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New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2015
- Posts
- 4
- Likes
- 10
Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a little while now, so let me first say thanks to all of you for the great wealth of info you provide. On to the question: I'm being rewarded for some good behavior, so the wife said I could spend $300 (give or take) on my first pair of nice headphones. I've gone through several purchases and returns on Amazon, and I still haven't found a pair that I'm happy with, so I'm hoping for some advice.
Background: I'm a sax player and bassoonist, so I listen to a lot of jazz and classical, but I also like to break out rock and hip hop sometimes too. My education in good sound comes from my dad's old Quad ESL 57 speakers. He taught me to listen to the cymbals on the drum set as a test of good-sounding equipment. He said they should sound realistic. I know it's not the only thing that matters, but the headphones I've been trying out lately haven't been passing that test.
Here's what I've bought and returned so far:
Westone W20's
Bose Quiet Comfort 20i's (btw, I already knew Bose gets a bad rap from audiophiles, but I was genuinely AMAZED at how muddy these sounded.)
Shure SE425's.
To my ears, the Westones and the Shures sounded awesome in the mid-range. The lows seemed a little underwhelming, but were clean and accurate. I was hearing a lot of cool things, but when I focus on the drum set, it just sounds like a hollow shell of what I hear when listening to a real set. I can only guess that I'm not getting enough treble?
Obviously I started my search by focusing on IEMs/earbuds. I wear glasses every day, and I was concerned about sound leakage through a pair of cans, as well as pressure on my frames. But the sound in these IEMs have been a little bit of a let down (I confess, I'm just using CDs and mp3s as sources, but that's the best I've got right now), and comfort has been an issue for me with the IEMs too.
So now I'm thinking of trying out some actual on-ear headphones. They would need to be close-backed since I do a lot of studying in libraries and coffee shops (decent isolation would be a big plus). Would I be any happier if I bought some Sennheiser Momentum 2.0's? Any other recommendations?
Since I'm a grad student with a baby on the way, $300 is a stretch for us, so I really, really want to love what I end up with. Are my expectations too high? Thanks a ton in advance.
Background: I'm a sax player and bassoonist, so I listen to a lot of jazz and classical, but I also like to break out rock and hip hop sometimes too. My education in good sound comes from my dad's old Quad ESL 57 speakers. He taught me to listen to the cymbals on the drum set as a test of good-sounding equipment. He said they should sound realistic. I know it's not the only thing that matters, but the headphones I've been trying out lately haven't been passing that test.
Here's what I've bought and returned so far:
Westone W20's
Bose Quiet Comfort 20i's (btw, I already knew Bose gets a bad rap from audiophiles, but I was genuinely AMAZED at how muddy these sounded.)
Shure SE425's.
To my ears, the Westones and the Shures sounded awesome in the mid-range. The lows seemed a little underwhelming, but were clean and accurate. I was hearing a lot of cool things, but when I focus on the drum set, it just sounds like a hollow shell of what I hear when listening to a real set. I can only guess that I'm not getting enough treble?
Obviously I started my search by focusing on IEMs/earbuds. I wear glasses every day, and I was concerned about sound leakage through a pair of cans, as well as pressure on my frames. But the sound in these IEMs have been a little bit of a let down (I confess, I'm just using CDs and mp3s as sources, but that's the best I've got right now), and comfort has been an issue for me with the IEMs too.
So now I'm thinking of trying out some actual on-ear headphones. They would need to be close-backed since I do a lot of studying in libraries and coffee shops (decent isolation would be a big plus). Would I be any happier if I bought some Sennheiser Momentum 2.0's? Any other recommendations?
Since I'm a grad student with a baby on the way, $300 is a stretch for us, so I really, really want to love what I end up with. Are my expectations too high? Thanks a ton in advance.