Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Tell us about your headphones and how you use them

My O2 amp cut out the other day (battery ran out because it some how got unplugged).
This got me thinking about how many headphones we actually use everyday and how each had specific uses.

So, here's my list ...

Sennheiser HD650
These are my favorite. Open and airy and always leaves me smiling. I use them exclusively at home when working on the computer while no one else is around (since they are open back and may bother others). Since they are 300ohms I need the O2 amp to drive them (the mac just does deliver the voltage needed to make these shine. I originally used the HD595 which sounded very similar but the HD650 edged them out.

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 300ohm version. These are a closed backed headphones which I switch to when my wife is in the office. They also need an amp. Solves the problem of getting complaints to turn down the music and keeps me from hearing all the conference calling she does. They are very good for a closed back but just don't have that airy feel of the Sennheisers. I've also have a pair of Dennon AH-D600 which were a bit too colored but sometimes I switch it up.

Etmotic HF3 and Kilpsch Image X10 earbuds (both discontinued now). Both are great sounding buds (also isolate extremely well) which I use when on the go and sometimes in the office (HF3 more accurate, X10 has a very enjoyable bass bump). I also use these while mowing the lawn or leaf blowing under Ear Protection Muffs (I did try the Sony MDR8506 which has active noise cancelation and it did do an excellent job at killing the mower noise but the sound was at best poor). Lately I've been switching over to wireless Soundcores (below) under the muffs as I found I was constantly getting the wires caught on things, like mower handles (A trade off between great sound and getting the bud pulled out of my ear every so often).

Koss Porta Pro
These are the best value of the all the sets listed here. For the price ($35US) they sound better then some $300 sets I've listen to. We have half a dozen pairs. A couple of pairs stay in each car for the kids (sometimes I use them) and a couple float around the house mainly for TV use when others need quiet (family room tv has a distribution amp attached to it). These are being replaced in the cars as we upgrade to iPhones without jacks. So now we'll have plenty of headphones for the TV.

Apple Beats Studio3 (wireless)
My older kid, now a 18 year old, received a pair of Wireless Beats for his last birthday (didn't like wearing buds) which he wears almost 24 hours a day. The sound if I remember correctly (as I can't get them off his head) is a bit bass heavy but still enjoyable.

Soundcore Spirit X Sports (wireless)
A excellent value for a wireless earbud ($35US). Sound is surprisingly good. They do have a cord which goes behind the neck to connect the buds together. The battery time is excellent. These were originally bought for the kids because their iPhone 7’s didn’t have headphone jacks. I’ve also started using these when on the go. The mic is not good enough for phone use in any noisy environment.

Wow. Great collection.

Can you recommend wireless headphones? I would assume something from Sennheiser but wondering if there are any disruptors out there offering great performance for less. I get asked on this from younger guys at work but I’m not really into headphones as much.

Have ATHM50 and 598se here. Use the Senns daily.

Like your thread idea.

I’m a bit out of touch with what’s currently out there. That said Id go with the wireless buds I mentioned. If they have to be phones the Sennheiser HD 4.40 & HD 4.50 wireless goes on sale for under $70us on Amazon every so often. Never heard them so this is not a recommendation but a data point. These are closed & Bluetooth.

As a reference I have heard some lower priced wired & closed-end Sennheisers. If I had to rate them it would be fair ... maybe a bit better taking price into account (think they were under $50 on sale)

I'm still unpacking from our move and found the inexpensive wired headphones I was talking about above ... Sennheiser HD 439's (since I was in quicken already I did a quick search ... bought these at Newegg for just under $40 on sale from $60. 2014 pricing)

So, I had a listen ... not bad ... I'll raise my sound rating on these to good and maybe very good considering the price ,,, so the sen 4.4 might be worth a listen but check them for sound leakage:

while testing the 439's my wife came over and asked me if my speakers were playing ... these phones were leaking sound that bad. One of the main reasons to have closed back phones is not to disturb others ... these obviously failed. The 439's phones failed with my kids mainly for other reasons: one kid makes short work of cords by chewing on them or walking away form the computer while still wearing the phones (breaking the jack or bending the plug) ... the other just refuses to wear phones if he can get away with it, turn the music lower and lower with each request or finally moving to another room.

Also should have mentioned that the wireless beats studio 3 (above were a promo that came with an educational buy of a Mac for my other son ... I would probably would not have bought them otherwise being $350. They do have a lot of advantages like active noise canceling which seems to do a better job than any other cancelation tech I've used. Given that and the very good sound quality, If you like their sound, they may be worth the $350.

I would love cans while doing yardwork. Mowing the lawn would definitely be better with noise cancellation and some tunes.

Maybe this isn’t in the spirit of the thread totally but I’m looking for opinion on some headphones. The NAD VISO HP50. They’re reg $299 Canadian can get them for $110 until midnight.

The reviews are really good from what I’ve read. I’m likely going to get them but if anybody has a compelling reason not to I’m listening.

This would be the first “ real “ headphones I’ve had. I’d like to have them easy to drive off my phone or computer without a amp but maybe add an amp after or a DAC
I would love an open back like the SENN hd650 but these nads are a good starting point price wise.
Thanks all for any advice.

I started looking at headphones bc my house is full bc everyone’s home from covid closures and all are tired of me playing music on my m60s!! So I’m looking for quality listening without bothering anyone.

And just to be clear, it’s MY house but the kids think it’s theirs.......smirk. ( turns volume knob higher.......). “Oh no he’s playing more Steely Dan! Oh brother!”.

My son liked them. They fell apart in a year. He used them everywhere.

He now has these which I picked up for 25 bucks at xmas. He likes them.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07ZCN36TP/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_QotMEbC02AW39

Mojo .... clicked on your link and had a quick look around on the wireless scene ... wow things have changed. The market is full of cheap wireless active noise canceling headphones. I'm sure the jackless iPhones are pushing this market.

My experience over the years on buying no-name headphones and buds is that I often got what I paid for ... sometimes in sound quality but always in build quality. Most of the cheap no-names fell apart after a few months use.

That said there are a few companies I trust to put out a decent product for the money. Anker is one of them. Originally I found this company as a reliable source of inexpensive multi-chargers and lighting cables (most cheap lighting cables have fake chips in them which bypass the some of the cables charging circuitry/protections and can damage your iPhone).

The sound core earbuds above are from them and it seams they are now producing a pair of wireless headphones (currently $69us/$80ca for Q20 actives, $40us/$66ca for the Q10 non-active). Think I'll set a trigger ... if the actives fall below $45us, I may pickup a pair to try out.

He uses the phones I posted in wired mode. Apparently wireless works very well too but of course it drains batteries faster.

My NAD VISO50 arrived. Really nice. Over ear. Closed back, passive noise cancelling. 32 ohms. 40mm driver. Playing nicely on my iPhone , no outboard DAC yet. Really clean clear and precise. No boom. These are my first sort of quality headphones. Very impressed. I’ve always enjoyed headphones but the quality I’m hearing is really beautiful.

I’ve got a pair of on ear Sony’s xb’s too. I’m a self admitted bass head. Love the boom. Billie idols voice is in the room with me right now. Just fantastic. I’ll have to try them on my receiver output at some point. Glad I bought these.

Well my trigger went off a few weeks ago on the Q20 @ $39.99USD.

These guy claim a battery life of 17 hours and I can attest that I’ve used them for many hours on Netflix over the past few weeks without recharging. Comfort was good although they suffer from making you sweat if you wear them too long. Think everyone has experienced pleather earcups...

Soundwise, the bass is heavy and bit muddy, the mids are ok, the highs are a dull ... not anything to write home about. The noise cancelation was reasonable. Mowing the lawn the low mids and below disappeared. One could still hear the mower upper register reassessed in the back ground. With the last Sony NC’s I tried one could only hear clicking (of the values?) when canceling was on (although those headphones, if I remember correctly, had worse sound then these and a big fail at $300).

Considering your getting wireless set of over the ear, closed backed, noise cancelling headphones for $40 ... I can’t complain. Comparing these to the sound core buds ... the buds are definitely better both in bass and highs. Given the choice I’d go with the buds. That said, I kind of like using these when watching Netflix or podcasts etc ... not sure why

Have you guys done any of the ChiFi In ear monitors yet.

They're awesome Got my self a pair of KZ ZSX 6 driver IEMs Holy crap so much detail. Though it's a 2 tweeter design so after a couple hours gets a little fatiguing. For detail Junkies totally recommend. Just keep lower volumes.

Another one I got this week is the Blon 03. Right now they're the top rec. from all reviewers for under 50 U.S. Supposed to be comparable to 2k IEMs. So far after a couple days they kick the snot out of My broken 1more triple drivers they replaced.

Another Item I decided to try Is A Soditer usb C DAC dongle Headphone adapter for my phone. {Highest res.} version. Using it with Tidal it's totally a massive improvement to the headphone jack on my phone. Details, Sound stage, Noise floor are so much better. Didn't think it would be so good super happy I got it.

If you had to choose just one , which would you go with?

BLON or the zsx6?

I’ve never tried iem but keen to give it a go at low cost.

I’ve just gotten into closed back over ear. Loving it. Figured I’d give iems a go too.

The Blon is much easier to listen to for longer periods. If I had been lucky enough to pick the Blon first it would probably be my only pair. {For a while at least}

Very good detail, well balanced on the warmer side. Reviewers claim can be bloated at times. I haven't experienced any bloated bass at all.

The KZ is crazy good for Micro detail highs are really revealing. So much so that it hurts, at any more than about half volume level on my phone.


The IEM selections have so many different qualities it's tricky. Being more Pro Audio based the different flavors make sense. One Mixer/Musician needs Micro details and the other Balanced.

Thanks Brendo. I love researching stuff but some things I don’t have time or motivation for. Plus I just wanna give em go. I’m more into my over ears. So this is a good easy start with low commitment. Appreciate it. BLON it is.

In typical fashion, ive dragged my feet and no IEMS yet but had this to share for those if interested.....

I've been using my headphoes a lot lately, ( remote working from home more these days at times..) always someone around the house these days and no one is interested in hearing my music on the m60's! They don't understand.

I recently signed up for Tidal to co-incide with the arrival of my Axiom Transformer. The DAC in the Transformer makes a HUGE difference as does the higher quality files of Tidal. I had some uncertainty as to how much a difference the higher res and quality DAC would make but it's very tangible . On the headphones ( NAD VISO 50 ) things are incredibly clear and well defined and just really smooth. I've had a few head spinner moments ( 4 specifically ) when I thought something made a noise behind me over my right shoulder and I spun around only to laugh because it was the song i was listening too. Maybe this is a normal occurence for folks but it surprised me for sure!

I bought my kids some Marantz MPH-1 headphones on line from Visions, $28, clearance. Can't beat that! they sound super good! Not as good as my NADs but for $28 they are a steal.

Another project is too try to reduce the white noise i can hear most times, mostly when listening from my laptop and not DAC thru the transformer. Just using onboard laptop DAC thru Tidal. I'm thinking an outboard DAC to travel with or use with laptop would be good... like a Dragon Fly Black or Red, anybody have experience with those? They get good reviews at least.