[DeTinux]

Hi all,

Last year I came to head-fi and within a few months I developed some kind of oniomania which made me buy in rapid succession: Shure e2c, Audio-Technica CK7, Audio-Technica EW9, Sleek SA6, Ety ER4P, Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi.

Except the EW9 all of those are IEMs. Unfortunately my dog found those EWs as delicious as I did. So I am now looking for portable cans or clip-on.

These are my desires:

1. decent sound quality (please see my comments on this below);
2. especially suited for classical music;
3. portable (the ATH-ESW9 mentioned below is more or less the maximum size);
4. great isolation... I don't want others to hear my Rossini.

Sound quality is the most important, then comes isolation and then portability.

From the IEMs I have tried I liked the signature of the EW9 best, followed by ER4P. Of course sound quality of the ER4P and Triple.Fis is way better, so I try to find headphones that are on par with those.

I listen exclusively to classical music: opera, piano solo, piano and orchestra, orchestral music. I prefer to do so on my unamped Cowon S9.

I thought I found my perfect and logical choice: the ATH-ESW9, but when I tried these there was no isolation. Other contenders are Ultrasone HFI-780, Shure 440/840 (though not really portable!), YUIN G2a.

None of those really fits my needs, so I thought I drop a note here (a practise I swore to abandon... this will going to cost me many money, I know it!)

I really don't know what a suitable portable headphone will be. If nothing suitable comes up I find myself buying another set of EW9 (despite the lack of isolation) and buy the AKG-702.

Cheers, and thanks in advance,

Martijn

 

[DeTinux]

Oops... forgot to mention that I intent to spend $250 (excluding shipping fees)

 

[kostalex]

Cross G2A or G1A out, since they have no great isolation, if have any. The only can I may recommend is Sennheiser HD 25-1-II.

 

[DeTinux]

Thanks, I will loan one from a friend of mine to try it. In the meantime, how about the HFI-780s? They isolate rather well from what I read on the forum. Sound quality is great and they do not really look that big.

 

[Head_case]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kostalex /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cross G2A or G1A out, since they have no great isolation, if have any. The only can I may recommend is Sennheiser HD 25-1-II.

Definitely!

The best sound isolation platform in a set of headphones ever! And they're extremely comfortable too!

My only reservation is that the spaciousness which classical music requires, isn't always present in these closed back phones. You can't have everything I suppose. The other reservation is a quirky Senn thing - some people don't like the full timbred body of bass available in the Senns. If you're listening to badly recorded classical music from the 70's or 80s like I do, it's a bonus though. Adds more body to the mid-range.

The Shure 840s get a good review - I really want to try a set....

 

[kostalex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeTinux /img/forum/go_quote.gif In the meantime, how about the HFI-780s?

I am not familiar with them.