Headphones for iPhone?

[Elephantears]

I have Ety 6s and a lot of other headphones (Senn 600, Senn 25, Senn 280, Grado 80s etc). Last year I bought some Klipsch Image X5 in-ears. They are brilliant, accurate and fun.

Andrew, how do those little Klipsch IEM's compare to Senn 25's or 280's? I've been looking for some Closed on-ear headphones for iPhone use on the move. The above Senn's are the only half-decent ones I've heard for a reasonable price, but I hadn't considered IEM's. Would you recommend a shift in thinking?

 

[Seeker_UK]

I just bought a pair of Sony MDR-EX300 for £30.

They're very good for the iPod IMHO.

 

[Andrew B.]

Andrew, how do those little Klipsch IEM's compare to Senn 25's or 280's? I've been looking for some Closed on-ear headphones for iPhone use on the move. The above Senn's are the only half-decent ones I've heard for a reasonable price, but I hadn't considered IEM's. Would you recommend a shift in thinking?

The 25s (expensive ones not the SPs) were my travel headphones for planes and trains. I have happily replaced them with the X5s. The X5s have better isolation and the sound quality is on a par. I would say that the 25s are more neutral whereas the X5s are a little more pop EQ. They are a bit boosted in the upper bass (around where the bass guitar would normally play) so they have a "warm" sound. The X5s are fun and satisfying to listen to. However on the negative side the cables are quite microphonic if you are moving around - an issue with all the IEMs I've used. And you can't take them off (out) as easily as an over the ear headphone like the SP25s.

The 280s have better sound isolation than the 25s (on my head anyway) but the Klipsch probably have the edge on that and also look less dorkish than the 280s. I use 280s quite often for mixing live sound (bands at gigs) and would always prefer the 25s for that purpose because I feel that the 280s are too bass light. If I'm soloing the kick drum or bass guitar I always seem to need to turn up the headphone volume on the mixer to get the definition and volume I require with the 280s, whereas the 25s are more even in their frequency response. What I guess I'm saying is that the 280s bass response is a bit rolled off, even from a mains powered headphone amp.

This link below may link to a graph that shows that although the 280s have a bit of bass boost there is a distinct dip around 80 Hz which is the part of the frequency spectrum where the fundamental note of a kick drum normally lives. That may explain it
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=533&graphID[]=513&graphID[]=2271&graphID[]=753

I haven't heard the new Senn 380s which should be an improvement on the 280s.

Sorry to waffle. It would be good if you could listen to some X5s or X10s yourself before laying out the cash. I bought mine from a little stall in the airport at Minneapolis-St.Paul, which let you demo all of their headphones including the in-ears (they had spare earpieces). Very handy.

Andrew

 

[Johnny Blue]

I got some Ultimate Ears SuperFi 4 Noise Isolating Headphones from Play when they were on special a while back (they're still on offer at Play, but they have been down to under £30 in recent times).

They are a great deal better than my (genuine) CX-300s (Mk.1s) and don't carry the risk of being fakes. Even at £40 they are very worthwhile.

 

[Elephantears]

The 25s (expensive ones not the SPs) were my travel headphones for planes and trains. I have happily replaced them with the X5s. The X5s have better isolation and the sound quality is on a par. I would say that the 25s are more neutral whereas the X5s are a little more pop EQ. They are a bit boosted in the upper bass (around where the bass guitar would normally play) so they have a "warm" sound. The X5s are fun and satisfying to listen to. However on the negative side the cables are quite microphonic if you are moving around - an issue with all the IEMs I've used. And you can't take them off (out) as easily as an over the ear headphone like the SP25s.

The 280s have better sound isolation than the 25s (on my head anyway) but the Klipsch probably have the edge on that and also look less dorkish than the 280s. I use 280s quite often for mixing live sound (bands at gigs) and would always prefer the 25s for that purpose because I feel that the 280s are too bass light. If I'm soloing the kick drum or bass guitar I always seem to need to turn up the headphone volume on the mixer to get the definition and volume I require with the 280s, whereas the 25s are more even in their frequency response. What I guess I'm saying is that the 280s bass response is a bit rolled off, even from a mains powered headphone amp.

This link below may link to a graph that shows that although the 280s have a bit of bass boost there is a distinct dip around 80 Hz which is the part of the frequency spectrum where the fundamental note of a kick drum normally lives. That may explain it
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=533&graphID[]=513&graphID[]=2271&graphID[]=753

I haven't heard the new Senn 380s which should be an improvement on the 280s.

Sorry to waffle. It would be good if you could listen to some X5s or X10s yourself before laying out the cash. I bought mine from a little stall in the airport at Minneapolis-St.Paul, which let you demo all of their headphones including the in-ears (they had spare earpieces). Very handy.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew - this is very useful and its good to read such a detailed comparison. I'm going to Canada for Christmas, so I'll try out the Klipsch whilst I'm there - hopefully they'll be cheaper on their home territory. Mind you the Senn 25's will offer better protection from the cold.

 

[prowla]

Anybody tried the Ety iPhone headset (ie. plugs & mic)?

 

[Interzone]

Yeah, plenty of cx300 fakes out there. I was put on to the soundmagic pl30 and they sound great but despite the fact they come with about 10 types of pad I don't find them to be a great fit.