|
The budget audiophile lifehack! I've had a couple months to compare Status Audio CB-1s and Phillips SHP9500s, and I've slowly improved my sources and software to power them during that time. The CB-1s have been getting some praise recently but they were a bit of a risk when I bought them (it was well before the Z-review), and they still aren't heavily vetted. No Head-fi review, no Innerfidelity review. They are an interesting alternative to M40s though, partly because they're cheaper and partly because they come with great pads out of the box. If anyone's curious how the sound compares to the Phillips, I can offer some insight.
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2016 20:17
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:06 |
|
|
Hmm... well I definitely prefer them to the MDR 7506s, they seem more laid back, not a huge fan of Sony treble imo. I prefer them to the HD280s as well which have very clinical sounding bass, to my ears. They're also vastly more comfortable than 280s. Haven't tried M40s or M50s unfortunately. I know plenty people that have M50s so I'll test that out at some point. Some of the tradeoffs with the SHP9500s are the typical open/closed ones you'd expect. Better bass, worse soundstage. I want to say the CB-1s are slightly warmer, but that's not a hard set rule actually. Different DACs cause one or the other to be brighter in treble, which is really weird. My FiiO e10k likes the SHPs more, my Uduoo XD-05 likes the CB-1s more. It's tough to tell. And I'm still finding better software tweaks over time, which completely changes the sound I get each time.... it's a learning process I guess. 
Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Dec 9, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Dec 8, 2016 00:12
|
|
|
I'm increasingly thinking that the Status Audio CB-1 is a V-shaped headphone. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But set your expectations for that if you get one. It's an $80 headphone of course there's a catch! The Fidelio X2 is a V-shaped headphone as well, and I am told the two sound very similar, with grainy treble in the 10khz region at times. CB-1 - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/StatusSMCB1.pdf ???? X2 - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PhilipsFidelioX2.pdf V-Shaped HD600 - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD600.pdf Neutral, for comparison As you can see, lows and mids are great. The CB-1 has god-like low end. Slightly more than neutral--enough to be very pleasing, while still being tight, fast, well extended, and not remotely muddy. 60% of the time you won't notice it if the track doesn't call for bass, but that other 40% of the time it reminds you that it has some warmth to it. The sacrifice these headphones made to Satan to be so cheap was grainy treble. If Status Audio can hammer out the treble somehow and come back with a CB-2 that's smoother without losing detail, they will have a monster on their hands. There you go.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2016 22:12
|
|
|
MarcusSA posted:The CB1s have the edge on the 598c for the lows from the few tests I ran. I love sins and I have multiple pair of their cans but the CB1s feel so much better built. How does treble compare? I have the 7khz and 10khz spikes toned down with eq on the CB-1s and that helps smooth them out a bit.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2016 01:28
|
|
|
Foxtrot_13 posted:Talking of the SHP9500's is there any way of getting them newegg cheap in the UK? Status Audio CB-1s are worth considering. I have a pair of them on my desk next to my SHP9500s, and I think they're as good and in some ways better. They're a little bit warmer. There's a weight to guitar harmonics on the CB-1s that I enjoy. Bass is well extended and tactile, while still tight. Of course the 9500s are open and have better soundstage, and there's an airyness to the treble that the CB-1s just don't have. Detail is similar though. It's the typical open/closed tradeoff, really. The only catch with them, and of course there's a catch, is they have a 6khz peak in treble that I find that I have to nuke in EQ. Once you do that they become portable Fidelio X2s for $80. It's like getting a Van Gogh masterpiece at a price you can actually afford, but there's a turd on it that you have to find a way to clean it off carefully. Comfort, these are both very comfortable headphones. Both have removable cables. Both are v-moda compatible. For me it's pretty much my home and travel pair, and I'm pretty pleased with this system. I spent twice as much on my amp as I did on both my headphones combined, which is pretty funny. Josh Lyman posted:The HD 280's were my first pair of serious headphones and I loved them, but in I had the HD280s as well and fully agree with this statement. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Dec 31, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2016 08:40
|
|
|
JFairfax posted:what's better for the same money? Audio Technica M40s, Philips SHP9500s, Status Audio CB-1s, Sony MDR V6... several others probably. Never heard AKGs, Shures, Grados, or Beyers though. The HD280 has a very early rolloff in bass which made them, for me at least, the most clinical and lifeless headphones I'd ever heard. Low mids are also poor on them. Their shape really got on my nerves. It's like they're designed to fit a square-shaped robot head. I found the top band extremely uncomfortable. Most good full-size headphones nowadays have detachable cables. The HD280s are an ancient headphone and have a permanently attached 10 foot curly cable. They're $99. There's no reason to get them. Sennheiser's own HD598 is just $140, and for the difference in price the difference in quality is pretty significant. The 598s are open, more comfortable, have a detachable cable, and sound better. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 2, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2017 19:34
|
|
|
I'm actually pretty shocked to learn that an e10k can run HD650s. It seems like it barely runs my SHP9500s, and those are not hard to drive, at least in theory.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2018 01:59
|
|
|
Spermanent Record posted:Don't buy expensive headphones that don't have replaceable cables. this Better still is if you can get headphones with universal ports of some kind, so replacement cables are cheaper and easier to get, but that's more of a bonus.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 14, 2018 09:30
|
|
|
I went to a canjam and listened to a bunch of stuff. For reference, I am a complete newb when it comes to audio. I'm decently researched on these things but I had never heard anything fancy myself, so it was a nice opportunity to window shop. The main take-aways I got from it were: -In a loud convention hall it's tough to really tell what anything sounds like. I'd need a quieter environment and some extended time to actually compare things. -Soundstage seemed to be the biggest factor in how enjoyable I perceived something to be. -Sound quality seemed pretty much random and had no correlation with price whatsoever until you got to the >$800 range with Audeze, HD800s, and friends, and then everything sounded at least good in some way, and there was minimal improvement beyond that that I could hear. I heard Stax and Focal Utopias and they sounded great and all, but they didn't blow my mind or anything. So yeah there you go. These are just my subjective opinions. Actually I feel like it would've been nice to get a better comparison of amps. Since everything was plugged into various high-end amps and sources which were coloring the sound somewhat it was difficult to decouple how much of it was the amp and how much was the headphone.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2018 04:49
|
|
|
GnarlyCharlie4u posted:The HD6XX is absolutely the best value in headphones right now. SHP9500s say hi. Parker Lewis posted:The curse of the HiFiMan HE560 headband strikes again! I saw the Edition Xfor $500 used recently, but it was the V1 and I passed on it because I was scared about the headband.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2018 23:02
|
|
|
Dr. Fishopolis posted:shps are great but the hd6xx are much more than $140 better imho. That was not the impression I got from listening to them right next to each other. Maybe I'm deaf and need more treble though.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2018 19:24
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:If you can't tell the difference, hey, you're a cheap HD650s sound great to me, don't get me wrong. I've got the HEX V2s actually, which have a similar sort of sound signature kind of. I just think if someone's starting from scratch, and they're looking for a gaming headset that actually sounds good, and they don't plan to invest several hundred dollars into amps, tubes, balanced stuff etc... there will be negligible benefits to the HD650s over the SHP9500s for them.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2018 03:50
|
|
|
660s sounded somewhat brighter than 650s to me. Never heard 600s so I couldn't say how the two compare.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 3, 2018 06:29
|
|
|
totalnewbie posted:I have a pair of Etymotic ER4P that's doing me fine playing music out of my laptop. I actually bought them in 2012 or something but the wire went and when I sent them to Etymotic to get repaired, they ended me giving me a new set for ehhh fairly cheap. Whatever. That was last year. Modern IEMs increasingly have detachable cables with MMXC connectors. That's the main benefit, because IEM cables always break, although many of the best ones still don't sadly. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Mar 7, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2018 02:41
|
|
|
greasyhands posted:I can't tell if I've just gotten older and lost some hearing (I'm 36 and work around loud airplanes) or if I've just lost my passion for music, or if I really need an amp. These 6xx are really underwhelming. I had some mid-grade Shure iems in my 20s and some grado sr80s and the detail and soundstage was incredible and made me feel like I was being transported- now these 6xx basically sound like any other decent headphones. I've got some audio Technicas and a pair of Sony mdrs (both ~$100 iirc) and they all sound the same and don't reveal a lot of detail to me. Going from sr80s to HD650s must feel like getting out of a cold swimming pool and belly-flopping into a jacuzzi. It's an awkward change, and there will be a longer brain break-in for it. In addition, HD650s have a 300 ohm impedance and need an amp that can handle that, although most desktop amps can do that, and in the grand scheme of audio things they're not really that hard to drive. They will benefit from higher resolution upstream gear and I think that could be a bigger issue.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2018 23:19
|
|
|
Parker Lewis posted:$300 total for a Magni 3 and 6XX seems like a good stopping point before before hitting diminishing returns for a lot more money. Yeah right after that is where the diminishing returns kick in hard. I was expecting the big open planars to be great, but they all disappointed me in some ways. They do certain things better, but they all seemed to have some kind of major problem... whether it's sibilance or missing an octave or being too heavy... usually a combination of the three. Jon Von Anchovi posted:What do we think of these? It looks like somebody found a way to combine all the mechanical disadvantages of IEMs and full size headphones into one awful package.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2018 03:49
|
|
|
grack posted:So one graph on THD and that means that the Sundaras "wipe the floor" with the Focal Utopia? Tyll compares the Sundaras to the Focal Clears in that review and calls the Clears much better headphones. I had a chance to hear the Focal Utopias at a show. I could not find a single fault with them, but for the price one would hope for that. At the same time, they didn't "blow my mind" or anything. They just sounded like a really great stereo speaker system. I think the audiophile reviews get a bit carried away, and above $1k these things do start to act like veblen goods. What on earth could the Abyss Phi or Susvaras be doing $2000 better than Utopias? It gets difficult to disentangle an objective assessment of these things from the review machine designed to prey on people's upgrade-itis, and then the confirmation bias people take on trying to justify their dubious purchases after the fact. The HD800S and HiFiMan Edition X impressed me nearly as much as Utopias for a fraction of the price (impressed enough that I flat out bought one) but I wouldn't call those 'giant killers' considering those are still >$1000 headphones. If the Sundaras are better than the HE-560s, then yeah, I could see them being super disruptive. Then that would be a pretty great pair of headphones... and I hope they are!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
5-HT posted:this is true. that's why I've stuck with a 2x2M m-audio interface as my main for most anything I need, and a nice little smsl v2 unit for any harder to drive headphones I have. works wonders. I hate to say it but I find myself agreeing with many of this fellow's impressions. I guess I'm a cynical bastard. Missing microdetails are one thing, but many headphones with quite hefty prices have either a missing octave, or sibilance, or unnatural timbre... I find that totally unacceptable. Although good amp pairings and brain burn-in help compensate for a headphone's problems. That's another thing... it takes time to get used to a new sound, but your brain can learn to reshape itself around the frequency responds it's being fed, and stretch it into a 'mask' over the music. So really he needs to go back and re-listen to everything for two weeks to get used to it.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2018 02:57
|
|
|
5-HT posted:https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/isolation/noise-isolation-cancellation-passive-active quote:Koss Porta Pro On-ear Open-Back No Graph -1.7 dB -0.45 dB 0.57 dB -5.6 dB 0 dB 2.3 See Review If you're not walking around with these in public, watching porn on your phone, and sharing it with everyone in a mile radius, you're doing it wrong.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2018 18:12
|
|
|
ntan1 posted:Have you looked at Audio-GD? While ASR is a useful site, it's important to keep in mind the limitations of measurements. Measurements often tell you about edge cases but not how well a device actually performs for typical listening. That especially holds true for amps. The O2 amp is a classic example of this. In terms of distortion and linear volume it measures well, but in practice it's clearly lacking in detail compared to other amps even in the price range, and it tends to sound artificially loud and fatiguing in any passage of music. It's also very lacking in the power department. Yet everyone on r/headphones says that's all you need, while angrily pointing to the O2 doing perfect square waves, and there are folks at ASR that claim to be fully content running Aeon Flows off of them (my ears hurt just thinking about that). It's the sort of thing I would classify as "objectivist snake-oil", overextending the implications of a measurement without applying the same skepticism towards its value. The tech equivalent is like someone pointing to Internet Explorer getting a good score on Sunspider and saying "aha, clearly it's the fastest then"! You can design dacs and amps to handle edge cases perfectly and then suck for general listening unfortunately, which makes all of this more difficult than it has to be. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Apr 13, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2018 20:11
|
|
|
eddiewalker posted:First, there is very little substantive knowledge on r/headphones in general, but the O2 is popular because it works and accomplishes it’s one goal: produce more power to headphones that need it. I have an O2 as well. Rather disappointed by it, but I bought into the r/headphones hype. Going back and forth between it and my XDuoo XD-05, which is in the same price bracket, I feel the XDuoo has more microdetail. The O2 has a blacker background and sense of attack. Way too much attack though, as if every song is loud somehow, no matter what it is. Never before knew there could be such a thing. It's a very strange quality. quote:All of Amir’s measurements are done within the range and context of human hearing, so I’m not sure what point you’re making about the real world application of his numbers. Personally, I’m glad someone is finally doing what he’s doing. Well yeah, like I said before, I think it is a very good resource, and I've enjoyed the immense dissection of poor engineering. I think DAC measurements are pretty useful at the end of the day. Especially when big name companies are making 16-bit DACs with clipping issues for $500+ it's very good to have watchdogs calling that bullshit out. Dr. Fishopolis posted:you are absolutely loving nuts. don't sign your posts
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2018 04:18
|
|
|
Dr. Fishopolis posted:yeah no i'm doubling down, you're ultra nuts Here's an interesting thing to digest, which I actually encountered on ASR (and wish I had a long time ago). https://www.neurochrome.com/o2-headphone-amp/ quote:After listening to the O2 for the better part of a week I have a decidedly ‘meh’ feeling about it. I would call it decent, but not good, and certainly not stellar or high end. I find the presentation hazy and muddy across the audio range. The O2 lacks the precision of a good semiconductor amp and it doesn’t make up for it by being engaging or adding an “out of the head” experience like a good tube amp would. At one point I actually found myself wondering if it sounded better or about the same as the stock headphone output of my iPhone 5S.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2018 04:35
|
|
|
As far as high-end closed back headphones go, I vastly preferred the ZMF Eikon to the LCD-XC. Maybe your mileage will vary though.
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2018 18:59
|
|
|
I haven't heard the M1060 but the measurements look scary. This shows the spectral decay of the diaphragm. Think of it like a frequency response over time. At 4-5 khz there is an 'ortho wall'. All planar headphones have this due to the resonance of the driver, and usually it's inaudible. However, on the M1060 it's much bigger than normal, so people actually hear it.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2018 07:09
|
|
|
Dr. Fishopolis posted:How would you know if you haven't listened to the headphones? Are these measurements from the earlier, mmcx version or the newer ones? It was the 2.5mm version, not mmxc. LCD2  LCD3  SINE DX  All measured from the same rig. You can see the ortho wall on the others and how it's much lower. The LCD3 is a good example of how it normally looks on a planar. The wall is easy to spot in measurements but at -20db it's inaudible. The M1060 wall is much louder, and a large number of people who bought M1060s could hear it, and it made the headphones virtually unlistenable for them. Maybe you can't hear it, but a lot of people on a lot of sites complained about it. The headphones have very mixed reviews--I don't know where this "general consensus" you're talking about is coming from. It seems to be luck of the draw: either you get a pair that has the ringing and you're screwed, or you get a pair that doesn't and then they're probably a good deal, as I do think all Audeze headphones are overpriced for what they offer. Probably Monoprice has a lower quality threshold for the drivers it uses, which is where some of the cost savings are coming from, so a lot more drivers that ring or have sibilance get through the filter. From where I'm sitting though, 5-HT's advice to just get HD650s or Hifimans looks pretty reasonable.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2018 20:01
|
|
|
I used the Porta Pros for 8 years as my everything headphones and lived in blissful ignorance. I don't think they're the great deal they used to be though. They seem to have crept up in price a bit. I see them going for $40 now instead of the $30 they used to be. That's getting into hotly contested territory, and there are new options that exist now that didn't used to exist. Status Audio CB-1s can be found for $45 sometimes. I've seen Creative Aurvana Lives for $55 occasionally. I got my SHP9500s for $55 as well on Newegg. While those are each an apples to oranges comparison, you're getting a lot more headphone for the money in those cases. If you just want one everything headphone and don't want to deal with sources or EQ or anything, I think the Porta Pros are still on par for the price. They're just not a cheat code to headphones like they once were. KSC75s for $14 are a no brainer though.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2018 22:45
|
|
|
VostokProgram posted:I ended up ordering HE-400i's. Do I need an amp for them? I'm contemplating the JDS Labs Objective2 Regardless of power requirements, all full size headphones benefit from a dac+amp, unless your computer has a great soundcard. The O2 is awful though, even for the price. Probably the biggest mistake out of the audio purchases I have made. I do have an XDuoo XD-05 to compare with, with a similar price tag. In terms of detail and power it has performed vastly better for me as a desktop amp, and it works as a portable too--although it's a bit on the large-ish side for that.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2018 20:18
|
|
|
eddiewalker posted:I miss the pre-HD800 days of headfi ~2008 when people grailed after $5-600 headphones. And they're trying to normalize >$3000 now and make $1000 the new 'mid-fi'. At the top end audio equipment tends to function like veblen goods. I refuse to spend more than $1000 on any single component of my system. I haven't heard anything that sounded like it was worth that much, but I guess I'm not the target audience.
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2018 00:16
|
|
|
Most things in the $1000-1500 range can be found used for just under 1000, and that's the way I roll.
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2018 02:23
|
|
|
I run a pair of CB-1s off a V20 as my portable setup. No amps, no mess. There's enough soundstage, bass, and overall detail to feel like I'm getting what's there when I'm on the go. My desktop headphones cost literally 10x as much, but that's pretty good imo. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Jul 3, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Jul 3, 2018 05:02
|
|
|
I'd personally like to see a noise canceling portable dac/amp that I could plug any headphones into.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2018 17:26
|
|
|
Don Lapre posted:For noise cancelling to work the headphones have to know what audio is coming at your left and right ears separately. A dac couldn't do that without also running mic cables that you glue to the side of your head Wireless mic you could clip to the headphones. Canceling a droning environmental noise shouldn't require the utmost fidelity.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2018 18:44
|
|
|
DancingShade posted:I have no idea what you're plugging these into. If your source sucks plonk down a hundred on a Fiio E10K Olympus 2 dac/amp. The FiiO e10k is not good, even for the price. I'd recommend a Schiitstack or an XDuoo XD-05 as entry level good value sources over it. Alternatively if he wants my e10k I'm happy to sell it...
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2018 14:57
|
|
|
DancingShade posted:I've only heard the updated version and can't comment on the original. The updated version is what I have as well. From what I've heard, the original may be better?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2018 17:49
|
|
|
 I was on good behavior for a long time. I had a pair of Koss PortaPros for ~8 years and I was happy. I needed nothing more. Somewhere I strayed from the path though... Pretty happy with this stack. I was lucky enough to hear many different setups at a couple shows last year, and found the cost/quality equation ended about here for me. The Edition X has a bit of a reputation as a 'poor man's HE-1000'. It sounds pretty darn good though. I figure, as long as I never hear an HE-1000 or a Susvara, I can live in blissful ignorance. Other things like the LCD-3 and HD800S that I've heard had a different enough tuning that I can just say they're 'different'. Still on the lookout for a closed headphone though. Something warm-ish, preferrably easy enough to drive that my V20 could run it. But... no less comfortable than my CB-1s. Any suggestions? Preferably below $500.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2019 02:17
|
|
|
redeyes posted:I only collect flac because why not. I can reencode into whatever the latest data saving format is for my phone. Even having a decent sized collection, its still way less than 1tb. Lossy files are nearly obsolete for consumers. Hard drive space is cheap enough, and whether or not someone can hear the difference themselves, there is an objectively measurable difference in fidelity between the highest bitrate AACs and FLAC. If you're a large streaming service that has to make every bit count, for server space and badwidth, yeah lossy files are very important. But I wouldn't pay money for an album of lossy files to listen to personally, since they'd be stuck in that format forever. I could never re-rip them to newer files. So if I upgraded my rig and suddenly could hear the difference years later, or if everybody moved on to newer formats like Opus and LossyWav, I'd be stuck. As for buying everything in FLAC and then making copies in OGG to carry around or whatever, sure. I did that originally but got lazy and just I slap a 200 gb SD card in my phone and throw the FLACs on now.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 18, 2019 23:44
|
|
|
Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:How are the Cascades? I've been searching for a decent pair of closed ear headphones just to experience some juicy full bass and the Cascades were one of the options I was recommended in this thread quite awhile back and for whatever reason they've been the ones that have stuck in my memory the most. It's virtually impossible to find them at any local hi-fi shop to take a listen to. I had a chance to hear the Cascades and they were the 2nd best closed backs I'd heard, after the ZMF Eikon. Way overpriced though, imo. Also I have rather big ears and they didn't fit well. Bigger diameter pads would've been nice.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2019 17:56
|
|
|
Blon BL-03s did indeed deliver. I've been burned by the hypefests before, but these sounded exactly like people's descriptions of them. $35 IEMs that sound as good as my $150 X10s did. Solid detail, surprising amount of soundstage. All they needed was a bit of eq to trim the bass, and they were good to go. Solid option for gift headphones at their price.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2019 02:34
|
|
|
Figured if the Blons weren't good enough I'd try T4s next. But I'll probably focus on other stuff. Just needed something for plane rides.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2019 03:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:06 |
|
|
Hamelekim posted:Planar bass is alright. I owned the he lcd XC but sold them. I owned the el8 but sold those as well. So I guess I am ok with it but prefer dynamic driver for headphone bass, at least up until now. I have an Edition Xv2. It is not exactly the same as the XX, so your mileage may vary. The Zeos review showed a substantially different shape to the magnets internally, so it is actually a different headphone. Still, he only heard a small difference between the XX and the Arya. I would describe the sound of the HEXv2 as just slightly dark of neutral, and with a softness to the presentation that some could find boring, but the soundstage and rumbling planar bass makes it fun. There are no major peaks and the tonal balance is on point, so basically it does nothing wrong. It was harder to power than it said on the tin. I found it benefited from a high-end desktop amp. Didn't care for it much from any portable amp I tried it on. People talked about running it from a phone... well... I have an LG V20 and even running at full tilt it doesn't quite have enough juice so that seems like a bit of a stretch. Bodyholes fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jan 22, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jan 22, 2020 00:45
|
|