It has been a long time since I worked in radio, and I used to have some great Sennheiser headphones, but while these Bose Quietcomfort are a little pricey
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Republicans do not pay their debts.
And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.
Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?
They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.
At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.
He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.
The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.
Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.
Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.
How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?
Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?
The revolution will be supervised.
When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?
They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.
Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.
But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.
Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.
“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”
Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
A consequence of cucumbers
It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.
Pat
linky broken
Noonan
From Roll Call:
Vacation trumps grandstanding. I guess we know their priorities.
Steerpike
I’ve never been a professional, but I do wear headphones quite a bit, commuting on the train. I hate the little ear-buds, because I can’t stand the sensation of something wedged in my ear canal. I also can’t wear full, padded phones like those, because I end up with sweaty ears. I like the ones that wrap behind the head, and fit on the ears like glasses. Less noise cancellationand sound quality, but a whole lot more comfortable.
Keith
Speaking of Bose, does anyone know when their active suspension system is supposed to start showing up in vehicles?
JD Rhoades
Okay, help me out. Is “noise canceling headphones” just a new term for the old fashioned, fit-over-the-whole-ear headphones (the kind we used to call “cans”) or is there some new technology here?
beltane
Do these headphones block out the crazy? Jane Hamsher has now gone on Fox to badmouth the President and solicit signatures for her anti-bill petition. I now think I’ve seen it all.
Comrade Mary
I think these actually react to the presence of external sound by outputting white noise to cancel it out.
I heard a guy on the radio the other day laughing at himself because he had used these on the air instead of his usual cans. He’s in a very quiet room, where the only audio should be his own voice, but as he was talking, he couldn’t hear himself in the phones, he said, because the white noise cancelled out the sound of his own voice.
FPN
Is this where our donations went?!?! :-)
gwangung
@FPN: Not that there’s anything wrong with that….
Keith
@JD Rhoades:
They use active noise cancelation, meaning it sends inverted white noise back into your ear to cancel out existing white noise. The effect is distinctly noticeable…put on a set (especially in an office), and then turn it on without any music playing. Stuff like air-conditioning noise disappears.
dmsilev
@JD Rhoades: The tech is fairly new. It’s active noise cancellation, not just insulation. Basic idea is to look at the incoming sound wave and generate an additional signal exactly out of phase with the original. In an ideal world, that would result in a net of zero sound being transmitted to the ear.
-dms
SGEW
@JD Rhoades: I miss my cans.
No, seriously! Why are you snickering?
John Cole
@FPN: Lol. I wish. But feel free to send me some earphones!
JD Rhoades
@Keith:
Doesn’t that add unwanted “extras” if you’re using them to listen to music? I always thought of white noise as hiss. Or is this some new kind of “silent” white noise (the concept of which is kinda blowing my mind) ?
JD Rhoades
@SGEW:
Listened to a lot of Floyd on those babies.
pablo
I ride the subway to work, and since I have severe tinnitus, I like “in the ear” phones to block out ambient noise. I’ve been using Sony’s noise canceling phones for a couple of years now, and they are great. They also are great on planes. I got my last pair (I stepped on my first) for $69, list $99.
Tom Hilton
@Steerpike: I hate the ear-buds too, so much so that I rarely use them at all. (Primary use for my iPod is driving music.) What would be a good practical not-too-high-cost (hint: the Bose headphones are way outta my range) alternative? Any suggestions, folks?
The Ace Tomato Company
Good headphones sound-wise, but their manufacturing is for shit. I’ve gone through 3 pairs in the last year. Thank god they come with a warranty.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
Which model are you using?
BR
@beltane:
Seriously? I think she’s just having a PUMA fit.
I’m still waiting for the DHS Obama sellout color coded chart. I think we’re at PUMA orange right now, after being at red for a few days.
rh
Grado Labs SR80s sound absolutely amazing. Unfortunately they’re incredibly loud so I only can really use them at home.
DAS
You may also want to check out the Etymotic in-ear.
The er6 models can be found for under $100 and do a better job of blocking noise. [At least according to my wife who uses them for studying and flights — she previously had Bose QC phones but switched to ER6’s when the Bose broke.]
d. b. cooper
Unfortunately, noise canceling headphones make my ears so hot that I can’t stand to wear them more than 20 minutes, but I can’t deal with most open air headphones because, well, they sound terrible and tend not to handle bass without vibrating. Ear buds are just horrible, so no. The Sennheiser PX-100 answered my prayers for a great sounding open air headphone. Ambient noise, even in the gym or in other crowded noisy places, is minimal and not a problem for me. They are also collapsible and come with a carrying case, which is neat, since it makes them easier to handle and very durable. Sennheiser has come out with a sequel, the PX-100 II, which I haven’t tried though I’d wager they are spectacular. The PX-100 IIs are about $60 and the PX-100s are about $40. For anyone who finds the noise canceling headphones uncomfortable these are THE headphones.
John Cole
@AngusTheGodOfMeat: I’m not, yet. I just test drove them.
Comrade Jake
I really don’t know why people are just now coming to the realization that Hamsher is nuts. She’s been out there for a good while now. Christ, she was out there when she was going after Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.
On topic, I love the Bose headphones I have. I can’t stand the earbud variety. My ears just aren’t shaped correctly: the buggers just pop right out.
BethanyAnne
@JD Rhoades: I use a pair of active noise cancelling Sennheisers. They don’t mess with the music at all. Actually, I find that music sounds a bit better with them than with normal ones. The Bose have always looked wonderful to me, but I just couldn’t afford them when I wanted to buy.
EDIT: Just looked my set up on Amazon. They are these: Sennheiser PXC 250.
BR
@Comrade Jake:
For a couple of years I’ve referred to Hamsher and Sirota as the two bags of stupid.
BethanyAnne
@d. b. cooper: The PXC 250’s look very close to your 100s, and have the noise cancellation. Worth a look, maybe :)
Journeywoman
@Tom Hilton: I love love LOVE my Sennheiser PX-100s. They’re comfortable, they sound great (nice balance between bass and detail in the mids and highs), they’re foldable, and they cost less than $40. After I got my iPod, I fussed around for close to two years trying to find earbuds that were comfortable and sounded halfway decent; I finally gave up and got these, and realized just how much I had been giving up with the earbuds. I’m not a total audiophile (can’t afford to be), but I’m certainly pickier than the average person who’s content with Apple’s pack-ins, and I’ve been thoroughly happy with these.
JD Rhoades
@BethanyAnne:
Hmmm. I might have to give those a try. However, a lot of my music listening is while I’m walking, on a public street. Would that be dangerous? Would you suggest only using them at home (which would actually be a boon for writing in a house full of noisy teenagers)?
Elroy's Lunch
I test drove a pair of the Bose 15’s a couple of weeks ago. Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower. I got religion. Another buddy of mine who’s a part-time musician and used to mix music uses Sennheisers and suggested them.
I’ve got some ear phones on my Christmas-gift-to-myself list but that will have to wait awhile. I keep sending my money to some cranky blogger to keep the servers running. ;-)
Ailuridae
@Keith:
And computer “whirring” completely disappears. They are an engineering marvel but I find them completely disconcerting to wear a lot of the time.
Keith
@JD Rhoades:
The white noise has to be the same signal as the input, but inverted. When a wave meets its inverse, they cancel out. If only inverted white noise is sent out, then the input white noise is what gets canceled out.
There’s also an alternative Sarah Palin-endorsed version (that lacks the arrogance of science). You put them on, and a voice tells you there is no white noise, and because you’ve already invested $100+ in the headphones, you agree.
Brachiator
@JD Rhoades:
The original idea was to “cancel” out the low level noise in an airplane or a bus or train. The Wiki has a good explanation:
The basic technology has been around since the 1950s.
BethanyAnne
@JD Rhoades: I don’t think you’d find them dangerous. They mute the background noises, but don’t eliminate them completely. One thing to think about with noise cancelling phones is that they take batteries. So you gotta put the batteries someplace. The full cup designs can hold the batteries in the headset, but lightweight ones like the 250s have the batteries in a little clippy holder. I tended to get about 2 months of use out of a pair of batteries, listening about 4 hours a day, if I remember correctly. Been a while since I’ve sat at a desk working with them on.
Tonal Crow
@JD Rhoades:
The explanation isn’t quite correct. The headphones mix the music with an inverted version of the ambient sound, as processed to represent how it exists at your ear’s opening. This cancels most of ambient sound while preserving most of the music. It’s nifty, and great for listening in noisy places. The fidelity isn’t, however, as good as that from better headphones in a quiet place.
Tonal Crow
@Tonal Crow: Roh-roh Rastro, stuck in moderation, apparently for using the word “amb i en t”. We can haz fixed site yet?
Brachiator
@JD Rhoades:
For some reason, my earlier comment is in moderation.
I just wanted to point you to a brief Wikipedia reference on noise-canceling headphones.
The reference also contains a link to reviews of other similar headphones.
Tom Hilton
@Journeywoman:
@d. b. cooper:
Ah, the PX-100s look like exactly the thing. Thanks!
PeakVT
@Tom Hilton: I have a set of these Philips cheapies. They stay on even while running without being wedged in the ear.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@rh:
This. I have SR60s; incredibly comfortable, fantastic audio quality. But yes, they’re an open-ear design, so not great for public spaces.
For any vinyl aficionados, the Grado Black cartridge is a fantastic buy (I use the Grado Red).
Noise-cancelling? No thanks…
Tonal Crow
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon): I really like AKG K240s — they’re almost neutral (maybe a bit weak on the bass), and very comfortable to wear for long periods. Their only real drawback is poor sensitivity. I doubt you could drive a set to acceptable volume from an iPod, for example.
JD Rhoades
@Keith:
Heh.
@Brachiator:
Mind is now blown. Thanks for the information.
@BethanyAnne:
Neat.
So let me ask: does the cancellation work both ways? Can I listen to music in bed without disturbing the missus?
BFR
@beltane:
Man, I just surfed around the comment threads at FDL – that’s really turning into Red State West. I mean, openly lauding the teabaggers while ripping those who are slightly less liberal than them? That’s pretty effed up.
BethanyAnne
@JD Rhoades: Hmm, I don’t think it works both ways, but these headphones leak very little music. When I moved mine up to my forehead just now, the music went from pleasantly loud to barely audible. I don’t much know otherwise; as I’ve always been on the “wearing” side of mine. :-) A friend who worked next to me had the Bose, and I never heard any of her music.
Morbo
@John Cole: Well, perhaps if i spent that much on a pair of headphones I wouldn’t lose/break it…
bago
Usually the active cancellation software exempts a few frequency ranges so that you will hear sirens and whatnot.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@Tonal Crow:
AKG is great. However, Grado is a 2nd generation (maybe 3rd now) family business, so I just like the thought of giving them my money.
I plug my Grado cans directly into my Bellari tube phono preamp, with the Grado Red cart on the turntable. It’s pretty sweet.
catclub
JD Rhoades @ 46
re: disturbing the missus
That would depend on whether you tap your feet while listening.
Whatever sound is heard by others from the headphones
would also be heard from ANC headphones.
The ANC matches phase, so it is only accurate in the region
around your ears.
Tonal Crow
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon): Nice! I like something more portable, so I use an Echo Audio Indigo IO in my laptop: killer sound at the small penalty of using the Cardbus slot.
Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
I tried a previous model of Bose noise-canceling headphones in one of their shops, and thought the Plane Quiet brand headphones do just as good a job for 30-50% of the price. In general, Bose make good kit, but you can get almost as good quality for half the price from other competitors.
I like earbuds, and loved my E-888’s and NC-10. But now I have a Etynomics HF-2 for the iphone, and I won’t be going back to even the high-end Sonys.
Spending money on decent headphones is one luxury I won’t apologize for.
Steerpike
Best religious experience on headphones (full blast, of course): Stones, Gimme Shelter. No contest.
Bret
John,
Like these?
scav
ok, how’s this for a question. I’m deaf in one ear so would like a good set of earphones that aren’t stereo (or can cancel out the stereo, I don’t know the technical bits of where it splits exactly). Any hints?
Annie
@beltane:
LOL.
BigSwami
John Cole, I have a set of those headphones. They sound great, but they are structurally weak and the plastic screws that mount the earphones onto the headset snap at the break of a fart. Consider yourself warned.
Royston Vasey
@Tom Hilton:
Tom, I use these suckers from Sony when I travel. Reasonable and practical!
Not as bulky as cans, not as annoying as earbuds.
bago
@scav: Technically, your deaf ear is cancelling out stereo.
Cris
Noise canceling headphones are an absolute miracle on airplanes. My wife wears them during the flight, without any music playing — just silence. And the really weird part is, since it cancels out the ambient noise (and you know there’s a whole lot of it on an airplane) it actually makes it easier to hear the person beside you talking.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@Tonal Crow:
Yeah, this will probably be the year when I break down and get an iPod; they’re just too damn convenient. But analog source > tubes > cans? There’s just nothing better.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Steerpike: I hear you, but I dunno. Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida is pretty awesome.
gbear
@BFR:
Hopefully it will get so bad over at FDL that TBogg will bail and blog independently again. I’d pitch in for that.
Cris
Public Service Announcement: the topic at hand involves discussion of a certain class of background noise, whose name contains the trade name of a certain prescription sleep aid. Which trips the spam filter.
scav
@bago: I know and live with that, but when the sound is split by headphones in weird ways, I’m really only getting half of it. Imagine broadway musicals where I hear one character but only echos of the other.
jeffreyw
I always have had a soft spot for this steve miller band number.
scav
or disconnect one of your speakers and listen to stuff. Ït’s really odd. Sometimes the differences are subtle and sometimes not.
bago
@scav: So you’re saying you want the left channel and right channel merged. Usually, the device playing does that when you set the output to mono, but if you’re feeling adventurous you can tape/solder/connect the leads going to the one deaf side to the other leads and merge the signal that way.
Demo Woman
Since I can’t add to the earphones dialog, I will mention that Jane is being used by FOX and she doesn’t care.
I do wonder whether or not she voted for Nader in 2000.
scav
@bago: Must be something like that. I was just wondering given all the earphone expertise that was showing up in this thread if anyone knew of any good earphones that could do that (are we halfdeafers such a minority?). Next stop is clearly learning how to understand leads and play with soldering irons. thnx
Hiram Taine
@scav:
This adapter plug would probably do the trick, turns a stereo jack into a mono one..
ETA.. In any case someone with a bit of electronic skill could solder you up an adapter cable pretty easily, combine the right and left signals into a single one and send to both sides of the phones..
Tonal Crow
@scav: A quick web scan reveals this (http://store.ergoguys.com/switchable-stereomono-headphones.html ). Of the adapters I’ve found, there are only ones that short the two stereo channels together (which might break your audio device permanently) or which discard one of the channels (which doesn’t change things for you).
Tonal Crow
@scav: A friend with electronics expertise could make a small mixer/amp to do the job. It’d be simple for such a person. I’m surprised that I didn’t find something like this for sale.
scav
Wunderbar! techy leads to investigate before I have to maim myself with hot lead. Plus the vocabulary that might allow me to explain what exactly I’m trying to do. thanks all.
AhabTRuler
Yep, sorry, but you’re just in love with the sound of antiquity. Might as well get rid of the music and just listen to hum and hiss.
Also, best use of a record, ever! !
OldDave
There’s a lot of wonderful sounding music out there recorded with what now is considered ‘antique’ analog tube gear. (edit) Here’s an example — listen to “True Love Ways” from the Buddy Holly “From The Original Master Tapes” CD.
AhabTRuler
@OldDave: There are a number of different places where “old” equipment is equal to or superior to “new” technologies. However, when it comes to reproduction of the final, mastered product, nothing can convince me that the analog vs. digital argument boils down to anything more than (arbitrary) personal preference
Thlayli
@gbear:
Tbogg is just as “WAAAH! WHERE’S MY PONY?!” as the rest of them, so I wouldn’t count on it.
***
I have the Bose QC3s (they were a present). I won’t get on a plane without them.
Jason Bylinowski
I’m sure those are fine headphones, John – sorta like Macs are nice: pretty good but not worth the extra expense (backhanded compliment, hiyoooo!)- but having an active noise-cancelling feature in any phones currently on the market will net you a lower overall fidelity no matter who makes them. So stay away from the QCs with the higher numbers attached to them.
Chris S.
@rh
@montysano
I’ve got a pair of Grado SR60s, and I love them. I’m looking forward using them with my X-mas present to myself this year: a new turntable.
Stroszek
I’ll second Grado. Beautiful cans. They leak like a White House staffer but the detail is unparalleled.
The Other Steve
I own several headphones. The best sounding ones are the Sony MDR-V6 I bought 20 years ago. I’ve had to replace the foam surrounds twice. The MDR-V6 is really an amazing headphone for the price. I don’t know why, but generally in TV or movies if they have someone wearing a pair of headphones like in a radio booth, it’s these Sony ones. I’m assuming they must be pretty popular amongst sound engineers, or they just make cheap props. :-)
They’re heavy, hot after a while, but they sound fantastic.
For work I like the noise canceling headphones, and I have a set of Sennheiser PCX-250 I’ve had for the past 5 years that are just fantastic. The only pain with these is they consume batteries. They last a few weeks, but it still sucks. I recently bought a fantastic device though.
An Energizer recharger for AA/AAA batteries that plugs into USB!
BTW, the Bose headphones are ok. They are a very good noise canceling headphone and the over the ear design does keep out the sound.
It’s just that for $300 you can buy a fantastic set of headphones from Beyerdynamic that’ll be comfortable, keep out the noise and sound fantastic to boot.
The Other Steve
@OldDave: If Buddy Holly hadn’t died in a plane crash in 1959 in Iowa… he’d be recording music digitally.
:-)
Mr. Wonderful
FWIW, back when I read Stereophile for pornographic thrills, the high-end people had nothing but disdain for anything made by Bose, and nothing but praise for Grado. I got the Grado SR 60s and they’re amazing–all that clarity from unpowered phones and a little mini-plug. Uncomfortable, though, after a while, and stylish they’re not. But if you don’t mind looking like a person-wearing-headphones, I don’t think you can beat them.
For walking the dog I got Sennheiser twist-to-fit whatsits which are ear buds that anchor via a little stub onto your ear. They work fine and come with a nice/creepy little rubber pouch. The iPod Shuffle fits right inside too.
ArchPundit
—FWIW, back when I read Stereophile for pornographic thrills, the high-end people had nothing but disdain for anything made by Bose, and nothing but praise for Grado.
Still do. Bose is largely a very well marketed company and their speakers are crap and literally don’t have tweeters. Generally, anything Bose makes can be found at a better quality at the same price or the same quality at a lower price (hence the Grado and Sennheiser suggestions above.
That said, using noise canceling is going to degrade some of the best performance one can expect from a good pair of headphones, though the trade-off is quite good. If one is flying, noise canceling also lessens how tired you feel as it blocks out the hum of the plane.
I’d say the Bose noise-canceling headphones are the only product they make where the quality loss isn’t a big deal, but one can do at least as well buying a cheaper competitor. I’m a big fan of Sennheiser, but everyone has their own ear. If you can’t tell the difference, go with the less expensive model. In John’s case, since he’s happy with the sound, I’d say try some of the others to see if you can find a better deal.
On top of all of this, Bose engages in some pretty awful price fixing with vendors so from that point of view, finding a different brand is also better from an ethical shopping point of view.
Randy Paul
John,
Take a look at the Panasonic RP HC500. I have them and they block out noise well on a plane and on the NYC subway. I listen to my Ipod at reduced volume because of them. They fold out for storage like the Bose and one of the best features is that the cord is detachable.
They’re also 1/3 the cost of the Bose, which are great, but very expensive.
Randy Paul
Bose is largely a very well marketed company and their speakers are crap and literally don’t have tweeters.
Bose: no highs, no lows.
ArchPundit
===Take a look at the Panasonic RP HC500
I think they are all gone, but Target had them on 50% clearance not long ago if I recall correctly. I’m now kicking myself for not trying them.
Pseudonym
John,
I bought a set of audio-technica ATH-A900s for work a couple of years ago and have been very happy with them. I think I only paid $99 for them though, and all the packaging was in Japanese. Before that I used Sennheiser 280s, also very nice but not as comfortable for long sittings, and I had a bad habit of breaking them. Neither of them has active noise cancellation so they don’t work well for really noisy environments. Last time I tried noise-cancelling headphones though they didn’t do a good job of blocking out sounds like people’s voices that weren’t continuous background noise.
At the moment for work I’m using Etymotic ER6i in-ear earphones. They have good quality sound from an iPod and great noise isolation.
Bill Arnold
I’ve broken a set of Bose QC2 NC headphones at that pivot connection between the earcup and the headband. Am currently using a Bose QC1 set, which has never broken. The battery box for the QC1 is annoying. I use them entirely for noise reduction when needing to focus when working, and when flying.
The PlaneQuiet set I have is somewhat hissy and the noise cancellation isn’t as good.
I have a JVC set as well, that works OK (though more hissy than Bose) but really presses hard on the ears.
burnspbesq
I was given a pair of Bose QCs as a gift several years ago. I used them about five times. The noise reduction works very well, but to my ears they sound blah.
For mobile and gym listening, I have settled on a pair of Bose SE530 in-ear monitors. I like the sound of the Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi better, but they don’t fit my ears nearly as well. Eventually I will spend the $$ for a pair of Ultimate Ears custom-fit stage monitors.
My desktop headphones are Sennheiser HD 800s.
burnspbesq
The best thing you can do if you listen mostly to an iPod is upgrade your files. The storage capacity of mobile devices has increased to the point where there is no need to torture yourself withMP3s. Load up with CD-resolution Apple Lossless files or the Windows equivalent.
Studly Pantload
@scav:
I’m about 3/4 deaf in one ear myself, yet I *love* headphones! If, like me, you aren’t totally deaf in your bad ear, there are a number of work arounds that don’t involve going mono that can actually give you a pretty darn good sense of stereo imaging.
The first work around is free, provided you listen to music through your puter on iTunes. Click on Edit at the top of iTunes, then Preferences, then the Playback tab, and enable the Sound Enhancer. The intent of this option is to provide a wider-sounding stereo field (you can control how wide this field is perceived). To achieve this, sound is crossfed between left and right channels (well, lots of other stuff goes on, too, having to do with signal delays and various bits of acousticy-science stuff). So, if you’re listening to some old Beatles or Moody Blues and, say, Paul McCartney or John Lodge is recorded singing only through the channel that is your bad ear, your good ear gets some of the vocals and — here’s where it gets really neato, at least to me — your brain is able to take that bit of info and apply it to the sound of the muffled vocals in your bad ear and presto! that underwater sound in your bum ear becomes the illusion of hearing the singer quite well in that ear! I get so geeked out that the brain automatically wants to provide this correction that experiencing it *almost* makes up for all the times I can’t follow an ongoing conversation in a noisy room.
If you listen through your puter but not through iTunes, you can download a $25 program called Audio Sandbox at srslabs.com that does what the iTunes’ sound enhancer does, with a few other audio toys included as well (bass and midrange enhancers, etc.) You can also demo the program for free.
If you listen to your music through your iPod, SRS Labs also makes a device you can attach to the ‘pod that does the same thing for about $60.
And, finally, if you listen to your ‘phones through a home stereo system, you can purchase a headphone amp from the good people at HeadRoom (www.headphones.com) that features crossfeed. It doesn’t give you the illusion of a full stereo field as well as iTunes and SRS doohickeys (which music purists will say is a good thing, as the result remains truer to the intended sound of the original recording), but it’s still decidedly better than nothing. Those suckers’ll set ya back about $100, unless you want a sturdier exterior and fancier internal components, in which case the sky’s the limit on price. I have one of the more modestly-priced ones, and love it to bits. Haven’t sampled the SRS iPod attachment, as it’s a fairly new offering.
So far as cans, I can attest to the Grado and Sennheiser shoutouts below. The PX-100’s are tiny li’l critters, but put out a massive sound that could make your jaw drop when you consider their size. I’d say that dollar for dollar, they’re the hardest working headphones out there. And even though they’re an open-speaker design, very little sound leaks out to annoy those around you. So far as the Grados — I’ve owned everything from their SR60’s to their (previous) flagship (and ginormous) GS1000’s and two in-between models, and they all do a terrific job for their price points. Tons of clean detail throughout their line; it can be the acoustic equivalent of seeing a starry sky in the country for the first time, if you haven’t had a quality pair of cans, before. In fact, when Mrs. Pantload and I watch movies, I prefer we don our Grados rather than listen through the speakers.
Studly Pantload
@burnspbesq:
I have A/B’d lossless and 256k with some very nice cans, and cannot hear a shred of difference. This fact makes me happy because my iPod has a 60 gig capacity, and if I were to rip at lossless, there’s no way my library would fit, and this year-long unemployed feller isn’t ready to buy a new iPod.
BrianM
For in-ear headphones, I like the Shures – their tips seem most forgiving for small ears. I’ve been moving up the price points over the years, now at the top (530s) but I think I went a step too far (these are bigger and not as comfortable).
Studly Pantload
@burnspbesq:
I love my Shure SE530’s for late-night listening in bed that won’t disturb the Mrs. I do wish for a bit more detail from them, but the bass extension is quite nice. Unfortunately, I’ve twice had to return them due to the wire casing wearing through at the point where the wire loops over the ear.
BrianM
Before I went in-ear, I wore Sennheiser PX100s at the gym. Pretty decent. For planes, I wore some Sennheiser closed headphones at about $100. I found they were enough noise insulation – the active cancellation didn’t seem worth it to me. (But the low rumble noise in an airplane doesn’t bother me as much as people speaking, which the Bose (etc.) don’t cancel.)
burnspbesq
@Studly Pantload:
Everybody’s experience is different. I hear differences: with mp3s attack transients are less tight and accurate, high-pitch instruments (esp. violins and cymbals) sound rolled off, and instruments that have sharp waveforms (esp. banjo and dobro) are mushy. I normally don’t plug my headphones directly into the headphone jack of my iPod; I have a cable that takes the audio signal from the dock connector, and I have a sweet little portable DAC/amp (the Predator, by Ray Samuels Audio).
And my library is over a terabyte, so carrying the whole thing in my pocket ceased to be an attainable goal a long time ago. I am constantly erasing and reloading my mobile devices. I currently have 188 albums on my iPod touch, with room left for a couple of movies, and that’s more than enough for even the longest business trip.
Studly Pantload
@burnspbesq:
Sounds like you have quite the developed ear (no pun intended). You do studio work?
burnspbesq
@Studly Pantload:
No. I was good (made the all-state high school chorus my junior and senior years, and was in glee club and jazz band in college), but not good enough to make a living doing music unless I wanted to be a high school choral director, which I didn’t. I will start taking piano lessons again after the kid goes away to college.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
What is the Windows equivalent? (Too lazy to do any research right now.)
Studly Pantload
@Steeplejack:
With iTunes, you can rip at lossless whether you’re on the Window or on the Mac.
Steeplejack
@Studly Pantload:
I hatey-hate-mc-hate iTunes. Or at least the version from a couple of years ago that screwed me over with a rusty pitchfork and a golden garden weasel (h/t AsiangrrlMN). Is it better now?
I pretty much deal only in MP3s for my duh-phone (LG enV2), which is my portable music player, so I guess my question was what would be the Windows equivalent of Apple lossless files, or is there a Windows application (other than iTunes) that will create them or their equivalent (from WAV files or MP3 files)? And then (bonus points) will my duh-phone play them?
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
FLAC or WMA Lossless.
I know nothing about any music library software other than iTunes.
If it doesn’t you need a new phone.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Thanks for your concise answer. I think WMA Lossless is the ticket for me. I forgot about that.
I think an iPhone may be in the cards for me, but not until May or June, when my “new in two” comes up at Verizon. Hopefully by then the iPhone will be available from them.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Er, as long as you’re still here . . . any quickie recommendation for an inexpensive but adequate music system? I have been listening to CDs on my computer (with cheap but okay speakers) for so long that I forgot what a decent system sounded like until I was at a friend’s place a few weeks ago.
I have a very small apartment, so I was thinking of something like a Bose Wave, except that of course all true audiophiles seem to sneer at Bose. So maybe a small bookshelf system or even an upscale boombox-type thing. I have done the high-end audio thing in the past. Not hoping to recreate that now, just would like something with a bit more punch than the PC. And I’m not up to speed with the current state of the art.
Studly Pantload
@Steeplejack:
Do you need AM/FM reception? If not, I’d be researching a good 2.1 small-speaker system and just plug in a portable CD player and/or your LG.
Or you even could get a wireless 2.1 speaker package and play your ‘puter over it.
seaan
The Bose are the best I have heard for noise cancellation, but I can’t otherwise recommend them. When I spend $300 for headphones I want them to sound good too. I’ve seriously auditioned the 1, 2, and 3 models. While each is slightly different, they share a lack of treble combined with tubby bass.
Back when choices were more limited, I ended purchasing the Sennheiser PXC 250 instead. They sound much better, and were half the price (and they have gotten cheaper). They are not as ergonomics as the Bose 2 and 3 (clunky converter and folding mechanism). They have a very good noise-canceling feature, although a bit less effective than the Bose, they are better than anything else I have tested.
For the audiophiles, I’m not a great fan of the classic Sennheiser sound (yellow cushioned 1970/80s models). My best headphones are older AKG electrostats. Back in the 90’s my favorite sound was from Stax, but even before they went crazy with their prices I could not afford them. Have not found a set of in-ear cans I can live with, so I have not seriously listened to Shure or EAR.
Steeplejack
@Studly Pantload:
Thanks for the suggestions. AM/FM would be nice, but it’s not essential. I will check into the other.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Depends on your budget. If you are budget-constrained, then I would say continue to use your computer as your source, and get a better pair of powered speakers. For $200, it’s hard to beat the Audioengine 2s.
If you have more money to spend, then your options get much wider. Denon still makes good bookshelf systems, and NAD makes a really nice super-compact receiver that you could pair with entry-level speakers from Epos, Paradigm, or PSB. Farther up the price continuum, there is this fabulous piece of gear, which has a DAC built in so you can pull a clean digital bitstream out through your USB ports.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/peachtree3/nova.html
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Thanks. Gotta blow for work. Will digest this later.