[JPFrost]

Good afternoon all,

At the moment I'm looking at a portable over ear option for daily use. Currently I own the V Moda M100, which I really like, but I generally use at home and i used to own the Marshall monitors, which were good as well.

As you can see from those 2 headphones, my preference is a more bassy sound. Mostly I listen to hip hop (underground, 90's) and soul/funk with some indie/electro pop and old rock thrown in. My listening device is a smartphone using spotify and I don't plan on buying a DAP or amp.

So bass is definitely important, but also just a relaxed sound in general. My ears are sensitive to sibiliance and peaky highs, so I don't mind a more rolled off top end. Also not looking for anything too analytical as the music I listen to doesn't really need it.

Aside from the preferred sound signature, I would like something portable (doesn't have to be wireless) which doesn't look too big on the head (not craving the sci fi look). The v moda's for example, I think look nice and sleak. I wear glasses and I have found that a strong clamp force can cause discomfort around the top of the ears.

Budget is around $300, but perhaps could be stretched as I live in Europe and generally audio gear is more expensive and/or needs to be imported.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[PaganDL]

Hi @JPFrost,

I suggest looking into the following in no particular order :

Neumann NDH 20 (Stretching your budget but worth considering)
Sony MDR 1AM2

One thing to keep in mind, the above suggested headphones will reproduce bass response quite accurately so as long as your source quality & recording quality is good, the sound will be reproduced as is.

Feel free to ask more when you need.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[JPFrost]

Hi @JPFrost,

I suggest looking into the following in no particular order :

Neumann NDH 20 (Stretching your budget but worth considering)
Sony MDR 1AM2

One thing to keep in mind, the above suggested headphones will reproduce bass response quite accurately so as long as your source quality & recording quality is good, the sound will be reproduced as is.

Feel free to ask more when you need.

Hope you have a great day !

Thanks for the suggestion.

I used to own the Sony MDR1R, which was ok, but seemed a little average. Plus it was creaking and cracking when you moved. What is the difference with the 1AM2?

 

[PaganDL]

Hi @JPFrost,

I never heard or seen the 1R so can't say though I am aware it used to exist.

I suggest looking for one to demo as well as reading up on it on the offical Sony page.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[Mhog55]

I'd recommend the Beoplay H6 2nd generation. Slightly elevated low end response, relaxed and smooth, yet never boring. Non fatiguing and definitely not analytical. Has a really nice out of the head experience, and sounds very good with all genres. It's light and comfortable with excellent build quality. Maybe check out some reviews. Great headphones.

 

[JPFrost]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will take them into account.

Another headphone I have been looking at is the Focal Listen as well as the Sennheiser momentum 2.0. Any thoughts about these?

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Sony WH1000XM3
Sony XB900N

two perfect options for your budget/requirements.

 

[JPFrost]

The WH1000XM3 are certainly interesting.

I wasn't necessarily looking for wireless headphones as they can be bulky, but these seem like a good option and the technique has come a long way.

Maybe it's stupid and perhaps it shouldn't matter that much, but it's hard to find sleak looking headphones.

 

[Mhog55]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will take them into account.

Another headphone I have been looking at is the Focal Listen as well as the Sennheiser momentum 2.0. Any thoughts about these?

I haven't heard the Focal, but it seems a bit heavy. Both of these headphones seem well liked, especially the Momentum. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those people. I returned mine and went with the H6.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

The WH1000XM3 are certainly interesting.

I wasn't necessarily looking for wireless headphones as they can be bulky, but these seem like a good option and the technique has come a long way.

Maybe it's stupid and perhaps it shouldn't matter that much, but it's hard to find sleak looking headphones.

The 1000xm3's are actually quite sleek, fold-able and if you dont want to use them wireless, they come with a 3.5mm plug.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I haven't heard the Focal, but it seems a bit heavy. Both of these headphones seem well liked, especially the Momentum. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those people. I returned mine and went with the H6.

I love my H6Gen2, very pleasant casual sound signature, i'm a fan of B&Os house sound.

 

[JPFrost]

I decided to go with the Sony WH XB900N as I found a deal on them for around €111,- (about $125)

They are really nice so far. Toned down the bass a little bit through Sony's EQ function in the accompanying app. Noice cancelation is average. I have no previous experience with it, but if you're not playing music, I really don't see the added value of the option. Probably there are better alternatives if that's what you're after. Comfort is good, pretty lightweight and even though they look somewhat big, they look pretty good on the head. Earpads while comfy do get hot pretty quickly and you need to give your ears a breather every now and then.

The most pleasant surprises are the sound quality and the touch controls. The latter is actually pretty good and intuitive. It's a sensitive touchpad so you have to be careful when touching it, but once you get the feeling for the swipe actions, it's a nicely implemented feature. is it better than physical buttons? Not sure, I can imagine if issues arise with these controls then it might be harder to fix and there's always the risk of unwanted actions by accidentally touching them. But for the grief some reviewers gave them, I have to say I'm liking the touchpad so far.

Sound is very clear and as a whole higher quality than expected when you read extra bass in its description. I did turn down the bass some and elevated the mids and highs a little bit as the bass out of the box is very strong. Considering the music I listen to, bass is very welcome, but it needs to be there when asked for it and not just as an omnipresent sound regardless of the music. It doesn't sound cheap though and if it rumbles at the right times, it's very engaging. Overall I would describe the headphones as fun anyway. It's probably not the most realistic or balanced pair you can find, but for portable use given it's functionalities and at this price range, it's a very good option. One caveat is the sound quality when wired, which is definitely much worse than via bluetooth connection. Perhaps the EQ in the Sony app is a reason for this (the app is not working when the phone is wired) and I will test it with my phone's EQ option to see what happens, but it's a bit of a hassle to switch between EQ's if you use multiple head-/earphones. I'm not really picky about audio quality in general so I cannot comment on the benefits of all the codecs it supports. Using the EQ does automatically downgrade the audio quality though, which again to my ears is not a problem.

Buying these at almost a third of the price of the WH1000XM3 is a bargain in my opnion and even at $170 it's a very attractive option if you're in the market for good, fun sounding wireless headphones.