572 replies to this topic

[Trent Bennett]

I heard a pair of Bose once in Best Buy. At the time I had my big Sony MDR V-6 headphones with me and tested them against those. The Bose honestly sounded like shit in comparison. I don't know if I could ever justify spending a lot of money for a pair of Bose headphones.

I think the MDR V-7506 headphones you posted earlier Jay are ones that Joe (Data) has. I would recommend those.

[Alexcremers]

I dunno ..bose?

Briefly tried the Triports..urgh

Well, I never heard the Triports but those are not the AE2, which apparently has a different sound signature. I simply wanted to point out that no other headphones sit as comfortable as the AE2 and that the sound (at the Bose stand) was pretty good. Very balanced except for the trickery with the bass region, which I already mentioned. For half the price I would buy them precisely for the qualities they offer (extreme comfort, sound isolation and a pretty well balanced sound except for the bass thingy). I let my ears be the judge and not their bad reputation with audiophiles. Heck, i think I'm an audiophile compared to most people here. Of course, I never tested the AE2 in a different situation (never on my own equipment, for example) so maybe Bose 'tunes' the sound at the Bose stand so they come across as 'pretty good' and enjoyable. The Beats, now those are hideous! Their bass is so over-the-top that it simply overpowers everything else. Not as comfortable either, BTW.


Alex

[Datameister]

I heard a pair of Bose once in Best Buy. At the time I had my big Sony MDR V-6 headphones with me and tested them against those. The Bose honestly sounded like shit in comparison. I don't know if I could ever justify spending a lot of money for a pair of Bose headphones.

I think the MDR V-7506 headphones you posted earlier Jay are ones that Joe (Data) has. I would recommend those.

Yeah, I have the MDR-7506 headphones, and they're absolutely fantastic. Very durable, very comfortable, and - most importantly - they sound great. Very clear, accurate sound. Great for both editing and listening. Just know that the pads will probably wear out after a while, and you'll want to replace them. Sony sells replacements, or you can do what I did and buy Beyerdynamic pads instead. After getting accustomed to the way these feel and sound with the different pads, I think I like them even better this way.

And yes, as Stefan put it, Bose is the Satan of the audiophile world. I wouldn't quite consider myself an honest-to-goodness audiophile, but I know that those who do qualify are universally disgusted with Bose. Slick marketing and not much else. I haven't been impressed with what little I've heard.

[Koray Savas]

The Bose QuietComfort 15s are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. They're over-the-ear, light, and perfect noise cancellation. I don't know how they compare with all the little tidbits you guys look for, but I plan on getting them eventually.

Beats and anything else by Monster are ridiculously overpriced. My discount cuts their cost in half; with the QuietComforts, I get around $80 off.

[king mark]

Noise cancellation = distortion in the music(or impression that something is "missing" ). I can hear it

I'm not very sensitive to slight pitch changes( like in the ToD Concord c.d.), but I'm sensitive to slight tonal changes and ambiance alteration.

[Trent Bennett]

Noise cancellation = distortion in the music(or impression that something is "missing" ). I can hear it

I've never noticed distortion in the music when listening to my V-Moda Octave earbuds.

[king mark]

yeah that's not the same, it's noise blocking/isolation (like my Shure earphones)

I'm talking active noise cancellation with a circuit you turn on (battery operated)

[Alexcremers]

And yes, as Stefan put it, Bose is the Satan of the audiophile world. I wouldn't quite consider myself an honest-to-goodness audiophile, but I know that those who do qualify are universally disgusted with Bose. Slick marketing and not much else. I haven't been impressed with what little I've heard.

Of course, but some audiophiles say that's a typical overreaction like some smartphone-philes like to bitch on Apple. It's like they believe that by in doing so it gives them some sort of credibility. Some people never heard them but simply ape the bitching. Most people don't have good ears. That's why the beats are the most popular headphones on the market.

[king mark]

I'm probably more audiophile than I think. I know if the sound is missing something or overly colored even if I can't describe it in technical terms.

[Alexcremers]

Audiophiles don't listen to PC speakers, KM.

[Datameister]

Of course, but some audiophiles say that's a typical overreaction like some smartphone-philes like to bitch on Apple. It's like they believe that by in doing so it gives them some sort of credibility. Some people never heard them but simply ape the bitching. Most people don't have good ears. That's why the beats are the most popular headphones on the market.

Naturally. Whenever a group of people start complaining enough about something (especially something that's popular), there will be folks who jump on the bandwagon. Doesn't invalidate the original genuine complaints, though. (Again, I can't offer too much in the way of personal opinions here - I haven't used Bose products very often.)

I will say that comfort, noise-canceling ability, and stylish looks are far less important to me than the actual sound the headphones produce. I'd rather listen to pristine sound in a quiet room while looking like a dork and feeling a little pressure around my ears than comfortably listen to crappy sound in noisy environments while looking cool.

[king mark]

Audiophiles don't listen to PC speakers, KM.

I don't. I'm always on headphones

[king mark]

I listened to a few demos at the store on my ipod (Tintin tracks I know what sounds like on several sources)

These 300$ headphones are good, but about the same as my in-ear Shure SE215 and Grado SR-60's

http://www.futuresho...5efec8cd87ben02

There was some "Adidas-Sennheisers" that sounded a bit tinny

And the Bose sounded REALLY like crap with my music (strangely on the Bose Demo stand with the pre-programmed music they sound good, but I think the music is heavily equalized to hide all the flaws)

[Alexcremers]

The Grados should sound much brighter than the P5s. I do think the B&W headphones are a beautiful thing to behold but we already discussed this. It ended up with me being the only one who liked their aesthetics while the rest of JWfan was more into this model:




Alex

[king mark]

yes your right for the lack of bass in the Grados. I have to put the itunes eq on bass boost for them to sound just right (the eq doesn't mess with the rest of the sound in this case)

I'd have to listen to the 60i's to see if they really fixed that

[Alexcremers]

Dr. Dre and David Guetta have joined forces:


Beats Mixr



Guetta says that these are the best headphones he has ever heard, no matter what music or how loud he plays, there's no distortion.


What are we waiting for?!


Alex

[Stefancos]

Who and who?

[Marian Schedenig]

Regarding the maximum peak discussion on the previous page: If your player supports replaygain, no manual normalisation is necessary. Every player (hardware and software) should support technology like this, but I guess most don't.

The concept is simple: replaygain once scans each track in your collection and then stores its peak amplitude in an ID3 tag, so the player can immediately determine the required normalisation factor without re-scanning the file. The player then does normalisation on the fly when playing the file. There are three modes: Off (no normalisation), track (each track is fully normalised) and album (all tracks from the same album are normalised by the same factor).

I thought Bose was the Audiophile version of Satan?

From what I've read, they're the non-audiophile version of Satan.

[king mark]

What's the technical description for headphones that have a "hollow" sound or like brass instruments that sound "pinched"?


That's an automatic elimination in my books

[Datameister]

I might use the word "hollow" to describe headphones that are too quiet in the mid-ranges, and "pinched" could describe headphones that are too treble-heavy.

[king mark]

Yeah so it might be that most cheap headphones are missing something in the midrange. I guess it takes only a dip somewhere in the frequency response curve to make the instruments sound altered. That's almost impossible to correct with an EQ

Maybe it's not too noticeable on pop music and electronic music because the reference of how the instrument should sound like is not as set in your mind.


I don't get that with Grado SR-60. Even if the bass is not as deep as I'd like and the higher end models have better "room dynamics" ,nothing is missing in the basic sound


I tried the Bowers and Wilkins P5's again with several tracks I know well. They're ok but not amazing. Not worth 300$ .Switching back and forth, my in ear Shure SE215 were better

[Datameister]

The terrible thing is, once you spend enough time listening on great headphones, they just become normal to you, and everything else sounds horrible. When I first started listening to music on my Sony MDR-7506's, it was like rediscovering all these recordings. I could hear things I'd never heard before...it was amazing. Now I just expect music to sound that way.

[king mark]

ok well it's another model for me to check out after all. It's weird if those Sony's are so great that they don't sell them in any store I can directly go to at and I'd have to special order/import them online

[king mark]

So I went to the Sony store directly to try the MDR-7506's (also re-packaged as as Sony MDR-V6 ).They had demos you could try and I spend 1/2 hour trying them out

Data's right they sound really good with balanced sound and no obvious coloration. They edge slightly in musical detail ( but not by much) the Grado SR-60. But the highs on the Sony 7506 /V6 are a bit ear piercing I found, and by reading some stuff I wonder if the treble might not be too fatiguing for long listening sessions:


http://www.anythingb...ead.php?t=63814


http://www.head-fi.o...-a-closed-grado

[Datameister]

Glad you agree - they're fantastic cans. The high end definitely isn't dull, which I suppose could get a little taxing for some, though it never gave me any problems. It's pretty subtle. And if you replace the pads with the ones from Beyerdynamic, it actually improves the bass response and calms the treble just a little, which I find to be a bit of an improvement.

[king mark]

So far I haven't found them in a big box store where they don't give a crap if you return them, only small boutiques where they don't take returns so easily. I definitely would like to try them a week before making a final decision

I've also concluded that all the 300$ models I was looking at need an amp to sound good (Sennheiser 558's and 598's for example)

[king mark]

I'm going to bring my ipod again to the Sony store with a wider selection of tracks and try the Sony 7506 again tomorrow.

If they pass my second listening test I will purchase a pair

[Jason LeBlanc]

You know if you want to buy them from a place you can return them easily they are available on amazon right?

Sony MDR7506

EDIT: Amazon.CA link for you http://www.amazon.ca...F4E/jwfancom-20

[king mark]

i didn't even know amazon.ca started to sell electronics

[Marian Schedenig]

I'm still amazed whenever I put on my K701. But they definitely need an amp.

[Alexcremers]

Did you get that Quincy Jones one, Marian? I mean, you gotta have that green cable!

[Marian Schedenig]

What?

[Alexcremers]

[Marian Schedenig]

Nah, Plain white.

[Stefancos]

Ugly!

[king mark]

I bought the Sony 7506

1sr impressions on my computer

Louder at equal volume than Grado-SR60 , definitely no amp needed . They are even loud enough on an ipod nano
Seem to sound perfect at all frequencies with the EQ at FLAT (they aren't that bright to me as some people on forums have said) My Grados require that I put the itunes EQ on Bass Boost (either way the Sony's sound a bit better and fuller) . Just want to make it clear the Grados aren't a clear loser though.
1 cord design is less tangle, but I don't like that it's coiled because it adds weight
Seem very solidly built

I'll listen more .I tend to notice the negatives on headphones after a few days like if there's something annoying in the sound when listening to them a lot

it could possibly be something I'd want to keep for years with no further upgrades.

[Jason LeBlanc]

AWESOME, thanks for that review Mark. Sounds like I have decided on my headphones!!

[Wojo]

The 7506 were the runners-up to the model that I selected last spring, some type of AudioTechnica.

[Datameister]

Woo hoo...sounds like these classic headphones have won over a couple of new fans! I agree that the coiled cord can be a little bulky, KM, but boy, is it nice to be able to get up from my computer, walk all the way across the room, open the window, and come back without having to take the headphones off. That thing is LONG! And they are indeed very solidly built - I've heard of some professionals using a single pair for decades. The pads are sure to wear out, like I've said, but all the other components are built to last, and the pads are easy enough to replace. And as you said, no amp is needed...these headphones can actually get very, very loud if you're not careful.

[king mark]

I'll be doing more listening back and forth between these and the Grados in the next few days

It's more like Sony7506 with flat EQ vs Grado SR-60's with Bass Boost EQ. The Sony 7506 do have an initial wow factor but the winner is not as clear cut as I initially thought

In favor of the Grados the highs are less fatiguing to listen to , the mids are a bit warmer (lush string passages sound nicer) and the sound is slightly more spacious due to the open air design.

All the other advantages go to the Sony's for now. I'll let them play all night to break them in a bit.