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Need some advice on headphones. I currently have the Senn HD 555 and the HD 238 headphones. I love the sound quality of the 555, but the 238 sounds muffled to me. The only thing I don't like about the 555 is having to have the adapter to use it with my MBP or hackintosh. I was looking at the B&W P5, but read some not so good things about them over at Head-Fi. Basically I'd like the sound quality of the 555, but the convenience of it having the 1/8" jack. I will not be running a DAC, so something that sounds good straight from the computer is a must. Looking to spend somewhere between $1-200. Thank you in advance. :D

Edit: Source is ALAC on the desktop, with 256Kb AAC version on my MBP.
 
andymodem said:
Need some advice on headphones. I currently have the Senn HD 555 and the HD 238 headphones. I love the sound quality of the 555, but the 238 sounds muffled to me. The only thing I don't like about the 555 is having to have the adapter to use it with my MBP or hackintosh. I was looking at the B&W P5, but read some not so good things about them over at Head-Fi. Basically I'd like the sound quality of the 555, but the convenience of it having the 1/8" jack. I will not be running a DAC, so something that sounds good straight from the computer is a must. Looking to spend somewhere between $1-200. Thank you in advance. :D

Edit: Source is ALAC on the desktop, with 256Kb AAC version on my MBP.
Click to expand...

I had the Senn 595s a while back and I currently have the B&W p5.

The 238s are a good compromise for the size, but since you find them "muffled" I am guessing that the p5's might not be an answer for you. They are closed headphones so lack the soundstage and clarity that you might find compared to the 555s. To be fair, the members over at head-fi are a little more critical with their gear, so you have to take their advice with a grain of salt. They are looking for absolute sound quality, whereas most consumers are looking for a combination of convenience comfort and quality.

The Senn 555 perform good unamped..but they are more mellow in sound than a lot of the open aire offerings out there. Have you tried the senn px100 II? Or the Koss portapros? I think the px100 is favored better than the hd238s, and they have a 1/8" jack and are very portable. They will do well unamped from your mac, and iphone/ipod. They sound amazing by themselves and they are within your price range. Very awesome headphones that have great clarity.

You can check out my review on the p5s at here.
 
Hmm, maybe I'll just have to head over to the Columbia Apple store and demo the P5. They are a beautiful headphone. I'm certainly no audiophile like most of the "audiophiles" at Head-Fi so I can certainly see that they would probably be over critical of them. I can't even tell a difference between lossless and 256 AAC. :rolleyes:

Have not tried the PX100 II or the Koss's.

Any thoughts on the Sony MDR-V6?
 
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andymodem said:
Hmm, maybe I'll just have to head over to the Columbia Apple store and demo the P5. They are a beautiful headphone. I'm certainly no audiophile like most of the "audiophiles" at Head-Fi so I can certainly see that they would probably be over critical of them. I can't even tell a difference between lossless and 256 AAC. :rolleyes:

Have not tried the PX100 II or the Koss's.
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You should definitely check them out. Both are open aire so they would be better for listening in quiet environments, but they are very inexpensive yet rival some of the larger cans out there. I would pick up a pair just to try out since they are pretty cheap ($50ish).

The p5s would be ideal if you are going to be on the go alot, since they are closed and they can block out a good deal of noise, making these ideal for lets say busses, trains or whatever. They are mad expensive though.
 
EllisU said:
The amp in the background is a Ray Samuels P-51 mustang. I have had a few of Ray's amps and all have been dreams. As to pairing the amp with the JH 16s, I can't say with a straight face there is any real benefit. The 16s are incredibly sensitive and sound marvelous straight from the iphone. However, I own many other headphones and some - especially dynamic driver types - clearly need the amp to reach potential.

So, in short, the primary reason to own an external amp with JH16s is to balance out the background of any picture you take to post on message boards!
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peapody said:
Nice reply! There are a lot of people who amp IEMS, just for the sake of having an amp. I was guilty of that for some time, but have found that amping IEMS can really degrade the listening experience due to the already sensitive nature of IEMS. But since that is a ray samuels amp, I am pretty sure you knew that already. I'd agree that some headphones need it to really flourish though.
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On that note, I did express concern in this thread about amping my UE 18's, but after listening to them with and without an amp, I've determined that, at least to my ears, there is little to no distinguishable difference. Someone along the way made the point that musicians who wear IEM's on stage don't use amplifiers...they're plugged into a wireless direct box which likely does not have any internal amp. Makes sense to me.

That being said EllisU, however, I CERTAINLY appreciate your desire for elegant photograph composition. That creamy DOF is spectacular :eek:
 
My Grado RS2i Reference Headphones:
I also have a pair of Black Urbanears, and the Apple Earbud Headphones.
I'm pretty much smitten with these.

Grado.png
 
Haven't posted in this thread for a while. Just over a year ago, I bought a new pair of headphones to add to my collection - a pair of Lawton Audio MD5000. They start out as Denon AH-D5000, which then get modded. The result is rather impressive :).
 

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Just got these in today in a creme color which I'm not a fan of.
The new HD598
These have the most huge ear cups I've ever seen!
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Just got these today and the sound is nice and clear on my Mac, but on my iPod it's not the best. Probably have to pick me up a FiiO E5 as there not very loud nor do they sound all that, but they are wonderfully comfortable and they go completely around the ear.
 
The more I see these beats by dre the more I want them I hope there at least better than skullcandy. I'm a techno/electronic music man skullcandy didn't last that long
 
Just bought some 595's off of Amazon. Looking forward to them. I got burnt on some fake Beat's a month or two ago.
 
SchneiderMan said:
Not comfortable. I suggest you take a look at the Philips The Stretch.
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I just recently got the stretch by phillips. You can pick them up at your local best buy for $79.99 or off amazon for around $65. There wonderful headphones although they don't get to loud with an iPod the noise isolation is quite good. I'm going to pick up a FiiO E5 amp to help boost the sound a hair. For $20 why not?
 
NiKeZz said:
I just recently got the stretch by phillips. You can pick them up at your local best buy for $79.99 or off amazon for around $65. There wonderful headphones although they don't get to loud with an iPod the noise isolation is quite good. I'm going to pick up a FiiO E5 amp to help boost the sound a hair. For $20 why not?
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It's a pretty good little amp.
 
icloud said:
And the build quality is leaves much to be desired. Mine cracked after only a month.
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Customer service is awesome. Mine broke in 2 weeks and the earpiece just fell off. I called them and sent me a brand new pair. They shouldnt of broke but I have been on my second pair for almost a year now.
 
Picked up these Skullcandy Titans up today to go with my new iPod nano :D Also have had Sennheiser HD280s since July

Skullcandy-S2TTBZ-BZ-Titan-Earbuds-Black-0.jpg


sennheiser-hd280-1-sm.jpg
 
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