only AAC. Don't you know whether Marshall Mid supports AAC codec as well as AptX?

You're welcome.

I have no idea about the support. Is it a must to have it apt-X? The Marshall headphones also have aux cable included.

 

[NovaFlyer]

I use my iPhone as a source with traveling, but with a Fiio BTR3 bluetooth device that I connect my standard wired IEMs to. I also have a Fiio Q5 DAC/amp that I occasionally use as well, but I like the lighter kit of the BTR3. With either solution I can use any IEM or even headphone (depending on the impedance of the headphone) I want. I use the Meze Audio 99 Classics at home with the Q5 set-up and it sounds great. Also, a good knowledge of the various bluetooth COCECs is useful, here's a post from another thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...hd-ldac-hwa-sbc.895315/page-208#post-15435776

 

[zergjs]

You're welcome.

I have no idea about the support. Is it a must to have it apt-X? The Marshall headphones also have aux cable included.

Without AAC iPhone will use SBC which has very poor quality.

I use my iPhone as a source with traveling, but with a Fiio BTR3 bluetooth device that I connect my standard wired IEMs to. I also have a Fiio Q5 DAC/amp that I occasionally use as well, but I like the lighter kit of the BTR3. With either solution I can use any IEM or even headphone (depending on the impedance of the headphone) I want. I use the Meze Audio 99 Classics at home with the Q5 set-up and it sounds great. Also, a good knowledge of the various bluetooth COCECs is useful, here's a post from another thread - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...hd-ldac-hwa-sbc.895315/page-208#post-15435776

I will dig into such setup. Do you think it makes sense to have that wireless DAC considering that I don't have any wired headphones? I guess the audio quality will lose anyway as the music needs to be sent to DAC via BlueTooth. So probably it would be the same as with good wireless headphones as BlueTooth is the bottleneck here, wouldn't it?

 

[NovaFlyer]

Without AAC iPhone will use SBC which has very poor quality.


I will dig into such setup. Do you think it makes sense to have that wireless DAC considering that I don't have any wired headphones? I guess the audio quality will lose anyway as the music needs to be sent to DAC via BlueTooth. So probably it would be the same as with good wireless headphones as BlueTooth is the bottleneck here, wouldn't it?

If you have wireless headphones, absolutely no need for the wireless DAC, that's just what I use since none of my headphones or IEMs are inherently wireless. I'll note that when I use my Fiio Q5, that's connected to my iPhone via a cable, and then I can either use wired headphones / IEMs, or use the Q5 to transmit a bluetooth signal to bluetooth headphones, if I had them.

 

[3SQ Account]

Thank you for your answer. I will try to hear Marshall Mid by myself. But I see on their website, that Marshall Mid does support only apt X which makes them useless with my iPhone as it supports only AAC. Don't you know whether Marshall Mid supports AAC codec as well as AptX?

Late to this thread, but I also own the MIDs and can confirm they support AAC on my iPhone. I checked this with Marshall support (which is very responsive) and by running the Bluetooth codec check on my MacBook when my iPhone was connected to them.

They are a surprisingly good-sounding pair of cans. As a glasses-wearer, I appreciate that the on-ear design guarantees with these results in consistent frequency response. I also use these for other genres besides rock (e.g. EDM) and find their bass excellent. Balanced and controlled. No, these are not neutral sounding but I really enjoy their signature. I just wish Marshall would update their line a bit and add BT 5.0, better multi-device pairing, stronger ANC, quick charging, USB-C, and maybe an app.

 

[zergjs]

Thanks for all your input guys, but I bought Dali IO-4 and they sound very well.