[tjmaxwell]

Hi everyone,

I discovered this forum a few months ago, shortly after buying the Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones. I thought it would be fun to come in and see what others were saying about these headphones. Can you guess where this is going?

Anyway, I like these headphones a lot, I really do. They're unbelievably comfortable which is important to me, and to my apparently very-untrained ear, they sound excellent. Despite this, I think I'm going to sell them and get something else. The main reason is:

- I don't travel much so I don't really need the noise reduction capabilities.

- They are fairly bulky

- I need some money to pay bills, so I'd like to get something a little less expensive


From what I've been reading, I can get much better sounding headphones for much less money. Here's what you need to know about my listening habits:


- I listen almost exclusively on a 3G 15 GB iPod, so I don't want anything that needs an amp

- Comfort is a top priority for me because I listen to music for hours at work

- I'm thinking of earbuds or something similar, but would be open to styles similar to the QC2 (covering the whole ear) as long as they were comfortable

- I primarily listen to classical/piano music, with a bit of pop, rock, and country mixed in

- Most of my MP3s are encoded at 128 and I'm not going to take the time to re-encode them

- I'd like to stay under $200, though may stray slightly if there's an astronomical jump in quality


Based on this information what are your recommendations? Since I'm not an audiophile, please post links to buy and/or manufacturer links with your suggestions. Also approximate prices would be very helpful. Thank you in advance.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Audio Techinica A900 fits your bill pretty well.

 

[blessingx]

Don't want to come off as a snob here, but I hope that's 128 kb/s AAC, not 128 MP3. I really can't imagine any decent phones making 128 MP3 listenable. Arguably you may want to step down significantly in phone quality to increase the enjoyment of them if so.

But anyway, are you using the iPod portably? I know you sort of addressed that in the noise reduction/bulky comments, but still difficult to recommend a phone without knowing that. The CD780s are amazingly comfortable (like pillows), but are bulky. The Shure e2c/e3c and Etys E6 (higher models may be too expensive) are not comfortable for some.

And welcome to Head-Fi!

EDIT: Agree with Iron_Dreamer. If you don't mind going to $200, those may be the ticket.

 

[xand]

well... if you think 128kbps mp3 sounds good on those QC2s, i can probably quite safely say that you should just get MX500s.

Even they can expose the differences between 128kbps and > 128kbps....

(and i'm not really an audiophile either. although i'm really tempted to reencode. hopefully hydrogenaudio will get their act together and tweak lame 3.96)

 

[commando]

Do you really want ear buds if you listen for hours at work? Earphoes seem much more comfortable to me.

A900 are probably your best bet in 'phones, in 'buds I have no idea.

 

[go_vtec]

I'm gonna second with Sony MDR-CD780 ($99). It's very comfortable and it has sweet high and low (good depth too).

If you can spring more $$$, you can go for either Sony MDR-CD2000 or Audio Technica ATH-A900. These are very comfortable cans and sound very good too.

-Mike

 

[tjmaxwell]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. It's greatly appreciated. Whether I listen to my MP3 collection through my QC2's or my Klipsch THX computer speakers, they sound fine to me.

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx Don't want to come off as a snob here, but I hope that's 128 kb/s AAC, not 128 MP3. I really can't imagine any decent phones making 128 MP3 listenable. Arguably you may want to step down significantly in phone quality to increase the enjoyment of them if so. But anyway, are you using the iPod portably? I know you sort of addressed that in the noise reduction/bulky comments, but still difficult to recommend a phone without knowing that. The CD780s are amazingly comfortable (like pillows), but are bulky. The Shure e2c/e3c and Etys E6 (higher models may be too expensive) are not comfortable for some. And welcome to Head-Fi! EDIT: Agree with Iron_Dreamer. If you don't mind going to $200, those may be the ticket.

Yes, many of my MP3s were encoded at 128 MP3, but were encoded long ago when MP3s were just becoming popular. I'd say at least half of my music is 160, about 40% 128, and the rest either 192 or 128 AAC. I use the iPod mainly at my desk at work, so no, it's not really used as much portably. I'm open for more suggestions, and if possible, it would be great if people could post some links of good places to buy or find out more info about these phones/buds. Thanks again!

 

[reeseboisse]

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here, and assuimg that when you say "reencoding", you mean re-ripping from whatever CD you took it from, but I still just have to say this in case: You can't take a 128kbps MP3 and simply reencode it to a higher bitrate to make it sound better; MP3 is a lossy format and hence once the data is lost, it's lost. No getting it back, and so all that's going to be accomplished by reencoding them is that the quality will be degraded even more.

 

[tjmaxwell]

Yes, I mean re-ripping. As you can tell, I'm definitely not an audiophile.

 

[Lando]

Even if you're not an audiophile, after listening to properly encoded mp3s (192kbps VBR or higher) or aacs for a little while, the difference between them and 128kbps mp3s should be night and day. I recommend using EAC to rip and Lame's --alt-preset standard setting to encode mp3's. Can't really recommend any aac encoders since I only played with that format a little bit.

 

[JeffL]

Personally, I recommend using Lame 3.90.3 and using either -alt--preset extreme or -alt--preset insane, nothing less.

Of course, there are some who say anything lossy isn't worth doing, but I am not that bad yet, as I can still stand MP3s comfortably.

Anyway, sell those QC2s promptly and find out what you've been missing. You needn't be an audiophile to notice these things.

Oh, and sorry about your wallet

 

[reeseboisse]

Personally, I reccomend OGG, but alas the ipod doesn't support that yet.

 

[tjmaxwell]

While I appreciate everyone's advice on how to encode MP3s, that isn't the question here. It took me weeks to rip all my CDs, and I'm simply not going to do it again. That said, I know I would probably notice improved audio if I did it, but I simply don't have time.

So, given this information, are the A900 headphones my absolute best choice? These look cool, though pretty bulky. Plus they don't seem to come with a case so I'd be worried about damaging them carting them back and forth between home and work. These headphones will be used for gaming at home, iPod at work.

 

[commando]

A900 are widely recommended phones around here, probably the most recommended below $200 if you're not using an amp. Even with an amp, or above $200, they compare well. NB i've not heard them, i'm just relaying what i've read. I'm tempted to get some myself, actually.

Using EAC you can rip a CD very quickly. You set it up once, then all you need to do is put the CD in and push go. Track titles are fetched automatically. Depending on the speed of your machine, you'll end up with encoded mp3s in between 5 and 10 minutes, with feck all effort on your part.

 

[Music Fanatic]

Actually, the only 'phones I've found which are even close to the QC2 in comfort are the Sony F1 (a $150 'phone), and the Sony CD3000 (a $300 'phone). Some say the K1000 is also super comfortable, but in my opinion, while the K1000 is not bad in terms of comfort, it can't compare with those two Sony 'phones above.