Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
Recently I had spent quite a bit of money on a nice portable rig. I of course have had various rigs before, but this last version was perhaps the nicest, and of course the most expensive (go figure). It consisted of an Onkyo DP-X1, and the Oppo PM3 with a balanced cable. The sound was sublime, absolutely fantastic. So where am I going with this? Well, I happened upon a post by @Brooko who I'm sure many of you know from the forums. In this post he was discussing how very impressed with the Divine Bluetooth headphone from XTZ. I became very curious and exchanged a couple of messages with him and became even more curious. Then of course I found the excellent thread comparing many Bluetooth headphones by @Giogio who also spent some time discussing the Divine among his extensive and excellent thread. I had been thinking about wireless after a few problems with people and objects pulling on headphone wires while on crowded buses or walking in crowds. I was really starting to get sick of wires for portable use such as I engaged in. Portable as some people call it meaning bringing a small rig to work or moving easily in general is perhaps different, there while wires are still a pain in the ass, they aren't as much of an issue.
I decided to take the plunge, and to my surprise, I was as predicted by those two members, extremely impressed with not only the Divine which I purchased first, but also upon the further advice of Giogio, the ATH WS99BT. I did not think that very reasonably priced headphones with obviously inexpensive DAC and amps in them could have a prayer comparing to the Oppo/Onkyo combination, but they really did. Because it is Bluetooth, the source is quite a bit less important so even my Blackberry Leap with Neutron sounded amazing. Just today, I picked up the LG G3 as despite being a few versions ago, is still regarded as a very nice sounding phone. I wanted to be sure my source had solid aptX Bluetooth, which the G3 does.
I'm not going to say there is no difference, but even using the SE on the DP-X1 to drive both of the headphones with the bypass cable didn't really yield a major difference, perhaps not even a detectable difference. Now keep in mind, I'm talking about differences in real world situations such as I use these in, taking public transit, or while walking to and from the grocery store. In those situations it really is quite difficult to say whether or not the more expensive gear made a difference, most specifically the source. The PM3 as you would expect does make a difference simply through their sound signature, but beyond just simplifying it like that, the PM3s are stellar sounding headphones.
Ultimately I would like to say that for those of you considering a change in your portable rig, you might just find your smartphone and a good set of Bluetooth headphones is actually not just good enough, it can actually be quite good. Just thought I would share this mini journey with head-fi. I wanted to make my 5000 post somewhat meaningful as I really enjoy this community and try where possible to contribute as I have learned so much from others here, and I continue to learn from them ever day.
I decided to take the plunge, and to my surprise, I was as predicted by those two members, extremely impressed with not only the Divine which I purchased first, but also upon the further advice of Giogio, the ATH WS99BT. I did not think that very reasonably priced headphones with obviously inexpensive DAC and amps in them could have a prayer comparing to the Oppo/Onkyo combination, but they really did. Because it is Bluetooth, the source is quite a bit less important so even my Blackberry Leap with Neutron sounded amazing. Just today, I picked up the LG G3 as despite being a few versions ago, is still regarded as a very nice sounding phone. I wanted to be sure my source had solid aptX Bluetooth, which the G3 does.
I'm not going to say there is no difference, but even using the SE on the DP-X1 to drive both of the headphones with the bypass cable didn't really yield a major difference, perhaps not even a detectable difference. Now keep in mind, I'm talking about differences in real world situations such as I use these in, taking public transit, or while walking to and from the grocery store. In those situations it really is quite difficult to say whether or not the more expensive gear made a difference, most specifically the source. The PM3 as you would expect does make a difference simply through their sound signature, but beyond just simplifying it like that, the PM3s are stellar sounding headphones.
Ultimately I would like to say that for those of you considering a change in your portable rig, you might just find your smartphone and a good set of Bluetooth headphones is actually not just good enough, it can actually be quite good. Just thought I would share this mini journey with head-fi. I wanted to make my 5000 post somewhat meaningful as I really enjoy this community and try where possible to contribute as I have learned so much from others here, and I continue to learn from them ever day.
