[Tianboz]

Wow, I can only believe that you have an issue with the headphones. I'll go to Tidal later and try the songs and see if I get a buzzing.

Thanks pal. Also, I'd appreciate it if you can listen to the Youtube versions for me as well. I'd like for us to be using the same audio material to compare.

Also, another one i've found is Legendary by Welshly Arms.
Disgusting buzzing/rattling every single kick drum, similar to Icky Thump.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Thanks pal. Also, I'd appreciate it if you can listen to the Youtube versions for me as well. I'd like for us to be using the same audio material to compare.

Also, another one i've found is Legendary by Welshly Arms.
Disgusting buzzing/rattling every single kick drum, similar to Icky Thump.

I'll try.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Thanks pal. Also, I'd appreciate it if you can listen to the Youtube versions for me as well. I'd like for us to be using the same audio material to compare.

Also, another one i've found is Legendary by Welshly Arms.
Disgusting buzzing/rattling every single kick drum, similar to Icky Thump.

So I'm listening to Legendary now via YouTube. There is a buzz on the kick, at times, but that is 100% for sure added as an effect at the studio. May I ask what headphone you had been using prior to the PX? Really, and I grew up on metal and hard rock, still listen to it such as Tool, Disturbed, but dude those recordings are all just really bad and a decent set of headphones will reveal that. Rock is awesome for speakers, and the odd well recorded album is great for headphones IMO. Try listening to something really well recorded at the same volume you like and see if the buzzing is there or not. Try something like Hotel California live from the album Hell Freezes Over. There is plenty of energy in the kick and hand drum. I have played drums off and on for over 30 years. You will notice when the drums first start that there is distortion on the hits, but you will be able to tell when the board engineer gets it under control.

 

[Tianboz]

I see. Thanks for your help. The PX were my first set of $100+ headphones. I was mostly using the Apple Earbuds that came with my multiple IPhones, up until this year. Got a job, got disposable income, decided to invest in everyday things that matter to me and sound of my music was one of those priorities .

And yeah man, the PX add a whole new flavour to well recorded music. Listening to Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" and David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" sealed the deal with me on these headphones. No buzzing at all and the shimmering of the acoustic guitar is just absolutely beautiful.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I see. Thanks for your help. The PX were my first set of $100+ headphones. I was mostly using the Apple Earbuds that came with my multiple IPhones, up until this year. Got a job, got disposable income, decided to invest in everyday things that matter to me and sound of my music was one of those priorities .

And yeah man, the PX add a whole new flavour to well recorded music. Listening to Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" and David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" sealed the deal with me on these headphones. No buzzing at all and the shimmering of the acoustic guitar is just absolutely beautiful.

That was my guess, that the PX was just revealing detail (good and bad) that you had previously not experienced. Glad that you had an opportunity to discover the positive side of the PX as well.

 

[rafaelo]

Quick question for you guys. I’m interested in these for a wireless set, don’t care about anc.

That said how does sound quality compare to say hd 600/650 (just a pair I’m familiar with and like) Not asking about sound signature just overall, I’m basically asking with the reviews are these being hyped for great wireless quality or just great sound quality period

Thanks

Before buying the PX all my headphones were budget phones below 100£. This is my first semi expensive headphone which I bought based on the hope that will be the equivalent of the KEFLS50 wireless speakers in the headphone world. An active headphone with a quality DAC and upsampling were the sum of the parts will be greater than the parts themselves. As such it would be a really great bargain. One thing is certain for me after using them for three weeks these for sure they are not what I expected. I was fortunate enough (or maybe unfortunate since sometimes ignorance is bliss) to be given the HD 650 and oppo pm3 from a colleague from work for a home comparison. And especially for classical music and according to my taste the PX are not close enough. And although pm3 are really great I fell immediately in love with the HD 650.

I understand all the comments from all the people that find PX good enough. With House music are really great and with some type of music they provide a very solid alternative since they have attack and dynamics you can't find in hd650 or pm3. There were songs (or in movies ) that you could say I prefer them over the hd650.

But then again I understand all the people with the negative comments. There are songs or passages in music that sound, as others already describe as boxy, where PX can really go wrong according to my opinion. Most notable example is the Vivaldi piece in the 2L The Nordic sound record. According to my opinion this piece does not sound right with PX not only in comparison with Hd650 but also in comparison with the Momentum 2.0 wireless. I went yesterday at selffridges to check the gray colour and I tried again the vivaldi part to various headphones: Meze 99, Shure 1541 , momentum 2.0 wireless, Audeze Sine, Sony MX1002. For this particular piece of music I preferred all of them rather than the PX. And for me actually the hd 650 found a real competitor from the Meze 99 but this is another story...

Bottom line is that currently the PX is probably by far the best Bluetooth headphone out there but in comparison with similar priced wired headphones (and particularly for classical) is lacking behind especially in smoothness.

For the reasons mentioned above I understand all the controversy and different opinions around the sound quality of these headphones and can be attributed partially to their technological complexity. They have an amp, a DAC, they upsample everything they probably convert analogue to digital and analogue again who knows what can go wrong and were exactly. And in USB mode they sound a lot better with a jitterbug . Undoubtedly, a very fascinating headphone from a technological point of view but not exactly the panacea I was expecting.

 

[Sonic Defender]

You really aren't comparing apples to apples with the HD650 comparison due to it being an open design versus a closed portable design. I can't comment on classical music as I find so much of it poorly recorded and I only enjoy it live or through speakers due to scale of sound so I don't bother with it on headphones. I could see classical benefiting from a warmish, open design and the 650 is quite a lovely headphone, but try taking it as a portable and removing the wires, suddenly it wouldn't do such a good job with classical

I was surprised to discover just how difficult it is to find really well recorded classical music. I was very frustrated with the consistently poor recordings and when I discussed this with a friend who is an avid fan of classical music he informed me that it takes time to know what labels to look for and even then what conductors and performances and where so many factors that effect the quality of the recordings. I at one time assumed that the majority of classical music would be well recorded, but in my experience that just isn't the case. As well, there is just so much material out there I would have to invest an inordinate amount of time trying to even discover what I like.

 

[rafaelo]

You really aren't comparing apples to apples with the HD650 comparison due to it being an open design versus a closed portable design. I can't comment on classical music as I find so much of it poorly recorded and I only enjoy it live or through speakers due to scale of sound so I don't bother with it on headphones. I could see classical benefiting from a warmish, open design and the 650 is quite a lovely headphone, but try taking it as a portable and removing the wires, suddenly it wouldn't do such a good job with classical

I was surprised to discover just how difficult it is to find really well recorded classical music. I was very frustrated with the consistently poor recordings and when I discussed this with a friend who is an avid fan of classical music he informed me that it takes time to know what labels to look for and even then what conductors and performances and where so many factors that effect the quality of the recordings. I at one time assumed that the majority of classical music would be well recorded, but in my experience that just isn't the case. As well, there is just so much material out there I would have to invest an inordinate amount of time trying to even discover what I like.

Undoubtedly, the comparison is not similar not only with 650 that is open but also with the most of the other HPs I mentioned above that are closed.

And is absolutely true that there is nothing special with hd650 connected to my 12.9 iPad pro as I already have discovered. However, oppo pm3 and Meze 99 can be drived decently by a phone as I observed. My comparisons were made against pm3 and 650 in my home system which is a usbridge to ione DAC to tube preamplifier with NoS Mullard valves to marantz amp and then to headphones.

With the other wired phones through my phone headphone jack and with the other wireless headphones BT connection Vs BT connection.

The versatility of PX is unparalleled. I connected them to my TV with a Bluetooth transmitter (it may be aptx but not convinced 100% if that is the case ) and a spdif ipurifier from TV to BT transmitter and then from BT transmitter to PX.

Also, The PX can be used in direct usb input mode such in laptop, desktop android phone and raspberry pi or something similar. They are active with a strong amp (volume from momentum was always in close to max in the very noisy environment of a store) so there are many configurations to play with, I did not tested all of them thoroughly yet, is the dream "audiophile" gadget.

In USB connection, currently is not working with my Usbridge, this might be a software issue and probably will solved in the future if it raised with the developers of dietpi or volumio. Is also not very practical to be used with USB with mobile devices for the following reasons. In iOS it draws so much battery that is can be used only with other adapters that allows simultaneously charge of the iOS device not very practical in my opinion. And in android meaningfully with the UAPP (after tweaking the appropriate usb seetings) it also draws all the battery until the PX is fully charged. I believe, that this is not because the PX is not power efficient (like the dragonfly 3rd gen for example) but because it always tries to recharge its battery first. It seems pretty efficient to me as the battery life is amazing in PX. However, this is not trivial task as it seems, as far as I remember, Ifi audio claimed that spend resources to develop a solution to be able to choose between the charge and play mode and the play only mode.

If the L2 recording from masters tidal is not good enough for classical then there is no hope... So far I was a speakers guy anyway but we have a small baby now and I need a good pair of headphones...but ideally one not two...

In any case, the 2 months returns policy for countries like UK is amazing, it shows the company has a lot of confidence in their products and actually for people that are lucky enough to be able to utilize this option there is no other way but to try themselves. If expectations are right this product will not disappoint, mine admittedly were too high.

 

[jagwap]

The above comparison should not be a complete surprise. The most important part of a headphone is the driver. Any wired headphone will usually have more budget to spend on the drivers than a wireless headphone. The battery is often the most expensive part in a wireless headphone, and the Bluetooth electronics aren't free. If you add a good ANC system you are adding four microphones and a processor. Of course a premium headphone must look the part, so a huge percentage goes on "the shiney". Now add AAC & APTX licenses and there isn't a lot left.

I haven't heard a great wireless headphone yet. I think the above has a lot to do with it.

 

[netdog]

How are these with an iPhone? Given that the iPhone doesn't support AptX, I'd imagine that the sound would be well short of great, but curious to hear from those with experience. They sure are pretty, but pretty won't cut it if the sound is so-so, and in the real world, I'd be using these with an iPhone.

 

[rafaelo]

How are these with an iPhone? Given that the iPhone doesn't support AptX, I'd imagine that the sound would be well short of great, but curious to hear from those with experience. They sure are pretty, but pretty won't cut it if the sound is so-so, and in the real world, I'd be using these with an iPhone.

Sound better with my Moto X that has aptx and much better with my surface book that also has aptx (and also benefited by the exclusive settings in the Tidal desktop app) in comparison to my iPad air which utilise the AAC codec.

 

[WDitters]

Sound better with my Moto X that has aptx and much better with my surface book that also has aptx (and also benefited by the exclusive settings in the Tidal desktop app) in comparison to my iPad air which utilise the AAC codec.

Surface Book has no native Aptx.. Only when one adds an Aptx dongle.

 

[rafaelo]

Surface Book has no native Aptx.. Only when one adds an Aptx dongle.

I do not have a dongle so if i am thinking I am using aptx (not aptx HD) I am not using it then with my surface book. I read somewhere in a forum that the surface pro had it and I assumed that the surface book had it as well. But I can't know for sure and I actually I cannot know for my Moto X as well. I just read that in a basic Google search. For whatever reason Moto X sounds better than my iPad air and my Surface book paradoxically sounds better than both and even better than my wife's macbook air that I force it with the known BT utility to use aptx with my ione bt connnection and thus reinforced my false opinion even further. The settings in the tidal desktop app may explain why book sounds better than iPad but does not explain why at least does not sound a lot worse than my wife's Macbook (maybe an old macbook air???) As long as we do not have a light indicator this is complex especially when other devices like stylus etc uses also the same Bluetooth bandwidth. In any case, the fact that PX uses AAC is advantageous and currently if you have an iPhone seems the only option.

I believe at some point I compared the sound of my Moto X with wired pm3 and sound of my Moto X with wireless PX where the PX wireless was better. The PX wired on Moto thought was worse than pm3 wired so any BT mode PX can still sound great. The DAC and the amp of PX (and maybe the upsampling) can overcompensate and this why PX is a versatile solution.

 

[robertbudding]

I love the PXs for use during my commute. But they won't replace my wired headphones for listening at home.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Huh. Turns out the MacBook Pro has native AptX.

Now we just need a maker to release a USB dongle for AptX HD.