i almost fell victim to this but thank god i got out
Holy shit headphones!
A buddy at work got me onto the craze, maybe not $1000 range, but def in the hundreds. I used to have a pair of grados I modded to be detachable (they were later stolen :(… ). Based on those he recommended me Fostex T50rps, which are currently my big daddy, pure enjoyment headphones. I modded those for greater comfort and sound, and I love them to death. He was also generous enough to give me a pair of tinhfi earbuds, I love those for crystal clear audio. And relevant to the first pic, my sister got me portapros for christmas, and I absolutely adore them for everyday use. And the retro design just sends it that much higher. I also modded them to have detachable cables, couldn’t do with the flimsy ones they came with. I also ended up getting a DAP, which wasn’t too necessary, but I couldn’t pass on the aesthetic of just having a player on my desk with the album art always showing. Just trying to grow my FLAC collection now, God I love music.
Just had to gush a little. Thanks for reading.
I got the Tin T2s years ago and they’ve been my fav way to listen casually since then!
Full sized headphones unfortunately give me headaches but I remember the Fostex T50rps fondly, I was never brave enough to try modding my headphones but what you’ve done sounds awesome!
I used to collect headphones but I moved across the entire US a couple years ago and I couldn’t bring my collection with me and the hobby’s just too expensive to get back into for me right now lol. Sony MDR 7506s were my fav for a while, but I only had room for my fav earbuds and one pair of headphones in my luggage and I ended up grabbing my Tin T2s, T3s, and T4s; Moondrop Starfields; and House of Marley Liberate Air and House of Marley Exodus. Exodus being the full sized headphones I decided to keep. Not the best sounding for my taste but I like the way they look more than any other headphones I had and since I do most of my listening through IEMs I decided that was good enough lol
Thanks for sharing, I love headphones
The Exodus looks beautiful! Speaking of the Sony’s, he also recommended me those for clean sound. I technically do have the money to buy, but I can’t justify another pair of headphones right now. It’s a shame you couldn’t take your collection. Thank you, too!
Thanks, yeah, I gave all the headphones I couldn’t take with me away to friends, though, so they went to good homes :)
The 7506s did have very clean sound! That’s my preference which is why i liked them so much :3
The Exodus’ don’t sound bad, they just have too much bass for my tastes but I’m pretty happy to eq it down in software. I just really like the wood look of them
I need to get myself another pair of porta pros. I wore them to my workouts for years until they broke, and they only broke because I was super hard on them and careless. They’ve been by far my favorite headphones I’ve ever owned. They’re super comfy too <3
Are audiophiles bass heads? I don’t like bass…
not necessarily. an audiophile would indicate which headphones have bass emphasized and which dont.
Yes some of us are, in the 90s I had a lowrider truck that put out over 140 decibels.
there is no correlation
Meanwhile actual pro audio engineers: haha 15yo $70 MDR-7506 gaffed taped together go brrr
Music tech. teacher. I still rock my pair of 7506 from 20 years ago. They are not ideal for mixing bass tho, but otherwise really solid.
I’m using my dad’s MVR-V6s that he bought at least 30 years ago, I really can’t find a justification to ‘upgrade’. If these ever break I’ll just grab some MDR-7506s
Most people wouldn’t actually like professional audio engineering headphones as the EQ is purposely set as flat as possible.
Yea they are great for mixing, because if it sounds good when flat, then it will sound good pretty much everywhere else. Sadly, because of this, they are not so great for just listening and enjoying some music, at least for most.
I’m a huge metalhead and bass is really the most important frequency in metal. But I hate the sound of my favorite bands in bass-forward headphones like Beats. I never could understand why people like to hear the music in a sound that’s different than the one your favorite band intended it to be. I love flat headphones, but it’s so hard to find them nowadays.
What you have to realize is the final mix of tracks that generally end up in the public’s hand are tailored towards what the average person is going to be listening to them on and unfortunately that usually means phone and laptop speakers that simply do not have the frequency range and dynamic range to reproduce what the band intending.
Another thing is some people just really enjoyed their music bass heavy where as others might enjoy more midbass to get that kick drum that slaps you. It’s all down to preferences.
It’s not that difficult to find flat EQ headphones, the keyword you are looking for is “reference headphones” and “mixing headphones”. Personally I use the ath-m50x although after about a decade of hard use the highs on mine are starting to sound pretty harsh.
I personally use them as everyday headphones, not only is the sound super okay for me, but the cable is sooo long, I love it. It’s quite long and it then extends due to its curly form.
That’s why some headphones are referred to as reference and others as “fun”
I have the non pro version of this, covered in orange duct tape, and hair nets over the ear muffs because the beard scratched all the padding off.
They pump 5V out.
Nothing else is needed (cough * it’s still on a 3.5mm jack * cough )
‘Audiophiles’: “Yeah I paid $20000 for this new DAC, I think the treble is a lot crispier”
Actual audio engineers: “I record everything with this $40 Behringer interface and mix with free plugins though my 30 year old Yamahas”This is me lol. I cope by saying distortion is fine as long as it’s not coming from my system. I want to hear what the artist heard. It’s mega cope though.
I own a pair of Porta Pros as daily drivers. I also have a pair of Ananda’s that I run through a BTR7 (not super flashy but more than your average person’s setup).
I would say the average person doesn’t need more than a pair of Porta Pros. They’re absolutely fine 😅
I’m using airpods with my android phone and they sound good enough for me to enjoy my music. I’d hate to be an audiophile
I have tinnitus, so tbh I’ve probably already over-specced my audio setup given I still have to listen using my own faulty hardware as the final step in the chain
tinnitus gang rise up
I wish more people were this honest with themselves lol
Have any headphone recommendations that decrease the gain of just 11.175kHz? Thx.
The first thing I would do if I had a massive windfall is upgrade my main home theater speakers, get speaker amps, power cleansers, etc. Then my desktop headphones and amp and sound card. Then my bedroom home theater speakers. Then get a kick-dick studio monitor setup with equally kick dick interface.
Oh yeah…
Then I’d check my bank account and go back to work, deaf and happy.
The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 is probably the only headphones most of us will ever need. I use my first gen (ATH-M50xBT) for everything from Bluetooth audio, to gaming and music production.
The wired model has been my daily driver for damn near 8 years now. Use em for music at work and gaming at home (though I would approve for gaming at work). I haven’t wanted or needed to upgrade since I got them
I use mine wired 99% of the time. The Bluetooth, like the mic, is a “nice to have”.
YOOOO WHAT i actually use those rn (the bt2) and i like them a tonne. only that my hair gets caught on the sharp edges a tonne and its super painful, and the mic quality being bad, but i have a dedicated mic for that anyway at home
I always found theic to be there as a “if you need it, it exists” feature, not a selling point.
I recently saw that Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother and an incredibly talented producer) mains the M50x as his studio monitors. They are probably one of the best $200 you can spend for audio related things.
(Forward to 5:50) https://youtu.be/WmPZLz5k-Lc?si=Zm-gokaE9sNQZisl
Using a headphone in production =/= a good headphone.
Cans for mixing have a compleptly different sound signature than for music enjoyment. Unless you just love trebble, stuff like beyerdynamic and m50x are atrocious sounding.
They are a resolving headphone for sure, and very well built. They’re not a bad headphone per-se but for normal folks they really need to stop being recommended so much.
Stuff like the Philips shp9500 and akg K371 are way more enjoyable, cheaper, and still pretty much indestructible. But the true advice is that audio is subjective as fuck, try out some stuff and find what you like. Trust your ears, not some dude on the Internet
I had some shit hyperx headphones for work… No one could hear me on it’s mic and I had issues hearing them.
So I bought a $30 mic and a boom arm… And now I’m using my ath-m50x for audio through a USB DAC.
It’s sad that they are reduced to that on a daily basis… but my work life is so much better.
Amazing headphones for every use
I’m on my third set of ear pads for my ATH-M50x. Now the headband foam needs replacing since I’ve worn them so much lol.
Pretty great headphones. I gotta wonder if the ones above it (ATH-M60x and ATH-M70x) sound noticably better or if there are diminishing returns, since the ATH-M50x already sound great.
how long have you had them for, to need to replace the ear pads? i’ve had mine for a bit over a year and they still look perfect
I bought mine in 2016 and replaced the ear pads in 2017.
I remember they cracked. Bought an aftermarket set and I’ve been good since then.
Got the headphones Feb. 2016
1st pad replacement around 2019 sometime
2nd pad replacement Aug. 2023
oh damn, so those are some pretty big gaps in time
Yeah I’m on my second set of pads as well.
Hopefully they’ve got a good fix for the foam… I’ve never looked into it.And honestly. I’m not an audiophile. I know these sound amazing… and I can obviously tell the difference between them and say ear buds. But idk if it would be worth upgrading. I fear my ears wouldn’t know the difference.
Unfortunately.
I got the version without bluetooth and I feep like I will never need another pair of headphones ever
M50 with velour pads and appropriate EQ to compensate… 🙂↔️🫠
Unfortunately one can’t EQ them without additional equipment.
I have and use those headphones, they are great. But there are some awesome open back headphones which I think a lot of people would enjoy, both from a sound and a comfort point of view.
For instance, I use sennheiser hs560s for my pc, the wired version costs as much as the bluetooth m50x (although hd560s benefit from a dac which adds cost). they have much better directionality than the m50x, which helps a lot in gaming. the more open sound stage is nice and you can wear them for much longer without getting sweaty. The mx50s are also way more bassy which is subjective if good or bad.
The m50x are great, but they are really just the tip of the iceberg.
The m50x are great, but they are really just the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, that’s kind of my point. The M50x-BT is basically what most people will ever need as a “do everything” headphone. Are they the best? No, but if you have a long list of things you want to do and only $200 to do so, the Audio-Technica have you covered.
I agree that they sound good, but man do my m50xs hurt my head! Can anyone recommend a comparable headphone that’s actually comfortable?
I began falling into this, bought an Audeze LCD-2, Sennheiser 6XX and beyerdynamic DT 770 250ohm, some Grados, as well as a DAC/amp to run them. I quickly realized my hearing is shit and that’s the peak of what I need and stopped
My 2016 DT990s are still going strong.
For me getting quality was about saving money.
I paid $215 for them, got a $50 amp and then haven’t had to worry.
My friends with gaming headsets have gone through 3 or 4 wireless Bluetooth headsets in the interim.
Yeah no kidding, those gaming sets aren’t made to last. I have the PS4 250 million edition wireless headset and it’s garbage. It sits in the box as a psudo collectable now.
I use the 770s pretty much daily now, used to use the 6XXs but needed closed backs for blocking some background noise and just never switched back lol
I’d suggest some open backed headphones for home use. They really change how things sound making them sound a bit more natural especially in games. You can get sub-$100 ones as well. Biggest downside is your can’t really get wireless ones.
Also has anyone else found that BT headsets on Windows don’t work? Windows forces a different driver when you use the mic and everything sounds like crap.
stop giving me ideas lmao
Pssss look what I have for you
https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/ananda-stealth-magnet-version.html
stop noooo 😭
For the BT headsets audio quality, you should be able to change the audio mode as it might be selecting Headset (HSP/HFP) by default which is used when you need to use the microphone. Instead select High Fidelity A2DP mode which will stop the microphone working but give you the proper audio quality.
I can only have open headphones, closed ones make my ears very uncomfortable.
BD DT 1990T Pros are amazing, maybe a bit cleaner than I’m used to.
Just for the kicks I got xDuoo TA-30, and oh my god that looks absolutely amazing, and sounds even better.
I have no idea what I’m doing btw, just buying random things that sounded good at the shop.
Nice. I got a cheap tube amp recently. I can’t really tell a difference but the fact that it was a headphone amp that also had speaker wire outs was exactly what I needed. So hard to find that.
What shop has that kind of gear to try?
There’s a wireless Ananda. Probably the best sounding wireless headphones, but I’ve been out of the scene for at least a year so there may have been advancements since. Focal Bathys is decent too but not open back iirc
Oof, $800. That’s waaay into audiophile territory. Not worth paying 10x the price to lose the wires. I agree with the op post in that I don’t need that kind of quality. Budget wireless open back headphones are all im looking for.
Grado makes a wireless set but idk if you’d consider $275 budget pricing.
GRADO GW100x https://a.co/d/esw95s7
I tried those but somehow they were the most uncomfortable headphones ever. I’d also have to give up using it’s mic which was half the reason I got them.
Almost forgot about the hifiman deva, it’s been a while since I went looking for wireless open-backs. The cups on those should be much more comfortable than the grados.
Shit son I still have my Portapros next to my HD555s and Accentums (which I actually use day to day because fuck the death of headphone jacks) and they’re fine. I’ve had these Portapros for over two decades and they work, and Koss has (had) one of the most generous warranties in the business. Shit, their service options are still great!
I’m sorry that my lack of wood knobs on my home media player ruins the experience of listening to my 24-bit flacs produced in a DAW by people who don’t care about reel to reels.
The last time I stopped giving a shit about audiophile shit was when PCI sound cards officially stopped being a thing, taking EAX with it.
jesus, i’ve already lost track how many people said they use porta pros here. at this rate im going to have to try some out
I bought my current earphones for just €2 and I am satisfied with them.
They’re Panasonic RP-TCM130.
I found them by sorting by price: low to high.yeah not for headphones. my speakers though
I run sony wx4s, wired if I’m playing piano or musedash, wireless otherwise. I don’t know anything about headphones quality, they just got good noise canceling.
