Headphones

Northam Saint

Northam Saint

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4,702
Location
Bideford, North Devon
I'm after a new set of Headphones, I've had Shure and Monster in ear phones, but find them irritating after a while.

I'm looking for something over ear along the lines of the Grado SR80i. They have received plenty of great reviews but the one constant thing that's said about them is they leak noise. I'm off to America for a holiday next year so I don't want to be sat on a plane for 11 hours irritating other passengers. So guys any advice ? Any one have any experience of these ?
 
Not in ear but yesterday I bought some sennheiser hd215. They are supposed to keep in sound and keep out noise very well and have a replaceable cable to avoid that loose connection over time that makes only one speaker work. £70 roughly and most people rightly rate sennheiser. I have their cx500 in ear ones and they're very good and have stood up to about 4 years of use 5 days a week
 
NotTheStig said:
Not in ear but yesterday I bought some sennheiser hd215. They are supposed to keep in sound and keep out noise very well and have a replaceable cable to avoid that loose connection over time that makes only one speaker work. £70 roughly and most people rightly rate sennheiser. I have their cx500 in ear ones and they're very good and have stood up to about 4 years of use 5 days a week
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They look good, but sorry I forgot to add I don't want a long cable as they for use with an IPhone. I also don't want one with IPhone controls on the cable. I spent out on Monster Dr Dre ones that controlled the phone, they sounded great but the controller bust after the warranty period. The HD215 have a three meter cable far too long for using on the move.
 
Always fancied a pair of Grado headphones - gorgeous looking cans. I can see what you mean about leaking noise though so I'd give +1 on Sennheiser closed back 'phones. Perhaps pick up a a copy of one of the hi-fi press issues and check out models in your price range.
 
Bose noise cancelling over-ear headphones - great sound, don't leak out but leak a bit inward on a plane - and come with a set of connectors so you can plug into most anything including planes. 10/10 *****

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/170906213032?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y
 
You want closed headphones. I used to buy them roughly once a year, however I've since switched to Shure SE535s and I'm much happier with those.

I'd suggest Sennheiser 449s as they have a cable suitable for your needs.

Edit : I don't mean to be rude, or divisive but you may want to tread very carefully before you buy anything Bose. They're very heavily marketed, but they are not received well at all by audiophiles. You might say they are the Gillette Fusion Proglide Power of headphones...
 
NotTheStig said:
Not in ear but yesterday I bought some sennheiser hd215. They are supposed to keep in sound and keep out noise very well and have a replaceable cable to avoid that loose connection over time that makes only one speaker work. £70 roughly and most people rightly rate sennheiser. I have their cx500 in ear ones and they're very good and have stood up to about 4 years of use 5 days a week
Click to expand...


ive got a set of 215's without a headphone amp they lack bass and a little quality

if i add a £15 amp before them they are a lot better.

shop around i got my 215's cheaper than that 1-2 years ago
 
Never mind audiophiles, go to a Bose retailer, get your head between a set, put on your favourite music and relax blissfully into the amber tones. Any volume, no distortion.

Audiophiles don't like them because there is nothing to argue about or have pretentious opinions about - they just pump out good sound. End of!

Very true about heavy marketing, though. Sheesh and then some once they have your address - but ohhhh! they offer nice stuff.

There can be a problem with the noise cancelling part - phone unanswered, doorbell not heard, swmbo ............
 
I got them cheaper than that too but £70 was the going rate. Mine was a one off on ebay with damaged box.
I'm sure I will be happy with them. I have never tried Bose but I want value for money whatever I spend and people have talked me out of them, rightly or wrongly
 
Think I'll pay a visit to a few places and try and listen to some.

I tried a pair of Sony today and a pair of Sennheisers, not sure what models, and then some Monster Solo HD which were the best of the bunch. The Sony and Sennheisers didn't have enough Bass for me. The Sennhesisers were cheaper end ones, but the Sony mid range ones well, my sons cheap end Sonys sounded better than them.

Shamefully I do Iike the retro look of the Grado.
 
Bechet45 said:
Never mind audiophiles, go to a Bose retailer, get your head between a set, put on your favourite music and relax blissfully into the amber tones. Any volume, no distortion.

Audiophiles don't like them because there is nothing to argue about or have pretentious opinions about - they just pump out good sound. End of!
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:huh:

So what you're saying is that Bose stuff is good as long as you only speak to people in the Bose shop who are paid to tell you it's good? The performance of their stuff is not great in comparison to the competition, and they're horrendously over priced.

I don't really think there's any point debating the merits of aspirational marketing here, so I'd just suggest anyone who is considering Bose stuff go read up on it on an audio forum and then consider it a bullet dodged.
 
IMO Bose are the Apple of the Hifi world.

Fantastic package, easily accessible, look great, very desirable, very expensive.

There is technically better stuff out there, for cheaper.
I could argue all day why you should choose one over the other, but at the end of the day with all these things it's what suits you.

Go and try a few. See what sounds right for your ears.
 
cruciate said:
IMO Bose are the Apple of the Hifi world.

Fantastic package, easily accessible, look great, very desirable, very expensive.

There is technically better stuff out there, for cheaper.
I could argue all day why you should choose one over the other, but at the end of the day with all these things it's what suits you.

Go and try a few. See what sounds right for your ears.
Click to expand...

I'm an audiophile nutter who has spent far too much £Â£ on phones, but I will say this about Bose:

They look good, noise canceling works well, are well made and (if you're not an audiophile nutter) you will find the sound more than good enough. I used to install commercial Bose systems and for the average listener (i.e. not insane audiophile) they are great.

If you want to go down the audiophile route, and want zero leakage without spending a lot of money, at least try out some Etymotics. The HF5 is superb for the price.

As for me, I've just got some Lawton Audio tuned Denon D7000 cans. :D
 
Drroly said:
cruciate said:
IMO Bose are the Apple of the Hifi world.

Fantastic package, easily accessible, look great, very desirable, very expensive.

There is technically better stuff out there, for cheaper.
I could argue all day why you should choose one over the other, but at the end of the day with all these things it's what suits you.

Go and try a few. See what sounds right for your ears.
Click to expand...

I'm an audiophile nutter who has spent far too much £Â£ on phones, but I will say this about Bose:

They look good, noise canceling works well, are well made and (if you're not an audiophile nutter) you will find the sound more than good enough. I used to install commercial Bose systems and for the average listener (i.e. not insane audiophile) they are great.

If you want to go down the audiophile route, and want zero leakage without spending a lot of money, at least try out some Etymotics. The HF5 is superb for the price.

As for me, I've just got some Lawton Audio tuned Denon D7000 cans. :D
Click to expand...


nice, im enjoying my cyborg freq 5 atm

they are technically a headset but come with blanking cover for mic.

they sound reasonably ballanced and if you listen to tge marketing ploy they have a soundcard built in

(vol controls on side only work if you plug in via usb)

mostly made of metal but there not cheao at £100 and there are better sounding headphones for the price


but they look nice and to the average listener would make no difference as the audio they pump through them is not good enough to get everything outvof them.


go to hmv and some other shops to try them.



be warned though that some places only play low bitrate audio through the cheaper-mid range headphones and save a lot higher bit rate audio for the high end expensive headphones
 
I always plug in my smartphone to listen to my own music. I tried out quite a few in HMV like that - worth doing if you are passing by even if you think you know what you want
 
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