About a year ago I bought my ultmate ears they are good not great. So I thought it was time to upgrade to some full size headphones. I have been looking at the akg k702.
What I would like to know is:
*Will they hold the sound in, I don't want to bug other people
*What is a good amp, I have been looking around and there is lots but not sure where to start.
*Also as a side not is modding my Ipod from Redwine worth the money. Playing Flac files?
If anyone could help me that would be great I have been looking at a few amps but since I live in canada it kind of limits me. Also has anyone tryed Redwine? or should I just get a none apple mp3 player?
I'm willing to spend:
*Headphones (around 350) Must be somewhat Quite I know it won't be 100%
*Amp (around 150-200) and must be portable
I doubt modding the iPod is worth the money. I'm wondering why why would would favor FLAC over ALAC--by definition, neither is lossy, so the sound quality should be exactly the same.
My AKG DJ81s are quite good at holding the sound in. As a note, I've not heard a quality difference between using my Creek headphone amp and not using a headphone amp.
I am a very, very happy user of the following combination:
Headphones:
http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopexd.asp?id=266 (I will eventually upgrade to the PXC-300)
Amp:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Little-Dot-MK-I-Porta...=item3a543b968f(for some reason, the original web-site is down and they don't appear to be selling anymore).
And this to get the audio out of the iPod:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...&seq=1&format=2
The AKG k702 don't appear to be closed so they will probably leak some sound. AKG makes some fine headphones.
If you want to play FLAC files on your iPod you can check this website out. Rockbox is an open source firmware for a variety of MP3 player models. You can check to see if your model is supported and if it is a stable port.
http://www.rockbox.org/Features of Rockbox
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/WhyRockboxLittle dot is still still around, they recently restructured their website, it can be found here
http://www.littledot.net
Ha, I too am tiring of my UEs. I'm actually doing a swap w/ friend today and he'll borrow my UE 5EB's and I'll borrow his RE0's. I'm also lending him my Ray Samuels Audio Hornet M portable amp and Shure 840's.
It sounds like you might want a closed pair of phones. Beyerdynamic and Shure 440/840's fit that bill. I've had the Beyer DT770 250 ohms but they were hard to drive properly, you need a good amp. Plus I didn't like the sound signature as much.
As I lived w/ my M22's, my ear for detail improved. I think that's why I don't like my UE's anymore. You should start by figuring out what music this will be intended for and what kind of signature you want. I found the Beyer's to be a little dark for me. I wanted something close to Axioms and folks here pointed me to Grados (fortunately). I LOVED the 325i's that I started with and now I have a pair of HF2's (limited run). The problem is that they are open so the sound bleeds in and out.
I'm kinda w/ kcarlie in the fact that I don't know if I could tell the diff between FLAC and ALAC. I can tell the diff between mid-range MP3 and ALAC though. I'm aware of the Redwine mod but I don't know if my money is best spent on that mod. I'd rather buy more music. Dr House makes a great point with Rockbox. If you really want FLAC/OGG/etc, get a cheaper iPod and hack it w/ Rockbox. People rave about that, though it does require some work on your part to hack it. OR, get a player that supports FLAC. Me, I just stuck w/ ALAC so it works on all my iPods/iPhones/shuffles/etc.
There's lots of reviews of headphone amps on headfi. Read them w/ a grain of salt, it does get kinda of 'AVS forum' over there. Personally, I've used a Leckerton UHA3 (great with a DAC feature), iBasso D10, and RSA Hornet. I have used a Little Dot I+ w/ modified op amps and 408A tubes and it was great with my Grado 325i. I liked it so much that I sucked it up and bought a Bottlehead on audiogon. I got rid of the UHA, though it was great. I really like the D10 because I can use it w/ the optical out on my Macbook. It is also a USB DAC that charges via USB, a GREAT portable feature. The RSA is also very good, an SS amp that has a bit of the 'tube' character to it. It's just a bit pricey, but luckily I bought it used on headfi.
Good luck.
There should be NO difference between ALAC and FLAC, they are both lossless codecs. The advantage of FLAC IMO is that you are not forced to use iTunes.
Thanks for your help guys. Not sure when I will be buying but atleast I have an idea what I want. Still like the way the akg look but with all the other links people post it is makeing me rethink my choices.
Oh and I will not be getting the 702's I just readup on headphones and found out what open and closed back means (I know this sounds noob but I only buy IEM and did not know any terms)
Also the only reason I did not buy them before was b/c I thought I would look like a tard with those big things on my head. But after hearing my axioms and on a lesser extent my UE. I don't care what people think I just want good sounding music. Also with school and work and physo on my right knee I get up at 6am and get home at 8pm so I allmost never hear my axioms anymore.
ON the 'other player' front.
I traded my Zune for an iPod Touch when they finally got up to 64MB so that I could use it's web app to control my Squeezebox. I'm extremely happy with the touch with it's fancy interface, web browsing and apps, but when I compare them, I can imagine my Zune sounded noticeably better. Could be just my brain playing tricks though.
I did try comparing with both my old Zune 'premium' earphones that came with the Zune 80 (which I use for most casual listening on my Touch now) and with my in-ear Shure's but it was hardly a scientific comparison. I also found my old Creative 5MB player sounded better than the iPod, but again, the testing was way to uncontrolled and subjective to be taken as fact.
Murph, did you try iPeng to control your SqueezeBox? It is not free, but much, much better than the "remote" provided for iTunes.
Thanks and Yes, I am using iPeng. Best 6 bucks I ever spent.
ON the 'other player' front.
but when I compare them, I can imagine my Zune sounded noticeably better. Could be just my brain playing tricks though.
I did try comparing with both my old Zune 'premium' earphones that came with the Zune 80 (which I use for most casual listening on my Touch now) and with my in-ear Shure's but it was hardly a scientific comparison. I also found my old Creative 5MB player sounded better than the iPod, but again, the testing was way to uncontrolled and subjective to be taken as fact.
That is a common complaint from people that compare iPods to other MP3 players. Does apple give you specs on the headphone out section? Make sure to check that the equilizer was not adjusted as a factory default because the equilizer is just a distortion generator on iPods. With most MP3 players I find you can't actually turn the equilizer off and just have to set them to flat(I wonder if this causes any colourations as opposed to having the equilizer completely turned off). I really like the Sandisk and Cowon players myself and have done comparisons. They do sound slightly different on the flat setting. Cowon players specifically have a strong/clean headphone out and are great for using full sized headphones with.
Take a look at some Audio Technica ES7 or ESW9A's. I wouldn't worry too much about a portable amp, at most I would look for someone selling a DIY CMOY. Prices on portable amps can be ridiculous for what they are, as they usually aren't much more than a CMOY in a fancy case.
This is unless you will be spending a lot of time stationary in a quieter environment. Then the whole idea of "portable" changes into "easy to transport"