[Team Sleep]

Hello there.

I am off travelling around Europe in a few weeks which means lot's of long, boring train journey's ahead of me. I currently own a pair of Sennheiser CX300 in-ear earphones but I want to move away from these and get some 'proper' headphones. Music is also my life so I want to do my music collection justice by listening to music through headphones that will 'bring it to life' as it were...

The only problem is that I'll be listening to my music via my 160GB iPod (

)... I am willing to spend around £150 ($300) on some new headphones. The music I listen to varies from dark heavy drone like The Angelic Process to metal like the Deftones then to ambient electronica like Helios. I have no idea what headphones to start looking at that will fit my requirements so if anybody could point me in the right direction, that will be much appreicated!

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[YtseJamer]

Hello,

I think you should look at this trio :

1- Etymotic ER4P ($200 with shipping included on ebay.)
2- Meier Headsix portable amp, it's a very small amp ($165 with shipping included)
3- Etymotic ER4P to ER4S cable ($24 on this website Head-Direct.com)

Yes it's $90 more that you were planning to invest, but I'm sure you wouldn't regret it, beleive me

 

[Team Sleep]

Hey, thanks for the reply!

Do you personally think that the Etymotic ER4P would be a better option than any headphones for the same price? Also, seeing as I live in the UK, I think it's going to be hard to get hold of the Meier Headsix Amp but as I'll be using an iPod maybe I will need one of these...

 

[LaBreaHead]

I would think that good IEMs would provide good sound in an "under-the-radar" form (i.e., you might be less obviously a target for theft with low-profile IEMs, and you would easily be able to stow them out of sight when not listening to music). In which case, especially out of an iPod unamped, I recommend that you consider the Future Sonics Atrio M5's -- very musical, nonfatiguing, bass-rich, and isolating. And of course, highly portable. These pair very well with iPods, and not carrying an amp around might be a benefit while you're traveling so much.

Otherwise, if you want "proper" headphones, would you want closed headphones, for isolation? Open headphones should have more soundstage, but they let in a lot of ambient noise such as you would get on trains and other forms of transportation. With closed headphones, you would have to decide between on-the-ear (ex., the 81DJ's ... on-ears are smaller and so a bit more portable, but they can have a clamping effect that can grow fatiguing) and around-the-ear (which are larger, and so less portable).

I think in-ears rate consideration, in your case: the ER4's would be great, but the M5's might be more musical and convenient, as they make iPods sound good, without having to use an amp. Of course there are lots of options -- don't drive yourself crazy, just enjoy whatever you get (and enjoy traveling).


__________________________
Phones (in order of purchase):
Sony MDR71, Sony MDR51, Etymotic ER6, Panasonic RP-HJ50, Shure E3C, Koss PortaPro 2, Creative EP630, Etymotic ER6i, Sennheiser PX-100, Sennheiser HD555, Future Sonics Atrio M5

 

[Guarneri]

For your type of music, I also suggest looking into the Westone UM2s.

 

[YtseJamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Sleep /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey, thanks for the reply! Do you personally think that the Etymotic ER4P would be a better option than any headphones for the same price? Also, seeing as I live in the UK, I think it's going to be hard to get hold of the Meier Headsix Amp but as I'll be using an iPod maybe I will need one of these...

Yes I think that it would be a better option, the ER4P-S are almost as good as my Beyerdynamic DT880..

If you want more bass but less details and clarity, you can also check the ultimate Ears super.fi 5

 

[Dondoh]

My recommendation would be to skip the phones and talk to folks on the trains.... You can listen to music anytime, but travelling Europe by train is a rare opportunity to meet interesting people.

 

[pataburd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dondoh /img/forum/go_quote.gif My recommendation would be to skip the phones and talk to folks on the trains.... You can listen to music anytime, but travelling Europe by train is a rare opportunity to meet interesting people.

Now there's some real, sound advice! : ) When I travelled to Rome, I didn't miss my headphones/IEMs at all!