On-ear headphone recommendations, please.

Bechet

Bechet

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Southampton
Last night I somehow managed to break my Bose sound reducing headphones - snapped the band where it splits to accommodate the left ear-piece. It would be an expensive repair to an item that no longer suits my needs - it's n over-ear headphone so I have to take my hearing-aids out to use it. Not a major problem, but ...

Can you recommend some good on-ear headphones for me, please? No Star Trekky trendy phones, brightly coloured, thanks - just good phones, probably black. Let's not set any limits on cost, see what comes up.
 
Grado or Sennheiser would be my recommendation Carl - I have mid-range (no pun intended) versions of both.

The Grados look like they've come straight from the 1940s or 50s - black, austere and no frills. The perfect antithesis of Beats by Dr. Dre and all the other multi-coloured nonsense that is churned out today.

The Sennheiser HD 598 that I have are over ears, so that probably rules them out for you. BUT, they sound sublime and are unbelievably comfortable in sustained use. Don't let the middle of the road What HiFi review put you off - these are true audiophile quality cans which add absolutely nothing to the original recording. What HiFi appears to have also fallen into the trap of listening to too much compressed shite nowadays that it seems to forget what real - uncompressed / analogue music sounds like. But that's a story for another day...:mad:
 
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I like the Grados a lot but - how bad is the sound leakage, Nico? I use phones so I can wind the volume up without disturbing anyone/next door. They seem good value at £120.
 
Bechet said:
I like the Grados a lot but - how bad is the sound leakage, Nico? I use phones so I can wind the volume up without disturbing anyone/next door. They seem good value at £120.
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The Grados, Carl, will definitely leak sound within a room - someone in the same room as you would be able to tell what you were listening too, and they couldn't watch TV, say, if you were indulging - but they wouldn't leak through a wall into a neighbours house i.e. assuming you haven't your amp turned up to 11 per Spinal Tap, in which case your brain will most likely be mashed!

The Grados sound right up your street - best advice is gather up some of your favourite 45s, LPs, cassettes etc. and head down to your local hifi emporium and have a test run. Any decent hifi shop will have its own private listening room and they should be only too glad to let you try them out before purchasing (online, of course).
 
Nico1970 said:
Any decent hifi shop will have its own private listening room and they should be only too glad to let you try them out before purchasing (online, of course).
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That's why, next time you want to try headphones, there won't be a decent hifi shop anymore... Maybe the service is worth a few quid more than the online price? Ask for their best price.
 
Absolutely Andreas. If there's only a few quid in it, it's good to try and support your local bricks 'n' mortar. Most of the hifi chains (and a good few locals) have an online presence anyway so there's nothing wrong with doing a bit of due diligence online, and otherwise shopping around. The HiFi industry was (and to some extent still is) notorious for huge markups - just look at the 'price as tested' in the trade journals / magazines and then see what you can in actuality get the product for.
 
riverrun said:
Buy while you're there and save on postage and waiting time :D
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Aha! an instant gratification man, eh? I'll be using my whatever they are - 7 Day Shop, I think - bluetooth phones while I wait. Still investigating repair costs for the Bose cans, anyway. It's a screw on part that's broken - but with the wire passing through it.

I saved the cost of the Grados phones by not buying the perfume Vinny recommended so it's like getting them for free, sort of, double thunk.
 
Bechet said:
Last night I somehow managed to break my Bose sound reducing headphones - snapped the band where it splits to accommodate the left ear-piece. It would be an expensive repair to an item that no longer suits my needs - it's n over-ear headphone so I have to take my hearing-aids out to use it. Not a major problem, but ...

Can you recommend some good on-ear headphones for me, please? No Star Trekky trendy phones, brightly coloured, thanks - just good phones, probably black. Let's not set any limits on cost, see what comes up.
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It all depends about sound leakage....If the headphones are for just for late night home usage with a VERY high quality source,I would recommend my favourite phones,a pair of AKG K702's,they leak sound like a 'good'un',but with decent amplification, a dedicated headphone amp, and a decent source,CD would be an absolute minimum,they sound better with a high def source,as they are THAT revealing,nothing beats them.
Next up,a budget pair,and I would go for a pair of Koss Porta Pros...
For the price,not much comes close,still a good bit of sound leak,but they sound awesome for a under £20 pair of phones,not to mention they have a great guarantee!.A fantastic pair of HP's if ever there was one!.
 
Nishy said:
Sennheiser, using the wireless ones for 8 years pure quality
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Agreed. The Sennheiser MM450X (on ear) and MM550X (over ear) are excellent. I've had the MM500X (over ear, discontinued) for well over 6 years now and they are brilliant. Sound quality is great (but only with noise reduction on). Noise reduction is not as good as Bose, but good enough. I sometimes used them for 8 hours a day in a noisy office environment (even without music) just to cut out the noise. Comfortable even after wearing them for that long. The are wireless (bluetooth), but can be used with a cable if the battery runs out or the source has no bluetooth. Not cheap, but excellent.
 
I use the Bose AE2W
They really are so comfortable to wear, the sound is so well balanced they are a joy to listen to.
They have excellent battery life but have a wired backup if necessary.
They have decent noise cancelling properties (well the Mrs never complains)
My only gripe is sometimes I want more volume!

They have been superseded by a newer model.
 
Not sure this helps but when I broke my Bose QC 'phones I took them to a Bose shop and they gave me a significant discount on a new pair even though they were well past the warranty date. Presumably if they will do that for you they would allow you to choose their on-ear model.
 
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