Post by CEnTR4L August 14, 2007 (1 of 9)
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Hello Forum
This is my first post around... before two years I believe.. I purchased a compact home theater from Sony which is pretty cheap in price and preformance of course.
these days I bought Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde and I would like to own a Headphone thats prudoces Fully or Almost SACD Quality
I have in mind three types I assume that meets my demand:
1- Bose® QuietComfort® 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones $349.00
2- Bose® around-ear headphones $125
3- Bose® on-ear headphones = $161
Which one will produce SACD Quality at it best?
If non, Please post a model that does.
Thanks
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Post by Lindberg August 14, 2007 (2 of 9)
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CEnTR4L said:
Hello Forum
This is my first post around... before two years I believe.. I purchased a compact home theater from Sony which is pretty cheap in price and preformance of course.
these days I bought Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde and I would like to own a Headphone thats prudoces Fully or Almost SACD Quality
I have in mind three types I assume that meets my demand:
1- Bose® QuietComfort® 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones $349.00
2- Bose® around-ear headphones $125
3- Bose® on-ear headphones = $161
Which one will produce SACD Quality at it best?
If non, Please post a model that does.
Thanks
I find the Sennheiser HD650 a good candidate. I'm not familiar with the US prices for this model.
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Post by Julien August 14, 2007 (3 of 9)
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Honestly, forget about Bose.
Sennheiser HD580, HD600, HD650 will be far better in sound quality, but you'd have to buy an extra dedicated cable by Cardas, or better ZuCable Mobius or Equinox, because they weren't designed to sound good with the stock cable and they don't. And buy a decent headphone amplifier too. But it gets expensive then.
Expensive too, many headphone listeners love the AKG1000, and Grado has many very serious headphones that, unlike the expensive amateurish Bose, will sound very good for the buck.
All those don't have noise cancellation though, and I wouldn't advise it if you're listening at home, it tends to compress the sound.
What player are you using? Serious SACD quality would require a dedicated player with a headphone amplifier. If you intend to plug the headphones directly into your home cinema system, I'd advise you not to go over the 300US$. The player will not be good enough to make good headphones sound like they should.
Maybe try a midpriced Grado, and a headphone amp. It should be better than expensive headphones alone.
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Post by CEnTR4L August 14, 2007 (4 of 9)
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This pretty embarrassing actually to let you know what I'm using around all the pro guys and there high-end machines
Its Sony DHC-FL7D :(
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Post by Julien August 14, 2007 (5 of 9)
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Not at all! It's all about enjoying music. Recently we've had many dicussions about equipment, and one thing is sure, no one has "the most accurate" equipment or such a thing. If you want to be embarrassed then we can all be, because there is always better.
Follow my advice and you shouldn't be disappointed. For example you could spend 200 US$ on a headphone amp, and 200 on a pair of Grado headphones. My guess is that it should sound better. Now best is always for your ears to decide, so if you can compare this to using 400US$ heaphones without amplifier, do it for yourself.
Usually the principle is that everything matters, so people who spend 75% of their money on the speakers will never have the sound quality of those who spend the same amount well spread between all the parts, including player amplifier cables etc, and thus with much lesser speakers. So my two bucks is consider a headphone amplifier.
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CEnTR4L said:
Hello Forum
This is my first post around... before two years I believe.. I purchased a compact home theater from Sony which is pretty cheap in price and preformance of course.
these days I bought Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde and I would like to own a Headphone thats prudoces Fully or Almost SACD Quality
I have in mind three types I assume that meets my demand:
1- Bose® QuietComfort® 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones $349.00
2- Bose® around-ear headphones $125
3- Bose® on-ear headphones = $161
Which one will produce SACD Quality at it best?
If non, Please post a model that does.
Thanks
Hey CEnTR4L,
Someone said to forget about Bose. Well, I am in agreement when it comes to their trademark mini-cube speakers. They are hyped up way beyond their true quality.
However, I own their over-the-ear headphones and believe they are excellent. I compared against Sennheiser and Grado. Overall, I am extremely pleased with them. They are *extremely* comfortable for long wearing and produce terrific sound -- transparent, airy, detailed, dynamic, and with good natural bass extension. Plus, they are great value.
Incidentally, I owned an early model, and the headband broke (which was a common and well-known design flaw), and I was rather disgusted. For a while, they were held together with Scotch tape. Finally, even though they were already more than a year old, I walked into my local Bose store (obviously with no receipt in hand), and 3 minutes later I was walking out with a brand new pair.... no questions asked. I was blown away, actually. FYI, the headband has been updated and is no longer susceptible to fragile breakage.
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Post by Karlosak August 14, 2007 (7 of 9)
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Whatever you buy, please avoid Bose® for God's sake. Their headphones are overpriced and build quality is also nothing to write home about.
I would put Sennheiser's HD580/600/650 line at the top of the list along with AKG K701. They are great all-rounders. Both are circum-aural headphones, thus very comfortable for long listening sessions. Personally, I cannot stand Grado for their supra-aural design. They've many supporters though, due to their immediate (somewhat bright) sound that suits some modern genres well. Sennheisers and AKGs on the other hand are mellower and darker, with bigger and better defined "soundstage". I like them especially for classical and jazz music.
Contrary to the general audiophile belief, I don't think you need an aftermarket cable to get great sound out of them. Quality headphone output or headphone amplifier is much more important.
If you want to know the latest buzz in the headphone world, or just get more advice, feel free to visit http://www.head-fi.org/
P.S.: Should you want to stay in the price range you hinted, I suggest you to look at Sennheiser HD595, Audiotechnica A900 or AKG K601 (or the older K501). All of them should sound very good without a dedicated headphone amplifier. And better than Bose® headphones.
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Post by Julien August 14, 2007 (8 of 9)
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I guess you can listen to Karlosak, I believe he knows more about headphones than most of us here. I don't agree with him about the cable part, but it's true that the difference is a lot more obvious on expensive systems. Maybe you wouldn't hear it.
About different brands I think his analysis was right. He doesn't like Grado, I don't like Audiotechnica, but they are serious brands. Bose is not an audiophile designed brand and should not be a contender, especially if you listen to classical. I had a while of listening on a good system with their most expensive model and the distortion is quite big. They, like B&O, just have a very good marketing department, and the sound quality will never be too bad, but never quite good.
Go with Karlosak. Narrow your choice to three or four, and the best is to listen and compare, possibly on your system, or at least on the same system and with your favorite CDs.
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Avoid Bose. Please. If for no other reason than because you won't be doubting your decision later (and we all know that the most important organ in hearing is the brain).
I am not that familiar with the less than US$100 headphone market, but I like the Sony MDR-V6/MDR-7506. They're a little bright, but they also extend pretty well, too. I've also heard good things about the Koss Pro 4AA...? I think? But haven't heard a set myself.
US$200-US$300 : Beyer DT880 or AKG K701 headphones or Stax SR-001 Mk II system
US$400-US$500 : Denon D5000
And don't even get me started on headphone amps yet...
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