And here we are, a few weeks into the new year with the best of the over ears. As you might have noticed, the 'losers' didn't just include the bottom 10 but neglected a couple and included the AKG K7XXs. But let's talk about that as we go why don't we, this one'll be long with 13 headphones.
The first of the 'winners' I want to talk about are the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pros. These are an interesting pair of headphones because they allow you to control the amount of bass you listen to with these sliders, one on each earcup. So why are these on the 'winners' list while being in 14th place? Simply put they're very interesting. Part of the reason why they're ranked so low is because they're kind of expensive at around $215 for the quality of sound they have. The other reason is that why you bring the bass up to louder amounts it seriously degrades the sound quality. The bass gets really bloated and slow. The idea and premise behind them though is quite interesting and I do quite enjoy them even though I ranked them as low as I did and for that I think they belong on the 'winners' list.
Next up is the other sub top ten ranked pair of headphones, the Bose QC15s. Yes, there's a new version of these headphones in the QC25s but I don't have those so you'll have to live with this. Honestly, these are here because the noise cancelling is just that good. The sound is...odd to say the least. Out of all the headphones I looked at this time around, they had this really odd vocal focus that made their mids very odd. The bass was pretty decent but I just couldn't shake the odd mids that were so very partial to vocals and so oddly weak when vocals weren't involved.
Skipping over the Beyerdynamic T90s for now, I'll talk about those last, let's get to the AKG Q701s in 9th place. The Q701s honestly sound very similar to the AKG K612 Pros when unamped. Amped is a different story with the K612s getting uncharacteristically sloppy with the Q701s maintaining their sound. The general sound is that the bass is pretty good with a strong yet not overly strong volume. The mids are clear and detailed and the highs are sparkly without getting out of hand ever. The stage is wide and natural. Overall the sound is not the reason these headphones are here. The only reason they're here is because the headband has bumps on it that are really annoyingly uncomfortable.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Gear Days - New Year Over Ear Invitational Part 3: The Losers
Oh the 'losers', the disappointments, the stay at home headphones. Whether the price to performance ratio was off or the sound quality just wasn't there, these headphones just didn't stack up to the fierce competition for the top, regardless, it's important to talk about them so here we go.
At the bottom of the scrap barrel are the Audio Technica ANC7b headphones. At $130ish with admirable noise cancelling, these headphones fit into an interesting niche in the low end noise cancelling headphones department. While their noise cancelling is admirable, outperforming both the Audio Technica ANC70s and the Beats Studio Wireless, I just couldn't enjoy their sound quality in comparison to the other headphones in the group. As I stated before in my ANC70 vs ANC7b post, the ANC7bs suffer pretty greatly from the tin can syndrome. They have overly strong bass, that isn't even good, which paired with an already small sound stage makes things almost claustrophobic. While it's true that with noise cancelling on they sound significantly better, they still don't really get up to par with some of the other headphones in the group so they get the lowest ranking.
Moving on are the VModa Crossfade LPs. Note that these are the first incarnation of them and that there is a new version. That said I just couldn't get behind the sound. When I first reviewed them back at the tail end of 2013, I gave them quite a high rating. That said, I have listened to a great deal more headphones and honestly I don't think they sound that good. Maybe it's because I tend to favor mid and treble heavy headphones over bassy ones but I found that the Crossfade LPs just lacked on so many levels. The bass was overly strong and not crisp, just kind of boomy. The mids were weak and the stage was overly small. I wouldn't say they're particularly bad headphones, just not really all that good either.
At the bottom of the scrap barrel are the Audio Technica ANC7b headphones. At $130ish with admirable noise cancelling, these headphones fit into an interesting niche in the low end noise cancelling headphones department. While their noise cancelling is admirable, outperforming both the Audio Technica ANC70s and the Beats Studio Wireless, I just couldn't enjoy their sound quality in comparison to the other headphones in the group. As I stated before in my ANC70 vs ANC7b post, the ANC7bs suffer pretty greatly from the tin can syndrome. They have overly strong bass, that isn't even good, which paired with an already small sound stage makes things almost claustrophobic. While it's true that with noise cancelling on they sound significantly better, they still don't really get up to par with some of the other headphones in the group so they get the lowest ranking.
Moving on are the VModa Crossfade LPs. Note that these are the first incarnation of them and that there is a new version. That said I just couldn't get behind the sound. When I first reviewed them back at the tail end of 2013, I gave them quite a high rating. That said, I have listened to a great deal more headphones and honestly I don't think they sound that good. Maybe it's because I tend to favor mid and treble heavy headphones over bassy ones but I found that the Crossfade LPs just lacked on so many levels. The bass was overly strong and not crisp, just kind of boomy. The mids were weak and the stage was overly small. I wouldn't say they're particularly bad headphones, just not really all that good either.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Gear Days - New Year Over Ear Invitational Part 2: The Rankings
First off, this ranking took a really long time to do. I've found that listening to multiple headphones for differences can be really difficult. After 5 or 6 you start forgetting what the other ones sounded like and it all kind of blurs. Also, I haven't done the amped ratings yet so there will be an edit to this post when I do end up finishing those. Regardless, let's get to the standard rankings.
From top to bottom in ranking:
1. Superlux HD668B
2. AKG K612Pro
3. Sony MDRV6/MDR7506
4. Audio Technica ATH-M50
5. Beyerdynamic DT880
6. Incipio NX-100 f38
7. JVC HA-RX900
8. AKG K7XX
9. AKG Q701
10. Beyerdynamic T90
11. Audio Technica ANC70
12. Scarlett HP60
13. Bose QC15
14. Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro
15. California Headphones Co Silverado
16. Beats Studio Wireless
17. NuForce HP-800
18. VModa Crossfade LP
19. Audio Technica ANC7b
Some notes to consider when looking at these rankings:
The Sony MDRV6 and MDR7506 are for all intents and purposes the same headphones which is why they share a spot and have the exact same ratings.
Comfort, price to performance ratio, and certain extra features like noise cancelling or interesting sound profile factor heavily into these rankings. For example, the Beyerdynamic T90s are ranked 10th place purely for price to performance ratio reasons while the AKG Q701 is docked for comfort reasons mainly.
Next up is the loser's list which is largely the bottom of this list but not completely. Expect it up in a couple days. Until next time.
*Edit*
After checking out some select headphones through the Aune T1 MK2, there are some surprising results. None of them really change the standings but I'll go through a couple points here. All three AKG headphones and the Beyerdynamic DT880s took a lot more volume to get equivalently loud as compared to the other headphones. The Aune T1 MK2 tended to increase bass response and lighten treble response except in a couple of cases. Those cases being on the Beats Studio Wireless and the AKG K612 Pros where the bass got weaker and the treble got stronger. Also, even though some of the headphones appear to do worse, that doesn't necessarily make them as low ranking as in the base standings without amping/driving through the Aune T1 MK2, this is evidenced by the fact that I didn't give values below a 5. I'll talk about each of the headphones and how they changed due to being run through the Aune T1 MK2 more in depth in the following posts.
--CsMiREK
From top to bottom in ranking:
1. Superlux HD668B
2. AKG K612Pro
3. Sony MDRV6/MDR7506
4. Audio Technica ATH-M50
5. Beyerdynamic DT880
6. Incipio NX-100 f38
7. JVC HA-RX900
8. AKG K7XX
9. AKG Q701
10. Beyerdynamic T90
11. Audio Technica ANC70
12. Scarlett HP60
13. Bose QC15
14. Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro
15. California Headphones Co Silverado
16. Beats Studio Wireless
17. NuForce HP-800
18. VModa Crossfade LP
19. Audio Technica ANC7b
Some notes to consider when looking at these rankings:
The Sony MDRV6 and MDR7506 are for all intents and purposes the same headphones which is why they share a spot and have the exact same ratings.
Comfort, price to performance ratio, and certain extra features like noise cancelling or interesting sound profile factor heavily into these rankings. For example, the Beyerdynamic T90s are ranked 10th place purely for price to performance ratio reasons while the AKG Q701 is docked for comfort reasons mainly.
Next up is the loser's list which is largely the bottom of this list but not completely. Expect it up in a couple days. Until next time.
*Edit*
After checking out some select headphones through the Aune T1 MK2, there are some surprising results. None of them really change the standings but I'll go through a couple points here. All three AKG headphones and the Beyerdynamic DT880s took a lot more volume to get equivalently loud as compared to the other headphones. The Aune T1 MK2 tended to increase bass response and lighten treble response except in a couple of cases. Those cases being on the Beats Studio Wireless and the AKG K612 Pros where the bass got weaker and the treble got stronger. Also, even though some of the headphones appear to do worse, that doesn't necessarily make them as low ranking as in the base standings without amping/driving through the Aune T1 MK2, this is evidenced by the fact that I didn't give values below a 5. I'll talk about each of the headphones and how they changed due to being run through the Aune T1 MK2 more in depth in the following posts.
--CsMiREK
Monday, January 12, 2015
Gear Days - New Year Over Ear Invitational Part 1: Introduction
Before moving on with the year and new and exciting things, I wanted to do my big winter headphone review. The contenders this time are all of the over ear headphones I own, currently 20 of them. As usual, head over to the headphone spreadsheet for more complete breakdown. As this is the "heavyweight" division, at least in terms of price, I'll be handling this particular post a bit differently than some of the previous ones. First off, this will be just an introductory post going over the gear used to test and some other considerations.
During previous group headphones posts, I used my Focusrite 2i2 hooked up to a PreSonus HP4 so I could listen to multiple headphones at a time. I will be doing so again for the majority of the testing. Additionally, I'll be running a few headphones through an Aune T1 MK2 tube DAC/amp with its stock tube. The reasoning behind this is that I've found that this particular group of headphones has a handful of individuals that sound markedly different when amped differently and in most cases better.
Another thing to note will be the inclusion of 1/10 ratings which I have shied away from in the past. However, I want to have as much available range to work with in the ratings scheme. A 1/10 rating in this sense only means that that pair of headphones ranked the worst out of the ones tested. During the spring full listen, the 1/10 ratings will likely not be so far down. The last bit of interesting information is why some headphones might rank higher during one listen versus another. In going through the beginning of this listen through I found the California Headphones Co's Silverado headphones to have significantly worse bass than during the under $50 listen and so it loses out to the Incipio f38 which it beat prior. Part of this has to do with my ears listening to different things on one group compared to another. Our hearing adjusts somewhat to any sounds we hear which makes objective listening quite difficult. Also, sometimes I change my mind.
Upcoming in this series of posts will be, the overall rankings followed by a post on the 'losers' with the last post of four being a post on the 'winners'. I hope you enjoy, the next post should be up Friday. Until next time.
--CsMiREK
During previous group headphones posts, I used my Focusrite 2i2 hooked up to a PreSonus HP4 so I could listen to multiple headphones at a time. I will be doing so again for the majority of the testing. Additionally, I'll be running a few headphones through an Aune T1 MK2 tube DAC/amp with its stock tube. The reasoning behind this is that I've found that this particular group of headphones has a handful of individuals that sound markedly different when amped differently and in most cases better.
Another thing to note will be the inclusion of 1/10 ratings which I have shied away from in the past. However, I want to have as much available range to work with in the ratings scheme. A 1/10 rating in this sense only means that that pair of headphones ranked the worst out of the ones tested. During the spring full listen, the 1/10 ratings will likely not be so far down. The last bit of interesting information is why some headphones might rank higher during one listen versus another. In going through the beginning of this listen through I found the California Headphones Co's Silverado headphones to have significantly worse bass than during the under $50 listen and so it loses out to the Incipio f38 which it beat prior. Part of this has to do with my ears listening to different things on one group compared to another. Our hearing adjusts somewhat to any sounds we hear which makes objective listening quite difficult. Also, sometimes I change my mind.
Upcoming in this series of posts will be, the overall rankings followed by a post on the 'losers' with the last post of four being a post on the 'winners'. I hope you enjoy, the next post should be up Friday. Until next time.
--CsMiREK
Saturday, January 3, 2015
What is Music?
Occasionally I'll put up posts where I feel like I have an intimate knowledge of a subject, all the while rejecting all sense of it. This is one of those kinds of posts. It's a topic that I often think about and is best boiled down the the three words in the title, What is Music?
Over my short lifetime I've heard tens if not hundreds of thousands of pieces of music. From Bach to Shostakovich, Alstroemeria Records to Mozart, Lady Gaga to Frank Sinatra, music takes on many forms. Long ago there was Gregorian chant, music passed down much like history, through oral tradition. Eventually, such things were written down, though not as specifically as things are now. However, this is a wholly Western view as music also existed and evolved in the East, among other regions of the world. From Indian ragas to the largely pentatonic stylings of ancient Chinese music to the music of Africa (which I know little about but is significantly different than other regions), it's pretty clear that music has grown organically from many roots. What binds these threads together and why did humanity create music?
Over my short lifetime I've heard tens if not hundreds of thousands of pieces of music. From Bach to Shostakovich, Alstroemeria Records to Mozart, Lady Gaga to Frank Sinatra, music takes on many forms. Long ago there was Gregorian chant, music passed down much like history, through oral tradition. Eventually, such things were written down, though not as specifically as things are now. However, this is a wholly Western view as music also existed and evolved in the East, among other regions of the world. From Indian ragas to the largely pentatonic stylings of ancient Chinese music to the music of Africa (which I know little about but is significantly different than other regions), it's pretty clear that music has grown organically from many roots. What binds these threads together and why did humanity create music?
Monday, December 29, 2014
2014 Year in Review
Well, 2014 is coming to a close. Was it any better than 2013? It's hard to say.
By many accounts, 2014 was shaped by events that were more unfortunate than could ever been realized. Domestically, in the US, we had multiple police brutality cases come to light. None of those seemed to come to the conclusion the public hoped for. We were swept by fear over the concerns of Ebola, which hit Africa to devastating effect but never made a particular impact here.
Overseas, by all accounts, was much worse however. From ISIL to plane disasters, 3 of them now that another plane has gone missing on the 28th of December, the world has not been a particularly safe place. It all seems so far away when we hear about atrocities like the December 16th school massacre in Peshawar by the Pakistani Taliban or the thousands of deaths in West Africa due to Ebola.
At home, this disconnect became increasingly obvious. The fear frenzy sparked by Ebola, which to date only has 4 cases and 1 death in the US, was almost comical in how overblown it was. The level of misinformation supplied was clearly crafted to feed the fear as all credible sources have said that outbreaks in developed countries would be incredibly unlikely. Now don't get me wrong, the crisis in west Africa over the spread and fatality of this current Ebola strain is very well founded, it just isn't particularly dangerous to the US where the media went crazy.
As bad as the year's been in the world, outside the Earth we perhaps had one of the most exciting events in recent space history. Rosetta and Philae, spacecraft from the European Space Agency (ESA) landed on a moving asteroid, no doubt a great feat. From a set of cute animated renditions of their mission to an xkcd comic chronicling their landing, the scientific community celebrated the success, though brief, of one of the longest and most difficult space missions to date.
In daily life I'm sure everyone has had somewhat of an up and down year. Every time you think something good happens, you get punched in the gut with something terrible. That's how the world is though, between all the good and bad, there's a lull where nothing seems to happen. Sometimes, I feel like that's what we should really be celebrating. Not praising the good, nor vilifying the bad, but celebrating those everyday events, the mediocrity is what keeps us going.
With that, I hope everyone has a good new year's. Hopefully, this upcoming year will have more to celebrate, both good and neutral, and less to cry over. As always, until next time.
--CsMiREK
By many accounts, 2014 was shaped by events that were more unfortunate than could ever been realized. Domestically, in the US, we had multiple police brutality cases come to light. None of those seemed to come to the conclusion the public hoped for. We were swept by fear over the concerns of Ebola, which hit Africa to devastating effect but never made a particular impact here.
Overseas, by all accounts, was much worse however. From ISIL to plane disasters, 3 of them now that another plane has gone missing on the 28th of December, the world has not been a particularly safe place. It all seems so far away when we hear about atrocities like the December 16th school massacre in Peshawar by the Pakistani Taliban or the thousands of deaths in West Africa due to Ebola.
At home, this disconnect became increasingly obvious. The fear frenzy sparked by Ebola, which to date only has 4 cases and 1 death in the US, was almost comical in how overblown it was. The level of misinformation supplied was clearly crafted to feed the fear as all credible sources have said that outbreaks in developed countries would be incredibly unlikely. Now don't get me wrong, the crisis in west Africa over the spread and fatality of this current Ebola strain is very well founded, it just isn't particularly dangerous to the US where the media went crazy.
As bad as the year's been in the world, outside the Earth we perhaps had one of the most exciting events in recent space history. Rosetta and Philae, spacecraft from the European Space Agency (ESA) landed on a moving asteroid, no doubt a great feat. From a set of cute animated renditions of their mission to an xkcd comic chronicling their landing, the scientific community celebrated the success, though brief, of one of the longest and most difficult space missions to date.
In daily life I'm sure everyone has had somewhat of an up and down year. Every time you think something good happens, you get punched in the gut with something terrible. That's how the world is though, between all the good and bad, there's a lull where nothing seems to happen. Sometimes, I feel like that's what we should really be celebrating. Not praising the good, nor vilifying the bad, but celebrating those everyday events, the mediocrity is what keeps us going.
With that, I hope everyone has a good new year's. Hopefully, this upcoming year will have more to celebrate, both good and neutral, and less to cry over. As always, until next time.
--CsMiREK
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Gear Days - Stocking Stuffer Special
I'm a bit late with this, I wanted to originally have this out yesterday night but it took a bit longer than expected. The topic for the day is the Stocking Stuffer Special, a ranking of headphones I own that can all be bought for under $50. The field is crowded and honestly there aren't a large number of standouts but let's get started anyways.
All told, there were 14 pairs ranked this time around and they got grouped into 2 small groups at the ends and one big blob in the middle
So let's get to the ratings:
1. Superlux HD668B
2. Yuin PK3
3. Sennheiser CX200
4. Incipio NX-100 f38
5. Panasonic RPTCM125K
6. NuForce NE600X
7. UrbanEars Plattan
8. Sony MDR-PQ5 (Discontinued)
9. TTPOD T1-E
10. California Headphones Silverado (Discontinued)
11. Klipsch S4i Rugged (Discontinued)
12. Sol Republic Amps
13. NuForce NE770X
14. Zipbuds Juiced
All told, there were 14 pairs ranked this time around and they got grouped into 2 small groups at the ends and one big blob in the middle
So let's get to the ratings:
1. Superlux HD668B
2. Yuin PK3
3. Sennheiser CX200
4. Incipio NX-100 f38
5. Panasonic RPTCM125K
6. NuForce NE600X
7. UrbanEars Plattan
8. Sony MDR-PQ5 (Discontinued)
9. TTPOD T1-E
10. California Headphones Silverado (Discontinued)
11. Klipsch S4i Rugged (Discontinued)
12. Sol Republic Amps
13. NuForce NE770X
14. Zipbuds Juiced
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