budding audiophile requires hardware.

[742]

im looking for something specific; the kind of headphones that fit on your ear, have separate wires for each ear like ear buds, but fit around the outside of the ear and dont have annoying hair-messing-up bits like full headphones. shaped something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-Q22LP-Headphones-Interchangeable-Headphone/dp/B00008VIX2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1284866365&sr=8-4)
except durable and with really good audio quality. cheap is good but under 100 US dollars is kind of a requirement-and no i dont know if i want noise cancelling or not, it sounds like a great thing to have but sometimes i need to hear whats going on around me (then again i could also turn off music during those times)

ive done some looking but i can only find two products where audio quality is even mentioned; one is a sony and the other is apparently no longer made.

any suggestions? does such a thing even exist?

[Moff Chumley]

Earbuds and audiophile are pretty much mutually exlusive at that price point. Sorry.

For that matter, earbuds and audiophile are mutually exclusive at EVERY price point... you want a solid pair of big ol' headphones, or speakers. Preferably speakers. But I realize that isn't especially helpful. >.>

[VanBuren]

Earbuds and audiophile are pretty much mutually exlusive at that price point. Sorry.

For that matter, earbuds and audiophile are mutually exclusive at EVERY price point... you want a solid pair of big ol' headphones, or speakers. Preferably speakers. But I realize that isn't especially helpful. >.>

Is that so? (http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/image-s4-overview/)

[Trixie]

Sennheiser HD 201. You won't buy better for that price. At least where I live. Trust me.

Ps. There's no such thing as 'audiophile'. Over certain quality level, all the price increases bring is hype and ridiculously gimmicky parts.

Porcelain, lol.

[kyoryu]

Is that so? (http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/image-s4-overview/)

Puhleeze. Audiophiles don't buy $74 anything. They pay hundreds of dollars even for their rocks (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm)

[Don Julio Anejo]

Cheap, small, good sound quality. Choose two..

[Trixie]

Puhleeze. Audiophiles don't buy $74 anything. They pay hundreds of dollars even for their rocks (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm)

Or porcelain cable holders for 29.99$ apiece:


http://www.audiotweaks.com/reviews/cblelevators/elevatorINDI.jpg

Increased dynamics, sound and lowered cable resistance, yo.

[kyoryu]

Or porcelain cable holders for 29.99$ apiece:


http://www.audiotweaks.com/reviews/cblelevators/elevatorINDI.jpg

Increased dynamics, sound and lowered cable resistance, yo.

Their real standout products are the Brilliant Pebbles, the Clever Little Clock, and (read this one last) the Teleportation Tweak.

[VanBuren]

Puhleeze. Audiophiles don't buy $74 anything. They pay hundreds of dollars even for their rocks (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm)

To say that I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of these rocks... well, it's kind of an understatement.

[xPANCAKEx]

ear clip headphones are never going to be great audio quality the minute you step outside a silent room

either get cans, plugs, or dont bother

[kyoryu]

To say that I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of these rocks... well, it's kind of an understatement.

But how can you deny the effectiveness of placing a specially tuned digital clock near your gear? Or calling the company on the phone, at which point they'll perform their amazing teleportation tweak, magically making your gear sound better from any distance?

[VanBuren]

But how can you deny the effectiveness of placing a specially tuned digital clock near your gear? Or calling the company on the phone, at which point they'll perform their amazing teleportation tweak, magically making your gear sound better from any distance?

My parents have an acre of land. I'm sure I can fill a jar of rocks all by myself.

Tell you what, I'll cut you a rate. Two jars for $30. I don't make that deal for everyone.

[Moff Chumley]

Puhleeze. Audiophiles don't buy $74 anything. They pay hundreds of dollars even for their rocks (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm)

Audiophiles don't even buy $74 CABLES. And that's not even a joke or a gimmick. No serious audiophile would use anything in the signal chain that low-quality.


To say that I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of these rocks... well, it's kind of an understatement.

Wrong thread, buddy.

:smalltongue:

Let the record show, I'm not an audiophile. Audio quality is important but not critical, and even when I'm working on music, sound is more important to me than technical specs. I don't CARE how much distortion is involved, how bad the frequency respose is, or what the signal to noise ratio is like when I put a harmonica mic fifty feet away from an amp turned all the way up. It sounds amazing, no matter how low the technical quality. :smallannoyed:

[Trixie]

Audiophiles don't even buy $74 CABLES. And that's not even a joke or a gimmick. No serious audiophile would use anything in the signal chain that low-quality.

Yes, you need directional (as in, cables capable of conducting in one direction only) cables 1499$ apiece for that! :smalltongue:


Let the record show, I'm not an audiophile. Audio quality is important but not critical, and even when I'm working on music, sound is more important to me than technical specs. I don't CARE how much distortion is involved, how bad the frequency respose is, or what the signal to noise ratio is like when I put a harmonica mic fifty feet away from an amp turned all the way up.

Yup, I have no idea what half the descriptions "audiophiles" use (note, the subjective ones, like "wide" sound or "irony" bass) and I have a feeling they don't know either. That is, to every one of them it means a different thing, and they only pretend they have common nomenclature.

[Moff Chumley]

To be fair, frequency response, signal-to-noise ratio, and distortion are all actual things. But all of that is hardly worth considering because (I think) things tend to sound better with a little bit of distortion and slightly nonlinear frequency response. And signal-to-noise ratio isn't even worth considering unless you're using tape. XD

Anyhow, if you have good enough ears to be able to figure that stuff out in that precise detail, why aren't you a mastering engineer? :smalltongue:

[Tonal Architect]

That rock tuning thing is bound to be a hoax. Really, I refuse to acknowledge someone was actually gullible enough to fall for that.

As for the cable thing... According to wikipedia, James Randi is offering a million bucks to anyone able to tell those thousand-dollar audiophile cables from the cheap store-across-the-street ones. No one has claimed to prize, so far.

Well, I've been searching for good parameters through which to determine what is a good purchase, in regards to speakers (non portable ones, that is). I did go through some rather useless recommendations, nothing as bad as the rock thing, but still bad. I'm all ears for good advice, if any available, also.

Anyways, I've bough a pair of in-ear headphones, philips model SHS8000. Probably nowhere close to really good headphones (JH13 Pros come to mind), but they seem to do the trick. I have to let the earhook off of my right ear, it seems to hamper acoustic isolation as well as the correct placement of the speaker (I couldn't hear the right speaker properly until I let the hook loose), but other than that, they work fine, and are good and confortable enough for motorcycle use, as well as being inexpensive enough to allow for it. They ain't expensive enough to be audiophile material, even though audio quality and dynamic range seem good, though, I suppose.

[JoshuaZ]

That rock tuning thing is bound to be a hoax. Really, I refuse to acknowledge someone was actually gullible enough to fall for that.

As for the cable thing... According to wikipedia, James Randi is offering a million bucks to anyone able to tell those thousand-dollar audiophile cables from the cheap store-across-the-street ones. No one has claimed to prize, so far.



Well, I was going to bring up the Randi thing but you've beat me to it. Note also that for a lot of the weirder audiophile stuff to work we have to be wrong about fundamental laws of physics. I really love the special cables for the powersource.

More generally, if anyone is going to become an audiophile and doesn't want to go down the path of expensive rocks and magic cables, I suggest that when you purchase a new product, whenever feasible, have a friend help you run a blind test and see if you can tell the difference. Minor protocol issues: do a fair number of trials, have the friend randomly choose which will be used at any given trial by flipping a coin since humans are really bad randomizers, if setting up the equipment takes time, estimate how much time it takes before hand and delay that much time between even when two subsequent trials use the same equipment. Also, decide in advance of the experiment what your threshold is for accepting the technology as working. This last is not strictly necessary but it helps prevent human psychology from impacting things as much since humans are likely to post-hoc decide on a statistical measure that supports their preconceived biases. Never underestimate how easy it is to fool yourself even when you are trying hard not to be fooled.

[VanBuren]

Minor protocol issues: do a fair number of trials, have the friend randomly choose which will be used at any given trial by flipping a coin since humans are really bad randomizers, if setting up the equipment takes time, estimate how much time it takes before hand and delay that much time between even when two subsequent trials use the same equipment.

Hey now, that's not fair. You're only saying that because the human brain subconsciously creates patterns in everything ever.

[Ashery]

...*sigh*...

Before addressing the replies, I'll get the response to the original question out of the way first.

From what I recall when researching headphones over five years ago, Koss made some excellent clip-ons around the 30-50$ range (Portapros? Might be getting the name wrong.), but I haven't kept my hardware knowledge up to date as I get distracted by shiny disks far too easily. I'd also suggest to lurk on some actual audio forums to get better info.

To the replies in no particular order:

"Audiophile" quality IEM's *do* exist, but the statement that they don't exist in the stated price range is probably accurate. The thing is, that's true for any type of headphone purchased <100$. Sure, a good headphone at that price range'll beat the hell out of stock earbuds, but any headphone in that range will have faults. Hell, any piece of audio equipment will have some faults, but more expensive gear *tends* to have fewer. I emphasize tends there for a reason as some brands (*cough*Bose*cough*) produce absolute **** for their price. That's not to say that they'll not sound good, but they'll sound as good as a decent pair that costs substantially less.

Just because there are a lot of snake oil salesmen dealing in audio gear does *NOT* mean that all expensive gear is hype. Cables, as it won't surprise the people who've posted about'em in this thread, are one of the worst offenders.

The terms audiophiles use to describe sound are very real and, at least to me, are rather self explanatory. Some, however, require a greater awareness of than others. Not quire sure about "irony" though...are you perhaps referring to "tinny"?

[shiram]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Koss Porta-Pros as well, i just havent heard them myself.
I use Sennheiser earbuds myself, and they are a great leap from the generics you get mp3 players and such.

[azgarth]

definitely browse around head-fi for this. (http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/headphones)

their forums usually have some decent info as well.

generally clip-ons (like the ones you pictured) do have serious downsides, they usually have a high amount of noise for others to hear at equal volumes to say IEMS or overear 'phones. they're also quite bad at noise canceling, and you need some that fit really good for them to be both comfortable AND stable.

if you're worried about the hair-messing stuff and don't want buds or IEMs, have you thought about neckbands?
there's few good neckbands made, but depending on your hairstyle and preference, it could be a solution.
see if you can try/afford the igrado, it's probably grado's least-known headphones (quite a stigma against neckbands due to usual lack of quality), but they have the same drivers as their SR60, which are lauded as one of the better lower end serious phones.

[kyoryu]

Just because there are a lot of snake oil salesmen dealing in audio gear does *NOT* mean that all expensive gear is hype. Cables, as it won't surprise the people who've posted about'em in this thread, are one of the worst offenders.


My stepfather was a pretty big audiophile. The speakers I had on my stereo were my stepfather's cast-off Dahlquist DQM9s (yes, I'm old). I know that there is a difference - it's just a difference that starts getting more marginal the more you invest, and the upper ranges start really getting a little scammy. And the non-scammy stuff can actually show you things like frequency response graphs.

Even in cases where there is a technical difference, I still honestly believe that 90% of the "difference" heard by people is either EQ/volume games played by clever salespeople, or a simple desire to believe that it sounds better because it's more expensive. For a close parallel, watch the Penn & Teller show on Showtime (don't think it'll get through the filter) that deals with bottled water. They had people drinking the same water and yet speaking very eloquently on the differences between the waters. Because, hey, they came in different fancy bottles.

As you've said, cables are probably the worst offenders - and we won't even get into "premium" HDMI cables.

[Moff Chumley]

As far as speakers go, I'm a classicist. I like Genelecs. But I certainly don't own a pair, and I doubt many people here can swing 'em... JBL makes some good stuff, and the NS-10s are a classic for a reason... :smalltongue: