Travelling headphones/earphones

I seem to be asking quite a few headphone questions lately, but here goes:

Now that i have some money to spend on that, i'm looking to replace my Apple ear buds (please no comment, i know they are terrible) with something better but still portable enough for on the go. I'm looking to spend up to $250 max. The more i can save, the better, but i still want to retain decent sound quality and comfort

IEMs are a no go, i find those uncomfortable and i'd rather not have something this deep in my ear. Ear buds is as far as i'm willing to go, but i'd prefer something small that covers my ears.

 

I find them excruciatingly uncomfortable beyond <1 hour of wear, but comfort is subjective and the Sennheiser HD25-1 are a perennial performer for portable use. They're very lightweight yet robust, are almost completely rebuildable, features among the highest passive isolation possible from a portable headphone and have decent - if narrow in terms of spacial representation - sound to boot. Because the earcups are pretty compact, there's not really much call for them to need to fold or fold flat - they can be stuffed in most bags just fine.

Sennheiser HD 25-1 II - Closed-Back Stereo Headphones HD25-1 II

 

Thanks for the suggestion Vogelbung. I do wear glasses so if you say they clamp on the ears pretty strongly this could be a problem. Anyone else has suggestions?

 

Hmm, I wonder how portable my Beyer DT250 headphones would be, minus the long, curly and weighty cable.

 

The look similar in size t the ATH-M50 which means doable, but not exactly practical.

 

The 250's don't fold. And due to the low clamping force and velour pads, provide zero worthwhile isolation. Also there's that giant plug which stabs you in the shoulder.

Also, a really nasty upper midrange though that's a personal observation.

 

how about some klipsch image s4's? i think they're about 50 bucks now online (not sure). They are very good for their price. very durable too. I accidentally had em in the washing machine and they're still just as good as before lolz. if you want the most out of ur money u should get really consider these.

 

Unless i'm mistaken, those are IEMs and that makes them a no do.

 

If by traveling you mean train, planes, bus etc. then perhaps you benefit more by head phones of the noise-canceling variety? Your budget should cover about 75% of them.








inbeforebosehaterants

 

I'm still looking, as for any purchase over 100$, i tend to take my time more than i should sometimes. Anyways, i came across the ATH-EW9 and i think they look great, but it's hard to find reviews on them. They look right up my alley in terms of portability though. Any thoughts?

The HD25-1 II look mighty tempting with time passing as well.

 

I assume you mean the ESW9.

Barely any isolation.

Excellent build quality.

But that's irrelevant as wood finish super prone to damage. And while the wood finish is pleasing to examine at short range, at passers-by range it actually looks like you have two brown Oreos hanging off your ears.

Sound quality is subjective for most - but I'd say it's a $150 typical closed phone level at most, even if the ESW9 had comparable isolation (which it doesn't).

The signature, like the ATH-M50, is 'consumer pleasing'.

I kept them for a while - never used them after finding they had no isolation (isolation is one of the main problems getting opinions on Head-Fi I find. People with no experience make erroneous relative assumptions and it's amplified by the often-present peer-group collective ignorance on Head-Fi), and finally sold it to some guy on Head-Fi when I was having a clearout. Since they aren't that comfortable either (to me), I'd rather have the equally uncomfortable HD25-1 which is superior in almost every respect, bar the aesthetics.

 

Hmm, looks like i'll have to shop around for the HD25-1 II though, they are at least 300$ here. I've seen the HD25 originals for 400 even.

And i really mean the EW9, they are clip on over the ears headphones which is a win in portability, but i doubt sound isolation will be good though.

I doubt i have what it takes to really appreciate very high end audiophile gear, so something consumer pleasing will be enough for me, but now i need at least a minimum level of quality. The more bang for the buck, the better of course.

 

Consumer pleasing for me are those who buy what's pretty of what's trendy. If you asking the question, you already are at least one level past that. Never settle for mediocre, especially when a little homework can get you much better.

One piece of advice though, it is imperative that you narrow your field to the headphone "type" otherwise you will be all over the place.

 

I wouldn't recommend Sennheiser's to my worst enemy. Or yea I probably would. The Sennheiser PC 350 @ $179 ($220 when I purchased them about 1.5 years ago) have fallen apart in nearly every possible variation of the word.

Sound quality is decent, but by far not the best of what I've heard from equally priced headphones.

Reliability is pretty good so far, since even though it's coming apart at the seams at every possible place, it's still working fine.

Their warranty service is an absolute to deal with. You think ASUS is bad? Hah, you don't know pain until you try to get Sennheiser to replace something. I literally gave up. Once the pair I have finally break, I won't buy another product from them.

 

Well, the ATH-M50 are plenty for me, so are the grado SR125i, so anything similar to those and i'll be a happy camper. I'm not a bass head if that helps in any way. I still like decent bass, but i prefer balance, if i have to sacrifice a little bass for something more balanced, so be it.

I will listen to symphonic metal a lot with those headphones along with some gregorian chant thrown in if that is of any help. When i said consumer pleasing, i meant the sound, not the style or trend. If style and social status were the only things that mattered, i'd be using beats and those are not on my list of potential buys.

 

OK. Wasn't sure.

The clip-on EW9 = dreck. Or should I say 'reedy'. The drivers are not all that to start with in terms of quality, but the fact that the fit suspends the drivers a slight distance away from your ear with open air inbetween means you get a drastically curtailed bass response.

Add that to zero isolation = good luck making out anything beyond the loudest parts of your music in a travelling scenario.

Once again, I kept them around for a while and once again, I think I got rid of them on Head-Fi.

And again, in terms of aesthetics from a passersby point of view it really does look as though you have two chocolate cookies stuck on your ear, especially as there's no headband. Avoid, unless you are some sort of wood junkie.

 

You might have noticed this other thing coming out of the side. It doesn't come free, though I'll give you it's not exactly a bargain headset.

And of course, just the one, the first one of any maker of something goes wrong - probably more likely due to user abuse - makes it suck, right? See, for me it doesn't take one Apple going wrong to say they're underengineered, overdesigned trash. It takes 90%+ of machines purchased from 2006 - 2011 - a sample pool of getting into the literally hundreds - requiring some sort of warranty.

I don't know - maybe I'm not dumbly judgemental enough.

 

Alright, if i don't get other suggestions, looks like it'll be the HD25-1 II along with going a little over budget. Prices in Canada sometimes suck. I'm not a wood junkie by any stretch, but i do enjoy the look that wood has, extremely far from a deal breaker though.

 

I would hate to pay a lot more than something is supposed to cost. What's wrong with AVShop.ca? Still a bit overpriced, but at least it's not $300+.

 

I don't know every electronic store and i tend to forget to look for new ones, that's about it. I'll do a check of avshop.ca and if i see no horror stories, might as well go with them if they don't overcharge for shipping.

 

When something fails on such a magnificent level with such gentle use, you don't need to line up every other product they have to see that their quality control was clearly not up to par. I don't have ANY reason to defend a consumer product that breaks, much less one that breaks multiple times in many different ways.

I gave clear examples of several failures of THAT particular product. I was also stating that I would not purchase again from a company that cannot build a premium priced product that cannot withstand gentle use. If someone pays a premium price for a product, has the product nearly self destruct in their hands, and get the TERRIBLE customer support that I also mentioned, do you think they would shrug it off and immediately purchase another?

Finally, I was giving my opinion, in which you decide to attack me personally? I never stated that it was the ONLY Sennheiser product I own or have owned. Maybe you should read the forum rules again before you decide to post any more.

 

Stick to the facts and we shouldn't have any trouble - if any of this gets personal we will begin deleting posts and possibly close the thread.

 

Well, just a heads up that i received them today and giving them their burn in period. So far, after an hour of listening to them, they are still comfortable and they are exactly the right size for what i was looking for. I have a small head though so clamping force is probably lower than most would get. I fell that for long listening sessions they'll need some time to be a bit more comfortable. Once i've clocked a good 100hrs on them i'll compare with my M50 since i noticed a change in the M50 over time.

 

What will probably happen is that your mental acclimatisation (nothing worthwhile will happen to the phones themselves over 100 hours - same as the M50s - unless you're a truly epic sweater or something) will likely take the edge off the slightly strident upper midrange of the 25's. But listening to the bowl-shaped tone of the M50's may reset that aspect.

 

So you've tried One... Single... Individual Product from Sennheiser and you've declared everything they make to be crap? Sounds like you got a bad shake, sorry to hear it, but doesn't make Sennheiser crap...

OP: How are you liking your HD25's so far?

 

The headphones are pretty good as far as sound is concerned, bass is just right for my taste, i'm pretty much at the frontier between basshead and non basshead, but they clamp hard after a while when i wear them and my glasses both. I have no problems wearing them without glasses though, switched to the velour pads, more comfortable and i'm willing to take the tradeoff in isolation for that. Can't decide if i prefer them to my M50 though, depends on my mod and what i' listening to.

Oh and the HD25 are built like a tank, the kind of headphones you can just drop in your backpack if you're in a hurry.

 

Guess I just got the question I asked in another post answered Which version of the 25's do you have, aren't there like 3 different versions?

 

HD25-1 II, the standard version.