I suppose this is a fairly obvious one, but has anyone given some lateral thought to the issue of an in-flight optimized system? Just as food and wines taste remarkably different at 33,000ft (cabin pressure, low air humidity etc.), it stands to reason that headphones will sound different under these conditions (and the business of isolating constant background noise becomes almost as important as the sound quality itself). As someone who flies a fair bit (usually between Shanghai and Beijing), I have tried various approaches to achieving something approaching musical enjoyment (clearly, taking along my HD600s is not practical):
First out of the window were "sound cancelling" headphones. I used to use Sennheiser PXC250s, but they just substituted one sort of constant background noise with another at a different frequency. Oh, and they sounded bl**dy awful! Back home, I wouldn't dream of using a preamp with tone controls or connecting my DAC to my CD transport using Toslink, so how can all this extra complex circuitry and processing aid accurate reproduction?
Next up were IEMS, Etymotic ER6is to be precise. Using Ety's tips, I couldn't get a proper seal, and they had no bass whatsoever. Plus, I couldn't tolerate something that far insde my auditory canal for more than about 15 minutes. With Shure tips they can achieve a reasonable seal, but the bass is still weak, and the treble sounds grainy.
The best result so far has been with my trusty Denon AH-D1001s, but they are too bulky and fragile for travelling, and they develop a nasty "cuppy" resonance, especially when sitting in a window seat (particularly one near the engines or the A/C ducting). And they only slightly attenuate the background noise - they give an accurate picture of a jazz quartet playing on a B777!
So, having dismissed active noise cancellation, I suppose universal IEMs are the way to go (At this stage, I would like to avoid the hassle and expense of obtaining custom fit IEMs here in China). Can anyone recommend a universal IEM priced at around GBP100 that will give a detailed, lucid sound, decent soundstaging and bass (in moderation), whilst not requiring semi-surgical insertion like the Etys? I had thought along the lines of the Shure SE215 or SE315.
Source is either an iPod Classic 160GB plus Meier Audio Corda XXS (via Qables LOD), or (usually, these days) a QLS QA350 MOD V2 (which I cannot recommend too highly).
First out of the window were "sound cancelling" headphones. I used to use Sennheiser PXC250s, but they just substituted one sort of constant background noise with another at a different frequency. Oh, and they sounded bl**dy awful! Back home, I wouldn't dream of using a preamp with tone controls or connecting my DAC to my CD transport using Toslink, so how can all this extra complex circuitry and processing aid accurate reproduction?
Next up were IEMS, Etymotic ER6is to be precise. Using Ety's tips, I couldn't get a proper seal, and they had no bass whatsoever. Plus, I couldn't tolerate something that far insde my auditory canal for more than about 15 minutes. With Shure tips they can achieve a reasonable seal, but the bass is still weak, and the treble sounds grainy.
The best result so far has been with my trusty Denon AH-D1001s, but they are too bulky and fragile for travelling, and they develop a nasty "cuppy" resonance, especially when sitting in a window seat (particularly one near the engines or the A/C ducting). And they only slightly attenuate the background noise - they give an accurate picture of a jazz quartet playing on a B777!
So, having dismissed active noise cancellation, I suppose universal IEMs are the way to go (At this stage, I would like to avoid the hassle and expense of obtaining custom fit IEMs here in China). Can anyone recommend a universal IEM priced at around GBP100 that will give a detailed, lucid sound, decent soundstaging and bass (in moderation), whilst not requiring semi-surgical insertion like the Etys? I had thought along the lines of the Shure SE215 or SE315.
Source is either an iPod Classic 160GB plus Meier Audio Corda XXS (via Qables LOD), or (usually, these days) a QLS QA350 MOD V2 (which I cannot recommend too highly).