Headphones

Went ahead and bought the Fiio E18 yesterday.

Holy chit. You don't realize what's missing from the sound until it's there, kicking you in the ass.

this looks pretty cool. as does their player.

do you use lossless file formats? starting to think i should be re-ripping some of my cd's prior to jettisoning…

I haven't jumped to the lossless bandwagon yet, but all of my rips are "high quality" ie., 192 kbps or better.

Unfortunately, my entire CD collection of 150+ disks was stolen, so I don't have any opportunity to redo the rips to FLAC. Would have to painstakingly find a source for the files as I don't want to re-purchase the whole lot.

I may start to go with lossless files for new material though.

all of my rips are "high quality" ie., 192 kbps

I wouldn't call a 192kbps MP3 high quality myself.

Well, guess it depends on the definitions, eh?

Most will consider 192 kbps to be "FM radio" quality, 256 kbps to be "CD" quality and 320 kbps to be "virtually indistinguisable from lossless". I realize there is some room to argue even there, but those are commonly accepted if you go to BBs or read articles.

So I said that 192 is high quality. I did use quote marks, so that's an indication that it's not a hard fact but a somewhat arguable position. "High quality" is relative, and "excellent" or "superb" could still be used to trump something described as high quality.

I ripped most of my CDs at 192 some years ago when I thought that was good enough. Now I've lost the CDs so I don't really have a chance to make it better. Anything new that I acquire is almost always 320, though some is at 256. Depends on the sources available from the download site (legal, btw) that I use.

Whatevs.

The worst is when you get a 320 that's just a 320 rip of a 192 or 128. So much rage.

^Fair enough on the "high quality" call. Some folks I know consider 320 mp3 to be bottom of the barrell o_O Nutters.

I just don't have the HD space to go full WAV / Lossless.

One of these days … you know, when I have too much spare time to eat up … I really have to load up a few tracks with dual copies, one lossless and one 320 mp3 and compare back to back. Some stuff with a lot of dynamic range to really test it out.

Cause I have so much spare time!!

:)

Explain this Fiio system? Can I use the iFones?

Bringing this thread back to life for a bit of a thread jack.

Christmas is fast approaching (I know wait until after November 11th) and my son is asking for a decent pair of headphones this year.

I am looking for something around $75 (max $100) that fills the following criteria (these are in order of what I believe his preferences are):

- Must look cool to a young teen (I know he would probably love some beats but they are out of the price range and apparently suck)

-Shouldn't suck sound wise (again rules out beats from what limited reading I have done)

-Relatively tough

-Prefer to have a removable cord (this seems to be the thing that wears out on all the headphones at our house)

-On or Over Ear design (no earbuds please…)

-Would prefer corded over bluetooth

I know Audio Technica gets good reviews but they are a bit of a let down in the style department for a young teenage boy.

SMS audio looks like they have some in the price range,

So what say you wise masters of NBR?

I am looking for something around $75 (max $100)

Start here;

http://www.head-fi.org/products/klipsch-reference-r6i-black-on-ear-headphones/reviews/14441

And then poke around the site for other reviews that look promising.

Anyone know of the cheapest way to get Sennheiser phones in Canada? I want a pair of HD558's, cheapest I see is amazon.con for $203CAD, whereas amazon.com has for $115USD which will be about $175CAD after shipping and who knows if duties will apply (don't feel like driving to Point Roberts for just a pair of headphones).

On a related note, anyone have good comparable phones to the 558's? Usage is a non-amplified soundcard on a desktop PC for listening to music and playing vidja games. Replacing a ~12 year old pair of Sennheiser HD570's which were $175 new at the time.

cheers

Have a look at the Marshall Headphones. I bought a set of Monitor headphones (Not sound monitoring headphones, it's just the model name) and absolutely love them!! Their entry level ones are nice to look at and seem well built also. They are in the price range you want also.

https://www.marshallheadphones.com/mh_ca_en/headphones/on-ear

Any suggestions for a good set of travel (airplane) headphones? I don't fly a ton, 3-4 times per year, but generally wear buds so I want something over ear for the plane. My previous set was an old pair of Grado SR-60 which werent ideal for the purposes but I already owned. I'd like to keep the cost under $150.

Somethings I am specifically struggling with:
- A lot of people seem to wear the Bose noise cancelling ones but given the amount I fly I don't really want to spend that kind of money.
- I'm struggling with wanting a good quality headphone but the input source on the planes is not always the best (nor something I can control).

Are the lower end Bose worth it or is this just a trend? Any other suggestions?

Ended up ordering the kid a pair of Sol Republic Master Tracks from Canada Computers for a decent price. They also have a decent price on the Sol Republic Tracks.

Probably not the best audio quality but they fit the bill for price, hopefully durability, and looks for the kid.

Random tip: For in-ears I highly recomend Yamaha eph-100. The model is on the way out so maybe hard to come by in a while. Sound is amazing for the price.