I first recommended the JVC marshmallows, but looking at new pricing, the JVC Air Cushions have come down in price and now seem to be a better deal.

For about $20 you get a slightly better sound, and a much better design. (marshamallows are around $15)

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-HAFX66B-Cu...3223460&sr=8-1

I recently got a new Macbook Pro and I would like to upgrade my headphones as well. I will mostly be using them for when I'm playing poker. I'm thinking of buying either the Audio Technica ATHANC7 or the Sennheiser PXC 350.

I read several times in this thread that the source is more important than the headphones. I play most of the music from MP3s on the Macbook Pro. So:

1. Is it worth it for me to buy really nice headphones considering what I guess is a sub par source?

2. What can I do to improve the source? Now I use standard MP3s that I play through Winamp Lite. Should I be looking for other formats or another media player?

3. Does active sound canceling negatively affect the music?

4. Should I buy an amplifier?

Thanks

One more quick question on ear buds before I let this thread escape my complete nubness..

Is there a proper/best way to store them? I use earbuds for in between classes, and the greatest invention apple ever came out with is the slider thing on their earbuds that keeps the 2 together when you wrap them around your ipod and stuff it in your pocket. Do they make similar items that you can put on any set of earbuds? Or do I need to get one of these newfangled carrying case thingys for them? Just trying to keep them untangled and safe.

A review of the headphones here: www.soundandvisionmag.com/atphones

1) Yes it's worth it to upgrade imo, but some headphones sound better out of a computer unamped than others. Some high impedance headphones like the sennheiser hd650 will sound worse to you without a proper amp. That being said, you can still find tons of headphones that will sound good unamped, and the macbook pro is one of the best stock notebooks for headphones.

2) Getting higher quality music is the easiest way to make things sound better, but you can get an external dac/amp or just an amp. Using an amp won't make much of a difference on some headphones, and I doubt it'd make a huge difference on either of the ones you mentioned.

3) http://www.head-fi.org/forums/3615555-post99.html

If you need active noise canceling headphones then I'd just get whichever one of the two you listed, but there is some hissing and other weird stuff that goes on with all active noise canceling headphones. Also some sound bad with the noise canceling off, so it's not like you can make them go back to 'normal' by keeping it off. That being said, both headphones have great reviews.

4) I personally wouldn't buy an amp. Stuff starts to get expensive imo. The cheapest amp/dac I'd get is the total bithead which is 160 new and about 105-120 used. I don't really like portable amps though since full-sized ones generally sound better for the price and just sound better period and you can get something like the zero amp/dac off ebay for about $150-175 shipped which is going to be much better. Then after that there's the compass amp/dac which is about 340 shipped right now which is even that much better than the zero. It'd be really hard for me to be satisfied with a portable amp.

The prices of both the headphones you listed seems to be about $120+shipping on froogle. They're both solid choices if you want active noise canceling, both have gotten good reviews and will sound fine out of the macbook. I'd just spend the ~$120 and call it good and that's by far going to be the most bang for the buck option if you need a full sized noise canceling headphone. You can always decide where to go from there.

Overall, laptops are pretty crappy sources. Your best bet is to pickup an external DAC+amp combination.

I personally bought a used HotAudio DAC for around $30. This is a guy that builds his own (he's from head-fi.org). They are excellent bang for the buck DAC's at 1/2 the price you'd pay from a big name.

For most high impedance headphones (60ohms+), you'll want this amp for $100:
http://www.hotaudio.com/zen-cart/ind...roducts_id=195

You might be able to find a used one for around $50-60.

It's also worth noting that for some headphones, you pretty much have to have an amp or they'll be incredibly quiet.

Similar to the guy who posted above, but what headphones would you guys actually recommend for this situation?

Macbook Pro and Ipod touch are going to be the primary sources. No Amp. No more than 400 dollars but obviously cheaper is better if we're not sacrificing quality.

Hey,

Thanks a lot for the replies. I bought the Audio-Technicas, very happy so far. I might look into buying an amp later. I'm going to try to find a place where I can try one out before I buy one.

Anyone have a good recommendation for an iphone breakout adapter or iphone specific headphones with a mike? I bought a griffin smarttalk adapter to use with my existing buds and it's a huge pain in the ass. You clip the mike/adapter on your collar and your entire headphone cable hangs from there.

I have read a half of this thread and still don't know what to get. I am looking for a good set-up (headphones, amp if necessary) that is mostly going to be used for plugging into my PC while I am at the office. I would also like to be able to use the headphones for live poker.

I was about to buy skullcandies. Then I was like wait I know absolutely nothing about headphones and even though skullcandies look cool, this guy probably knows better than me by miles, despite JVC being a relatively meh brand in my experience. So I ordered the JVC Air Cushions.

OH. MY. GOD.

These are beyond amazing. Anyone that is rocking ipod buds for whatever reason, throw them in the trash immediately. Get these. Even if you dont have 20 bucks, steal 20 bucks and get them. Or just steal the headphones, skip the middle man.

any advice on decent iems/earbuds that you can clip to the ear?

The jvc aircushions are good, but I've heard the apple dual driver earbuds are really good and I want to get a pair. They're about $35 refurbished or used on ebay/craigslist. If you ever come along some you might want to grab a pair to try out since it's unpossible to find a decent dual driver iem for that price and you could always sell it for about the same as you got it.

anyone tried the new Bose qc 15? ive read that they are getting great reviews. Any info?

Pretty much anything made by Bose is going to be very mediocre quality(at best), and very overpriced. You won't find anyone who knows anything about audio ever using their products for anything.

After a quick search of this thread I cannot believe no one has mentioned the Sennheiser HD 380's.

Doubt there is a better value for a non noise-canceling, over ear, headphone. Also, if you are a musician and can only afford one pair of headphones, like myself, there is no better choice for a combination of playback/mixing.

I bought the Beats (which are trash) this summer during the wsop, and returned them within a week for these, which are $100 cheaper, no less.

The mids/highs sound incredible. If you demand a really heavy bass, just adjust the EQ on your source, IMO, but there really is no better professional headphone for the price!

One thing of note: These are definitely for audiophiles. If you rip 128k mp3's, which you should not be, you will notice the lossyness. FLAC FTW!!

Amazon Review:



Product Description
The HD 380 Pro professional monitoring headphones are designed to exceed the demands of the professional environment. The HD 380 Pro provides an extended frequency response with increased sound pressure level (up to 110 dB) for accurate sound reproduction in demanding applications. Not only that, but the lightweight, secure and rugged design offers a comfortable listening experience for long recording sessions. Ear coupling - Around-the-ear Frequency response (headphones) - 8 - 27,000 Hz Impedance - 54-Ohm Load rating - 500 mW Sound pressure level - (SPL) 110 dB (1 kHz, 1 Vrms) Total harmonic distortion (THD) - < 0.1% (1kHz, 100dB SPL) Transducer principle - Closed, dynamic Weight without cable - 7.7 oz. (220 g) Included - Replaceable single sided, coiled cable with a 3.5mm jack connector HD 380 Pro Screw-type 1/4 adapter Slim line carrying case

As I posted earlier, look at the JVC air cushions instead of the marshmallows now. They dropped in price to around $20 shipped (http://www.buy.com/prod/jvc-ha-fx66b...205811395.html), and are much more comfortable than the marshmallows. They sound pretty similar.

Regarding this - umm... sure. You can't really compare an earbud for $20 with one that goes for $80 (new).

After reading the thread and many reviews I'm guessing some DT770 or DT880 should be best for me. I listen to rap and lossless shows. I want something that hits like a brick for the rap but isn't all boomy for my shows. Should I go with the 770 or 880? I do listen to headphones near others so I'm guessing the 770s since they are closed?

I'm shocked by this, admittedly I'm a novice and learning about this kinda thing but I was in the Bose shop today and tried these out, the guy had massive speaker playing aeroplane noise and it completely killed it yet when he was talking it was clear and the sound quality was, to me, amazing!

They might not be DJ quality but I was massively impressed, the only thing putting me off was the £280 price tag which because I havent sampled others lower in the price range I wasnt sure about.

The noise cancellation works very well, and it's not like the speakers sound bad...they just don't sound great compared to what you can get from other companies.

The Sennheiser 280 Pro, which I bought for 80$ like 3 years ago will kill the 300$ Bose headphones in every category except looks.

are there any headphones around for plugging into an ipod (no amplifier) that are significantly better than the sennheiser PXC450s?

i have had those for about 2 years, took a cursory look around for an upgrade recently but couldn't see any that looked better other than obviously the high-end stuff made for amplifiers

How did I do?

Ive read over this thread the last few days and the name I saw repeated quite a bit was Sennheiser. I was at best buy picking an printer ink cartridge and decided to see what they had for headphones. I end up buying the Senneheiser HD 238 figuring if you guys told me they suck I could take them back. I paid $99 for them and so far they seem really nice, but I dont have anything to compare to. If you guys have any other suggestions I would prefer to stay under the $100 mark and like the on ear design(or w/e u call the design of these) the most.

Also i forgot to mention that my source is a Dell XPS-435MT desktop and I will only be using them at home.

grrrr, have just burned through my second pair of se530s in the last 18 months

Explain?

The noise cancellation is the main thing im after for plane journeys, will the sennheiser's do as good a job in this respect? Do you know of any other noise-cancelling ones i should consider that are as good/better than the Bose's?