What do you use for portable listening???

[captain_tinker]

Ok, well I guess what I meant was when I use it for working out at the gym. I don't want to be bringing my headphone amp with me while on the elliptical, or while lifting weights, so it would have to be something small enough that didn't require an amp, and that would not be bulky on my head. If I were sitting at home listening, then yeah, that would be fine to have a large headphone, and in fact, I would probably insist on it being big like that, but not when I am moving and bouncing around in the gym. What about those E2C's? Those look small enough, but do they pull a lot of power like the Senn's and Grado's that Lugano mentioned? And the output of the mp3 player, I just figure garbage in, garbage out, right? No matter what headphone you use?

-capT

 

[IWalker]

The e2cs or e4cs (at $160 they are a great deal, imo) are much much more sensitive, and are lower impedence, and thus require much less power to drive them, so sound much better than the "home" phones coming straight from a portable source. They are similar to standard buds (if not even better than many) in those terms, so don't hog power either. I use the e4cs at the gym all the time, and the only thing that isn't awesome about them is if someone is trying to say something to you, you don't hear a thing! (you have to be much more aware of your surroundings with them on)

I would also recommend that you get a smaller flash memory based player for the gym, as they take constant jostling MUCH better than hard drive based players. I've found that I don't need my jazz/classical collection when I'm lifting weights...I'm fine with a subset of my rock/rap/pop stuff...so that can fit on a cheap flash device. It also won't sound quite as good as ipod, but will still sound MUCH MUCH better than any regular earbuds, and you can still use them in your ipod on trips and such, with great success. Those headphones have saved my sanity many a plane flight. Screaming kids? no problem!!!

 

[lugano]

I would also recommend that you get a smaller flash memory based player for the gym, as they take constant jostling MUCH better than hard drive based players.
It also won't sound quite as good as ipod, but will still sound MUCH MUCH better than any regular earbuds, and you can still use them in your ipod on trips and such, with great success. Those headphones have saved my sanity many a plane flight. Screaming kids? no problem!!!

And the best part is that these are the only elements involved in the music reproduction chain I know of that do not require burn-in or break-in

Whatever cognitive activity you want to associate with loudspeakerless music enjoying won't succeed if you use "audiophile" headphones - they are too involving. If I listen to Diana Krall through my AKG's I cannot concentrate on any written text, excepted maybe the song's lyrics. But for designing user interfaces it works like a marvel.

For the gym, Iwalker is dead on - get yourself a flash-based music reproduction device, fill it with OST coming from the Rocky series (example: http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Best Of Rocky / O.S.T.:1922542920) , stick shure earbuds in your ears and you're set.

 

[JonFo]

I could not find a cost on the Sensaphonics site. I have some Etymotic ER4P's I would LOVE to do that with... I think the audiologist will charge about $75 or so for their work, how much do these guys charge to convert that work into the custom ear piece?

+1 on the Question

Where does one get pricing?

Or is it one of those: "if you have to ask..." type of things?

I mean, I just spent $50K on saving my ears by upgrading cars, so I guess some custom ear molds won't be that big a deal

 

[captain_tinker]

I tried some experiments. I found that my Sansa can play WMA's so I tried the new lossless codec, and unfortunately it would not play. So then I ripped some of my cd's into 320k mp3, and that at least would play. It sounded ok, actually a little bit better than the 112 and 128 k mp3's I still had from several years ago. But at least using the phones I had, it still didn't sound like a RBCD, though it was still better than what I had before. So, I guess I will mess around further to see what the highest bitrate WMA or MP3 I can get to play, and then get some good phones.

I was looking at the Sennheiser PMX 70's that seem to look nice. Oh, By the way, a friend of mine suggested the Sony MDR-EX71SLA/W phones. I looked at them online:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/&pl...dio&CategoryName=pa_Headphones_FontopiaEarbud

They sound nice from the specifications, but of course I have not heard them. How do they compare to the Shure's and the Sennheisers? What would the recommendation be?

-capT

 

[Yang1815]

I was looking at the Sennheiser PMX 70's that seem to look nice. Oh, By the way, a friend of mine suggested the Sony MDR-EX71SLA/W phones. I looked at them online:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/&pl...dio&CategoryName=pa_Headphones_FontopiaEarbud

They sound nice from the specifications, but of course I have not heard them. How do they compare to the Shure's and the Sennheisers? What would the recommendation be?

-capT

capT,
I have these Sony MDR-EX71's and Shure e2c's as well. The Sony's are of lower quality (material, look) compared to the Shure's. The construction of the Shure is also a lot more rigid (some EX71 users report breakage after a couple of months). As for sound reproduction, the lowest-end Shure blows the Sony out of the water big time. Keep in mind that the e2c's have a heavier bass compared to its siblings and the highs kind of roll off since it contains only one driver. So many people praise the e4c's because it has dual drivers. Lastly, retail on the e2c's is more than the EX71, but you can easily find them brand new on pricegrabber/ebay/internet site of your choice for around $60!

I'm itching to get the e4c's now that my friend just ordered the e2c's!!!

 

[Kenscollick]

A true HIGH END portable just pop this baby on your shoulder and you are in Audio Nirvana.

 

[Charliemike]

Sensaphonics and Shure

I have Shure E2c in-ear monitors and they are great. Except the earbuds suck.

So, I thought, hey, custom ear molds might be the way to go.

And they are ... Sensaphonics (who makes the monitors for ALL the professional musicians) also do custom molds for monitors like Shure ... They run about $115/pr IIRC.

Except that the E2c doesn't have the right design for custom molds so I have to upgrade to E3s. *sigh*

So anyway, before I do all this I was curious if anyone else has experience with Sensaphonics. I mean the fact that everyone from 10,000 Maniacs to Sarah McLachlan to Weird Al Yankovic use them, they have to be good.

I do two to four plane trips a week at times with work. The isolating monitors really help me protect my hearing by keeping the sound extremely low ("5" for volume on the Zune during flight).

Thanks all!

 

[kirkawall]

Hi,

I listen to 'phones for 4-5 hours a day while working. I use a Meier Opera amp with K701s/Senn HD650s/Grado SR225s. Source is the remarkable Red Wine Audio IMOD, which has the best portable sound I've ever heard. And yet the 'Logans sound better than any of these setups...

k

 

[David Prall]

I use Shure E4c earphones and an Ipod. :music: I find it a wonderful escape at work, as it allows me to be at my desk at lunch when need be, but remain undisturbed by the noise going on around me.

 

[paulo m]

No portable listening here. Just the thought of prematurely wearing out my ears sends shivers up my spine. I did use earbud headphones to listen to music at work when I didn't have a high-end hi-fi, but now that I do, there's just no point and no comparison...

 

[Yang1815]

there's just no point and no comparison...

Definitely no comparison but what about a long flight?

 

[paulo m]

Definitely no comparison but what about a long flight?

I use a pair of Sennheiser PXC 300 noise-cancelling headphones. But I don't listen to any sound through them--I use them to be able to sleep .

 

[audioraptured]

What do you use for portable listening

paulo m; good afternoon. I do almost the same thing except I use the Senn PX200 and play the ocean for 80 min and then switch to the rainstorn for the next. Naturally that does little to stop the kid behind you from kicking you seat. I don't think anyone really sleeps well on a plane anyway. The other times I just use those bullet ear plugs that shooters use.

 

[Yang1815]

I don't think anyone really sleeps well on a plane anyway.

Not in econ you don't. I just got off from a 24-hour flight.

 

[Charliemike]

Not in econ you don't. I just got off from a 24-hour flight.

24 hours in economy? That's just wrong on so many levels.

 

[audioraptured]

What do you use for portable listening?

Yang1815: man are you patient. What were they doing, picking people up at there house?
This summer I got one of those: from Norfolk to Philly to Stockholm to Helsinki to Munick to Istanbul........man do I need some strong drugs, and a lot of music.