mhollerb
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2013
- Posts
- 11
- Likes
- 10
Hope you can help me narrow down my potential picks as well as refine my thoughts. I'm a student so noise cancellation (active or passive) and minimal leakage are of importance. I also appreciate bass, but I'm not a basshead. Currently I have a set of TripleFi 10's that I'm in love with; they're damn near perfect. With a set of Comply tips I can't hear anything, even without music. (Note: This may hinder my choice because the TF10 is my isolation point of reference [near absolute]) Music is everything, alternative, rock, acoustic. Main artists are Dave Matthews, Umphrey's McGee, Jack's Mannequin, Big Gigantic, Marley, Glitch Mob, Kings of Leon, etc. In particular I love live albums. I need to feel Carter's drums in DMB @ Red Rocks '95!
I did quite a bit of research of the go-to $150 to $350 phones. I demo'd the UE 6000s from an Apple store because I like Ultimate Ears and they were spoken highly of by Tyll at Innerfidelity. I thought they were very, very nice. Good amount of bass (if not too much) but I thought it was refined and well managed. They just sounded 'right.' However, the drawbacks were the noise cancellation and leakage. I'm new at this, so it's all relative to me but I found both the active and passive NC to be very poor. Flipping the switch seemed to do little. Again, this is relative to in-ears and the QC15s that I tried at the (loud) Apple store; IEMs will always be quieter and my HW has shown me that Bose is the best in active NC.
On a whim I also tried the Bose AE2i's at the store as well and was impressed. Great passive cancelling, very comfy, and they sounded great to my ears.
Currently I am considering going back to the UE 6000s because they sounded good to me, and their sound quality is worth the $20 upcharge from the AE2i's. Maybe I'm asking too much in the leakage category. I have realized that I can probably live with it, though I dislike having to crank up the volume to get the loudness I like at which point they leak. An amp might be on the horizon. (I run my music out of either a desktop PC or an iPhone 4S, which I've heard is decently powerful compared to other mobile devices)
So, given my tastes and thought processes, what might you guys recommend? Stick with what I know I like? Preferably available from Headroom, or somewhere that allows demoing sans restock fees.
Thanks,
Mat
EDIT: I'm also considering the ATH-M50 and their noise cancelling equivalents because everyone from Cnet to Tyll to Amazon raves about their performance and value.
I did quite a bit of research of the go-to $150 to $350 phones. I demo'd the UE 6000s from an Apple store because I like Ultimate Ears and they were spoken highly of by Tyll at Innerfidelity. I thought they were very, very nice. Good amount of bass (if not too much) but I thought it was refined and well managed. They just sounded 'right.' However, the drawbacks were the noise cancellation and leakage. I'm new at this, so it's all relative to me but I found both the active and passive NC to be very poor. Flipping the switch seemed to do little. Again, this is relative to in-ears and the QC15s that I tried at the (loud) Apple store; IEMs will always be quieter and my HW has shown me that Bose is the best in active NC.
On a whim I also tried the Bose AE2i's at the store as well and was impressed. Great passive cancelling, very comfy, and they sounded great to my ears.
Currently I am considering going back to the UE 6000s because they sounded good to me, and their sound quality is worth the $20 upcharge from the AE2i's. Maybe I'm asking too much in the leakage category. I have realized that I can probably live with it, though I dislike having to crank up the volume to get the loudness I like at which point they leak. An amp might be on the horizon. (I run my music out of either a desktop PC or an iPhone 4S, which I've heard is decently powerful compared to other mobile devices)
So, given my tastes and thought processes, what might you guys recommend? Stick with what I know I like? Preferably available from Headroom, or somewhere that allows demoing sans restock fees.
Thanks,
Mat
EDIT: I'm also considering the ATH-M50 and their noise cancelling equivalents because everyone from Cnet to Tyll to Amazon raves about their performance and value.