Headphones

[DavidW]

I was thinking Shure has more of a reputation for producing neutral, uncolored sound reproduction, and would be more "audiophile."

They do, I had a different model of their wireless headphones.  They provided good SQ but the volume level was too weak for something like Mahler.

I had and liked these wireless AKG headphones until they broke.  That is another brand to consider.  They certainly are more competitive than Sennheiser as Holden mentioned.  Sennheiser's attempts are completely disappointing. 

[drogulus]

If they still make them try the Beyerdynamics Lagoon.  They are really short of features like codec support and good ANC (it frankly sucks) but the SQ is out of this world!

     The MX3s have outstanding ANC. I went on the Beyerdynamic website and they have models called Amiron for $549 and $599. Perhaps the ANC on these is improved. Anyway, that's a bit steep for me.

[DavidW]

The MX3s have outstanding ANC. I went on the Beyerdynamic website and they have models called Amiron for $549 and $599. Perhaps the ANC on these is improved. Anyway, that's a bit steep for me.

I had the Sony wh1000 mx2 and yeah the ANC is out of this world good!  I think I read that Beyer pulled some $20 off the shelf ANC module for the Lagoon, which is wildly different from the huge amount of r&d that Sony and Bose put into their offerings. 

[Spotted Horses]

All the advice has been helpful.

I think I will stick with the noise canceling headphones I have, the wired Bose Quietcomfort 25, the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the other I didn't mention, Apple AirPods Max. Noise cancellation from a company that doesn't specialize in that sort of tech is probably a mistake. Maybe I'll consider something more high-end in the category of wired sealed headphones.

As I said, I like the Shure SRH840A but sort of regret that I didn't spring for the more high-end version of it, which would presumably have a better build (SRH 1540).

I guess I am reluctant to go the bluetooth route for "audiophile" because they all use a lossy encoding scheme and how are you to know if you are actually using the supposedly high resolution bluetooth codex, when it's all buried in layers of software that are not visible to you. Then again, plugging in a headphone with wireless and noise cancelation capability seems odd because probably it just digitizes the analog input, so you are going from digital to analog in your DAC, to digital in the headphone, to analog again, quite a rube Goldberg scheme.

[DavidW]

On Android you can tell what bt codec is being used and even set it.  I'm guessing you have an Iphone.  My experience is that the better codecs are close enough that is not the limiting factor.  My experience has been that the limiting factor is the built in amp.  If it is not shielded well enough from the rest of the headphone than you can have an audible noise floor.  It can also have insufficient volume or distort too easily. 

[Spotted Horses]

On Android you can tell what bt codec is being used and even set it.  I'm guessing you have an Iphone.  My experience is that the better codecs are close enough that is not the limiting factor.  My experience has been that the limiting factor is the built in amp.  If it is not shielded well enough from the rest of the headphone than you can have an audible noise floor.  It can also have insufficient volume or distort too easily. 

I did notice some audible noise in the inexpensive wireless headphones I use for casual use such as watching videos. JBL Tune510BT, in the $35 range. I tried out the AirPod MAX headphones from Apple, and they do seem very good with Mahler. I might try out those or the Sonys for streaming classical.

[Spotted Horses]

Just when I thought I could stop jonesing over the prospect of better noise canceling headphones, I noticed this:



B&W Px7 S2e

[DavidW]

Interesting.  It looks like gym caddy measured it at -25 dB on the anc, which should be sufficient for you.  He also commented that the sq is neutral, which he doesn't like but should be great for us.  If you buy it, please let us know your impressions.

[Spotted Horses]

Will it have enough umph for Mahler 6 hammer blow?  That's the question.

[Spotted Horses]

Decided to randomly try out some of the noise canceling headphones I have. Apple EarPods Max (a perk from my employer) going into rotation. Not bad, sort of muffled compared with the SHURE SRH840A. Maybe the issue is I have a default EQ with mild bass emphasis, treble cut, installed based on listening to the Shure set. But, in any case, A/B comparisons are not the best way to judge. Extended listening and judging satisfaction with familiar recordings seems to give the most reliable evaluation of headphone experience quality, in my case anyway.

[Spotted Horses]

I feel myself ready to renounce the whole audiophile mentality, with it's dedicated DACs, headphone amps, wired headphones, etc. Maybe I'll get the latest product from Bose, Quietcomfort Ultra, which even has an ambience mode which is supposed to address the poor imaging produced by using headphones to listen to recordings intended for speakers (a more sophisticated version of cross-feed, as I understand it).

[DavidW]

I feel myself ready to renounce the whole audiophile mentality, with it's dedicated DACs, headphone amps, wired headphones, etc. Maybe I'll get the latest product from Bose, Quietcomfort Ultra, which even has an ambience mode which is supposed to address the poor imaging produced by using headphones to listen to recordings intended for speakers (a more sophisticated version of cross-feed, as I understand it).

I hate to burst your bubble but talking about addressing imaging means that you didn't really renounce audiophilia! Normal people don't worry about cross-feed, they just listen to the music.

[Spotted Horses]

I hate to burst your bubble but talking about addressing imaging means that you didn't really renounce audiophilia! Normal people don't worry about cross-feed, they just listen to the music.

Well, yes, but I think bluetooth is antithetical to "audiophile" and "specialized audio" is an anathema to the purist. (If Wilma Cozart thinks the entire first violin section should be exclusively in my left ear cup, then it will be exclusively in my left ear cup!)

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Well, yes, but I think bluetooth is antithetical to "audiophile" and "specialized audio" is an anathema to the purist. (If Wilma Cozart thinks the entire first violin section should be exclusively in my left ear cup, then it will be exclusively in my left ear cup!)

PD

[Spotted Horses]

Looking into AirPods Max a little more. They have spacialized stereo, but processing is apparently not in the headphones. It is enabled in the playback device (Mac, iPhone, iPad) and only supported in Macs with Apple Silicon. The iMac I usually use for music playback is an older intel based machine, so no spacialized audio. I do have an iPhone and a MacBook which would work. Tried it out with one recording, which was already rather reverberant, and difference is minimal. It might have a more significant effect on a more dry recording with excessive stereo separation. The latest Bose ANC headphones have spacialized stereo built in, which means it can't take advantage of multichannel information, but it does work with any audio source. You lose some and you win some.

With or without spacialized audio they sound good to me.

[Mookalafalas]

Just when I thought I could stop jonesing over the prospect of better noise canceling headphones, I noticed this:



B&W Px7 S2e

  I have the original version. The S2 is supposed to have better noise cancellation, but make sure you hear them first. "Better" may not mean much, as the first iteration's NC is really, really, weak.

[Spotted Horses]

Bose Quietcomfort Ultra was released this past Tuesday. Should I consider getting them right away, the very first batch, or perhaps give them time to work out any bugs in manufacturing?

[Atriod]

Looking into AirPods Max a little more. They have spacialized stereo, but processing is apparently not in the headphones. It is enabled in the playback device (Mac, iPhone, iPad) and only supported in Macs with Apple Silicon. The iMac I usually use for music playback is an older intel based machine, so no spacialized audio. I do have an iPhone and a MacBook which would work. Tried it out with one recording, which was already rather reverberant, and difference is minimal. It might have a more significant effect on a more dry recording with excessive stereo separation. The latest Bose ANC headphones have spacialized stereo built in, which means it can't take advantage of multichannel information, but it does work with any audio source. You lose some and you win some.

With or without spacialized audio they sound good to me.

I recently updated to Sonoma. I'm impressed with the updates it brought to the Airpod Pro.

Do you know why spatialized audio works for something like Youtube but not videos played on VLC? I would love for them to acquire a company like Smyth Research, that kind of head tracking and HRTF leaves Apple in the dust.

[Spotted Horses]

I recently updated to Sonoma. I'm impressed with the updates it brought to the Airpod Pro.

Do you know why spatialized audio works for something like Youtube but not videos played on VLC? I would love for them to acquire a company like Smyth Research, that kind of head tracking and HRTF leaves Apple in the dust.

I've got a Intel desktop and an older Intel MacBook that are stuck at Monterrey. But I have an M2 MacBook which is prompting me to update to Sonoma. But I usually don't update to operating systems updated x.0, I usually wait for at least one update in case there are egregious bugs. Interesting to see if there is a difference. So far I have not noticed any significant difference turning on specialized audio. I really wouldn't be attracted so something that is very aggressive. My wish is for something which is a more sophisticated version of cross-feed, making headphones sound more like speakers.

I wouldn't know why it wouldn't be enabled for VLC. Is that for VLC producing stereo output, or multichannel? I had the impression Apple Spacial audio works with stereo or Dolby Atmos encoded audio.

[Scion7]

Get a good pair of Audio Technica phones or similar - you don't have to spend over ~~ $300 for great sound.