[Coop]

Recently one of my friends introduced me to the wonderful world of quality headphones. He let me listen to some of my favorite tracks through his AKG K701 headphones with upgraded cabling and his beautiful home made tube amps. He really spoilt my ears...

While his setup seems a bit over the top for my purposes, he did get me hooked on sound quality and I have been feeling some serious disappointment while listening to my own gear (which until a little while ago didn't seem all that bad to me). So now I'm looking for an upgrade. According to your standards, that probably won't be very hard to do, as my inventory is hardly impressive:

- Kanon SY-EX1001MP (chinese cheapie). I use this only in conditions where headphones might get damaged, like outdoors when it's raining.
- Philips SHE-9500. I think this one is a monday morning model, as it never performed well, even the aforementioned Kanon sounds better.
- Koss the Plug. This is my regular on the go earphone, I like the comfort, but the sound leaves A LOT of room for improvement
- Koss UR-40. This is my regular at home headphone. It is good enough for listening to MP3s or streaming audio on my computer, but through my regular audio system it's shortcomings start to show.

For starters, I'd like to get something as versatile as possible. I'm thinking a set of high quality earphones could easily outperform my Koss UR-40, while a full size headphone might not be all that practical on the go, so I want to get some nice earphones (ear canal) first. Now I listen to quite a lot of differrent styles of music, so that's not going to make the choice any easier. I can only afford to get 1 high quality earphone, so it has to be a bit of a jack of all trades. To give you guys a bit of an insight, I listen mostly to Movie scores, electronic music (like Jean Michel Jarre), Metal with clean female vocals (Nightwish and the likes) and things like Juno Reactor (lot's of bass in all flavors). The earphones will be used primarily with my Sansa e280v2 DAP. Unfortunately, there are no local shops here that carry the high quality stuff. So I can't try before I buy. But my guess is that compared to what I'm used to, pretty much anything you guys can come up with will be a huge improvement.
I'm a bit dazzled by all the different brands out there and they all claim to be awesome. I've read a ton of reviews, but havent been able to pinpoint what I exactly want yet.
Oh, and last but not least, I have about $250 to spend.

So what would you guys (and gals) reccomend me?


Thank you kindly for your help,


Coop

 

[Meloncoly]

First post! Welcome to Headfi! Since I see that you are going to be using the headphones with the Sansa, I'm going to assume you want portability. Question of the day: Earphones or Headphones?

 

[Coop]

I hoped that would be clear from my first post, but I'll sum it up just to make sure there is no doubt

I'm looking for:
- Ear canal phones
- with a 'universal' sound suitable for different styles of music
- suitable for direct connection to portable media device
- maximum of $250

oh, and no white-ipod-look... I absolutely hate that

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coop /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hoped that would be clear from my first post, but I'll sum it up just to make sure there is no doubt I'm looking for: - Ear canal phones - with a 'universal' sound suitable for different styles of music - suitable for direct connection to portable media device - maximum of $250 oh, and no white-ipod-look... I absolutely hate that

Livewires. for sure.

Live Wires Custom Fit In-Ear Monitors / Headphones

 

[rohanjd]

Shure SE310 or Shure SE210-K from earphonesolutions.com

Shure has great IEM with a great extended non boomy bass, and slightly rolled off highs....great for any genre.

I listen to Metal 80% of the time...as well as Jazz, Hip Hop and Classical. You can't go wrong with Shure.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaox2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Livewires. for sure. Live Wires Custom Fit In-Ear Monitors / Headphones

Yeah, a dual-driver custom IEM for the price they charge is probably the best option around.

 

[Coop]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I've looked into the Livewires option, unfortunately, the added cost of making a ear impression at my local audiologist and the several shipping fees put this option way over budget

The local audiologist charges a small fortune for ear impressions if you don't buy a product from him

So I think it will be best to stick with an non-custom solution.

The quest continues...

 

[Drag0n]

RadioShack, Buy.com - Computers, Electronics, Digital Cameras, Books, DVDs, Music, Games, Software, Toys, Sports , and other places have the Ultimate Ears Super-fi 3 on sale for under $50us.

You havent listened to many headphones at all, and to go by other peoples opinions is putting $250 worth of trust on other peoples ears.

You might consider this when deciding on what to purchase.
In fact, you can get the Super-fi 3, and possibly a Grado 225 for that price and have home and portable phones, and they both can be driven well without an amp.

Or just spend the $50 on the Super-fi 3 , and research more or stop right there.

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drag0n /img/forum/go_quote.gif RadioShack, Buy.com - Computers, Electronics, Digital Cameras, Books, DVDs, Music, Games, Software, Toys, Sports , and other places have the Ultimate Ears Super-fi 3 on sale for under $50us. You havent listened to many headphones at all, and to go by other peoples opinions is putting $250 worth of trust on other peoples ears. You might consider this when deciding on what to purchase. In fact, you can get the Super-fi 3, and possibly a Grado 225 for that price and have home and portable phones, and they both can be driven well without an amp. Or just spend the $50 on the Super-fi 3 , and research more or stop right there.

I really couldn't think of a definite answer after livewires. I guess going cheap is a good solution for now. IEMs are in that portable category that has no real solution until you pay more then you would normally compared to full-sized cans for the same quality. SE500/530 or Triple.fi are the only universal that do many things well enough to recommend for any type after $65. ER4P/S are the best deal in universal IEMs right now. Look elsewhere if you require that bass extension though.

 

[Rob E.]

Denon C700's get a lot of love here. Personally, I've never heard 'em, but they're in your budget. I'd also recommend the UE super.fi 5 pro's. I think they're excellent.

 

[shigzeo]

denon are a great product... i think we need to reply to the op however with respect that many of these smaller american companies will not be available to him/her in the netherlands.

shure for sure, denon: probably. you culd also try the wonderful senn cx400, 500 and other canalphones. they are probably much cheaper where you are than could befound many other places. i saw them actually 34e in schiphol airport (sorry about the spelling).

they isolate resasonably well and you could spend the remaining money on an amp. for your purposes you should be cautioned that your dap will have a hard time to drive these or any other in ear or canal phone phones. it will sound good but will lose bass detail and maybe even get fettered in the middle.

you could go for ety er6i which generally have a better synergy with portable daps as they are 48ohm and will not suffer from extreme bass roll off.

anyway, good luck mate

 

[Coop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif denon are a great product... i think we need to reply to the op however with respect that many of these smaller american companies will not be available to him/her in the netherlands.

That wont be much of a problem, I have a couple of friends in the US who can send things to me that aren't directly available here. But I will most likely order from the US anyway, as the price difference is HUGE. If I'm lucky, dutch retailers will use a 1 to 1 dollar to euro conversion, so $200 becomes 200 euro (so thats about a 40% price increase at the moment) but usually you pay another 20% VAT and another whopping amount of is added to boost their own profit.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Drag0n RadioShack, Buy.com - Computers, Electronics, Digital Cameras, Books, DVDs, Music, Games, Software, Toys, Sports , and other places have the Ultimate Ears Super-fi 3 on sale for under $50us. You havent listened to many headphones at all, and to go by other peoples opinions is putting $250 worth of trust on other peoples ears. You might consider this when deciding on what to purchase. In fact, you can get the Super-fi 3, and possibly a Grado 225 for that price and have home and portable phones, and they both can be driven well without an amp. Or just spend the $50 on the Super-fi 3 , and research more or stop right there.

It might sound to you like a hasty decision based on what others say. But that never was my intention. What I kind of forgot to mention (or is it due to the language barrier? cut me some slack, I'm not writing in my mother tongue here

) that I wanted to narrow down the field to about 3 different phones and then try to find a place where I can try them in real life and then pick the one I like best. And then buy them locally if the price is acceptable or just order them online.
But also, I value you guys (and gals) opinion more than the opinion of the person who sells them to me. As you people are the real world users, and retailers, unfortunately, too often just want to sell you the most expensive product.

 

[pez]

what about the Atrio FS M5/M8s? I've heard people recommend them as a good all around phone. Also, maybe super.fi 5's. I'm guessing though, I think you would like one of those two, and they can be had for less than your asking price.

 

[Guarneri]

For your first IEM, I highly suggest one with good comfort, design, and looks as well as sound quality. With that said, I'm going to recommend the Westone UM2s ($299 retail, can probably get one for $250), or the Shure SE310s. These two, especially the first, provide superb sound in a balance and comfortable package.

 

[manaox2]

I forgot about the q-jays for a bit. They have a balanced frequency chart and good reviews. I think for a phone that is meant to do everything, they are a good choice at $189.99.

I had the super.fi 5 pro for about a year. They were a ton of fun and I did enjoy them a lot. I don't think however that they match a lot of different types of music as well.