HeadPhone Dilemma for Iphone 5

[n4d5]

Hi

My kids have rouined my Iphone 5 earphones, by pulling them and tugging them! so it’s time to buy a replacement

I don’t know much about earphones, but what I know is you cannot go into a shop and test them due to hygiene reason etc, I maybe wrong here please correct me if I am.

So I want to buy earphones for the iPhone 5. ‘m looking for a pair or earphones with a good strong attacking bass with a good treble and fluid midrange. I don’t know if these characteristics would exist in a pair of earphones.

So I have been looking at the following:

RHA MA750i - Need a lot of running in, but are they worth it?

Beyerdynamics MMX101IE - 2013 award winners

Sony XBA-4IP – fitted with 4 separate drivers.

As I have mentioned above you cannot actually go in and try a pair of earphones on and test them in shop. So has anyone had any experience of the above headphones, or can someone recommend alternatives.

My budget is upto £250.00. Musical gentre is mostly anything.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

 

[nads]

when I bought my B&W C5s i was testing 4 different earphones. In a Hifi Shop. no problems.

 

[n4d5]

hi nads

What are the B&W C5 likes? is the bass overwhelming on them with certain tracks?

Thanks

 

[gbhsi1]

Hi, I've owned a few pairs of earphones. I would recommend any of these three - seinheisser (excuse the spelling if it's wrong) cx990i's, Klipsch X10i's and of course the B&W C5

 

[nads]

hi nads

What are the B&W C5 likes? is the bass overwhelming on them with certain tracks?

Thanks

they are rarely out of my ears. they do take a bit of getting used to and I found I needed to use the smallest buds where I would use medium on others. Just the way they work.

Bass not an issue.

 

[gbhsi1]

Agree with nads...takes a bit getting used to as it doesn't go directly into your ear canal so choose the right plugs (smaller than usual)! the klipsch for me was a better fit. Bass is definitely not an issue with the C5's or the others. Klipsch and seinheisser's have more attack than the C5's but the C5's excel in detail retrieval. Hope this helps a little

 

[n4d5]

Hi All

Thanks for the advice so far.

Has anyone has experience of the Sony's and RHL's?

I also came across Final Audio Design Adagio III, never heard of these, any comments or experiences?

Thanks

 

[rich51080]

I use the Final Audio Adagio III, If your music is primarily rock, dance and pop then I highly recommend them, they are awesome for rock especially Sabbath, Metallica, INXS etc.

I used to have the Westone UM2 & Sennheiser IE8 but sold them as my Adagios give me that sound i was looking for at a much cheaper price.

Do not be fooled by thinking expensive is best, I sold high end phones purely because i enjoy the Adagio's sound.

The sound can be described as punchy, rhythmic and borders slightly on the bright sound, similar to Naim's or Grado's signature.

I use them daily and they just sound better and better as my pair are only 3 months old.

Be warned though. They sound awful on initial listen, they need about 80 hours to break in, The bass will at first be wooly and the treble too piercing but persevere and you will be rewarded as to my ears they are earphones best kept secret. Awesome sound when considering the price. They also have Balanced Air Movement technology which increases the soundstage and also makes the bass more airy. Their FI-BA-SS which cost £1000 have this technology.

Pro's are:-

Amazing price - no brainer

Tight punchy bass

Great soundstage for in ears - comparable to IE8's

Very revealing especially on bad recordings - feed it good produced music and it will shine - feed it crap and it will sound crap

Cons are:-

Takes ages to burn in to get the desired sound

Cannot buy spare tips - I use sonys hybrids as alternative

Hope this helps

 

[HDNumpty]

I have some Sony XBA3's for use with my iPhone 5 - they're excellent headphones. I think the XBA4's are probably overkill and a pair XBA2's will do you just fine for your iPhone, especially if you are compressing music to 320kbps or less

 

[n4d5]

Thank you all for your advice. Now I have to find a Hi-Fi dealer who stocks most of these brands and test them for myself.

Any dealer recommendations?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

seinheisser (excuse the spelling if it's wrong)

Sennheiser.

I tried to HD335s today and they sounded good, although reviews have been less favourable.

 

[JoelSim]

I would avoid the Beyer 101iE series if you are looking for deep bass. Whilst they are truly stunning earphones, they are not bass-heavy.

Another to add to your shortlist would be the Musical Fidelity EB-33. Have spent a couple of hours with these on iPhone (4s) and through a headphone amp connected to Spotify/PC and also through my hifi. Very impressed on all counts.

 

[rich51080]

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/