Headphones - Help Please

Buy IEMs at that price point. Shure SE535 are very good.

I have read  that Bowers Wilkins P7 got god "press",I have not heard them.

Have anyone here heard them?

/Peder

Kevin Richardson posted:

Buy IEMs at that price point. Shure SE535 are very good.

These are what I use and they are very good.  

These are earphones, not headphones.   I used Etymotics ER4-S for many years but the Shures leave them in the shade.    I use them straight out of my iPad mostly and they need no amp.  I used the flanged not the foamed plugs shown above.   But they have great highs and midrange, and solid bass for something that will fit in your shirt pocket.  They also have to order an aftermarket Shure plug for the Apple Lighting cable that comes out of the new iPhone.

Hanumike posted:

Hi all

I'm about to enter the headphone market for the first time and it seems to be more varied than selecting the right speakers so I'm hoping the forums members might be able to point me in the right direction before I make a purchase.

First a few basics, the phones must be a closed back design 

 

 

You can really do much worse than a pair Beyerdynamic DT770 or AKG K-271 from Thomann.

Both closed back.

Both well below budget and basically great great sounding cans.

They will work with your XS and give much more expensive cans a serious run for the money if not better them in terms og neutrality vs uber detail.

Ive had the old Fostex 600 and got tired of them, difficult to explain but I'd choose any of the above anyday of the week, they are growing at you in the longer term.

Another one of my favorites are the (very neutral) Beyerdynamic closed back DT250, but it really need a dedicated amp to shine.

To be honest, not a criticism of your XS, but £500 cans into a XS is a bit shooting birds with a cannon imho.

Hi Hanumike, I have been through this same process my self in the last few months, and you are right it's worth finding a good dealer with a wide selection of phones that you can try in comfort. 

Sticking with your request, I have lots of head phones most of em closed back or in ear. At your price point I would suggest listening to:

Oppo pm3's - marketed as an over ear portable but imo very good.

Sony MDR X1000 - these are noise cancelling and wireless  so hifi is not their marketing point but I consider them to have a good sound when hard wired.

i also have Shure SE535's they are to my ears very close to the Oppo's but with tighter bass, but proper fit is important and I find long duration listening slightly uncomfortable. 

The problem I found with others giving advice, was that some people and dealers will 'wax lyrical' about product, and yet to my ears those might sound dire, during a recent 6 hour visit to hifi lounge in the UK, ( a long journey for me)  I tried most of the likely candidates and that really helped me to narrow down my list. This was the single most helpful exercise I did in choosing my latest set of phones.

Of the closed back phones I tried during my visit I liked the Fostex th-900 but these are quite a bit over your stated budget. IMO worth a listen.

I know this isn't going to help much but my latest selection are open back, I now have to pick my time to listen in order not to disturb others!

good luck with your search, a good pair of phones may be with you for a long time, choose well. :0)

Paul

Listen to as many different models within your budget range, as are practical. Headphones are a very personal experience.

Check massdrop, then have fostex at the moment

Best at that price point, easy to drive

+1 for the Beyers - pound for pound they are hard to beat.  The Shure SRH-1540 (on my head as I type) are also very much worth a listen.

I was a bit disappointed with the Beyers. Try to audition some of the wood Audio Technicas maybe...

Question again,get no answer the first time.

Bowers Wilkins P7,have always got very good "press".But nobody talks about them here,I have not heard them,has anyone ..... and if you have.What do you think about the P7.

Here in Sweden the price is 300£ for Bowers Wilkins P7

You will probably have gathered that headphones are very much one man's taste against another and it is very very very much a field in which there is no substitute for listening. I went through this quest a couple of years ago for something that would allow me to listen while working in the same room as others watching TV. At the time I was more bothered about blocking out the TV noise, but of late I've been happy to use semi open AKG 701's without annoying anyone else, for a more open sound than my Sound Magic HP100's.

The result of my quest was for closed back head phones was close sonically between GMP450's and Sound Magic HP100's. I went for the HP100's as they were 60% cost and about 90% SQ!

Neither of these are toward the top of your budget and either are worth a listen.
Sound Magic HP100 (replaced by the HP150's) are worth a listen and wiped the floor with the B&W P7's which sounded very contrived 'electrical', and tight. The German Maestro GMP 450 Pro's were really good open sounding, almost too neutral and if the Sound magic hadn't been such great VFM I've have saved for them. B_Lund's suggestion of Beyerdynamic DT770 are phones I would have liked to have tried before buying the AKG's but unfortunately there are no dealers without a flight from here.

I'd second Emre's recommendation of Massdrop as a place to buy and https://www.head-fi.org/ for all the latest in headphone reviews. That's where I spent time while in the headphone buying space, very much as I am here now while in the amp upgrade space. If I was buying headphones again I'd be buying the Massdrop 7XX they have been tuned to listeners requests but they are semi open. 

good luck and enjoy

I have a pair of P7s.  They look and feel great and smell wonderful - very classy, they make most other 'phones seem a bit low rent by comparison.  Oh, and they also sound good, really good (once broken in), although they do tend to give a bit of a bass lift  that some may not like so much.  However, their closed back design is great for blocking out noise so they are a good travel companion if I can accommodate something larger than the pocketable Sennheiser PX100s that are my normal travel-light option. I don't really use them at home though, preferring my old trusty open-backed Sennheiser HD600s.  However, the latter are probably a lot more demanding of a good headphone amp match than the relatively less fussy B&Ws.

I have the same amp ; xs2 and I'm quite satisfied with audioquest nighthawk. Sounding nice and they are very comfortable- I can listen them for hours. 

Skip posted:

Kevin Richardson posted:

Buy IEMs at that price point. Shure SE535 are very good.

These are what I use and they are very good.  

These are earphones, not headphones.   I used Etymotics ER4-S for many years but the Shures leave them in the shade.    I use them straight out of my iPad mostly and they need no amp.  I used the flanged not the foamed plugs shown above.   But they have great highs and midrange, and solid bass for something that will fit in your shirt pocket.  They also have to order an aftermarket Shure plug for the Apple Lighting cable that comes out of the new iPhone.

For the budget in question I would also second this choice. They put a lot of headphones in the shade. If you have the funds the 846's are a Dream, specially when you need also sub bass effects...

Peder posted:

Question again,get no answer the first time.

Bowers Wilkins P7,have always got very good "press".But nobody talks about them here,I have not heard them,has anyone ..... and if you have.What do you think about the P7.

Here in Sweden the price is 300£ for Bowers Wilkins P7

 

 

Hi

I have the P7s which I use infrequently with SuperUniti and now 272. They are comfortable, easy to listen to, terrific bass response - I like them.

I also now have Shure 846 earphones which I use with A&K Jr and Unitiqute2. Absolutely terrific bass response and overall accuracy, but a bit pricey!

Tim

Richard and Timmo1341 .

Thank you,now I have a good picture about the BW P7.

Maybe the new BW P9 can be a good option,anyone listen too them?

/Peder

I use P7 with my XS2, well made and good sound reproduction. Aimed at mobile use but just as suited for home set up.

I went through the same process a few months ago. Ended up buying a set of 800'S for the open back and Sure 1540 for closed back very comfortable and good sound. Also Sens i8 for in ear traveling with dragonfly red or chord mojo these make all the difference if listening using iPad or phone.

HKMAC I think you may have exceeded the OPs budget of £500.

True your right but not on the closed backs Shure 's which only cost about 400 pounds and reall good value I feel.  

I don't know about the 535s but I got my girlfriend a set of well reviewed 215s and was rather underwhelmed by the whole IEM experience. The sound is nowhere near as good as a similarly priced pair of Grado SR-60 and I find them a pain to wear. Maybe I'm too old school but this was the first and most likely the last set of IEMs I'll be buying. 

Anyhow...I own an XS 2 as well and I don't think it's worth spending too much on headphones unless you plan on getting a dedicated amp. I owned the Beyer DT-880 (250 ohm version) and found them to be extremely dull and lifeless through the XS 2. For the XS 2 what you should be looking for are inexpensive - mid priced, easy to drive headphones with a bit of a bump in the midbass/bass. Anything else will be a waste of money and a recipe for disappointment. The SRH840 would fit that description but I returned mine because they were too heavy and kept sliding off my head.

To be honest I'm not really into headphones that much so instead of spending on a dedicated amp I chose to sell my 880's and use an old pair of Grado SR-60s that I've owned forever. They're easy to drive, ''OK'' for music and excellent for TV and movies. So far the best experience I've had with headphones was a pair of Sennheiser HD600 but that was with a good quality dedicated amp. 

Not sure if someone mentioned the Nighthawks from Audioquest ?

These are probaply beeing replaced or discontinued soon, so often on sale, I'd love to hear whats the fuzz about with these

Semi closed and comfort second to none, extremely pleasant coherent sound if you read the reviews and trust them.

They are on my list when price are well below ordinary retail

b_lund posted:

Not sure if someone mentioned the Nighthawks from Audioquest ?

These are probaply beeing replaced or discontinued soon, so often on sale, I'd love to hear whats the fuzz about with these

Semi closed and comfort second to none, extremely pleasant coherent sound if you read the reviews and trust them.

They are on my list when price are well below ordinary retail

Yes, I did.  Very nice headphones. Purchased them with some discount.

The P7 Wireless are effectively the replacement for the P7's.  It is almost universal,y acknowledged that these new Wireless versions are a significant step up from the non wired versions.  Quite amazing if you think of it.

I own a pair of the P7W as well as the Focal Utopia and two others (Grado and B&O).  The P7W's are an exceptional pair of cans.  I found the P9's to not be a significant enough step up to warrant the additional expenditure.  They generate mixed opinions on Headfi.  B&W may also be having difficulty with them as they just lowered the price.

Gregg