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Sennheiser Owners Domain
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HD580s here. I have em hooked up to an el cheapo Audio Technica amp. I upgraded from the HD570s, and the difference is unbelieveable. The 580s are much cleaner, much more neutral. BTW, Sony does make some good cans, but they are priced quite high. Check out the CD3000 or MDR-R1O models.
Oh I think some of you guys misunderstood my Sony comment. I meant to say that comparatively priced between the two companies, Sennheiser has the edge...and it's sharp. I recently went to the HD212 PRO for some basic MP3 listening and some minor online gaming. While it's no HD570 it'll suffice for now 
. Sony owners don't cry you guys have good cans too...you just have to pay more for the brand.
. Sony owners don't cry you guys have good cans too...you just have to pay more for the brand.agentzero9
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versello said:Sony has nothing? Including the Sony CD3000's?
* > sony
[flame]
diredesire
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HD212Pro
A pretty basic headphone from them, but i like 'em. A little too bassy, IMO.
A pretty basic headphone from them, but i like 'em. A little too bassy, IMO.
Good news for the basic HD212 PRO owners, it has the same cable as the HD477 and HD497 headphones. That's right the exact same cable is shared between the 3 which makes me soo happy . In theory you save around 20 or 30 bucks but still have to consider the capability of the HD212 cans. I now say to myself that I'll pay a few more $$ for a more "quality" headphone once iI get paid next week.
BTW nice pic agentzero9.
. In theory you save around 20 or 30 bucks but still have to consider the capability of the HD212 cans. I now say to myself that I'll pay a few more $$ for a more "quality" headphone once iI get paid next week. BTW nice pic agentzero9.
I've heard the CD3000's. To my ears they don't sound any better than many headphones that sell for half their price. If they were priced between $150 and $200, then they'd be good buys. But their $350 to $400 discounted street price is too high to be justified for their sound quality. And at $700 (Sony USA's official MSRP)? Fuhgeddaboudit!versello said:Sony has nothing? Including the Sony CD3000's?
In my view, the Sony MDR-V6 (not the MDR-V600) and the Sony MDR-7506 are the only two Sony headphones that are worth anywhere near their street prices.
Back to the Seinhauser, oops, Sennheiser question:
I currently own several Sennheiser headphones (in order of increasing price) - MX400, MX500, PX100, PX200, HD212Pro, HD497, HD280Pro, HD555 and HD600. Sound-wise, I like the HD600 the most, but only with a good amp and a decent source behind it. With typical mass-market electronics, it is the HD555 that I like most.
ElektronikSeraph
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I've had Senny HD497s for a long time... recently the left jack of the cable died, but $8.95 from Sennheiser for a replacement is well worth it. I'm looking into getting either the HD280 Pros or HD-25-SP soon, since I want closed headphones... but it'll be a long time before those HD497s are retired completely.
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emorphien said:
im not just talking about headphones either
i really havent been satisfied with anything sony except their old TV's that are still kicking around in my house
I'm mostly into the portable audio. Unfortunately, in many portable audio categories, Sony is my only real choice. Sony still offers a $50 and a $180 cassette player when everyone else caps their cassette line at $25. And Sony today is my only real choice for portable CD players that have long battery life and reasonable sound quality: iRiver continues to struggle with its very poor (by today's standards) battery life when playing Redbook CDs, while Panasonics sold in North America are for the most part stuck permanently with ultra-compressed anti-skip circuitry which cannot be turned off at all whatsoever. (A recent Panasonic playing regular audio CDs sounded equally as bad as the average 128kbps MP3 file encoded with Xing did.)FLECOM said:im not just talking about headphones either
i really havent been satisfied with anything sony except their old TV's that are still kicking around in my house
As for HD-based portable DAPs, Sony doesn't currently offer one that's easily available at superstores here in the USA.
I agree. I don't care for their receivers, some of their ES stuff is ok... but not worth it IMO. Rather have something from a better brand if i could afford that. Their audio gear is too flat, no soul to it.FLECOM said:im not just talking about headphones either
i really havent been satisfied with anything sony except their old TV's that are still kicking around in my house
Anyone who plays an instrument knows what I'm talking about. It's the difference between buying say a yamaha trombone or a Conn.
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E4g1e said:
what are these "cassette" you refer to?
and as for cd players... well if sony is your only choice, then ya ok go for it... and it really is i suppose... but CD's are bulky and obsolete anyway... for the $100+ you spend on a decent cd player from sony, you could save a little and get a nice hard disk based mp3 player...
True that.FLECOM said:what are these "cassette" you refer to?
and as for cd players... well if sony is your only choice, then ya ok go for it... and it really is i suppose... but CD's are bulky and obsolete anyway... for the $100+ you spend on a decent cd player from sony, you could save a little and get a nice hard disk based mp3 player...
The cassette Walkman players that I've mentioned by Sony are the WM-FX495 and WM-FS566 ($50 each), the WM-FX521 ($100) and the new WM-FX890 ($180). Panasonic's most expensive current cassette player costs $25.
Hard disk-based players may be the current portable-player rage. But I don't trust hard disks at all during any kind of walking. I've had hard disks poop out in the middle of a slow two-block walk to the grocery store. And when those hard disks crap out on me, it's another $300 to $500 down the crapper. Why? Because the factory warranties don't cover damage from such use, and the warranties for the most part cover replacement only.
Note that my experience was limited to early-generation hard-drive players. I have yet to try the newer players - and I have no interest at all whatsoever in compressed digital audio (such as MP3's). Call me old-fashioned, but that's exactly the way I am. But the relatively short (by today's standards) battery life on those HD players really put me off; I really needed more than 100 hours of battery life without requiring a humongous battery pack to achieve that.
Not exactly. The problem for mature product categories is that other companies have cheapened their versions of those products even more. As a result, everybody's current portable cassette and CD players are "crap".emorphien said:
As for hard-drive-based players, I have no experience at all whatsoever on the current players, so I cannot judge them. It's true that the current iPods have a very short battery life (between charges) compared to previous-generation iPods - but that was due mostly to the use of a smaller, lower-capacity battery in the current models.
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so wait... your complaining about mp3 compression and sound quality.... but your listening to cassettes.... ....
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mmk...
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mmk...
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Actually, I haven't been listening to cassettes much of late. I'm only pointing out the models that are available from the different brands.FLECOM said:
And I do agree that the cassette is nowhere near the best of analog mediums. I listen to analog sound a lot more of late than digital audio. (I strongly feel that digital audio sounds just plain cold, lifeless and uninvolving, regardless of the format.) And that means full-sized home audio components. Sony currently doesn't offer a vinyl-playing turntable that costs more than $200 - and their performance is just plain mediocre by today's analog standards. (It is inexcusable to fit a $200 Sony turntable with a $15-performance-level cartridge which may increase the likelihood of groove damage.) After all, why settle for low-end performance when doubling your budget from $200 to $400 buys you more than double the performance? In that case of vinyl-playing turntables, you get what you pay for.
leukotriene
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My experience with Panasonic and Sony CD portables suggests the Panasonic output quality is very good, the battery life is excellent, and the durability is superior to comparable Sony models (outside of the Sports/Shockwave lines). Sony's output volume tends to be louder. The last Panasonic I used had adjustable levels of ESP, but that unit was at least $60.
Tape is simply not high resolution, and more importantly, low noise enough to compare to CD the majority of the time. The only possible exception I can think of is recordings made with the (largely unsupported by portables) Dolby S technique, and the DSP controlled Pioneer decks that achieve higher than normal SNRs.
CD's made from LP's recorded at high quality through a line-input and dithered down to 16 bit 44.1KHz sound amazingly similar to the source itself provided the signal chain is up to snuff. This suggests to me that a good deal of the appeal of vinyl is due to the noise.
Tape is simply not high resolution, and more importantly, low noise enough to compare to CD the majority of the time. The only possible exception I can think of is recordings made with the (largely unsupported by portables) Dolby S technique, and the DSP controlled Pioneer decks that achieve higher than normal SNRs.
CD's made from LP's recorded at high quality through a line-input and dithered down to 16 bit 44.1KHz sound amazingly similar to the source itself provided the signal chain is up to snuff. This suggests to me that a good deal of the appeal of vinyl is due to the noise.
When was the last time that you've purchased a CD portable? Y2K? The year 2001?leukotriene said:
Sadly, Panasonic has sunk to the same low-performance levels as everyone else since that time. None of their recent North American lines of CD portables have adjustable ESP - their ESP for North American models is permanently fixed at one setting (the highly compressed one). And recent Panasonic CD portables (cannot judge the new 2004 models) all roll off sharply in both the low-end and the top-end, and boost the mid/upper-bass response, at their only audio output (the headphone jack).
leukotriene
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A very exciting claim based (I'm sure) on dispassionate measurement of all extant Panasonic portable products rather than anecdotal subjective evidence compiled from an obsolete model or two and extrapolated to an entire product line.
Do you have any empirical measurements to vouch for this frequency response claim, or is this based upon the psychic hearing abilities that allow you to differentiate 0.1db drops in frequency response?
The most recent Panasonic portable I've listened to is either this model or a model that looks strikingly similar. It sounded fine through the headphone jack as such players go. I've heard a number of recent Sony, Memorex and iRiver products that sounded remarkably similar. I suspect your complaints are grounded partially in the fact that Panasonic's output level seems to be inordinately low and they tend to feature stupid DSP modes ("live", "bassboost" that is more like "loudness") just like everyone else. Lack of a line-out is not unique or unusual these days in large part because Portable CD players are largely relegated to the budget market. Cheap output stages are ubiquitous, and to Panasonic's credit they use "digital" amplification (class D PWM amps), which probably explains the output restrictions and the excellent battery life and possibly even your complaints.
right now i have those sony "wrap around" style headphones, and they just dont cut it for me. i am into gaming and i always have music playing.
i am looking for a new pair of headphones, and everyone who has sennheiser seems to love them, so i am leaning towards them.
my question is what model do you recomend that i can get for about $50? i would rather not have earbuds, and the closed "dj style" ones look more confortable.
i am looking for a new pair of headphones, and everyone who has sennheiser seems to love them, so i am leaning towards them.
my question is what model do you recomend that i can get for about $50? i would rather not have earbuds, and the closed "dj style" ones look more confortable.
leukotriene
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They are very good for the price, particularly for portables, but I'd say "usually under $60".
Also, auditioning them before buying is a good idea since some people have comfort issues
i just bought a pair of the HD497s refurbished by sennheiser from eCOST.com for $34.99 with free shipping
so now i can join the sennheiser crew
i figured for that price they were worth a shot, and if i dont like them i can always sell them on in the fs/t forum, or on the ebay.
if any one wants the link it is here http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=463762
so now i can join the sennheiser crew
i figured for that price they were worth a shot, and if i dont like them i can always sell them on in the fs/t forum, or on the ebay.
if any one wants the link it is here http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=463762
Hey Hard Addicts there is a deal from amazon.com that you willl NOT believe. The Sennheiser HD500 is on sale for $50.00, which is UNBELIEVABLE. Anyone that wants to enter the Sennheiser brand will be blown away from these quality headphones. I just wish I would of waited and spend the $50.00 on these instead of the HD212PRO's. But hey it feels good to help other people out.
>From one Sennheiser owner to another (or future ones if youre smart)----
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...04SD87/new/ref=olp_pg_new/102-6325114-7693767
>From one Sennheiser owner to another (or future ones if youre smart)----
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...04SD87/new/ref=olp_pg_new/102-6325114-7693767
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
My measurements apply to the 2002-model SL-CT790, which was the top-of-the-line Panasonic model at the time. It cost $150 when it was produced. And it didn't have a digital amp at all - it used an analog amp. The North American versions of that model had no line-out or optical-out at all, and their anti-skip was permanently fixed at the highly compressed, 48-second setting (21st-century PCDPs generally have only 2MB of cache). What a disappointment it was for the price! (However, I'd have to admit that its rival Sonys have an even worse headphone out that rolls off very sharply above 4kHz.)leukotriene said:
And like I've said, I've never heard the new 2004-model Panasonics. Therefore, I cannot pass judgment on them.
I'm afraid not. The Sennheiser HD500 is one of the very worst headphones that Sennheiser has ever introduced. Its bass response - and muddy, one-noted bass at that - almost completely overpowered what little midrange and treble it produced. Furthermore, its output began to distort badly just as the HD500 began to even produce any useful volume. Mercifully, it's been discontinued and replaced by the much better-sounding HD515. (The HD515 sounds a bit too thick for my tastes, but still nowhere near as bloated or muddy as its HD500 predecessor.)TECK_CORE said:Hey Hard Addicts there is a deal from amazon.com that you willl NOT believe. The Sennheiser HD500 is on sale for $50.00, which is UNBELIEVABLE. Anyone that wants to enter the Sennheiser brand will be blown away from these quality headphones. I just wish I would of waited and spend the $50.00 on these instead of the HD212PRO's. But hey it feels good to help other people out.
>From one Sennheiser owner to another (or future ones if youre smart)----
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...04SD87/new/ref=olp_pg_new/102-6325114-7693767
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
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