
The rise and rise of headphones - e15ctr0n
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-rise-and-rise-of-headphones-why-the-set-you-buy-isn-t-just-a-question-of-sound-quality-but-a6756396.html
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rplst8
The sad part about the headphone market - especially over the ear models - is
that the sound they produce is so far from natural, that no one knows what
thinks actually sound like anymore. Beats headphones are a perfect example and
are probably the worst offender of them all. This ends up affecting everyone -
even those of us who choose a pair of headphones that are "flat" or better at
being acoustically transparent. Just as recording and mastering engineers
learned to change the sound of their albums to sound better on small little
"boom boxes" in the 80's and early 90's, today they alter the sound so they
work on these grossly inaccurate headphones.

~~~
coldtea
> _Beats headphones are a perfect example and are probably the worst offender
> of them all._

Still Beats are much better than 99% of the headphones people use there,
especially cheapo in ear models, and most everything the mass market used with
their "walkmans" in the 80s and 90s.

~~~
Nav_Panel
I dunno. I've always been a big headphone evangelist, have owned a few pairs
of not-bad cans like the ATH-M50s and HD280Pros, but I've been using a $10
pair of IEMs lately (I think the first pair was Phillips and then I bought a
Sony pair). To my ears (and I'm fairly sensitive to this) they sound about 80%
as good as my ATH-M50s and they actually isolate a little better. I'd assumed
most earbuds would be awful tinny pieces of plastic like the Apple earbuds but
I was blown away. I suggest giving it a shot if you have $10 to experiment
with potentially large convenience gains for only a mild loss in fidelity.

~~~
coldtea
I have a $180 pair of in-ears, an ATH-M50s and a AKG pair and I don't think
the in-ears go anywhere near these (which while monitor-grade, they're not
really high end monitor headphones). As for cheap in-ears, I never had much
luck with any model.

~~~
dharma1
soundmagic e10 are pretty good as far as cheapie IEM's go.

I use mainly Sennheiser HD650 for audio work but for listening the
soundmagic's are pretty nice. I use them with Comply foams to block out some
noise and get a tighter fit/better bass

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golergka
I work professionally with audio to some extent, and I can hear the difference
between 320 and wav in some cases (on my own home setup, of course) — but if a
layperson asks, I'd advice them to buy Beats instead of professional monitor
headphones which have better sound quality for less money. It's simple: if you
can't tell the difference between 192 and 256, and are going to listen to
Spotify stream anyway, it makes more sense to invest more into the appearance
than in sound.

~~~
irremediable
How do Beats compare to e.g. the cheapest Sennheiser cans?

My go-to headphones are the HD201, which you can get for about $30. They're
the best headphones/earphones I've ever used, but I'm no audiophile, as you
can tell from that fact.

~~~
golergka
How do you compare?

Beats look a lot better, for once.

~~~
falcolas
I disagree - I think the Sennheiser HD201 cans look pretty decent. Now
granted, they don't have the Beats logo on them, but they do have the
Sennheiser logo.

Even better, they sound good too.

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dharma1
What I would like are in-ears that almost completely block outside noise. With
some better foam to physically block out the noise, and better noise canceling
algorithms, maybe with deep learning. Saw this for cars but nothing for
headphones yet

[http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-
think/transportation/huma...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-
think/transportation/human-factors/mitsubishi-quiets-car-noise-for-your-
ohsoimportant-phone-calls)

~~~
rjsw
I have a set of Etymotic Research earphones, they don't do noise cancelling,
all the noise reduction is from the design of the plug.

[1]
[https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html](https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html)

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bluedino
A few years back I worked in an open office setting and I went a little
headphone crazy. I bought 4 pairs of over the ear headphones, and 5 pairs of
in-ear headphones. I read all the forums and reviews. I even bought two
headphone amps!

I ended up with a pair for home, pair for travel, pair for work, and a pair
that go in my laptop case. I gave the other pairs to friends and family.

Headphone preference is just as much a personal preference as it is picking
the 'best' ones. Some just aren't comfortable on certain shape/size heads or
ears. You might just not like how certain pairs sound.

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tasdev
I bought a pair of B&W P7s for $349 (AUD, RRP is $649). I was fortunate to get
mates rates on a clearance item. Had been thinking about it for a while. The
sound quality is incredible and you certainly can justify spending money here
if you're at all passionate about audio. I listen to a lot of lossless with
them and they sound superb.

Conversely, from listening to Beats I've found them to be overly cheap feeling
and the sound quality isn't on par with their competition.

------
wyclif
How do audiophile consumers rate and rank over-ear headphones? I'm wondering
what criteria they use. I'm talking about good quality cans for listening to
music, not fashion statements.

I'm sure this has been discussed on HN before.

~~~
comfycans
I'm not an audiophile (as I understand the perjorative, anyway) but I have
spent a long time (20+ years) wearing headphones professionally. Yes, often at
a desk, but also in the field or in a theater monitoring recording or
playback.

What I look for is simple: comfort, durability, isolation (in both
directions), neutrality. In that order.

Comfort - I swear by circumaural designs. Some people apparently don't have a
problem with pads resting on the pinna, but I find this painful after an hour
or two. Isolation is also worse with supra-aural designs.

Durability - most headphones break quickly. The cables are usually the first
to go, around the strain relief on either end. I've had some pairs that used a
1/8" minijack on one of the earpieces, making the cable replaceable - until
the jack failed and couldn't be replaced without breaking open the earpiece.
Good headphones will survive any reasonable drop; really good ones will
survive being drop-kicked.

Isolation - if you can't hear the signal over environmental noise, why bother
monitoring? If you're recording or working in a theatrical environment, you
don't want your headset audio leaking out either. In an office setting, nobody
wants to hear your music, no matter how awesoem your jams are. Closed-ear
designs are the way to go.

Neutrality - Relatively flat frequency response. But this is way down the list
of priorities for me. A great sounding set of headphones that breaks after 2
months, or is uncomfortable to wear, or doesn't block the sound of your
workstation's fans is not a great set of headphones.

tl;dr - Beyerdynamic DT250 is my headset of choice. My current pair is almost
15 years old and the only thing that's failed on them is the pleather on the
headband, which has fallen off its fabric backing. Still on the original
earpads and cable, and they're as good as the day I bought them. Stay away
from consumer brands and models; like fast-fashion clothes, they are not built
to last.

(This is also why you should buy your cookware from a restaurant supply store,
not williams-sonoma.)

~~~
falcolas
To offer a counterpoint - I use a set of cans with no isolation at all. I
prefer the broader sound stage (it feels more like an open air concert than a
band in your bedroom) that the open cans offer.

I purchased a set of HIFIMan cans with planar drivers on sale for around $500,
and I haven't looked back. They sound better than any other >$1000 cans I've
listened to, bar none.

That said, they offer no isolation whatsoever, so you do need a quiet
environment in which to use them.

