Articles
   
       
Pics/Video
       
Wake 101
   
       
       
Shop
Search
 
 
 
 
 
Home   Articles   Pics/Video   Gear   Wake 101   Events   Community   Forums   Classifieds   Contests   Shop   Search
WakeWorld Home
Email Password
Go Back   WakeWorld > Non-Wakeboarding Discussion

Share 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       12-23-2011, 8:54 AM Reply   
I have been checking out a few different types of head phones and wanted to share my results. With Christmas around the corner it might help some one.

All the head phones I tested had to work with my I phone. Many head phones have the option to be used with a phone with a in line mic and volume control.

The headphones I tested we're

Monster Beats
" In Ear" ( ear bud style) Dr Dre eddition. test time 30 days cost $ 180
These were very nice in ears with great bass. They come with 4-5 diffrent size inserts to customize how the bud fits into your ear. The better you can make the bud sit deeper into your ear the better the sound and more outside noise reduction. The quality of the buds and all the wire is Very good.

Monster Beats
Over the ear (headphone style) test time 10 Days cost $230 they make a few different styles/ quality of the monster beats headphones, the ones I tested we're called "Studio" I know they make a HD version. To be honest these "For Me"tested the lowest of all the headphones I tested. The fit and how comfortable they sit on my head were not that good. The sound IMO was not as bright as other head phones . I don't know if that's why they seem to have lots of Bass is because they are lacking on the mid to high end. It's like the sound is tweaked for the highs to be turned down so to make them seem like the bass is killing it.

Monster Beats
On ear style ( these are the smaller headphones that sit on your ear) test time 30 mins
After testing the over the ear monster beats for 10 days I went right on to the "On the ear " monster beats. To me they sounded much the same it was as if they used the same speaker as the over the ear The difference was more in fit than how it sounded. The difference in noise reduction of over the ears vs on the ears is very little in a quite room. But I'm sure the over the ears makes a bigger diff in a noisy environment

My impression of the monster beats stuff is its OK! It's more fash and style then sound quality the quality of the headphones is good as is with all monster stuff expensive but good quality and GREAT marketing . The packaging and box that all the monster product comes in is pretty over the top and makes me think that monster is trying to push a crappy product with all the celebrity endorcments
Ect IMO if they dropped all the fancy packaging and celebrity marketing they could drop the price and then my expectitations of the product would also lower . Bottom line if your a 16 year old and you want the coolest head phones then Monster Beats has your name all over it and would make a great gift.

V-Moda cross fade LP over the ear head phones. Test time 60 days cost $80 "on sale"radio shack.
These over the ear head phones were a sort of underground un known to me. Popular with DJs and producers I have heard a lot of good things about them from people I know, that know what good sound, sounds like. I brought my monster beats with me to the store to try out the V moda headphones. Like the monster beats the packaging is very nice and the quality is top notch. They are stylish and some what sleek and technical and sharp compared to the rounded smooth beats.
The cord is thick and rugged the plug is solid and sits in your phone/iPod at a slight angle it's very nice sitting in your pocket. They come with a ver nice padded cache to protect them. They also come with a coard that unplugs at the head phones so you dont have to use the mic. Also it comes with a plug adaptor to plug into a mixer ( the larger thicker old school) plug . So these head phones can be easly switched from pair of head phone that you use for phone and music to serious DJ/ music mixing tools. The ear pads are very comfy and fit my head very nice the fit is firm but not to snug. The head band is padded and adjusts very easy. Over all these tested Very high even if you pay $200 or more they IMO are well worth it and blow away the monster beats. Check out ther web sight. Or radio shack for sales.

The last set I tested was Bose QC 15's cost $330 test time 2 day's so far still testing.

All I can say is "Game Over" these noise canceling head phones are the bomb in so many ways.
I'm still checking them out but so far I love them, if your going on a plane you owe it to yourself to pick up a pair, I will not be flying with out them.

So far the thing that blows me away is how much noise is just out there, even when you think it's quite out there, trust me it's not. Wear a pair of these for a few hrs and then take them off you will be amazed at how much static style noise is just out there. I'll show some pics of the V moda and the qc15's
Old     (actiondcpd)      Join Date: Apr 2003       12-23-2011, 10:29 AM Reply   
Sweet. Just bought these for an xmas gift for my father. Good to hear they are worth the money.
Old     (shawndoggy)      Join Date: Nov 2009       12-23-2011, 10:43 AM Reply   
I have an older set of the bose AE2 (not noise cancelling) headphones that I really like. The comfort is top notch, as is the sound quality. I jacked up the headphone cable on them, so I took apart a pair of apple iphone headphones with the mic built in and soldered that cord up to the bose 'phones. It looks sorta ghetto, but they are great and I always use them now for talking on the phone when I can.
Old     (wakeboardertj)      Join Date: May 2005       12-23-2011, 2:18 PM Reply   
Agree on the over the ear beats, they are just made for heavy bass. My brother has them and he is dissapointed. He is somewhat of an audiophile and he recommends that I get the Audio-Technica ATH M50. They have great reviews.
Old     (hco)      Join Date: Jun 2006       12-23-2011, 2:58 PM Reply   
If you buy the beats headphones youd be better off burning 250$. Take the five minutes to look into quality headphone mfg's and youll be way better off.
Old     (jv210)      Join Date: Feb 2006       12-23-2011, 5:01 PM Reply   
QC 15's are were it's at. There so quite, the only thing I can fault them for is the bass, there really isn't any. For the price I haven't heard anything better for noise canceling, I'm not an audiophile though.

I just got some v-moda in ear's on sale for $28 at costco and they have somewhat of a noise canceling affect since they are stuck in your ear and have some good bass, but the sound is somewhat soft.

From all the reviews I read online, all the Beats headphones are always at the bottom of all lists. Your pretty much just paying for the Beats name and thats it.

Last edited by jv210; 12-23-2011 at 5:05 PM.
Old     (ttrigo)      Join Date: Dec 2004       12-23-2011, 5:25 PM Reply   
i have the sony's from target. they set me back a cool $9.99!
I am utterly shocked we are in such dire straights when it comes to our economy, when people can drop $250 on a pair of headphones.
probably the wrong thread to bitch about wastefullness, but whatever.
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       12-23-2011, 6:16 PM Reply   
Train: did you just come from the Occupy Oakland protest,?? But Yea I agree $250+for Monster Beats is a WASTE!

The $80 V Moda's and the Wastefull Bose QC 15's
Attached Images
        
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       12-23-2011, 6:51 PM Reply   
BTW there is a HUGE black market for the Monster headphones. Lots of Fakes on places like Craig's list ect. Even E-bay. So your best bet is to either do your research to spots the fake's Or buy from a Retail store.
Old     (magic)      Join Date: Mar 2002       12-23-2011, 6:57 PM Reply   
I'm a die hard anti Bose guy. I actually liked the Bose stereo in our old S4 and have a pair of those noise canceling headphones. I use the headphones nearly everyday at work, I kinda feel bad as my Grado S80 are just sitting in a drawer. I got the Bose headphones when my old work team moved from offices into an "open floor plan" aka high density office space. We all bitched so much that our VP promised everyone a set of those Bose. He followed thru, I was already in the process of setting up interviews to change teams and considered the Bose as a parting gift

Just putting them on and hitting the switch is like blanket of relaxation. Wish they had better bass response, but that can be corrected. I do like the sound of the Grado's better, but only in a quite area. When I have quite time, the tunes are coming out of speakers so headphones are a moot point.
Old    deltahoosier            12-23-2011, 8:37 PM Reply   
I you like the Beats by Dre, try the Sony Super Bass. They are around $70 and good and have they thicker head band. I have the Bose in ear versions and they sound good too but do not get the volume when used with a Iphone.
Old     (sinkoumn)      Join Date: Jan 2007       12-23-2011, 9:06 PM Reply   
Just wanted to add, if anyone is looking at noise cancelling headphones, I HIGHLY recommend the Sennheiser PXC 350's - I use them all the time when I travel for work and absolutely love them.
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       12-24-2011, 9:18 AM Reply   
The Sennheieser mm550s look real nice. Wireless and Bluetooth for audio and phone use $ 550. I will go check them out best buy look s like they are a dealer.
Do the Sennheieser pcx 350's have a mic? Can you use them for phone calls? I looked threw their website and one thing it said that looked real nice is that they are Passive!
One of the things that I don't like about the Bose qc15's is that they will not produce sound if they are turned On. So if you want to use them as just regular over the ear headphones they will not work. No sound at all. They have to be switched on with the noise reduction working for them to produce sound
.
Old     (sinkoumn)      Join Date: Jan 2007       12-24-2011, 9:49 AM Reply   
G, the PXC 350 doesn't have the phone function (I was originally going to say you should look at it, but after re-reading your post I noticed you had to have the phone connectivity).

The Sennheiser's (at least the 350's that I have) will work as standard headphones whether it's on or off, but when you turn on the noisecancelling while listening to music you CANNOT hear anything but your music - again, highly recommend it.

Before I bought headphones, I watched this review and I was completely sold (the PXC 350 is at the very end, but watch the whole thing and it will give you a great idea of how good the noise canceling these things are (especially for airplane drone, which I needed for work).
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68...es-review_tech
Old     (hunter660)      Join Date: Aug 2007       12-24-2011, 10:59 AM Reply   
I really like my Westones, plus they are made in the USA.
Old     (nauty)      Join Date: Feb 2004       12-29-2011, 5:46 PM Reply   
So after reading this thread about a week ago, I've been on the hunt for a new pair of headphones ever since and I'm starting to get a bit frustrated. My big beef is that most retail stores (Best Buy, Radio Shack, Fry's, etc.) do not have display models of each headphone available for demo. I'm blown away that these stores expect you to drop a couple hundred dollars on a set of headphones, but refuse to let you try them out first at the store?

The only demos I've been able to try were the Bose line and the Beats line. The Bose QC15 are indeed hands down the bomb, but a bit more than I'm willing to spend. Best Buy had the complete line of Beats available for demo and the only one that came close to the Bose in sound quality was the top of the line model at $399. Every other model in the beats line was really sub-par sound wise in comparison.

I've decided that I want to limit my budget at $100. The V-Moda Crossfade LP's keep coming back on my radar. Grant's review above as well as the reviews on Amazon keep pushing me towards them, but the review on Cnet has me hesitant.Cnet listed the sound quality at a 6 out of 10. I've narrowed my search down to the following sets:

Sennheiser HD-280 PRO $79
V-Moda Crossfade LP $109
Shure SRH440 $89
Audio-Technica ATHM40FS $63

Of the above choices I'm really liking the Audio-Technica ATHM40FS, but the 11ft non-detachable cord is killing it for me. That's what pushes me back towards the V-Moda. the detachable cord on the V-Moda is very appealing to me as it gives you the freedom to use a variety of different length cords depending on your needs (travel, home listening, etc.).

Any advice or suggestions for a good set of over the ear phones under $100? My main uses will be music and movie listening.
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       12-30-2011, 8:56 AM Reply   
The 11 foot coard would be a deal breaker for me. The coard on the V- moda is way better then the coard on the bose. I have not done a side by side length test on the bose Vs V moda BUT the coard on the bose seems to long. Example you have your i phone in your pocket and you have 4 feet of coard hanging out. Cant tell you how many times the extra lenght on the coard has gotten caught on somthing and ripped the jack out of the head phones on my bose. Im pretty sure you will be very happy with the Vmoda. Raido shack will let you take them out of the box and demo them. Best buy had a Huge!!! Selection of head phones to demo. I saw about 5 diffrent pairs of head phones i have never seen. They even had A $100 pair if anti noise head phones. They worked but no where near as good as the bose. Last night I saw the new mission impossable movie. Tom wears a pair of the V modas LOL, it was only that i knew what they look like that i could tell. He puts them on when he gets in the rail road box car. Btw imo the movie was not that good, it was a giant bmw commercial
Old     (shawndoggy)      Join Date: Nov 2009       12-30-2011, 9:41 AM Reply   
no matter what headphones I'm wearing I always drop my phone down my shirt after I put them on in order to route the cord under my clothes. I HATE getting my headphones ripped off because they snag on something.
Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       01-03-2012, 12:30 PM Reply   
Just ordered a pair of Sennheiser MM550's, they will arrive on thursday 1/5, I fly to NY next week.
Old     (nauty)      Join Date: Feb 2004       01-05-2012, 11:10 AM Reply   
I ended up going with the V-Moda Crossfades and they arrived yesterday. The first thing that sticks out to me about them is the sheer quality. From the packaging down to every aspect of the headset, they are top notch quality. The carrying case is just as high quality as the headphones. As for the sound, I'm finding that it greatly varies depending on the source I am listening from.

I've tried them on my Android phone, my home PC, and my netbook. I was less than impressed with how they sounded on my phone, but then again, nothing sounds good on my HTC Inspire phone. I was a little worried that I had made the wrong decision after listening to them on my phone, but while watching a movie on my netbook they sound awesome!

On my PC at home they sounded okay, but not as good as a $40 pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones I already owned. I suppose this is just a casualty of today's technology? Back in the day before digital media you would get very consistent results when listening to a record or CD from stereo to stereo. These days I guess it comes down to the quality of the sound card in your device as well as the the quality of digital media you are playing.

Over all I think I will be very happy with my V-Moda's; it's just going to take some tweaking on my media player's EQ to get them dialed in.
Old     (magic)      Join Date: Mar 2002       01-05-2012, 12:38 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by nauty View Post
I ended up going with the V-Moda Crossfades and they arrived yesterday. The first thing that sticks out to me about them is the sheer quality. From the packaging down to every aspect of the headset, they are top notch quality. The carrying case is just as high quality as the headphones. As for the sound, I'm finding that it greatly varies depending on the source I am listening from.

I've tried them on my Android phone, my home PC, and my netbook. I was less than impressed with how they sounded on my phone, but then again, nothing sounds good on my HTC Inspire phone. I was a little worried that I had made the wrong decision after listening to them on my phone, but while watching a movie on my netbook they sound awesome!

On my PC at home they sounded okay, but not as good as a $40 pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones I already owned. I suppose this is just a casualty of today's technology? Back in the day before digital media you would get very consistent results when listening to a record or CD from stereo to stereo. These days I guess it comes down to the quality of the sound card in your device as well as the the quality of digital media you are playing.

Over all I think I will be very happy with my V-Moda's; it's just going to take some tweaking on my media player's EQ to get them dialed in.
I have an Inspire too. Which ROM and Music app are you using? The ROM/App combo makes a difference. I've also found CPU governors make a deference too. Not saying you'll get your phone to drive headphones as good as a device with a better amp in it, but you can adjust the sound on the Inspire by messing around with it.

I've been using the Google Music player on a MIUI ROM, decent results. The MIUI music app is crap (IMO) which sucks because I like the interface of it. If I used my phone for a source more I might look at a BeatMod ROM. I've not messed with PowerAmp in ages.
Old     (grant_west)      Join Date: Jun 2005       01-05-2012, 12:41 PM Reply   
Richard, I guess the Fancy Box and all the Foo-Foo is to compete in today's market. I was impressed with the Vmoda Box and case ect and then I thought That's Nice but its kind of a waste to have sutch a nice box that your just gonna put or throw away. The box the Monster stuff comes in is a Insane waste.
I guess while I was asleep headphone became Very popular. I never noticed untill now How many are out there. And Designer Headphones are in no shortage.
SO you think $300 is alot of Money for Bose QC15's And the $500 for the Sennheiser MM550's,is alot??? Well check out these Bad Boy's I tryed them out the other day Pretty crazy

Wait why cant I post a photo. Where is the Manage Attachments button???
Old     (jarrod)      Join Date: May 2003       01-05-2012, 1:01 PM Reply   
I've owned the Shure earbuds which were about $250, the Sony earbuds which were about $75, and most recently, I bought the Monster iBeats which were about $100. So far, the Sony's are the best performing headphone (earbud style), and they were the cheapest. They deliver more bass and a more equally tuned sound. The Shure's packed a lot of mids and highs. The iBeats sound pretty damn good, but the Sony's still deliver more thump. I still have the Sonys too.
Old     (nauty)      Join Date: Feb 2004       01-05-2012, 1:09 PM Reply   
Sean - I'm using Pro Player on an unrooted inspire with the stock ROM. I've tried a half a dozen players and settled on Pro Player because it had features that were more like the iphone that I had been used to before getting the Inspire. I had never really played with the EQ before other than using the presets like pop, Rock, Jazz, etc. This afternoon I played around with creating my own EQ settings and now these V-Modas are sounding Awesome!

It's been a while since I had listened to music like that, meaning, listened to music with deep great sounding headphones. I've been so used to cheap ear buds that I had forgotten how good music can sound. It really brought back memories of being a kid listening to Rush's Moving Pictures over and over with headphones back when that album came out. It's hard to beat "The camera Eye" with a good pair of headphones.

You're right Grant, headphones kind of disappeared for a couple of decades and all of a sudden they are back. Thanks for your post..... had I not read this thread I'd still be rocking some crappy ear buds. Now I'm actually looking forward to a business trip next week
Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       01-06-2012, 11:38 PM Reply   
I am still kind of shocked that I just dropped $500 on a set of headphones after about an hours research after talking to Grant and reading this thread. About 2 years ago I went through several sets of earbuds with integrated microphones and ended up sticking with a set of Woodees in the travel pack. These are $100 for some nice sounding fairly comfortable earphones that provide decent performance in most settings.

In the last year 2 things happened, I have been traveling a bunch and I now work in a fairly disruptive cube zone where the members of my team surrounding are frequently hosting webinars or national calls. In addition, my new work laptop is also equipped with built in bluetooth capabilities.

After using the Sennheiser MM 550's for 2 days I am sold and have no regrets. The provide unmatched freedom allowing me to VOIP wireless from my computer, allow me to stream pandora, answer calls from my cell, isolate the office disruption and provide almost complete silence if I just use them with noise cancellation enabled. I tossed them to two of my coworkers today, one of them uses a set of Bose QC15s and both were quite impressed. The functionality of bluetooth and talkthrough is perfect for what I need. Being able to walk over to the printer without dropping my VOIP webinar is also a big benefit of the wireless.

Now I am just searching for a bluetooth dongle so I can use them with my landline. I don't need the remote begin/end call functionality I just need the audio and mic functions. Sennheiser has a unit that should allow this as well as Jabra. I think I just need a bluetooth dongle designed for an old phone without bluetooth capability.
Old     (mastercraf)      Join Date: Jul 2009       01-07-2012, 1:35 AM Reply   
check out creative labs earbuds...the 30$ ones came when I bought my first laptop. Used them for working out, travel, etc. Looked into beats as well as bose to upgrade, but always came back to this brand. Your paying for the name with those two. Although they are excellent quality built products, the sound quality is matched by a "lesser known" and cheaper brand. For a quick 30$ you can have yourself a solid set of earbuds. If you have more disposable income I would suggest looking at their top of the line 100$ set as it is a step up from there. Live by them now and haven't regretted the purchase for 3 years now.
Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       01-08-2012, 11:05 PM Reply   
Talking earbuds...

I have had probably a dozen sets of earbuds over the past 5 years, I actually like earbuds better than over the ear headphones. The Sennheisers are the first set of over the ear headphones I have owned in about 20 years. I have 2 pairs of the Sony noise cancelling earbuds (actually 3 if you count the set I blew the cord out of), 2 pairs of Vmoda's (currently my workout earbuds), a set of philips earbuds, 4 or 5 generic ebay earbuds with microphones on the cord I have used for work and travel, and my current favorites are my Woodees that came in a really cool travel case with a bunch of goodies ($100): http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Woodee...6092421&sr=8-1
These even come with a really cool little Y cable that allows you to plug into the computer mic and headphone jacks so you can use them for VOIP. The Woodees have nice rich bass and a very smooth high end too. They just sound a little more pure than the vmoda's without giving up much bass. I am also a sucker for the novelty of being made from wood. Acoustic properties of wood are excellent. Ever notice the most common material for symphonic instruments... These days I tend to leave my Sony's in the drawer since they don't have a mic. I still like them just not quite as much as my Woodees. I also have 2 or 3 inline microphones so I could use the Sony's with a mic if I wanted to deal with the battery box.

update: ordered a couple bluetooth adaptors today. One so I can hook my iphone up to my boat's aux-in via bluetooth, and another so I can use my new bluetooth headphones with my deskphone that one was the harder one to find. I ended up buying a Cardo BTA II designed for use on motorcycles but it should work fine on any 2.5mm phone jack.

Last edited by mikeski; 01-08-2012 at 11:11 PM.

Reply
Share 

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 2:31 AM.

Home   Articles   Pics/Video   Gear   Wake 101   Events   Community   Forums   Classifieds   Contests   Shop   Search
Wake World Home

 

© 2019 eWake, Inc.    
Advertise    |    Contact    |    Terms of Use    |    Privacy Policy    |    Report Abuse    |    Conduct    |    About Us