I've got some headphones that I'm relatively happy with! For what it's worth, I value comfort really highly, I love a pretty pair of cans, and I am a bit fuzzier on the actual audio stuff. I can...
I've got some headphones that I'm relatively happy with! For what it's worth, I value comfort really highly, I love a pretty pair of cans, and I am a bit fuzzier on the actual audio stuff. I can tell the difference between some things for sure and I definitely know more than the average non-hobbyist, but I'm not super into it like some people are.
Right now at my home PC I've got a pair of Fostex TH-X00s, the Massdrop headphones that are a riff on the TH-900. (But, you know, obviously much less expensive because TH-900s are almost two thousand dollars and that's just getting silly.) Mine were with the first batch, so the cable is not removable, and they just have the standard mahogany wood cups. I'll admit, the aesthetic is a big part of why I got them. They're just pretty!
They are "semi-closed" over-ear headphones, which hits a really nice sweet spot for me because I prefer the soundstage of more open headphones but they can still be used at the office without everyone knowing what I'm listening to. They've held up super well for the last several years, and of the three "nice" pairs of headphones I have they're definitely the comfiest. I've heard complaints that the stock earpads are a bit small, but I don't have a problem.
Those ones are plugged into my Schiit Hel, which I got to replace my Schiit stack (Magni/Modi, older ones) because the stack died. I actually wasn't super pleased with the stack towards the end because it seemed susceptible to static, but I was assured the Hel improved in this regard and I really wanted the front-facing mic port. No complaints so far, I find it convenient, but also... shrug? I haven't really had much to compare it to.
I also have a pair of Grado PS500. I normally don't like on-ear headphones because I find they can be "clampy", but my goal going into the store that day was to find a really open pair that was more neutral the the X00, and the PS500 delivered exactly that without being uncomfortable. It also helped that I got them for a song because they were discontinued in favour of the PS500e and the store owner was trying to dump the old model. Right now they're plugged into my piano, but I might switch things up and bring them to my PC today! They are SO, SO leaky and definitely NOT office headphones, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for a wide open soundstage for home listening, especially movies and video games.
Finally, I've got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ear that are currently trapped at my abandoned office due to COVID. I haven't gotten around to reclaiming them. These are the only ones I have some complaints about - I don't like that there's no way to turn off the noise cancelling if the headphones are in Bluetooth or in USB mode, because I find sometimes ANC gives me a weird headache. At least you can use the standard audio jack to use them unpowered, which is also really nice if you keep forgetting to charge them (oops), but it stands that if you want to use them wirelessly you can't toggle the ANC. I also think they look cool, but that's a double-edged sword because when my hair grew out it started getting stuck in the metal slider that the cups are attached to, which was, uh, not super.
They're fine, but if I was going to upgrade any of the pairs it'd be trying to find better "walking around" headphones than these ones to use with my phone. I was also considering the QC35, but the Momentums are like, juuust serviceable enough that I can't justify the money.
When I'm on the move, I've got Sennheiser PXC 550 headphones. They're wireless, active noise-cancelling, over-ear with a very compact footprint and they sound great. I'm definitely no an...
When I'm on the move, I've got Sennheiser PXC 550 headphones. They're wireless, active noise-cancelling, over-ear with a very compact footprint and they sound great. I'm definitely no an audiophile, but I'm ready to spend 200-300 EUR on good headphones and the Sennheisers check all boxes. The only downside I've been able to find so far is that due to their closed-back nature and the fact that they are over-ear, but very small, you get pretty sweaty on hot days, because your body isn't able to eject heat through the ears, and the ears themselves get fairly sweaty. Otherwise really great.
When I'm at home, I have a set of Arctis Pro Wireless headphones. Previously I had the Teufel Cage headset, and while it sounded great and head a great microphone, the software support was lacking. I don't need any fancy software for my headphones, but I mean basic driver stuff like them just being very loud for no reaon, resulting in me only being to utilize the numbers 0 to 20 on the volume scale in Windows. I thought a long time if I wanted to get audio equipment from a company that makes gaming peripherals, as those headphones are usually over-priced, low-quality, garbage sounding pieces of trash, but I gave them a shot and they surprised me. And the user experience is so much better, sure I won't have the best sound quality from a certified audio company that makes high-end shit, but they sound really great (they should, they cost like 300 bucks!) and are wireless and are incredibly comfortable to use.
They're also the only wireless headphones that actually allow you to remove the battery without taking the headphones apart, which was quite a concern of mine before I bought them. They have this neat feature where they come with two batteries, where one is charging in the base station while the other is active in the headphones. This way you can hotswap the batteries while you're using the headphones, completely eliminating the need for a cable to charge them, and also when the batteries get weaker, I can buy new ones, instead of having to buy a new set of expensive headphones.
Fiio E10k DAC/amp (I just ordered a Topping DX3 Pro from Drop as an upgrade). Beyerdynamic DT-880 headphones. foobar2000. No new player I've found comes even close to competing with it in terms of...
Fiio E10k DAC/amp (I just ordered a Topping DX3 Pro from Drop as an upgrade).
Beyerdynamic DT-880 headphones.
foobar2000. No new player I've found comes even close to competing with it in terms of functionality or customization.
Here are the features I use frequently in foobar2000. Some of them have equivalents in other apps, but are usually much more powerful in foobar. ReplayGain Tag management tools. mp3tag is a...
Here are the features I use frequently in foobar2000. Some of them have equivalents in other apps, but are usually much more powerful in foobar.
ReplayGain
Tag management tools. mp3tag is a popular alternative, but I like having this baked into my media player. I also find foobar's tools particularly intuitive.
File moving and renaming tools. It makes renaming and moving files around based on their metadata pretty much trivial. Great when ingesting new music into your library and you want to keep things neatly organized.
Built in transcoder, I use this to build AAC versions of my library for use on my iPhone. One nice feature here is that it can apply the ReplayGain during encode
Library search that supports an intuitive query syntax.
Extensive support for custom global hotkeys.
UI customization. It's very easy to make your own layout with the built in UI editor. The huge variety of components available makes it pretty easy to build something that suits almost any taste.
That last one is a biggie. Thanks to a few third party components, I've made a UI that I find easy to use, readable, feature rich, and compact. And it all runs in less than 70MB. (https://imgur.com/7XhUDSe)
Good to know! As someone who's just getting into having a digital library, some of these features seem pretty useful. I'm on Linux though so foobar2000 is not an option. I need to figure out a way...
Good to know! As someone who's just getting into having a digital library, some of these features seem pretty useful. I'm on Linux though so foobar2000 is not an option.
I need to figure out a way to organize my albums in a better way than I currently do though if I hope to ever keep it organized as my library grows.
I actually run foobar2000 in Wine on Linux and macOS. It works perfectly, apart from the global hotkeys which takes some tweaking to make work correctly. I tried switching to deadbeef which is a...
I actually run foobar2000 in Wine on Linux and macOS. It works perfectly, apart from the global hotkeys which takes some tweaking to make work correctly.
I tried switching to deadbeef which is a GTK music player inspired by foobar, but I found its feature set lacking. It still has a ways to go to catch up.
fb2k is the best. It'll never be topped because it's bit-perfect and you can customize it however you need it. fb2k is eternal. :) quick edit: my layout! https://i.imgur.com/tcMfikW.png
fb2k is the best. It'll never be topped because it's bit-perfect and you can customize it however you need it.
I also bought a pair of DT770 to replace my very old Sennheiser HD515 (which were quite entry level I think) and after 2-3 weeks with the DT770 I went back with my Sennheisers. I think they both...
I also bought a pair of DT770 to replace my very old Sennheiser HD515 (which were quite entry level I think) and after 2-3 weeks with the DT770 I went back with my Sennheisers. I think they both sound better and are more comfortable, the DT770 have a better build though (it's also easier to replace parts).
But I was a bit disappointed, given how much the DT770 get recommended. I think I also just don't like closed-back headphones.
Hey I bought some of those last year, though I opted for the 32 ohm ones so they would work with my smartphone without an extra device. I love them, they're super comfortable and look very...
Hey I bought some of those last year, though I opted for the 32 ohm ones so they would work with my smartphone without an extra device. I love them, they're super comfortable and look very durable. Upgraded to those after my Audio-Technica ATH A700s finally fell apart after about 9 years of hard use.
I also have a pair of DT770's (80 ohm edition), and it's my second pair. I broke the tip of the 3.5mm jack on my first pair, which I probably had for 4-5 years. They then sat in a closet for...
I also have a pair of DT770's (80 ohm edition), and it's my second pair. I broke the tip of the 3.5mm jack on my first pair, which I probably had for 4-5 years. They then sat in a closet for several years as I contemplated fixing them, but I found out you can only do that by soldering on a new cord, and I don't know how to do that nor do I know anyone locally that can do it for me. I ended up just buying another pair, because I was that happy with them and I realized I would never get around to fixing the original ones I bought.
My main gripes with it are the lack of an easily replaceable cable (if it had one I wouldn't have had to spend $150 on a new pair) and the length of the cable. 3 meters is way too long. If I hadn't broken the audio in connection I would probably be using my original pair still, 8-ish years later. They're very durable, just don't be a dumbass like me and stick them in a laptop then move the laptop around violently.
I'm a bit of a night owl, so I really like the closed-back design because I can blast music at high volume at 3 AM without bothering the neighbors. I might want to eventually get open or semi-open type headphones as a supplement, but I can see myself using these headphones for many years to come.
Also, see this post by @DougM. My listening equipment hasn't changed since then. In short, AKG K240 MKII headphones (Austrian-made, of course) and JBL LSR305 studio monitors.
This is my setup... Windows 10 LTSC w/ Foobar2000, Equalizer APO + Peace (a system-wide EQ) + Fiio E10k DAC (layout) Modded iPod video running Rockbox (iFlash Quad with only 1x 200gb card so far,...
This is my setup...
Windows 10 LTSC w/ Foobar2000, Equalizer APO + Peace (a system-wide EQ) + Fiio E10k DAC (layout)
Modded iPod video running Rockbox (iFlash Quad with only 1x 200gb card so far, 2000mAh battery, slim case, and some cosmetic stuff)
Dual CS 620Q turntable
Marantz 1060
I go between Sennheiser Momentums (on-ear) and Bowers & Wilkins P7s (wired) for headphones. I have some chi-fi IEMs
I've got some JBL bookshelf speakers and also some larger AKAI's from the 70s.
Almost everything I have is FLAC.
For streaming, I just got into Spotify. I reskinned it so it blended in. I have my HTPC on a second screen, so I wanted everything somewhat muted.
I don't think I'll ever find a pair of headphones that I'll like better than JVC's carbon nonotube based on ear headphones. They are incredibly light and apply zero pressure, with a pretty decent...
I don't think I'll ever find a pair of headphones that I'll like better than JVC's carbon nonotube based on ear headphones. They are incredibly light and apply zero pressure, with a pretty decent sound quality.
A friend was able to get me a good deal on some Apple HomePods, so I bought 2 and made a stereo pair out of them. They sound really good! I haven't owned a proper stereo in years because I had...
A friend was able to get me a good deal on some Apple HomePods, so I bought 2 and made a stereo pair out of them. They sound really good! I haven't owned a proper stereo in years because I had been doing a lot of listening in my car. But since the pandemic started, I've been doing all my listening at home and I wanted something a little nicer than playing music out of my TV.
At my desktop I have a pair of Sennheiser in-ear monitors (Sennheiser IE 400). When I’m in my living room, I have a 1st gen Apple HomePod. When I’m out of my apartment, I have a pair of 2nd gen...
At my desktop I have a pair of Sennheiser in-ear monitors (Sennheiser IE 400).
When I’m in my living room, I have a 1st gen Apple HomePod.
When I’m out of my apartment, I have a pair of 2nd gen Apple AirPods.
Daily use headphones for casual listening and gaming are the Sennheiser 6xx from massdrop. Closed-backs for recording and sound isolation (e.g. if I need to listen to a click track while...
Daily use headphones for casual listening and gaming are the Sennheiser 6xx from massdrop.
Closed-backs for recording and sound isolation (e.g. if I need to listen to a click track while recording) are the Audio Technica M40x’s. I actually don’t like them as headphones — the padding hurts after awhile and my ears get all hot and sweaty — but they do the job for what I use them for.
For monitors I use Neumann KH 80s but my room isn’t treated so I probably threw away several hundred dollars there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
An ancient pair of Bose QC15 headphones A Douk Audio Bluetooth receiver/amp driving even more ancient Cambridge SoundWorks Model 1 speakers. VLC on an Android phone Audacious on a Pinebook Pro
An ancient pair of Bose QC15 headphones
A Douk Audio Bluetooth receiver/amp driving even more ancient Cambridge SoundWorks Model 1 speakers.
I've got some headphones that I'm relatively happy with! For what it's worth, I value comfort really highly, I love a pretty pair of cans, and I am a bit fuzzier on the actual audio stuff. I can tell the difference between some things for sure and I definitely know more than the average non-hobbyist, but I'm not super into it like some people are.
Right now at my home PC I've got a pair of Fostex TH-X00s, the Massdrop headphones that are a riff on the TH-900. (But, you know, obviously much less expensive because TH-900s are almost two thousand dollars and that's just getting silly.) Mine were with the first batch, so the cable is not removable, and they just have the standard mahogany wood cups. I'll admit, the aesthetic is a big part of why I got them. They're just pretty!
They are "semi-closed" over-ear headphones, which hits a really nice sweet spot for me because I prefer the soundstage of more open headphones but they can still be used at the office without everyone knowing what I'm listening to. They've held up super well for the last several years, and of the three "nice" pairs of headphones I have they're definitely the comfiest. I've heard complaints that the stock earpads are a bit small, but I don't have a problem.
Those ones are plugged into my Schiit Hel, which I got to replace my Schiit stack (Magni/Modi, older ones) because the stack died. I actually wasn't super pleased with the stack towards the end because it seemed susceptible to static, but I was assured the Hel improved in this regard and I really wanted the front-facing mic port. No complaints so far, I find it convenient, but also... shrug? I haven't really had much to compare it to.
I also have a pair of Grado PS500. I normally don't like on-ear headphones because I find they can be "clampy", but my goal going into the store that day was to find a really open pair that was more neutral the the X00, and the PS500 delivered exactly that without being uncomfortable. It also helped that I got them for a song because they were discontinued in favour of the PS500e and the store owner was trying to dump the old model. Right now they're plugged into my piano, but I might switch things up and bring them to my PC today! They are SO, SO leaky and definitely NOT office headphones, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for a wide open soundstage for home listening, especially movies and video games.
Finally, I've got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ear that are currently trapped at my abandoned office due to COVID. I haven't gotten around to reclaiming them. These are the only ones I have some complaints about - I don't like that there's no way to turn off the noise cancelling if the headphones are in Bluetooth or in USB mode, because I find sometimes ANC gives me a weird headache. At least you can use the standard audio jack to use them unpowered, which is also really nice if you keep forgetting to charge them (oops), but it stands that if you want to use them wirelessly you can't toggle the ANC. I also think they look cool, but that's a double-edged sword because when my hair grew out it started getting stuck in the metal slider that the cups are attached to, which was, uh, not super.
They're fine, but if I was going to upgrade any of the pairs it'd be trying to find better "walking around" headphones than these ones to use with my phone. I was also considering the QC35, but the Momentums are like, juuust serviceable enough that I can't justify the money.
When I'm on the move, I've got Sennheiser PXC 550 headphones. They're wireless, active noise-cancelling, over-ear with a very compact footprint and they sound great. I'm definitely no an audiophile, but I'm ready to spend 200-300 EUR on good headphones and the Sennheisers check all boxes. The only downside I've been able to find so far is that due to their closed-back nature and the fact that they are over-ear, but very small, you get pretty sweaty on hot days, because your body isn't able to eject heat through the ears, and the ears themselves get fairly sweaty. Otherwise really great.
When I'm at home, I have a set of Arctis Pro Wireless headphones. Previously I had the Teufel Cage headset, and while it sounded great and head a great microphone, the software support was lacking. I don't need any fancy software for my headphones, but I mean basic driver stuff like them just being very loud for no reaon, resulting in me only being to utilize the numbers 0 to 20 on the volume scale in Windows. I thought a long time if I wanted to get audio equipment from a company that makes gaming peripherals, as those headphones are usually over-priced, low-quality, garbage sounding pieces of trash, but I gave them a shot and they surprised me. And the user experience is so much better, sure I won't have the best sound quality from a certified audio company that makes high-end shit, but they sound really great (they should, they cost like 300 bucks!) and are wireless and are incredibly comfortable to use.
They're also the only wireless headphones that actually allow you to remove the battery without taking the headphones apart, which was quite a concern of mine before I bought them. They have this neat feature where they come with two batteries, where one is charging in the base station while the other is active in the headphones. This way you can hotswap the batteries while you're using the headphones, completely eliminating the need for a cable to charge them, and also when the batteries get weaker, I can buy new ones, instead of having to buy a new set of expensive headphones.
What kind of functionality or customization do you need from an audio player? I'm happy enough to just queue up an album and hit play.
Here are the features I use frequently in foobar2000. Some of them have equivalents in other apps, but are usually much more powerful in foobar.
That last one is a biggie. Thanks to a few third party components, I've made a UI that I find easy to use, readable, feature rich, and compact. And it all runs in less than 70MB. (https://imgur.com/7XhUDSe)
Good to know! As someone who's just getting into having a digital library, some of these features seem pretty useful. I'm on Linux though so foobar2000 is not an option.
I need to figure out a way to organize my albums in a better way than I currently do though if I hope to ever keep it organized as my library grows.
I actually run foobar2000 in Wine on Linux and macOS. It works perfectly, apart from the global hotkeys which takes some tweaking to make work correctly.
I tried switching to deadbeef which is a GTK music player inspired by foobar, but I found its feature set lacking. It still has a ways to go to catch up.
fb2k is the best. It'll never be topped because it's bit-perfect and you can customize it however you need it.
fb2k is eternal. :)
quick edit: my layout! https://i.imgur.com/tcMfikW.png
I also bought a pair of DT770 to replace my very old Sennheiser HD515 (which were quite entry level I think) and after 2-3 weeks with the DT770 I went back with my Sennheisers. I think they both sound better and are more comfortable, the DT770 have a better build though (it's also easier to replace parts).
But I was a bit disappointed, given how much the DT770 get recommended. I think I also just don't like closed-back headphones.
I briefly had some DT770s and didn't like them at all. Boomy, muddy, and overall just not very enjoyable.
Hey I bought some of those last year, though I opted for the 32 ohm ones so they would work with my smartphone without an extra device. I love them, they're super comfortable and look very durable. Upgraded to those after my Audio-Technica ATH A700s finally fell apart after about 9 years of hard use.
I also have a pair of DT770's (80 ohm edition), and it's my second pair. I broke the tip of the 3.5mm jack on my first pair, which I probably had for 4-5 years. They then sat in a closet for several years as I contemplated fixing them, but I found out you can only do that by soldering on a new cord, and I don't know how to do that nor do I know anyone locally that can do it for me. I ended up just buying another pair, because I was that happy with them and I realized I would never get around to fixing the original ones I bought.
My main gripes with it are the lack of an easily replaceable cable (if it had one I wouldn't have had to spend $150 on a new pair) and the length of the cable. 3 meters is way too long. If I hadn't broken the audio in connection I would probably be using my original pair still, 8-ish years later. They're very durable, just don't be a dumbass like me and stick them in a laptop then move the laptop around violently.
I'm a bit of a night owl, so I really like the closed-back design because I can blast music at high volume at 3 AM without bothering the neighbors. I might want to eventually get open or semi-open type headphones as a supplement, but I can see myself using these headphones for many years to come.
Also, see this post by @DougM.
My listening equipment hasn't changed since then. In short, AKG K240 MKII headphones (Austrian-made, of course) and JBL LSR305 studio monitors.
This is my setup...
I go between Sennheiser Momentums (on-ear) and Bowers & Wilkins P7s (wired) for headphones. I have some chi-fi IEMs
I've got some JBL bookshelf speakers and also some larger AKAI's from the 70s.
Almost everything I have is FLAC.
For streaming, I just got into Spotify. I reskinned it so it blended in. I have my HTPC on a second screen, so I wanted everything somewhat muted.
That looks very interesting but there's not much info about features. Are you aware whether it supports global keybinds and volume normalization?
I don't think I'll ever find a pair of headphones that I'll like better than JVC's carbon nonotube based on ear headphones. They are incredibly light and apply zero pressure, with a pretty decent sound quality.
A friend was able to get me a good deal on some Apple HomePods, so I bought 2 and made a stereo pair out of them. They sound really good! I haven't owned a proper stereo in years because I had been doing a lot of listening in my car. But since the pandemic started, I've been doing all my listening at home and I wanted something a little nicer than playing music out of my TV.
At my desktop I have a pair of Sennheiser in-ear monitors (Sennheiser IE 400).
When I’m in my living room, I have a 1st gen Apple HomePod.
When I’m out of my apartment, I have a pair of 2nd gen Apple AirPods.
Daily use headphones for casual listening and gaming are the Sennheiser 6xx from massdrop.
Closed-backs for recording and sound isolation (e.g. if I need to listen to a click track while recording) are the Audio Technica M40x’s. I actually don’t like them as headphones — the padding hurts after awhile and my ears get all hot and sweaty — but they do the job for what I use them for.
For monitors I use Neumann KH 80s but my room isn’t treated so I probably threw away several hundred dollars there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sennheiser HD 58x over here. They are super comfortable even when I wear them all day WFH and sound great.
Stereo: KEF LS50 powered by an Emotive amp
Headphones: Sennheiser hd600 and a JDS Atom amp
IEM: Tin T4 usually powered by a 4th gen iPod classic