[esteebin]

A friend of mine is looking for a circumaural closed-back headphone that is relatively portable and has good bass. He specifically wants to bring them with him to the library to study with. His budget is $150. The only headphone I have in mind is the ATH-M50 or ATH-M50X, but was wondering if anyone else here has suggestions?

The UE6000 is currently $86 for the white on Amazon. They fold for compact storage, has detachable cable, iOS buttons and sound good. Has noise cancelling, but feels like a gimmic as it only boosts the low end (no mic to gauge the outside noise for opposing sound waves tech). They do not leak sound out and they are good for isolating noise out even with "NC" off.

 

[drbluenewmexico]

Singlios vs. Tenore drblue

Thanks for asking, Mochill!
 
Different technology, Tenore's are dynamic, Singulos are BA, both are carbon nano based.  different price points, Tenores about half the price.
Different sounds, Tenores are SMOOTH...with vocals and midrange focused but with good bass, Singulos have more bass and more upper midrange
treble presence and wider soundstage and more detail....Tenores good for most music, but especially make gorgeous music with vocals, Singulos are
EDM friendly and produce hallucinogenic sound stage for psychedelic music and blues....if you had to make a choice i would go with Tenore for
purity of its sound and worth having for sure at that bargain price...Singulos give you "more sound" and sonic achievement for some kinds of music
and is a real treat that is at the WOW level when synergies are right....of course the DOPPIOS have the best of both worlds and are a relative bargain
in the mid fi world.  saw a head=fi listening for a used Doppio for 130.00 the other day.  the Doppios have more texture and slam than either of them
and definitely will be in the years "half of fame" awards, but they are not quite as silky as the Tenores and not as clean as the Singulos, being duel
carbon nano BA.  as Mark Twain said, "you pays your money and you takes your choice".!  in Zero Audio , all good choices however!! being OCD about
headphones, of course, I'm holding on to all three!!!  PS all three have great inner ear fit, and seal well and are very comfortable, with Doppios being heavier
and bigger.  Zero Audio hit trifecta here!!!!  all three won audio awards in japan....anyway these are my HO, and I'm happy to share my experiences with them.
DS wrote also that once he plugged Doppios into his GO, they pretty much stayed there as a perfect match. all 3 sound good directly out of devices or
usb dacs with small gain, and not so much with larger amps, so all designed for mobile use....

 

[mochill]

Nice just might as well buy the singlois

 

[drbluenewmexico]

Nice just might as well buy the singlois

a SINGULAR idea!  enjoy!!

 

[Grayson73]

  Just received and plugged in:  new NAMOO S1 iem...out of the box very impressive
fast, great transients, and great tonal quality.  not a super lot of detail, but very musical
and fun.  Listening to new Brian Eno album with Karl Hypde  SOMEDAY WORLD,
VERY nice sound......now to the burn in bench 

After burn-in, please compare to Tenore

 

[drbluenewmexico]

Monday audio adventures so far:
 
Phillips TX2 just arrived.  out of box massive booming bass and don't fit at all, tip rolling necessary and
burn in commenced.  but design obvious evolution from extra bass agh and  jvc  so lets hear what they
have accomplished for affordable "high definition" phones made for mobile applications...
 
Meanwhile cable switch on ON-1 from stock cable to hand braided silver coated copper  ebay  upgrade cable (about 40$)
very productive:  On1-s benefit from increased bass resolution, vocal clarity and  musicality
highly recommended upgrade. 

 

[kova4a]

  Monday audio adventures so far:
 
Phillips TX2 just arrived.  out of box massive booming bass and don't fit at all, tip rolling necessary and
burn in commenced.  but design obvious evolution from extra bass agh and  jvc  so lets hear what they
have accomplished for affordable "high definition" phones made for mobile applications...
 

The bass settles a lot. Some people might even find it lacking in the end 

 
 
Anyway, I settled on the tips yesterday and was listening a bit more to the TX2 today, so here are some impressions:
 
Extension is pretty good on both sides. The bass isn't boomy and is relatively punchy but a bit softer on the impact than I prefer. I would have like it more if it was a bit more hard hitting. Still better than the pistons' though.
Mids are a touch laid back but fairly neutral and clean free from bleeding or coloration from the lows. The timbre is pretty good although I wouldn't mind a touch thicker note presentation.
The highs extend very well and are pretty smooth and the TX2 is overall quite airy with good amount of sparkle and shimmer. 
The thing that steals the show though is the soundstage. Often people confuse a full and enveloping sound with a big 3D soundstage but this is not the case here. It's not also just some ambience created in your head by a thick and full sound or just the distance the sound cues are thrown. Yeah, the soundstage is very wide and the sonic cues go audibly further than most iems. Yeah, the positioning is great. Yeah, the height is great. But other iems also can perform at a similar level (not in this price range of course). It's the space between instruments that takes the imaging on another level. There are iems with darker background but there's just something about the TX2 that's just right and makes the whole presentation sound spacious in a very natural way. The TX2 really shined with my binaural albums and overall just makes a lot of iems sound intimate in comparison. 
As an overall package for 40 bucks the TX2 is really impressive. It might not be the most detailed iem or have as tight and hard hitting bass as I would want but compared to its sub-$100 competition, it can teach them more than one lesson on how some things are done.

 

[doctorjazz]

Phillips and Narmoo both came today, haven't unboxed yet, probably get a sense in a few days.

 

[drbluenewmexico]

synchronicity of great ears:  my phillips TX2 and narmoo s1 are on my burn in desk right now!

 

[drbluenewmexico]

  The bass settles a lot. Some people might even find it lacking in the end 

 
 
Anyway, I settled on the tips yesterday and was listening a bit more to the TX2 today, so here are some impressions:
 
Extension is pretty good on both sides. The bass isn't boomy and is relatively punchy but a bit softer on the impact than I prefer. I would have like it more if it was a bit more hard hitting. Still better than the pistons' though.
Mids are a touch laid back but fairly neutral and clean free from bleeding or coloration from the lows. The timbre is pretty good although I wouldn't mind a touch thicker note presentation.
The highs extend very well and are pretty smooth and the TX2 is overall quite airy with good amount of sparkle and shimmer. 
The thing that steals the show though is the soundstage. Often people confuse a full and enveloping sound with a big 3D soundstage but this is not the case here. It's not also just some ambience created in your head by a thick and full sound or just the distance the sound cues are thrown. Yeah, the soundstage is very wide and the sonic cues go audibly further than most iems. Yeah, the positioning is great. Yeah, the height is great. But other iems also can perform at a similar level (not in this price range of course). It's the space between instruments that takes the imaging on another level. There are iems with darker background but there's just something about the TX2 that's just right and makes the whole presentation sound spacious in a very natural way. The TX2 really shined with my binaural albums and overall just makes a lot of iems sound intimate in comparison. 
As an overall package for 40 bucks the TX2 is really impressive. It might not be the most detailed iem or have as tight and hard hitting bass as I would want but compared to its sub-$100 competition, it can teach them more than one lesson on how some things are done.

nice impressions kova4a!  well listened...cant wait till another 48 hours of burn in to do some serious listening to my tx2s and narmoo s1s. i took the afternoon off from listening to phones after my left ear developed a tintinitus buzz, but its gone now....whew...instead i listened to cambridge audio model 12 system, the best portable audio system IMHO, check it out at cambridge audio sometime, fleetwood mac mixed a lot of their albums on it...it fits under an airplane seat and fills a whole room with sound thats wonderfully in phase and tonally spot on...

 

[mochill]

New discovery for me is the ocharaku flat 4 sui and they are oh so delicious

 

[HairyHeadMara]

Is there anyone own both Doppios and IM02? Would love to read a camparison of these two phones. Thanks

 

[Dsnuts]

Is there anyone own both Doppios and IM02? Would love to read a camparison of these two phones. Thanks

Don't know anyone with both phones but I do own the Doppios and the IM03. Doppios are neutral and very detailed earphones. And they need a synergistic factor when using sources to bring out their best. Geek Out and my DX90 both sound amazing using the Doppios..Very low impedance out is the key here.. I think the IM02 will have a very similar sound tuning to the Doppios as they share some similarities to my IM03.  
 
The IM03 takes the sound of the Doppios and adds more bass end more fullness more layering more smoothness. Doppios are one of the most revealing sounds I know. It can be heard completely wrong of not using the right tips or simply by not even bother burning them in.. They do require burn in for the bass end to fully realize. I like both of these earphones a lot but value wise it will be the Doppios as they cost less than $130 right now sold on Amazon.
 
IM03 is a direct upgrade to my Doppios as it is a more complete sounding earphone but sonics wise it is not double the value of the Doppios. I suspect the IM02 will be very similar in that regard.. I think you will be fine with either one. The Doppios or the IM02. Both of them will have a very similar sound tuning.
 
I do suspect that the IM02 has a bit more forward mid range vs the Doppios,which sound pretty much flat from lower treble to sub bass. But that is just a guess as my IM03 has a slightly forward mid range I read the IM02 does as well.

 

[Mackem]

Still unsure about the fit/comfort of the JVC woodies. I need my IEM fix, dunno how my Carbo Bassos managed to break but yeah

 

[mochill]

Dn2k^