Headphone - Help me choose
Reply #2 – 2013-12-04 10:43:29
Yes, another headphone selection topic Is it a fad we've been having over here lately or what ? (...) I’m limited to what is available in the catalogue [/b]and I have enough points (675) for the following: This doesn't sound ideal when it comes to buying products you're hoping to be using on a daily basis for the longest possible time span, let alone something as personal as headphones. As far as individual preferences go, at least. I cannot vouch for any of them purely for not owning any of them, but by limiting yourself to a single supplier, you might incur in not buying the right one for you.Playback will be via Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 with Ogg-Vorbis and/or Opus files transcoded from my FLAC library. I’m hoping not to use a headphone amp but may get a portable headphone amp at some point if needed. Genre is broadly mixed but female vocal is prominent. How can you be sure you will have to buy an amp for either of these? From reading online opinions exclusively!? Also, portable amps would be justified if you're mostly using headphones on the go, otherwise most non-dedicated amps would offer you much more bang for the buck - if you need them at all. I’ve been everywhere to try and audition but its proving impossible. A few places have listening stations but you’re limited to 6 or so tracks that you can switch through and volume. It’s not possible to connect the headphones to your own device. For a few reasons, I’m probably going to skip on the Sony. No one has the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear setup and they won’t unbox. I’ve listened to both the Sol Republic Tracks HD Ultra and Sennheiser Momentum Over-Ear. Having worked on retail for several years before, I can assure you seasoned sales people try to make (using typical jargon in the trade) a time waister's store experience a difficult one, when they detect all he/she wanna do is 'trying here, buying elsewhere'. I went in thinking the Sennheiser’s would win hands down but in comparison they sounded poor; limited frequency response, low output volume, little to no ‘punch’ with the demo tunes available. Maybe it was the specific songs that highlighted the Sol’s. I’m now starting to wonder if the headphones were faulty or (more likely) if the backend amp (all hidden in the display board) was faulty etc. If by 'punch' you mean bass, and lots of it, all I can say is hi-end Senns are well known for their (I hope I'm not using audiophool jargon here) TRANSPARENCY - which in plain English translates as flat response. At least it is just like that with my 'ye olde faithful' HD-580, but other similar models (600's, 650's) are reported to have similar 'signatures' - but for obvious reasons I cannot comment on those.I need help. If you had to choose from the above on faith, what would you get? I’m still tempted for the Sennheiser Momentum Over-Ear but can’t get over the poor experience. Ideally it should would all boil down to 'try 'em before you buy 'em', not faith purchase. As you are, in my opinion, inadequately bound to that list, you'll have to count on someone over here (or elsewhere) first owning one of those and furthermore, be happening to read and willing to reply to your post. And even then you'd have to trust their personal judgements. I honestly think you should at least try to minimize the chances of future disappointment by concentrating on reviews/opinions where current owners have similar taste to yours, as far as listening habits, music genres, etcetera go. Also ask yourself what you listen to mostly, how and where, maybe you might get lucky with one of those you mentioned or maybe take the plunge and accept other recommendations outside your current scope, who knows.