Better audio

[admin_exported]

I bought a pair of Monster beats (please no flaming), about 2 months ago. I was mildly into audio before I got the headphones, and having read the review Whathifi gave them, I decided to purchase a pair.

Since then I've been looking around on some of the audiophile forums, and seen they've not got quite such a good reception over there, but never mind.

I've been running them from my Ipod Nano 3g, but had a listen to some audio from my friends Sony walkman player today. It was using different headphones (a £60 Panasonic pair), but seemed to sound richer and warmer (if that's a good description), than what Im used to.

Could my iPod be letting the side down? would I see an improvement moving to a more high end player (X series walkman?)

Cheers

 

[Clare Newsome]

Do you have an Apple Store near you? If so, i'd take your headphones in and have a play with a newer-generation nano, plus iPod Classic, Touch etc. You could do the same in the Sony store.

My only caveat to that would be knowing what quality of files you're listening to - both on your own player, on the in-store demo models and indeed on your friend's Sony.

A better pair of headphones can actually show up the leanness of a compressed track (eg a 256Kbs download - or worse) more than a cheaper pair, which can flatter poorer recordings/rips. Ditto better-quality players.

Anyway, have a play - enjoy!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply...

I did have a look what quality my friends audio was - it was all AAC, although what Bit-rate I do not know.

On my own player I've got quite a lot of music from the iTunes store (AAC Plus or whatever it is on there), but more recently I've been buying the discs and importing them on a 384 kbps MP3 (or something around that).

Do the newer iPods have better sound quality, and are sony's generally better?

 

[Clare Newsome]

We think the iPods are generally improving with each generation. The Sonys sound great, too, though we'd rate the iPods as better all-rounders. If you're ripping your own music (always a better idea than relying on low-bitrate downloads; though i'd avoid MP3, as there are far better codecs) and happy going without ITunes, the Sonys are a great option.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply..

I tend to have my phone on me all the time, which takes care of everything apart from music, so a player would simply be for audio.

If that's the case, would you say the sony's sound better than iPods?

I'd happily go without iTunes, although it is my player of choice.

Is there any Flac or high quality download sites?

Thanks

 

[idc]

I cannot find any details regarding ohms and SPL to see how sensitive the Beats are. Since they are marketed with mp3 players in mind, I would say they are probably quite sensitive. But, when I have tried them I needed to max the volume on the ipod to get a good volume out of them. So they will improve with a portable amp like the FiiO E5.

 

[Anonymous]

Would an amp just increase the volume, or the quality as well?

On a seperate note, I was talking to my dad about the matter and he's given me a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 880's... I can't wait to give them a go

 

[idc]

The amp is all about sound quality. With your hifi if you turn the amp's volume down to a certain low level you lose dynamics, detail, clarity of background noises etc. If you run headphones out of an mp3 player you are relying on its tiny amp to power the headphones and except for very sensitive IE headphones they usually struggle. So getting a portable amp is the same as allowing you to turn up the volume on your amp to get the music to sound right. That does not mean loud.

Please stick your thoughts on the Beyers in the headphone section of the forum, thanks. Do they leak sound?

 

[sonycentre]

Well i have an x1060 walkman,and love it to bits,i upgraded from a sony nwa808 walkman,using the sen 300 in headphones(what hifi award winners)and it sounds great to me(320kb on all my mp3 files).my work mate has an i-pod classic.And to me my walkman sounded cleaner.But thats just my opinion.go with what works best for your ears.

 

[Anonymous]

Right, Think Im going to invest in a new amp, then work from there. If I still find it a bit lacking Ill drop some money on the sony.

The Beyers are quite old - the cabling in the jack is a little loose so it takes a while to get it to work properly. is there an easy way to replace the jack?

There's a large amount of sound leakage as well I've got quite an old pair, searching the product name in google comes up with a pair completely different to the ones I have...

-edit- I have these http://www.hoffmann1.de/dieter/rec/BeyerdynamicDT880S.jpg

 

[idc]

Lol, I was in Richer Sounds a couple of days ago hoping to try out some AKG headphones, but after telling me I could audition some they then said they had none available. I had my FiiO with me as well. Blast! Are you anywhere near a Richer Sounds yourself to have a listen yourself? The btech is the cheapest non portable head amp I know of.

EDIT - I have replied to your original post before the edit.

 

[Anonymous]

sorry, I changed the post a couple of times

there's a richer sounds not far from me, so I could quite easily pop down. Would a non portable amp be a lot better?

Also, when I eventually found the position to hold the cable from the beyers in to make both channels work they were incredibly quiet - I couldnt get decent volume out my iPod or Laptop. In the end I ran them through my amp and had that on boost to get a good listening volume from them. This can't be normal? Is this just what 6.3mm headphone jacked headphones are like?

 

[idc]

Portable does not necessarily mean better, it is just that virtually all of the headamps below about £100 are portable. But plenty of people use portable amps as their main amp.

Your headphones must be broken. Is there a 3,5 mm jack inside the 6.3 mm one? The connection between the two could be lose. If fiddling with the jacks does not produce any result, the wiring inside has probably broken away from its solder.