[Balls of Steel Forever]

I'm a fanatic of almost everything that my hands can lay themselves upon and enjoy, so...

Anyways I'm a huge flan of flats,
I've tried other headphones with prejudicial sound signatures,
I get why they exist,
They target the audience that they were made for.

and they obviously just don't mesh well with my,
large variety of musical tastes.
As a wise man once said
"“My dear sir, there is no such distinction as you suppose between Italian, German, French music; there are only two kinds of music, good and bad.”

And obviously what determines good or bad is very subjective to the individual.
But I do my best to switch from avant garde ambient classical a la the likes of john cage
to the heart ripping Noise EDM of Hypnoskull
So the prejudicial sound signatures aren't really for me,
worst comes to worst which I never do anyways is use the B&O equalizer that came with my laptop.

My first legit headphones before I had any idea of quality,
were $10 MTV headphones from a Marshalls
Despite the price and the branding they did the job,
I can't remember their sound quality,
but I do remember them introducing me to a new fanaticism

So I did research,
quite a bit of research,
mainly looking for the most common headphone for studio reference,
Because accuracy was something I knew I had wanted because my music taste was very broad,
and I didn't want a sound that was, again, prejudicial towards certain genres,
as even though I lean towards certain genres and styles, I don't listen to them all the time.

And eventually came across Sony MDR 7506s
been in the market for well over 30 years
Been made the same way
See them in studios everywhere

Fuck it, bought 'em
And god those literally changed my sight on music,
everything was cleaner,

It was like when you get in a heated argument with someone,
and you both hear the voice of reason,
calm down,
hug,
and agree to disagree as there was no reason to display that anger in the first place.

Those headphones have survived years of abuse,
and still keep working as if I just got them a month ago,
I've borrowed other peoples more expensive headphones, beats, skull candies, did those bestbuy, airport, and walmart tests
like everyone does,
the garden varieties

and it just didn't compare
Over a couple years of improper care the speaker wire has started to show
and although they still work
and I still come back to them sometimes

I decided it was time to get a new pair, or pairs
The main issue I had with the sonys due to large drivers (Don't cite me on this)
weren't comfortable for port-abilities sake
although definitely can be used as such
I wouldn't recommend it

So again find a brand that's more portability focused, and cheap,
Koss porta pros

They did their job and were good enough in my opinion,
comfortable light and better sound then any headphone in that price range.
Not as good as the Sonys from my experience
but good enough.

Now we need a home pair,
had my eye on hifimans for a while as
they're known for a neutral sound
just typically outside my price range.

Saw the HE 4XX for a reasonable price on drop
And though they were good,
and I liked them,

they were not the same sound signature I grew to love so much

between this time I also tried the aftershokz air
and the koss KPH30i

the air were great for their niche, just honestly, I lost them,
realized that portable headphones that expensive and that small
were not my forte

The koss KPH30i
is a step up in sound, build, comfort, and flatness,
above the porta pros
and are roughly half the price
so I definitely suggest those if you want a pair of good, cheap, reliable portable headphones

And I bought a portable laptop oriented mini dac/amp
Centrance Dac port HD
that yes this is unnecessary for my use

As an amp will never be needed to be used for the headphones that I own.
And a dac isn't necessary either per se, but I wanted something that could be consistent across devices and drive consistent flat sound
and greater compatibility
and didn't want any biases that were present with the integrated dac on my laptop to be present

And centrances dacport hd definitely did that,
so I would reccomend

Haven't tried any other DACs though,
mainly due to expense,
so have a very biased opinion.

So it all came down to finding a headphone with a similar signature to the MDR 7506s
that didn't sound too much like the HE 4XXs
and were reasonabilish priced

Didn't want to go the HIFIMAN route again, as those get beyond ridiculous price wise,
have tried sennheiser they weren't for me

Bose doesn't release it's specs, because they say headphones can't be measured solely on specs
which is true there are other factors, alot of other factors,
but it is partially based on specs,
so I consider the bose fanbase to be mostly BS

I didn't want earbuds and knew of etymotics,
but decided firmly against them as they don't reach the hearing limit of 20khz
and fall short at 16khz
Due to being as flat as humanly possible
and they were earbuds
and I hate earbuds

However I caved in
As I was going to buy koss's electrostatic system from drop at the time
but removing the option of portability entirely was just not an option for me
.
after reading glowing reviews for the ER4SR
No reviewer noticing the missing highs in the music,
I bought a pair

This is the apex
No more searching
I am satisfied

They have better noise cancelling then earbuds for the gun range.
And the accuracy of the sound
is like, idk, what you imagine a sine wave on a oscilloscope would sound like

Easy to clean,
replaceable parts,
comes with a hard case with multiple ear plug options
can go crazy and get a custom fit
which is totally unnecessary
the whole shabang.

Although way more expensive then my other choices,
it was worth it.

[Hank]

As for music, it's simpler for me, I either like it or don't, does not matter if it is good or bad.

I prefer speakers over a headphone, though. However, what do you do for gaming? Speakers wont work for too long; it drives my girl bonkers, and I need her sane.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Hank, on 24 August 2020 - 07:53 PM, said:

As for music, it's simpler for me, I either like it or don't, does not matter if it is good or bad.

I prefer speakers over a headphone, though. However, what do you do for gaming? Speakers wont work for too long; it drives my girl bonkers, and I need her sane.

I play single player and arcade games mostly so it's a rarity for me to need an inline speaker.
I've always used my 7506s with the play station camera as a speaker, or my laptop speaker.
I mainly play old af games,
indie adventures,
and stuff.
Any new games I have a ps4 pro.
I rarely even touch that thing though
it has a sad existence.

If it can't play pac man championship edition,
and Duke Nukem 3D
those are the only pc requirements I care about

loss of focus, and situational awareness with competitive gaming aren't a good combo.
I think my k/d ratio in most games online before things even got serious was like 0.033

3D became muscle memory
and so has pac man so.
it is what it is.

And since I'm more music oriented I've never touched surround sound headphones,
as music isn't recorded with surround sound headphones most of the time

So I can't have an opinion on those

The good convenience of aftershokz (I've tried the titanium $80 and the air, $120 and they're both very good) is that you have an option,
since the headphones work through bone conduction
They don't block your ears, so you can still hear your speakers perfectly fine
and still have very good chat audio through the headphones
the mic also works fairly well, better on the air though.

Also optimal for fitness
biking
running
whatever

If you want to go the traditional route
and save some money
Koss KPH30i $30
good headphones
functional mic
it's not very good,
but it does it's job.

Koss portapros
can be purchased
with an inline mic
for $60
usually can find them for $10 to $20 cheaper though
better mic
less build quality then the kph30i
but they can fold up and you can fit them in your pocket
assuming you're average size

These are the cheapest best sounding headphones
you can get for those prices
they beat out beats in sound quality most of the time
(my personal opinion is that anything beats beats in sound quality but i digress)
however no noise cancelling
and there's some sound leakage with the portapros
not too much though that it annoys everyone within a 2 meter radius


If I was to recommend the best headset brand to go with,
again I have never tried any surround sound headphones
would be sennheiser, I don't hate them they're just not me.
But most brands sacrifice the drivers or speakers or something
to cut the cost of a headset.

which is why I typically don't buy headsets
as you can probably tell
sound sacrifice to me is blasphemy

But sennheiser seems to do a very good job with it's gaming headsets
and carries a very good reputation in the headphone community from low end headsets
to high end headsets

they compete with the cheap guys

and the people like hifiman that sell a $50000 pair of headphones
and somehow show off specs that are representative of that.

Audio technica
and AKG
which have good reputation for mid range headphones
have awful reputation for head sets

sennheiser doesn't carry that

and fuck bose.
they're pretentious.
Alternatives to sennheiser

would be creative labs/soundblaster, and corsair
They both are known for good gaming headsets, I just don't touch them as I'm a music guy,
so I have no personal experience
but their headsets seem to be reputable with gamers

Also the sennheiser/hifiman
who can make the most expensive headphones war
is a curiosity that I'll never understand

I hope I helped

I know I ramble
I'll ramble for hours over certain things
Bringing up caffeine and fatburger are the worst possible things
But, I hope I helped

[jkas789]

I don't know anything about headphones, but I like my Bose Quiert Comfort. They sound good enough for what I need. And personally I prefer having a dedicated music player, so I bought a Sony walkman A40.

[DNSkill]

I'm not an iWhore or anything but I was gifted Airpods this past XMas. I've been able to get them to sync with things beyond the iPhone, and find them to work just fine for music or video watching. I just needed a Bluetooth dongle for my laptop to get them to work with my PC.

Idk, Apple is known to be overpriced and this and that, but I've noticed that most of the "gaming" marketed stuff is also overpriced and usually only marginally better than the inexpensive stuff you can get at a store like Walmart. Maybe it's just my ears but I find that the real thing to look out for is the quality of construction, especially if they are wired, and the way the headphones fit your ears.

Back to music though, if I'm not doing cardiovascular exercises where I have to be on the move, I tend to prefer to not have headphones in my ears and would rather have the music playing on a speaker. It has nothing to do with showing off my music tastes, as I usually do this in isolation. It might sound like I barely use them, but that's not true at all. I have them in my ears quite often, even when nothing is playing, because it gives people the impression that I am not interested in human interaction or conversation, and keeps people from bothering me. I can even pretend to be on the phone with these since they work as a phone piece too. It honestly has been a great gift, but I don't know if I'd ever buy them myself.

Gaming I don't usually use them because I don't usually need to. I can use the speakers. I will say it can be nice in some games if you're playing online, but with single player I don't see the point usually. I don't like talking while playing games, it just annoys me. Unless it's between friends or something like that, that's one thing, but on a public place I always mute all the other players so I don't hear 9 year olds from the UK calling me names for killing their characters in game. It's funny when you see it happen to someone else, but it is just annoying when it happens to me.

My PSA on headphones is that I think anyone who uses headphones while driving are just as dangerous as people that drive drunk , high, and texting/phoning while driving. Sight isn't the only important aspect to travel. If your phone suddenly goes off it could make you lose control if the sound spooks you. Besides... it's a fucking ride... use the speakers or upgrade the speakers if you want loud. Those can always be replaced and upgraded but if you get in a wreck and live then better hope you have good insurance, because good luck explaining to the courts that you couldn't hear because you had headphones in your ears. Otherwise, yeah, speakers and headphones can be replaced, but your insides all over the road might not be replaceable.

Also, ever seen The Terminator? The girl in the apartment could've survived had she not had those headphones so loud, her boyfriend had no chance though.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

jkas789, on 25 August 2020 - 07:54 AM, said:

I don't know anything about headphones, but I like my Bose Quiert Comfort. They sound good enough for what I need. And personally I prefer having a dedicated music player, so I bought a Sony walkman A40.

It's ok to like bose.

I just don't like the fact that they don't release frequency response specifications

The only reason one would do this is because their frequency response
doesn't hold up to other headphones or speakers

Yes, there are 3rd party measurements for bose audio equipment
and their specs typically hold up

But the idea that you have to go to a 3rd party for things that bose should provide themselves just seems wrong to me

And it's a bit shady that you have to go to a third party in the first place
as they are not held to the same standards as a manufacturer

gerolf, on 25 August 2020 - 01:07 PM, said:

I'm not an iWhore or anything but I was gifted Airpods this past XMas. I've been able to get them to sync with things beyond the iPhone, and find them to work just fine for music or video watching. I just needed a Bluetooth dongle for my laptop to get them to work with my PC.

Idk, Apple is known to be overpriced and this and that, but I've noticed that most of the "gaming" marketed stuff is also overpriced and usually only marginally better than the inexpensive stuff you can get at a store like Walmart. Maybe it's just my ears but I find that the real thing to look out for is the quality of construction, especially if they are wired, and the way the headphones fit your ears.

My PSA on headphones is that I think anyone who uses headphones while driving are just as dangerous as people that drive drunk , high, and texting/phoning while driving. Sight isn't the only important aspect to travel. If your phone suddenly goes off it could make you lose control if the sound spooks you. Besides... it's a fucking ride... use the speakers or upgrade the speakers if you want loud. Those can always be replaced and upgraded but if you get in a wreck and live then better hope you have good insurance, because good luck explaining to the courts that you couldn't hear because you had headphones in your ears. Otherwise, yeah, speakers and headphones can be replaced, but your insides all over the road might not be replaceable.

I did say I liked those $10 MTV headphones,
I see no reason to fix something if it ain't broke
and you don't have problems with such

I always go by multiple websites and multiple fact sheets before I make a headphone purchase
mainly focusing on if the thing has a similar signature to my 7506s as that is what I like and I'm familiar with
And if it sounds good to the human ear
because a fact sheet by itself can't represent that

Honestly headphones are fine while driving as long as they have no form or little form of noise cancelling passive or active
I used to use my porta pros while biking and could hear outside noise almost as well as using aftershokz

But yeah any noise cancelling headphones would be horrible for driving.

And headphones are ludicrous
when you start adding in tube amps
DACs
planar magnetics
electro static systems
it's a crazy world to dive into

[Radar]

Audiophiles are psychopaths. As someone who personally owns upwards of $10,000 in recording gear, people who buy tube amps and overprices DACs for their computer are blowing money out of their rear end. It's all just marketing. I've argued with friends about this and all they know are buzzwords from sponsored YouTube videos. The beauty of capitalism is that you can market anything to retards. Who else is gonna buy this $6,000 guitar cable?

If you want a DAC, just buy a Scarlett 2i2. It's an industry standard device that doubles as an output monitor and a recording interface in case you ever want to stream with an external mic.

I don't own any headphones as I just borrow a pair from work, but if I were to buy one it would most likely be an Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, as they seem to be the most common relevant studio headphones out there.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Data Hivemind Thot Entity, on 25 August 2020 - 02:42 PM, said:

Audiophiles are psychopaths. As someone who personally owns upwards of $10,000 in recording gear, people who buy tube amps and overprices DACs for their computer are blowing money out of their rear end. It's all just marketing. I've argued with friends about this and all they know are buzzwords from sponsored YouTube videos. The beauty of capitalism is that you can market anything to retards. Who else is gonna buy this $6,000 guitar cable?

If you want a DAC, just buy a Scarlett 2i2. It's an industry standard device that doubles as an output monitor and a recording interface in case you ever want to stream with an external mic.

I don't own any headphones as I just borrow a pair from work, but if I were to buy one it would most likely be an Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, as they seem to be the most common relevant studio headphones out there.

An audiophile who doesn't do basic research I would absolutely agree with you are 100% psychopathic
Electrostatic and Planar magnetic headphones go as little as $130 -$400
Planar Magnetics don't even sound better on a headphone by headphone basis then dynamic or single armature drivers
Can't give an opinion on electrostatic, I'll never buy one as I want the option of portability
This is the technology that most of the higher end headphones are based off of
buzzwords and such are made to push the consumer towards the higher end of such

The quality of your headphones are mainly based on the preference of music you are listening to
If you like the sound coming out of it or not
such a thing is not defined by price
good quality $30 headphones can do better in some cases then $400 headphones
some headphones are going to be better at different genres
some are going to be worse
some like studio reference in your line of work
are going to give an equal chance to everybody

My advice is to do your research and look into if the headphones you are about to buy
and see if they fit your personal preference

Audio technicas are very good mid range studio headphones

I've tried them out
IMO are they worth the $50 difference between them and
Sony MDR 7506s
No

But if you want something that doesn't look like it was made over
30 years ago, go right ahead

And again,
I have very little experience with DACs

but my little Centrance DACport HD is fine for my personal use
I can notice the difference without it
it's very slight
but it does it's job.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Had gotten heavily tempted in buying a direct upgrade for my mdr-7506s
as there just had to be something better in 30 years of headphone tech

Knew of AKG and their studio reference headsets
Had tried earlier models and liked them just not my thang
decided to splurge on the k371s
Read several reviews including from RTINGS who are spec whores
one of them mentioned it being a direct upgrade to 7506s

and yep, solid replacement, everything's just a tad more clear and vibrant.

Apparently the Bluetooth version blows,
Simple life advice for BT headphones is buy one of the fiio receivers
from $20-$100 instead of buying bluetooth headphones
their receivers turn a wired headphone into a BT one
And typically have a much better DAC integrated within them.

The earstudio ES100 is also reviewed well.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Bubble Gum Chewer, on 03 October 2020 - 01:12 PM, said:

I am interested in something that I can use for gaming (mostly single player games like Ion Fury or Doom '93) and hook to my phone/mp3 player to listen to some rad tunes on go. Liked designs of Koss KPH30i and Koss PortaPro.

https://www.techrada...dphones-1304537
This is a pretty good list
https://www.soundguy...eadphones-5683/
this website is fairly legit

Grados are probably the best pick out of those

I use my kph30i's for on the go.
My brother uses his portapros for gaming, music and on the go.
I guess he's just used to them.

even though he has a pair of hifimans.

Also TIDAL is a pretty good alternative to spotify, you get cd quality files instead of mp3s
quboz is even higher quality but the library isn't there yet.
EDIT: changed some things

[Mark]

I grew up in the era of the full size ( now oldschool ) headphones. We didn't have walkmans at first so there was no smaller versions out there. No ear buds either. I started out with some cheap Radio Shack headphones that if I saw them in a google search I would still recognize them even after 40 years. I started my first job in 1974 and eventually saved up enough for a big upgrade to Koss Pro-4A's. Koss is located about 8 miles from my house and was the biggest name in headphones for a long time. I used them for many years until one of the speakers developed a slight buzz at anything above medium volume with lots of bass. When it came time to buy new ones again I wasn't into using headphones as much so I bought something cheaper. I still have these today. Still sounding good afterabout 35 years even though I notice I have slight hearing loss these days. I hear slightly less low bass in one ear and high frequency loss in the other. Only noticable if I make an A and B direct comparison.
https://www.etsy.com...AyABEgL-4vD_BwE

[Mark]

Speaking of old shit. I was cleaning the basement today and I found my first pair of headphones that I thought were long dead and buried in a landfill. These are probably older than some of your parents.
https://www.ebay.com...ASABEgJPdfD_BwE

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Mark, on 18 October 2020 - 07:45 PM, said:

Speaking of old shit. I was cleaning the basement today and I found my first pair of headphones that I thought were long dead and buried in a landfill. These are probably older than some of your parents.
https://www.ebay.com...ASABEgJPdfD_BwE

gaa that frequency response is possibly unforgivable

30hz off on the low side, and 5000 khz on the high side
of the hearable spectrum

those better be some flat good sounding stereos if they're shellacking those specs.
or cheap af when you bought them.

[Mark]

Those were entry level headphones but were quite popular in their day. People were not quite as much into super duper audiophool sound like many are now. Nobody I know sold or wanted super special speaker wire with fake physics behind it for $30 per foot. Nobody I knew cared about gold plated connectors on everything. Subwoofers were unheard of. You didn't want too much bass or you would get rumble feedback from your turntable. A lot of the music recorded back then didn't utilize the wide range of today's music. Plugging those headphones into a small shelf sized stereo system or a boombox sounded great for the price. $8.95 in the 1972 catalog.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

https://www.headfoni...n-he5xx-review/

Drop is releasing the he 5xx's which are reviewed really well
kinda a reasonabalish price

[Mark]

Hey, if you haven't pre-ordered I still have my Nova 10 headphones for sale.