[alexsewell]

Hey guys, I'm new to head-fi, so if this is posted in the wrong forum, then sorry in advance.
 
Anyway, I haven't been a real headphone enthusiast until recently and I got given a pair of "Bose On Ear's" at Christmas (2009). And I thought, for the price tag that they would be a good listen. And then I came on here, lol. I had a pair of Sony MDR-V300's earlier on - when I was quite young - and have had them for many years and they sound much much cleaner, albeit less bass. Could that be because of burn in?
 
I'm buying some Sennheiser HD201's, as that seems a good choice for the money I have at the moment, and many threads I've read say they're pretty good. Would that be a good choice? Should I buy a headphone amp with it - I would probably only buy one if it made an incredible amount of difference; does it?
 
Also, anyone got any tips about listening? As I, have not used headphones as much as many of you, I cannot hear a significant difference between my two sets of headphones (MDR-V300 and Bose On Ears). Will I be able to hear more difference in time? Or what?
 
Thanks.

 

[Endless]

Welcome to Head-Fi! And no, I'm not sorry about your wallet. It's your own decision. LOL.
 
The Bose In Ear's have a bad rep here in the forums, overpriced goods is the usual consensus, maybe that also factors into you not hearing a difference between those two set of phones. My experience with listening to headphones is to listen to the best quality headphone possible with the best source possible, despite the lack of sound quality difference. After a while, go back to your old subpar headphones. I immediately heard the difference between the two headphones, it was literally night and day. Your standards of listening to music slowly develop and heighten with a better set of headphones, though not instantly, but gradually. I did not hear any difference between my Sennheiser HD 650's and my Sennheiser HD 555's; but after a month of listening to the 650's and burning it in, the 555's sounded plain and bland. There was no going back for me.
 
As for your new set of headphones, I'd suggest no if it's a HD 201's. I have not heard the Bose On Ear's, but price wise, 180 dollars vs 20 dollars on Amazon..? Despite the bad rep, and not knowing how they sound like, I'm pretty sure based on my common sense that this amount of price difference justifies my statement that the Bose on Ear's are "better" than the HD 201's. An amp is useless or minor for such a low budget headphone with low resistance. I'm sure even an iPod can properly amp a headphone such as the HD 201's.
 
My advice. Save up for a better set of headphones. Come back when you have a higher budget.

 

[alexsewell]

Thanks for the quick post!
 
I was just thinking, because they have a bad rep, and the Sennheisers are in very high regard in these forums, even for the price tag. Surely they would be better?
 
So, save up for some quality cans, listen to them, with a good source, and then listen to the below par phones? And I should see the difference.
Also, would a normal Sony Vaio be a good source - or an alright source - for developing my listening?

 

[nullstring]

What kind of budget do you have in mind?
 
The sweet spot for entry level is about $100.
I would recommend ATH-M50's.

 

[Endless]

Honestly, at your proposed and implied budget from the HD 201's, any source will work fine. And yes, that's my personal preference on listening with better headphones; I'm sure that there are other head-fiers who do differently.