[swbf2cheater]

edit: meh, idk about that p5 being ranked higher than the esw9

 

[ljokerl]

 
Quote:

Would there be any chance of reviewing the JVC RX700 or the Shure 440?  I am looking to upgrade from my Aiwa and they are about the only decent well prices headphones in UK that is not a rip off compared to US prices.

The RX700 - no as it is not portable in the least. The SRH440 I don't know. No plans at this time but they've been dropping in price so who knows.


Quote:

For mainly portable use, but a little bit at home as well, is the Sony XB700 really worth the extra $30 or so over the XB500? I heard the XB500 and liked the sound sig, is the XB700 $30 worth of improvement?

 
I think that purely for portable use I would default to the XB500 for the purpose of not looking like I've got truck tires strapped to my head. I do think the XB700 sounds better - less colored and generally more resolving - but it's really not something I'd buy unless my listening time was split heavily in favor of home use.


Quote:

edit: meh, idk about that p5 being ranked higher than the esw9

Well the ESW9A isn't the most comfortable, isolating, or well-built set out there so I don't know that it should be a surprise. It still sounds better and is $100 cheaper but the numbers simply don't fall in its favor as far as the chart goes.

 

[Armaegis]

Which is why people shouldn't be blindly looking at numbers and rankings in the first place. Take it as a great reference tool, but folks need to do their research as well (not that I'm accusing swbf2cheater of doing this... though I don't think the man has been able to settle on a headphone for longer than a month

).

 

[swbf2cheater]

All the portable sets I have reviewed or even spoken of were just that, review units.  I buy them, review them, and resell them with usually a large profit loss, lol.   I've mentioned this more than a few times here a Head-Fi.  You are correct about portable headphones, but not IEMs or full sized, as I kept a vast inventory for many years.  I think I reposted a complete listing of all the headphones I owned, and 99% of them were lost in that disaster I had back in October.  So, you are partially correct, but mostly gravely mistaken
 
<3
 
 
 
 
 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

hello Joker,
I notice the P5 has 8/10 in value in the review but 7 in the table.

Good reviews as usual, i could think of get me a P5 when they go for 120$, i ditch the look.

On question:
I have only stock vinyl(?) pads for my hd25, cant stop thinking if the velour would make a noticeable difference, for the better. They go for 25 to 30$, does the change in sound worth the price?

 

[mcnoiserdc]

I have had the esw9 myself, I liked the sound, but it sounded a little bassy but without punch...
The isolation is not that great, at low volume it seems to increase the outside noise, really strange, or I may say it this way, it made some kind of echo...
It was nice, really beautiful but, I was always afraid of scratching it...

 

[swbf2cheater]

^ Whoa... echo?  Strong possibility the one you listened to was a fake.  There isn't even a hint of echo on mine and the bass is very soft and forgiving

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

hello Joker,
I notice the P5 has 8/10 in value in the review but 7 in the table.

Good reviews as usual, i could think of get me a P5 when they go for 120$, i ditch the look.

On question:
I have only stock vinyl(?) pads for my hd25, cant stop thinking if the velour would make a noticeable difference, for the better. They go for 25 to 30$, does the change in sound worth the price?

Ah, that would be a mistake. Should be 7/10 all around. 
 
$30 for HD25 pads? That seems a bit excessive, though it's been a while since I had to buy any. I remember paying <$20 for the set. And yeah, they make a difference, but it's not night-and-day. I remember reading some posts made by those who vastly prefer the sound of the vinyl pads but to my ears those posts, like most things on head-fi, were a vast exaggeration. I just like the comfort better on the velours so they stay.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

lol mine fake
Quote:

^ Whoa... echo?  Strong possibility the one you listened to was a fake.  There isn't even a hint of echo on mine and the bass is very soft and forgiving

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

$30 for HD25 pads?....snip...snip...snip...

at ebay, but i just checked the senn site, 15 + 8 (7 days shipping)or 15 ( 2 days shipping)  
I find them comfortable enough with the vinyl. they get a bit hot though, but how couldnt it if we are at 32C average.
 
thanks!

 

[Olimoronio]

Quote:

Ah, that would be a mistake. Should be 7/10 all around. 
 

 
Oh thanks goodness! I thought you were losing it for a minute there. The DHP's still sound better.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

I have had the esw9 myself, I liked the sound, but it sounded a little bassy but without punch...
The isolation is not that great, at low volume it seems to increase the outside noise, really strange, or I may say it this way, it made some kind of echo...
It was nice, really beautiful but, I was always afraid of scratching it...

 
Quote:

^ Whoa... echo?  Strong possibility the one you listened to was a fake.  There isn't even a hint of echo on mine and the bass is very soft and forgiving

 
I found the esw9 bass to be soft (in terms of feel, not volume). It also had a bit of resonance to it similar to the Phiaton MS400 which would make some outside noises seemingly louder. I figure it is also due to the isolation which does not cut out all frequencies evenly, so those parts of the spectrum that don't will feel amplified.
 
The fake esw9s that I've seen seemed to share the same overall shape and were even made of wood, so chances are they would have a similar isolation/resonant characteristic.

 

[Ikarios]

Quote:

 
I found the esw9 bass to be soft (in terms of feel, not volume). It also had a bit of resonance to it similar to the Phiaton MS400 which would make some outside noises seemingly louder. I figure it is also due to the isolation which does not cut out all frequencies evenly, so those parts of the spectrum that don't will feel amplified.
 
The fake esw9s that I've seen seemed to share the same overall shape and were even made of wood, so chances are they would have a similar isolation/resonant characteristic.

FWIW I don't recall any kind of resonance in the ESW9 I had (the pair that swbf2cheater has now). I'm generally quite sensitive to the resonance-y sound of closed headphones so that was a pretty big plus from me. They weren't the best isolating but they were super comfortable as far as supra-aural headphones go.
 
I've never heard the MS400 so I can't comment on those. I'd like to listen to them at some point but they're a little lower on my priority list since I like the HD25s so much for non-IEM portable use.

 

[jmonfar]

Having been following this great thread for months (years?), there is only one point I could dare to suggest that could improve its usefulness: adding a sistematic rating about  the need/benefit of amping the reviewed sets, and how they fare when fed directly from a portable player (say an iPod or the Sansa you seem to use as standard review gear).
 
Now there are multiple comments on that here and there on the text of many of the reviews, but it's a pain to find, collect and compare them when considering candidates for shopping decission.
 
At least, for example, it could help positioning each can on one of this three categories:

1. Can be driven from any normal portable source without noticeable (or significant) degradation of their sound performance.
2. Reasonably driven from any normal portable source with decent/good sound quality, but it benefits significantly from dedicated amp, putting it in another level of performance.
3. Forget about driving it unamped, you are throwing money down the sink.

 
That could be done in the form of a separate rating value, or even better perhaps as separate rating for sound quality amped and unamped.
 
One of the main dilemmas on choosing our portable gear is where we want to stick on the balance between convenience and absolute sound quality. Many people will restrict themselves to candidates not prompting you to carry around (and care about) an additional piece of gear, and this rating would be of extreme help on that. 
 
I am myself in that group, even if now I am still pretty satisfied with my HD25 and not seriously considering any replacement. But is ever interesting to keep a list of candidates if one day a good shopping opportunity jumps over you...

 

[tyoung8]

Yeah that sounds good.  Like in the IEM reviews when there is a bit about whether the phone needs an amp.