Comments on: QOTD: Cover your ears

By: QOTD: Mobile music? | PDA-247

QOTD: Mobile music? | PDA-247 — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:03:04 +0000

[...] vocal, and informative, on the subject of mobile music quality and the best equipment to use (see here) , and it would be interesting to follow this up and find out what music you like listening to on [...]

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:19:45 +0000

@ jah neat setup

@ Donald afraid not. Can you imagine the space
needed:) lol and not having no room for furniture

By: Donald

Donald — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:31:44 +0000

@gavinfabl Mouth hanging open! I don’t even know what to say to a set up like that! My hat off to you, sir, for such an elabourate setup! Do you still have any of that equipment?

@Jah – Cool! Please report back and let us know what you think of them. Just remember what I said about the tips – if they come with the Comply’s, use them. Your ears will thank you!

By: jah

jah — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:54:00 +0000

@Gavin, wow i did ‘t know about your hifi heritage. I still have a Linn LP12 and Naim setup.

@Donald, ordered the UE headphones!

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:59:35 +0000

When I had my first flat (apartment) I had 3 racks of hifi equipment , floor standing speakers , 2 inch wide speaker cable -and a sofa bed and one shelf. I had nothing else lol . I finally ended up with a pre and power amp combo, capable of delivering a peak of 2000w per channel! However , such was the immense current I rarely needed to go more than 3 watts per channel to totally fill the room with sound. To give you an idea at 30 w per channel anything on my shelf would vibrate off the power amp was so heavy it needed 4 people to lift it!

Those were the days. And the best part, I had no neighbours and could enjoy my music fully.

By: Donald

Donald — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:32:31 +0000

@gavinfabl Hee hee. I have audiophile ears but an earbud budget! I could never really afford to be an audiophile, and when I was in the Navy (I’m retired) I moved too much to want to risk the USN destroying expensive equipment during a move (even if I could have afforded it). I do know about break-in and with both my on-ear cans, I’ve done exactly that and it does seem to make a difference – more so with the Senns than with the Grados. I’ve seen arguments back and forth about breaking in IEMs depending on whether they were balanced armature or not (I forget the name of the other armature type) but honestly I don’t find that the sound sig on my IE-40′s has changed one bit from the day I first bought them 2 years ago.

Thanks for the info on decibels. (I guess I really should read my back issues of Stereophile magazine!). That’s something I’ll keep in mind when I buy my next set of high-end cans.

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:36:24 +0000

@ Donald you don’t , other than kids impact budget restraints and when they were babies I couldn’t bear them poking their fingers into my speakers and Class A Amps, so I sold them and got baby proof equipment. The db rating allows for more energy per decibel. So even a 32 ohm speaker
can sound good if a high db. The other thing I have done is play music loud for 1 week continuous on the sennheisers to make them better. Due to
the nuances and quality of the iPhone 4. , I now believe that betters cans will be worth it. Seen some other reviews on the Sony cans that say subtle music is crap on them . I listen to everything so need a good all rounder.

By: Donald

Donald — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:06:08 +0000

@gavinfabl I didn’t address the dB issue mainly because I just don’t know enough about it to offer an intelligent opinion! I’m not sure why most cans have a 32 ohm impedance, but I’m sure there is a good reason and my only beef with that is that you have to turn the volume up higher therefore risking distortion and having a negative impact on battery life. It’s good to know that the HD415s have that impedance and drive well with the iPhone 4.

Since owning iPods (I have two – a 5G 80GB that I use exclusively in the car and a 160GB classic that I use in the house) I don’t use my mobile phones for music because of the space restrictions. Since I rip at Apple Lossless the files are huge and I have a LOT of music (over 100 gigs of music alone) that just won’t fit on a phone. And I hate having to chose which songs to put on the phone and having to rotate them out. So I just don’t put any on the phone at all. However, you have piqued my curiosity and now I’m going to have to put some on my iPhone 4 to compare the sound quality!

I gotta tell you that phones that offer ‘enhanced’ bass are anathema to me! I find that those cans tend to overemphasise the bass and it often comes out muddy sounding and the higher freqs get sacrificed. I know a LOT of folks like that, and more power to them, but no thanks!

Interesting that you say you’re an ex-audiophile. How do you stop being one!

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:00:43 +0000

The sonys are mdrxb700.

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:56:56 +0000

@ Donald. As an ex audiophile I think the db does makes a difference . Anything under say 105db could start to lack a pulse. I currently use a pair of Sennheiser HD415. They are 32ohm and 110db and sound awesome with the iPhone 4. Interesting neither my iPod Touch 2g or iPad can get near the sheer brilliance of the iPhone 4. I really think you ought to
see if you can try one with your cans. My ear canals are an old pair of Sonys which were about £70 new. Quite good too.

Has anyone tried the big Sony Headphones that say extra bass. Cost about £60 . Lots of great reviews .

By: Donald

Donald — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:56:35 +0000

@AndrewP A lot of people like the Senn CX-300 and I’ve never heard them, but I’m told they’re really bass-heavy. A lot of what you choose in a can has to do with the sound signature you’re looking for and the type of music you’re listening to. I look for balance across the entire hearable frequency range where no one area of the range is artificially enhanced. But on the other hand, I don’t want absolutely neutral phones either (they tend to sound bland to me). Since I listen to mostly classical and orchestral music balance is essential and the Grados are probably best in that department. However for classic rock I prefer the Senns or the IE-40′s which both have more punch to them. Buying earphones is a dark science you know! Most people from what I can see just stick with what comes with their player/phone. But once you get past those, the choices are myriad and confusing. I’ve spent more money than I care to admit looking for the perfect set of cans, and have settled on the three I’ve mentioned.

By: Donald

Donald — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:43:41 +0000

@Gavinfabl Yes, you’re correct about the ohms, although I’m not sure about the dBs. Most cans are 24-32 ohms and the lower the resistance, obviously the more the volume. For IEMs, 32 ohms seems to work well given how they are basically jammed in your ear. But for on-ear cans, I find that you really need to crank up the volume more to get the same level of sound. Every set of cans I’ve owned has always been 32 ohms, and like I said, for IEMs this is fine. I wish they would lower the resistance on on-ear cans to 24 though just so you don’t have to crank them up so far to get decent volume.

By: AndrewP

AndrewP — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:30:28 +0000

If you are looking for in-ear phones, I think the Sennheiser CX-300s are an absolute steal on Amazon at the moment – £14. The 400s are on at £20 but I can’t comment on the quality as I don’t have a pair.

By: Alison

Alison — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:15:32 +0000

IMO the stock iPhone earphones are easy to beat because they just don’t fit in my ears! I’ve got bizarrely small ears and those earbud earphones just don’t work for me at all. I have to have the in-ear-canal earphones and even then with the smallest rubbery attachments. I also own 2 pairs of Sennheiser PX200 headband over-earphones which I use in the office and at home. For travel and out and about, I have a set of Philips HN060 noise cancelling headphones, which I love because they have a cord so they hang round your neck, so the weight of the battery/control unit doesn’t hang off the earbuds.

By: gavinfabl

gavinfabl — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:23:04 +0000

Thanks Donald.

I also though the ohms make a difference vs decibels ie 32 ohmns and a higher rating on the sounds per whatever it’s meant to be . So a pair of headphones at 32 ohmns and 110 db vs 16 ohmns and 110db, the 16 ohmns should have more energy, converting into more punch , less volume needed, more musical impact and the iPod should be able to drive the music with ease. So if you had 2 pairs of 16 ohmns the higher db value in theory should sound better. I think that is correct.