High End Bluetooth Headphones
Mar 12, 2015 at 8:04 PM Post #691 of 894
Thanks for the advice!

You can actually do some really easy mods to the sony's which vastly improves their sound!

It's definitely worth checking out this thread

I was seriously thinking about the UE 9000's but heard they were a bit heavy?

Apparently the Backbeats are a touch bright for movies?...I prefer phones with a bit more warmth!

What I'm really interested in is how much hiss you've experienced with them all?


I also want to know that David. Can you test the hiss of UE and BBP?
Definitely the BBP are not as warm as the UE and are. I have enjoyed watching movies with them. I have never felt them too bright, but, they surely are not "warm", even if also not cold.
Yeah, bright would be. And Punchy.
You should ask @Bill-P if he can rate the hiss of the XB and their performance for movies out of the box (no EQ).
 
Mar 30, 2015 at 8:54 PM Post #692 of 894
No hiss that I can hear from either backbeat pro or ue 9000, on the ue 9000 the highs are rolled off in a nice way, very sweet warm deep sig that's strong and powerful. The backbeats only exhibit harshness in the highs when played very loud but at normal listening levels you get very detailed highs that hit the higher frequencies than the ue 9000 can't do. They both weigh pratically the same.
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 3:00 PM Post #695 of 894
There are about five such posts, each expressing amazement that such an economical BT headphone (i.e., the Pendulumic Stance S1) sounds so much like a wired headphone and sounds so balanced across its frequency range. Two or three posts compare it to the Sennheiser Momentum 2 BT and give the Pendulumic a clear preference, saying the Sennheiser was less detailed, more muddy, and had smaller soundstage, yet cost over twice as much! Two persons bought a pair or plan to buy a pair, and one person bought two pair of the Pendulumic, one as a gift. Several folks mentioned the Pendulumic as one of their high points of the show.
 
Mar 31, 2015 at 4:05 PM Post #696 of 894
Hmmm. High points of the show?
I would hardly believe it for any BT Headphone, considering that the CanJam for how I have understood it is focused on very very very high level headphones, even customized ones and rarities, and the S1+ (which I have under test now) are good, but not soooooooo good to compete with those kind of cans.
Yeah, as a BT Headphones they are indeed, out of the box, as you described them, and I am surely very pleasantly surprised.
But I cannot believe they are more detailed than the Momentum. I could not compare them side to side with the Urbanite, but I remember the urbanite being more detailed and clear.
But I will see when I get the Momentum.
 
I also wanted to ask, did anybody ever hear of these old Denon:
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AH-NCW500BK-Wireless-Bluetooth-Headphones/dp/B00858I53I
in months of google search and thread and amazon and people, I have never heard of them before. I wonder why.
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 1:15 PM Post #697 of 894
Hello, I recently bought a new set of Sony MDR1RBTMK2 headphones and bought several Bluetooth transmitters and USB dongles to enable my PC's to transmit AptX mode to the Sony headphones.
The Sony headphones are great and have a nice LED status light that tells you what mode it is connected and paired in (SBC, AP2D or AptX modes).
I have a question though about pairing this Sony headphone in AptX mode with the following two Bluetooth transmitter devices. I suspect a bug in the firmware/software used in these transmitters.
These two bluetooth transmitter devices I have bought don't connect properly in AptX mode with the Sony headphone. Here's why:
 
Avantree Priva - I bought this and it works pretty good on all outward appearances. It connects reliably and plays music sounding just fine. However, when I pair my Sony MDR1RBTMK2 headphones to it, the headphone's LED status light blinks 2 times meaning it is not in AptX mode (yes my headphones are set to AptX mode).  But on the Avantree Priva transmitter LED status light, it is saying that it is in AptX mode indicated by blinking its status LED 2x.  So there is a conflict of indicated status here!  The Avantree Priva is saying it is connected in AptX mode while the Sony headphones are saying that it is NOT in AptX mode!  Odd!
 
I then bought this newer Miccus TX4 Bluetooth 4.0 AptX transmitter to test it out and it too exhibits the same symptom with the Sony headphones not being able to pair in AptX mode (the Sony headphone's LED status indicator blinks only 2x when connected to the Miccus TX4 transmitter).  The Miccus TX4 transmitter unfortunately has absolutely no status indicator to tell you what mode it is in.  So I have to wonder if these company's transmitters (which I presume all use the same CSR software embedded in them) might have a bug or flaw in AptX communications.
 
Now, you all might be raising the next logical question of "Is it the Sony headphones that might be bad?" and to that, I can tell you that the Sony headphones work perfectly with the regular USB 4.0 AptX dongles plugged into PC's.  When paired with my AZIO AptX dongle on my laptop PC, the Sony headphone correctly shows it is in AptX mode by blinking its LED 3x.  When connected to my other Supertech USB Aptx dongle on my PC it also works correctly blinking its LED 3x.  When paired with my LG G3 cell phone, the Sony headphones also connect in Aptx and show LED blinking 3x correctly.
 
So what's up with these outboard Bluetooth transmitters (Avantree Priva and the Miccus TX4 both found on amazon.com) which claim to be AptX enabled (with Low Latency to boot!) but they do not connect correctly in AptX mode to the Sony MDR1RBTMK2 headphones in AptX mode?
 
Can others who have these transmitters check to see it they have the same issues with ApTx connecting headphones or whatever?  Do they connect in AptX mode and status is confirmed or do they just connect in non-AptX mode? 
 
I've returned the Avantree Priva since it is Bluetooth 3.0.  I so far only have the Miccus TX4 Bluetooth 4.0 transmitter and comtemplating returning it too if I cannot find out answers to why it does not connect in AptX mode with my fine working Sony MDR1RBTMK2. 
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 1:38 PM Post #698 of 894
@unbiased, i just finished to talk of avantree with @headcoatman.
We both tried the Priva.
You should have definitely contacted their support. One of the best ever.
It may be a conflict (in which case, it is not said that the adapter is guilty! I had perfect Aptx with the Priva... Tested with an HarmanKardon BT wich also have a led which changes according to the kind of connection active).
Or it may be a defect unit.
Maybe Priva and Miccus use the same chip which is not working well with those Sony.
 
Anyway the Sony make strange things too, I had the MDR-10RBT and they blinked 2 times in Aptx mode.
 
Can you please make a comparison of those adapters about sound quality and wireless range?
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 2:50 PM Post #699 of 894
  @unbiased, i just finished to talk of avantree with @headcoatman.
We both tried the Priva.
You should have definitely contacted their support. One of the best ever.
It may be a conflict (in which case, it is not said that the adapter is guilty! I had perfect Aptx with the Priva... Tested with an HarmanKardon BT wich also have a led which changes according to the kind of connection active).
Or it may be a defect unit.
Maybe Priva and Miccus use the same chip which is not working well with those Sony.
 
Anyway the Sony make strange things too, I had the MDR-10RBT and they blinked 2 times in Aptx mode.
 
Can you please make a comparison of those adapters about sound quality and wireless range?


I suspect that the Avantree Priva and the Miccus TX4 are using the same chipset and software/firmware and that's why they both exhibit this bug.
I use the CSR based AZIO Bluetooth AptX USB dongle and also the similar SuperTech Bluetooth AptX USB dongle on my Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit PC's and the Sony headphone connects properly each time with those dongles.
The Sony headphone connects properly in AptX mode and also connects properly with my AptX enabled cell phones and tablets.
 
The Sony headphone DOES NOT connect properly with these stand-alone transmitters for some reason (the Avantree Priva and the Miccus TX4).
 
Something seems to be going on between the communcations protocol it seems with these devices that the Sony does not recognize it is supposed to be in AptX mode.
I suspect a software bug in these devices that got implemented wrong and causing lack of communications in AptX mode.  The vendors should contact CSR to check into the software that CSR provided to them for these particular applications.
 
In the meantime, I have another Sony MDR-XB950BT headphone on order and I will test that headphone out in AptX pairing mode when I get it to see if it does the same thing.
 
As for comparing the two transmitter brands, I find that they are pretty much equal in sound quality and transmitter range.  The sound quality is fine on both.  However both stand-alone transmitter devices have weaker signal range than the USB Bluetooth dongles that I also have and use (the AZIO and the Supertech AptX USB Bluetooth 4.0 dongles).
 
The Avantree Priva is Bluetooth 3.0 whereas the Miccus TX4 is Bluetooth 4.0 (how important this is or what sonic differences it might have, I have no feel for. They both sound and perform the same to me).
The Avantree Priva seems more versatile in that it has an on/off switch for battery or power DC mode and it also shows what transmit mode it is in by flashing the LED light.
The Miccus TX4 does not give you any indication of what transmit mode it is connected in.  It also does not have an power/battery on/off operating mode switch. 
Both models can operate with the micro USB power plugged in so that you don't have to run down on battery power (this is a good feature for both brands).
The Avantree Priva gives you one more cabling adapter connections included in the box so is better in that respect and cost about $1.00 (USD) less than the Miccus TX4... but it is Bluetooth 3.0 vs Bluetooth 4.0 for the TX4 if that matters to you.
I think I like the Avantree Priva round shape and magnetic base mountability form factor better than the Miccus TX4 stick form factor.  But both are acceptable.
 
That's all I can think of for now.
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 4:26 PM Post #701 of 894
  Something seems to be going on between the communcations protocol it seems with these devices that the Sony does not recognize it is supposed to be in AptX mode.
I suspect a software bug in these devices that got implemented wrong and causing lack of communications in AptX mode.  The vendors should contact CSR to check into the software that CSR provided to them for these particular applications.
 
The Avantree Priva is Bluetooth 3.0 whereas the Miccus TX4 is Bluetooth 4.0 (how important this is or what sonic differences it might have, I have no feel for. They both sound and perform the same to me).

As said, given the problems I had with a Sony MDR-10RBT flashing 2 instead of 3 times in Aptx (I could confirm the Aptx with the Azio Dongle and the CSR Popoup. I also have it, Azio BTD-V401), and given the no problems had with the Priva with no headphone, I suspect the problem is in the Sony. But, incompatibilities are often a two ways problem.
Anyway, it would be nice of you if you write Avantree and Miccus about that.
No idea about miccus, but I can tell you that Avantree is really serious in listening to customers and doing their best to improve things.
As no other Company which I am aware of.
 
As far as I know, the Bluetooth Core (2, 3, o 4) has got NO influence on the sound. Apart maybe for the EDR which is in all of them.
The major difference between 3 and 4 is the low energy mode in the 4, and actually some people reported that for this reason it is worse than the 3 because with some implementations of it causes more dropouts.
But for the sound, the important is the Codec used.
If I am wrong, somebody can correct me so I learn more.
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 4:28 PM Post #702 of 894
   
They are pretty damn impressive sound wise, that\s for sure. If the design was more streamlined, I'd buy a pair in a heartbeat.


I like their design a lot for a home use but I agree with you for an outdoor use, but mostly for being big, because otherwise if smaller I would be happy of their design EXACTLY for not being streamlined. I would feel myself much more "myself" with them on my head than with something with a big B on each side.
 
Which other Bluetooth Headphones were at the event, and which others did you try in general, beside the event?
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 7:53 PM Post #703 of 894
  Anyway, it would be nice of you if you write Avantree and Miccus about that.
No idea about miccus, but I can tell you that Avantree is really serious in listening to customers and doing their best to improve things.
As no other Company which I am aware of.
 
 

Yes, I have already fired off my issue conerns to both Avantree and Miccus. Let's see how they respond.
 
Apr 5, 2015 at 8:53 PM Post #704 of 894
 
I like their design a lot for a home use but I agree with you for an outdoor use, but mostly for being big, because otherwise if smaller I would be happy of their design EXACTLY for not being streamlined. I would feel myself much more "myself" with them on my head than with something with a big B on each side.
 
Which other Bluetooth Headphones were at the event, and which others did you try in general, beside the event?

 
I didn't listen to any other Bluetooth headphones at the meet.
 
The only Bluetooth headphones I've liked previously have been the Sennheiser MM100, which are basically aptX-enabled PX100s. I've tried all the BlueAnt stuff, the LG Tone, some Plantronics stuff, the bluetooth Beats, MDR1RBT, UE9000, and a million others I can't remember...the UE9000 weren't bad but the only ones I like enough to use them as a total package is the MM100.
 
Apr 6, 2015 at 11:06 AM Post #705 of 894
 
The only Bluetooth headphones I've liked previously have been the Sennheiser MM100, which are basically aptX-enabled PX100s. I've tried all the BlueAnt stuff, the LG Tone, some Plantronics stuff, the bluetooth Beats, MDR1RBT, UE9000, and a million others I can't remember...the UE9000 weren't bad but the only ones I like enough to use them as a total package is the MM100.

Well, lot of things happened since the MM100.
The Stance are one of them.
 

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