[Happyprozak]

Ok I started a thread asking for recommendations and after getting some suggestions and doing a bit of digging around I've come across these three. These headphones are roughly in the same price range and assuming I can get all of them at the same price I'm wondering how they compare to each other. I couldn't find much of anything on Sony's NC500D but I did find a good number of threads on the Monster Beats and the ESW9's, although I didn't find anything on how they stack against each other.

I'm wondering how they sound compared to each other of course, but I'm also interested in comfort. Comfort is a big thing for me. Also these will be used with a Macbook Pro and and iPod. I am not interested in pairing these with an amp. I'm only interested in how these compare unamped. I can't wear IEM's no use in suggesting them, but I am open to suggestions to other headphones that are similar to the ones I listed. Similar in that they are supposed to sound good unamped and are portable.

I realize many people here hate any headphone that is mass marketed and instantly dismiss them. I'm really looking to see if there are a few people that have some deep experience comparing these and can give me a fairly unbiased opinion.

For some background I have some Senn HD 280 Pro's. I got them because I read that they sounded great for the price. What I found out is that they sound ok, but what I'm told now is that they need to be amped to really sound good. I also had some ATH EW9's (the wood clip-on's) and I was told that they sounded very good etc. etc. but I returned them because they were uncomfortable and they just sounded ok. Nothing worth talking about. On the other hand, from the limited experience I've had with the Monster Beats from the demo in Best Buy I have to say that they sounded good to me. It's hard to really get a feel for them because I can't plug them in to my iPod or Macbook but I was impressed.

 

[mbd2884]

I personally do not like Dr. Dre, most definitely would not touch any headphones designed by him.

GL finding the headphones you want though.

 

[Feather225]

monter sounded really weak to me if you compare it to the well balance esw9, thts a easy one to notice...monster is like those boses, sounds weak nd charge a lot just for their well known reputation. Bose is not even a sound system producer originally...I had my esw9 for bwt a yr nd now I have to part it to fund a denon d7000, it is still the second best portable headphone after all...it's all bwt your preference nd if esw9 sounds bad nd uncomfortable to you...just try something else, but I won't recommend monstor.

 

[Happyprozak]

Well the Monster and Dr. Dre association are two big negatives on my list but at least Monster hired someone to design a pair of headphones that look nice. The ESW9's look good but it's definitely a look that caters more to the audiophile market that is accustomed to a certain look, as opposed to the beats which have a more modern design.

The Sony's are better in this department but the only review I've read is one from digital trend. They seem to be pretty unbiased but they don't compare those to too many headphones so it's hard to get an idea how good they really are. Besides that it seems the rechargeable battery is not user replaceable which is a big negative. Again the battery may be replaceable but no one has commented on this.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

The problem with the Beats is that you cannot easily demo them on your own equipment. Many Beats displays have the headphones permanently connected to the amp which the displays use. And those amps behind the displays employ heavy-handed EQ to make those otherwise unspectacular-sounding headphones sound "good" (and make even the known good-sounding headphones sound like cr@p due to the amp's heavy-handed EQ settings). But once you bring the actual Beats headphones home and use them with your own equipment with no EQ applied or the EQ controls set to "flat" or "0", you'll find out that you've been ripped off (this means that the sound quality from those headphones is nowhere near as good as how they sounded at the store).

 

[Brighten]

I heard the "Beats" headphones at Best Buy and thought they had way too much bass, so I can't reccommend them.

What types of music do you listen to?

I recall the "Beats" being around $350. Surely you'll find a better pair of headphones for that price, especially if you go used.

 

[vvanrij]

Beats are definetly better than average headphones, but no way near similar priced headphones. *** look around what you can get for 350$ from AKG, Grado, Ultrasone, Sennheiser etc. totally different class if you ask me.

 

[Happyprozak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvanrij /img/forum/go_quote.gif Beats are definetly better than average headphones, but no way near similar priced headphones. *** look around what you can get for 350$ from AKG, Grado, Ultrasone, Sennheiser etc. totally different class if you ask me.

The problem with most of the high-end headphones I've found is that they need to be driven by an amp and I'm not interested in adding another device right now. That's why I picked out the headphones I put up for comparison.

 

[tintin47]

Every beats phone that I have heard at a store sounded terrible with bloated bass and not much in the way of treb. and mid response. Not only that, but I seriously question the build quality because almost half that I have heard required me to hold the cord or the jack in a certain way for the phone to work at all. Connection issues, anyone? Anyway, I would say that the ESW9 is in an entirely different class. Go for it without hesitation.

Edit: Grado's IMO don't need to be amped to sound pretty good, though they do improve a lot with amping. The ESW9 sounds good with no amp also.

 

[goober-george]

Denon D-2000s might be a good pick, if you want bass and don't want to use an amp right now, doubt you'd wear them in public though if that's also what you want to do.

 

[Happyprozak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tintin47 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Every beats phone that I have heard at a store sounded terrible with bloated bass and not much in the way of treb. and mid response. Not only that, but I seriously question the build quality because almost half that I have heard required me to hold the cord or the jack in a certain way for the phone to work at all. Connection issues, anyone? Anyway, I would say that the ESW9 is in an entirely different class. Go for it without hesitation. Edit: Grado's IMO don't need to be amped to sound pretty good, though they do improve a lot with amping. The ESW9 sounds good with no amp also.

Grado's are known to be uncomfortable and if there's something I've found out it's that "audiophiles" place comfort low. I was told the HD 280's would be comfortable and I found out otherwise.

You say the beats have bloated bass which is funny because every person that has done a deep review of these say they are surprised that the bass is NOT bloated.

Some review on apple.com says that the beats are terrible and to go buy a quality headphone for less money. And with the money saved you can go buy some great songs on iTunes. Wow what a great recommendation. Yes go buy drm'ed music at 128kbps! Yeah because no way the Beats can give you the audiophile quality needed to really enjoy music at 128kpbs.

I think the bias on these forums gets ridiculous at times. I'm finding these forums less than useful with all the bias going around. They aren't completely useless because there are members here that post good unbiased reviews. But the community as a whole has some serious issues. People were bashing the Beats as being bass bloated before they even had a chance to listen to them.

It's that type of attitude that I see around here that makes me leery of trusting recommendations. At least with the Beats I can return them without losing anything but a bit of gas and time if I don't find them to my liking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober-george /img/forum/go_quote.gif Denon D-2000s might be a good pick, if you want bass and don't want to use an amp right now, doubt you'd wear them in public though if that's also what you want to do.

Well I would be wearing them in public, that's part of being "portable".

 

[Brighten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happyprozak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Grado's are known to be uncomfortable and if there's something I've found out it's that "audiophiles" place comfort low. I was told the HD 280's would be comfortable and I found out otherwise. You say the beats have bloated bass which is funny because every person that has done a deep review of these say they are surprised that the bass is NOT bloated. Some review on apple.com says that the beats are terrible and to go buy a quality headphone for less money. And with the money saved you can go buy some great songs on iTunes. Wow what a great recommendation. Yes go buy drm'ed music at 128kbps! Yeah because no way the Beats can give you the audiophile quality needed to really enjoy music at 128kpbs. I think the bias on these forums gets ridiculous at times. I'm finding these forums less than useful with all the bias going around. They aren't completely useless because there are members here that post good unbiased reviews. But the community as a whole has some serious issues. People were bashing the Beats as being bass bloated before they even had a chance to listen to them. It's that type of attitude that I see around here that makes me leery of trusting recommendations. At least with the Beats I can return them without losing anything but a bit of gas and time if I don't find them to my liking. Well I would be wearing them in public, that's part of being "portable".

No one told you to go against your own intuition. You asked for an unbiased subjective opinion and I gave you mine. They felt bloated to me, but that's because I don't favor too much bass.

Have you tried the Grados? They weren't so uncomfortable that I couldn't wear them. I actually felt they were quite comfortable because they are light and don't compress around my ears.

Go with the "Beats" if you thought that they sound good. I remember reading a sig somewhere around here and the motto went something like, "if it sounds good to you, then it is good." I don't think you are making a wrong decision, but if I were going to spend around that much, I'd go for the Grados (especially since they sound fantastic unamped!).

On a second thought I would always be wary of recommendations around here (especially since many new guys around here are so eager to give advice). It's best to see what the best minds have decided upon after much discussion.

 

[barshnik]

I tried the Beats as an alternative to Bose QC's for my wife who rides a company bus 3 hours/day and wanted noise suppression - most of the time she doesn't even listen to music on them.

The QC's (both 2 and 3) offered better active noise cancellation than the Beats, and all three sounded equally, uh, mediocre to me. I returned the Beats for the lighter QC3's - god, now I've gone and done it, admitted to a Bose purchase on the forum!

Grados (SR 80's for me) are hard to beat and not all that uncomfortable, but for portable use a bit loose on the head.

The portable Senn's ($60) sound better to me than many much more expensive sets (Beats included) and won't cause a heart attack if lost, damaged or stolen. And, you can use the extra money to buy CD's to transfer in lossless format to the iPod.

John F