Headphones

[DavidW]

Spacialization with Dolby Atmos is something different and more aggressive, representing a true surround sound recording in two channels.

That has not been my experience. It just sounds like slightly better stereo. The width and depth on my open-air headphones are better, my stereo is far superior and my home theater setup has real surround sound. The only time I've heard headphones sound like surround was with binaural recordings. Dolby Atmos with my Airpods Max doesn't cut it.

[Spotted Horses]

That has not been my experience. It just sounds like slightly better stereo. The width and depth on my open-air headphones are better, my stereo is far superior and my home theater setup has real surround sound. The only time I've heard headphones sound like surround was with binaural recordings. Dolby Atmos with my Airpods Max doesn't cut it.

My wording was unclear, when I wrote

Spacialization with Dolby Atmos is something different and more aggressive, representing a true surround sound recording in two channels.

I mean't that Dolby Atmos takes true surround sound as it's source and represents it in two channels, whereas Apple Spatialized Stereo takes a two channel input and adds some spatialization (which I believe amounts to a sophisticated version of cross-feed). I agree that the Dolby Atmos experience on Apple AirPods Max is not convincing surround sound.

In any case, I've been lazy and have been using my AirPods Max for classical listening, rather than my wired headphones (Shure SHR1540 closed-back headphones with Schiit Audio Modi+Magni). I went back to the Shure headphones this morning and they are a marginally better experience. An issue is the area where I listen has a louder than average HVAC which runs at night and early morning in winter and closed-back is required (noise cancelation slightly preferred). Maybe I will suffer the wires and go back to that.

I also have Sony WM1000XM4 bluetooth headphones which I use for jazz. Maybe they could be upgraded to classical listening, and the AirPods Max switched to jazz so I can use the Spatialized Stereo on those old Gelder recordings with excessive stereo separation. (It is my custom to assign different musical genre's to different listening stations.)

[DavidW]

We are definitely in agreement then. Including the Shure 1540s vs Airpod Max. When I've been at work the dying HVAC has to run constantly to try to fight the very cold weather. Those Airpods block it out, and they sound great. The Shure headphones sound good but not miles better than the Airpods. My Sennheisers sound better than both but are open air.

[Spotted Horses]

We are definitely in agreement then. Including the Shure 1540s vs Airpod Max. When I've been at work the dying HVAC has to run constantly to try to fight the very cold weather. Those Airpods block it out, and they sound great. The Shure headphones sound good but not miles better than the Airpods. My Sennheisers sound better than both but are open air.

When summer returns and the HVAC never runs I may want to return to open-back, but my open-back headphones are Beyerdynamic T1 or AKG 701's. But since I discovered Shure, I'm tempted to chuck them and get Shure SRH-1840 open back headphones.

[Spotted Horses]

Listening to Haydn/Brautigam I tried my Sony WM1000XM4 bluetooth headphones instead of the Apple AirPod Max. I wouldn't say there is a difference in quality, but the Sony has a bit more mod-bass emphasis.

[Spotted Horses]

Anyone have experience and comments on Apple AirPod pro 2 earbuds. These are the premium earbuds which have a seal. I'm not imagining listening this classical on them. Rather jazz or casual listening.

[Number Six]

Anyone have experience and comments on Apple AirPod pro 2 earbuds. These are the premium earbuds which have a seal. I'm not imagining listening this classical on them. Rather jazz or casual listening.

They're what I use on the go, with my iPhone 15. Lightweight in the ear. And while they do sometimes fall out for me, I find they stay in better than other buds I have owned. Sound is good, and I have gotten used to throwing them in my pocket when I go out so I have something to listen to in waiting rooms, etc.

I thought I had lost mine for good yesterday. The left ear fell out while I was scraping snow from my vehicle, and I couldn't find it anywhere on the snowy ground. I decided to give it one more look today, thinking things might have melted a bit. Sure enough, there it was right about where I expected it to be!  That was a close one.

[Spotted Horses]

They're what I use on the go, with my iPhone 15. Lightweight in the ear. And while they do sometimes fall out for me, I find they stay in better than other buds I have owned. Sound is good, and I have gotten used to throwing them in my pocket when I go out so I have something to listen to in waiting rooms, etc.

I thought I had lost mine for good yesterday. The left ear fell out while I was scraping snow from my vehicle, and I couldn't find it anywhere on the snowy ground. I decided to give it one more look today, thinking things might have melted a bit. Sure enough, there it was right about where I expected it to be!  That was a close one.

The only other earbuds I have had were the wired EarPods that used to come with iphones, most recently my iPhone 10. They didn't sound too good and I couldn't imagine using them seriously for music. Are the AirPod pros a huge improvement?

[Number Six]

The only other earbuds I have had were the wired EarPods that used to come with iphones, most recently my iPhone 10. They didn't sound too good and I couldn't imagine using them seriously for music. Are the AirPod pros a huge improvement?

It's not even the same conversation! The APP2 is a billion times better than those garbage buds Apple used to make. (I have a current pair of wired Apple buds I keep on my nightstand for occasional use that look like those old ones, though with a USB-C plug, but they also sound better.) The Airpods Pro have noise canceling as an option, and it works quite well.

If you have an iPhone and are looking for something to go portable, I can only say for me they are worth the money. I have owned two pairs since 2021, replacing the first set with the ver 2 model about a year ago.

[Spotted Horses]

One thing I seem to get from this is that they are not things that last for years and years, so paying a lot of money may not be a great investment.

[Number Six]

One thing I seem to get from this is that they are not things that last for years and years, so paying a lot of money may not be a great investment.

Technically, you're right. I'd say that my biggest concern was that over time, the battery life began to decline. So instead of getting, say, 4 or 5 hours on a charge, I was getting 2-3 hours (after 3 years). Most every re-chargeable device I have ever had has a similar issue. TBH, I don't know how long any bluetooth device's battery lasts. 

I do feel like the ver 2's I traded in for were indeed a sonic and comfort upgrade. I also feel like I have used these in the last year more than I did the others across 3-4 years that I had them.

I am sure you could find something else. Bose and Sony make well-regarded wireless buds in the same price range, and I have read good things about the Galaxy Pro earbuds. I think Apple still offers Beats, too.

[drogulus]

     Hear ye my tragical tale. My DT 770 Pro 'phones sounded great but the long wire got all tangled up around itself like a vine, causing me to be constantly unwinding it until at last one channel became intermittent. Rather than getting them fixed I decided to buy the DT 770 Pro X set with a 4 ft. detachable cord and vwa lah, all is right in the world. These are louder than my 80 ohm originals so I checked the impedance and they are 48 ohms. That makes a considerable difference.

[LKB]

Most of the music l experience is inside my head, so the sound is exactly as l wish it to be.

But l do actually listen at times. For that l have some AKG headphones, not expensive or fancy at all but they're adequate.

[Daverz]

My latest addition to my collection was the Topping Hane IEM, a somewhat kneejerk reaction after reading the glowing review at ASR.

These do sound great, but my right ear must be malformed, because the fit on that side feels like it's not sealing well enough.  The nozzle on these is larger than my other IEMs.

These have little micro-switches for EQ settings.  I use the one for 4 dB of bass boost.

[AnotherSpin]

Most of the music l experience is inside my head, so the sound is exactly as l wish it to be.

But l do actually listen at times. For that l have some AKG headphones, not expensive or fancy at all but they're adequate.

Can I clarify a bit? All things in the perceived world happen inside my head

[71 dB]

Can I clarify a bit? All things in the perceived world happen inside my head

There's two kind of perception: Extroverted (senses) and Introverted (intuition). If you are listening to music, it is extroverted perception. If you "hear" the music in your head without sensory stimulus (sound), it is introverted perception. The perception itself always happens inside our heads because that's were cognition lives, but it can be extroverted, introverted or the combination of the two (e.g. you listen to the piano part only of a violin sonata and let your intuition to generate the introverted stimulus for the violin part).

[AnotherSpin]

There's two kind of perception: Extroverted (senses) and Introverted (intuition). If you are listening to music, it is extroverted perception. If you "hear" the music in your head without sensory stimulus (sound), it is introverted perception. The perception itself always happens inside our heads because that's were cognition lives, but it can be extroverted, introverted or the combination of the two (e.g. you listen to the piano part only of a violin sonata and let your intuition to generate the introverted stimulus for the violin part).

Including what you said.

[Spotted Horses]

Technically, you're right. I'd say that my biggest concern was that over time, the battery life began to decline. So instead of getting, say, 4 or 5 hours on a charge, I was getting 2-3 hours (after 3 years). Most every re-chargeable device I have ever had has a similar issue. TBH, I don't know how long any bluetooth device's battery lasts. 

I do feel like the ver 2's I traded in for were indeed a sonic and comfort upgrade. I also feel like I have used these in the last year more than I did the others across 3-4 years that I had them.

I am sure you could find something else. Bose and Sony make well-regarded wireless buds in the same price range, and I have read good things about the Galaxy Pro earbuds. I think Apple still offers Beats, too.

Yes, rechargeable batteries deteriorate with use, but then problem is that earbuds are limited to a tiny battery. Sony's rechargeable bluetooth headphones claim a 30 hour battery life, so they will be quite usable even after the battery had deteriorated.

I guess what I am looking at is a less expensive headphone than the AirPods Max for casual listening (to support their spacialized stereo). Beats is marketed for the Hip-Hop crowd and not what I am looking for.

[Spotted Horses]

Can I clarify a bit? All things in the perceived world happen inside my head

I remember reading Bertrand Russell's critique of the "everything is in my head" theory (which goes back at least to the 17th century and George Berkeley). The point is you can't strictly disprove it, but you can come up with a lot of arguments showing that it is improbable and not a useful way of viewing the world.

Is Putin just inside your head? I can't prove he isn't (or that I'm not). But you can't make him disappear by not thinking about him. So if he is not a definite external object, he might as well be, for practical purposes.

And somehow you thought this was salient for a discussion of headphones.

[DavidW]

This seems appropriate: