[Sweet Spot]

It all started when I stepped out my door at 1 pm today...What was only supposed to be an easy trip to a couple of audio stores turned out to be more like the quest for the wholy grail !

First stop: J&R music world (Jerky&Rude)
These people know nothing about customer service OR audio. I went up to the 2nd floor where they keep their cans, to find a collection of poorly treated; abused headphones which are all plugged into most likely a portable cdp, without an amp. I say this because ALL of them sound distorted..and crackle. Some of them only work on one side ! So as I tried to get a hold of a Bo$e pusher, I was totally shrugged off, because of exactly that.....This fat ass, was trying to talk this sweet looking asian woman into buying one of those Bo$e HT packages...eventually when I got tired of being ignored...I turned to the girl and said, "Please do yourself a favor...and stay as far away from Bo$e as possible" She looked at me and said thanks..."Really?" I just turned, looked at the fat ass who now looked like he was going to rupture an artery..and walked away. J&R haven't changed the headphone samples for as long as they've been there..AND they only "cary" the PX 250's and PX 100's, but not the PX 200's. So I was out of there...

Next stop:B&H video
420-9th Avenue
New York, New York 10001 USA
800.947.9910 Phone
I'm providing the link and addy because they really deserve big props here....So, Big Ups to B&h for hookin' a brotha up with excellent customer service, good prices and no hassles...
I should've asked the salesman his name, but if I go back..I'm definetely looking for this guy cause he really did alot for me. Here's the story: Walk in, and see the 3 stands where they keep the cans. Pretty decent selection, from audio technica, AKG, Senns, Sonys and some others...all plugged into a 4 channel amp. I called them first to make sure that they had the PX 200's, so yeah, they did..but I didn't see them on the racks. Here's where the dude hooked me up. I asked if they still had them, and he said yes. When I explained my situation, he said, "let's see what we can do for ya" 2 minutes later, a box of PX 200's were in his hand and I was excited..When I saw them, i thought they weren't able to be opened without ruining the box, but he opened it anyway and there they were, in all their glory...nice and small, very cool looking and TRUELY portable.
I got hold of them...wow, very light. I thought I should put them on without the music playing to test the isolation. Well, they do isolate, but not very much I guess. I'd say that they probably isolate as well as my Sony V 600's, which is actually amazing because to tell you the truth, I don't see how they isolate at all ! The ear cups are hardly cups to begin with. They do NOT fit over the ear, but rather "just barely" fit "ON" the ear. There's no depth to the cups, as they just sort of lay almost flat ..which is why I can't see how they isolate even the way they do.
Sound quality: I thought that for comming straight out of the box, they sounded fantastic ! Very clear, not the dark presentation which everyone talks about..I actually thought they were pretty much on par with, if not better sounding than, my Porta Pros. I can't really give an in depth review because the store was mega crowded (as it was the last time I was there) and the noise level was a slight distraction. But they absolutely are worth every penny of the $50
I may even just buy a pair anyway, depending on 2 things which i'll get into in a bit.

I also got to check out a truely fantastic pair of cans that were hanging on the rack: The Sennheiser HD 280's
I've got to say, I'm really supprised that people here don't speak more highly/or more at all about these cans. The isolation is GREAT. They really drowned out most of the noise with the music off, and when I turned the amp volume back up and the music was on (amp is easily accessable and has 4 seperate volume knobs for each channel) I couldn't hear anything but the music..and lemmie tell you, the music sounded wonderful ! Crisp, clear, tight bass, nice upper mid bass and beautiful trebble. The only think I though was a bit off were the mids, perhaps a bit too much of it. I then asked the salesman, if it was possible to actually take the 280 cord out of the source ....The guy actually opened up the freegin cabinet, (more like peeled it open) and yanked the cord out for me ! I was like "Um...you don't usually do this, do you...." So I plugged them into my iMP 350 and waited for my happiness to begin. But alas, the amp is the key here, as the volume and alot of the presentation was now gone going straight through my iMP350.

But I love them ! And I do plan on getting a super-mini amp along with the 280's in the mid near future.

Moving along, I actually told him that I was getting to audition the Eggos sometime this week, and that I'd most likely get the PX 200's no matter what, but that if I liked the Eggos more, than the 200's would have to wait for a bit. He was totally understanding and didn't seem disgruntled at all. I liked that, no pressure at all.

Next stop: I decided to walk to Best Buy 23rd and 6th Ave.(note to self<<<never bother with best buy again) since they aren't to far from B and H. Why the hell I bothered going there is so far beyond any logical reasoning, that I feel like an idiot. They have nothing, nothing and more nothing. That's alot of nothing.

I was then thinking about stopping over at Circit City over at 14th street and Union Square, but I really hate those people...I actually called them before I went to JandR, as I was at that train station, but the salesman on the phone (some kid) only managed to speak idiot-ese..."Duh...I've never heard of that brand before..so that Means that I don't think we have them" "Listen, can you just look it up in the ..c.o.m.p.u.t.e.r. ? It's spelled Senn...and the model number is.PX....

"Um....this isn't the right department for this inquiry, I"m in the video section so um...."
I was like..listen, just forget it, thanks. I thought I could save some time by calling to find out if you have these... "Oh, well the best way to find out is if you come up here" *Sigh*

This isn't the first time I've called them and was put off by their idiot sales people...they're sooooo ghetto. I have a funny story about trying to test a set of Monsoon PM 9's 14's and MH 505's over there, but that's another fiasco for another time.

So to end this long ass story..I'd like to give a

BIG F.U. to J&R MUSIC WORLD...your products are overpriced.Your salesmen are incompetent boobs who don't know their ass' from their elbows AND THEY'RE OLDER THAN MY GRANDFATHER !!

SEMI-FU TO BEST BUY for being an absolutely useless store unless you need batteries or maybe a dvd player that every other electronic store in the world has.

ANOTHER BIG F.U. TO CIRCIT CITY for hiring ghetto ass people who can't stop chewing gum long enough to speak as un-intelligently as they do when they ARE speaking.

I'd have to say that all of these major electronics stores are the same..the Wiz, PC Richards, and the above mentioned are all crap.


BIG ASS PROPS TO B&H VIDEO. I've been there twice and both experiences were very positive. It's no wonder that the place always looks like those places where parents bring their kids on Christmas to sit on Santas lap...you know, that super long line that takes you about 3 hours to get to Santa ?

Oh...SUPER BIG PROPS TO MIKES PIZZA ON 23rd and 2nd Ave...I walked there after Best Buy...they have the best Pizza I've ever had in my life...Wooooooot !

Conclusion: I can't wait to hear the Eggos this week, and I'll say this..If they isolate as well as the PX 200's but sound a bit better, I'll get them and then down the line, get the HD 280's with a super mini amp.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Sweet Spot,

I know exactly where you are comming from. I can not believe how some of these audio stores are staying in business treating people that way. Man! If I owned an audio store I would be kissing peoples asses, and going out of my way to make sure the customer is happy. You know, the dealer that offers you a Pepsi, lets you listen by yourself with absolutely no pressure to buy at all. I think a lot of store owners need to put their employees through a customer relations class, and fire the employees with the bad attitudes that just don't cut it. Man, I bet I would be a hard boss to work for.

 

[Mystic]

"BIG ASS PROPS TO B&H VIDEO. I've been there twice and both experiences were very positive. It's no
wonder that the place always looks like those places where parents bring their kids on Christmas to sit on Santas lap...you know, that super long line that takes you about 3 hours to get to Santa?"


I always feel like a kid at Chistmas when I walk into that place. I'm also into photography and do my own darkroom work. B&H has helped separate me from a lot of my money, but I've been satisfied every time.

 

[Sweet Spot]

I'd work for you ! I take pride in everything I do, and don't like to work just because there's a job available....And if I could get a job doing audio sales, I would make sure I was getting a salary, cause I would love to be able to truely help people with whatever audio questions they had...I mean, hell....I love music and I love electronics. These people are just so wrong for these jobs.

And OH YEAH ! You just reminded me...Never in my life have I walked into an electronics store seeing what I saw which was, two tables set up near the plethora of cash registers with an employee pouring soda from 2 liter bottles of soda into cups for who ever wanted it...AND pretzle like snacks in these huge bowles ! ? Wow. Those people are really something else.

Those other stores manage to stay in business because ordinary consumers don't research what they're buying and just go for what's cheapest or most available, or most importantly....MOST ADVERTISED.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

Radio Shack is that way to me. I asked a early 20ish year old guy were the mini adaptes were. He gives me a blank stare for 3 or 4 seconds and finally tells me that he thinks there out right now. He had no idea what a mini adapter was.

 

[C4 Suke]

Thats cool, I have to check out B&H sometime, when I got real cash for real headphones.

 

[ColaMan]

I also give a big thumbs up to B&H. Great store, great service. You can tell that right away by the way they run things and how big the crowd is.

Where are you auditioning the eggos? If it's a store in NYC let me know.

Thanks.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I'd say a SEMI-F.U. to all of the mass-market electronics superstores that I've been to: The salespeople aren't very helpful, though I would eventually find the exact item(s) that I had wanted on those trips. So, SEMI-F.U. (and not BIG F.U.) from me.

 

[Sweet Spot]

ColaMan, I'm actually supposed to be meeting a fellow head-fie'r this week. I'm sure you'll all know what my impressions are when this happens.

S.S.

 

[Entropism]

Yeah, J&R sucks almost as bad as CC and BB. I remember looking for a digital camera there, and they wanted to give me a whopping $10 off for an open box display model.

Anyways, Sweet Spot, I sort of went out on a limb and ordered the PX200s from Headphone.com, along with a SlimX 350 from Amazon (Can't beat $110 shipped) based on the reviews I got here. I'm used to crap stock & Sony low end headphones, so I'm sure it'll keep me happy walking around NYC.

 

[Sweet Spot]

Quote:

I'm used to crap stock & Sony low end headphones, so I'm sure it'll keep me happy walking around NYC

Oh, I can quite assure you that you'll be more than happy, just so long as you rip and encode well, or use regular cd's. I've got the iMP 350 and I love the crap out of it. The only flaw I've come accross (and I'm not sure if it's just an attribute of the Porta Pros) is that when turning the volume past 32 (only did that as a test, there's rarely a need to do that anyway) the trebble seems to roll off very badly, leaving but a bad taste of mid-bass-itis in the ears. The battery life could be better, but seems to have improved since the first 3 or 4 charges. My charging method for the first 3-4 times was to drain and recharge, but I only drain when the battery is dead anyway...never in the middle or near the end...I always let them drain naturally and then set it for discharge/charge just as a "make sure" kind of thing.

Congrats on your purchases , use them well and they will treat you just the same !

S.S.

P.S. Why didn't you just buy the PX 200's from B&H Photo ? $50.....

 

[Entropism]

Well, I'm REALLY busy in Manhattan during the day, so going to the store was out for me. Plus, with tax taken out and shipping added, it basically came out to the same thing. $57 shipped or $55 with tax.... And without the inconvenience of actually walking to the store (which takes money out of my paycheck).

As for the IMP-350, I try to download at 160kbps+, and I ripped my 500 CD collection at 192, so I think I should be ok, especially with all the traffic & other noise cutting in. I'm planning on letting the player die out completely for the first few times, maybe every night for a few weeks if I remember. I'm already planning on burning in my cans over the weekend, trying for 48 hours straight.

 

[punosion]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matthew-Spaltro Radio Shack is that way to me. I asked a early 20ish year old guy were the mini adaptes were. He gives me a blank stare for 3 or 4 seconds and finally tells me that he thinks there out right now. He had no idea what a mini adapter was.

I'll always go in there asking for an adapter or an LED or something-or-other, and the salespeople will say something like "yeah, that will be right over here." Then they will just start looking for it, not knowing exactly where it is. Sorry, but if the salesman doesn't know where it is, they're just going to get in my way of looking for it.

"May I help you?" Probably not.

 

[DoomForce]

Well thats how i feel about the 280 here..i'd better get an amp though,it will surely improve quality!will need some search here..any fast ideas btw?
And buying from stores that way is REAL cool but unfortunately we dont have stores like that where i live..so it was a miracle finding these phones

 

[Oliver :)]

So it's HD 280's, hm? I guess I will have an ear on them soon. I need a good pair of closed phones for winter (look how well I am organized, it's not even spring..). I tried to live with the PX200s during the "too cold for Etys" days, but although they do sound nice for the price, def. better than the Porta Pros, I need *isolation* on the *?&%#! subway.

Regarding your shopping experience - well I know what you mean. When I got my PX200s I first went to a big e-store because it was on my way - they did not have them, could not say when the should be back in stock, and I also witnessed that they were absolutely unable to help two elderly ladys to some Sennheiser pads for an older model. Went down the street to a quality store, had them unpack a pair, put them on my iPod/TAH, and was left alone for listening as long as I wanted. Price difference was 8 bucks, IIRC, well worth it.