What's Going On Up There- The Headphone Thread

jamieanderson1968 said:
Curious how you like the. I have been looking for an over the ear ANC headphone
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I will for sure report back. I know these aren’t the flagship anymore but it is really my first foray into anything “high end” and I think these will scratch the itch I have for hearing different than what I’m getting from my vinyl and hopefully be full stop on digital headgear.
 
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Lee Newman said:
I will for sure report back. I know these aren’t the flagship anymore but it is really my first foray into anything “high end” and I think these will scratch the itch I have for hearing different then what I’m getting from my vinyl and hopefully be full stop on digital headgear.
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I think the bang for your buck is much higher with headphones compared to other audiophile equipment. And an upgrade to even a moderately priced headphone pays big dividends (sorry for all the finance cliches)
 
I won’t get to test out what they actually do until later tonight, but…. First impressions…

They are far and away the nicest pair of headphones I’ve ever had/touched. They are hefty, beautiful and feel solid in all respects.

Set up was stupid easy.
 
Some more initial thoughts after about 8 hours or so with Px7 s2…

Very detailed and precise. Various reviews talk about them being bass lean, I do not find this to be the case at all. Acoustic bass is very resonant, you can hear the pluck and the vibrations. More electric bass can be quite punchy, something like Intergalactic by Beastie Boys is not lacking in any sense of the word. It’s very controlled in all frequencies. I do occasionally get some interference, not real sure what that is about.

You can definitely hear the difference between 16 and 24 bit tracks. Higher sample rate tracks breathe a little, there’s more air. Soundstage is decent. I mean they are headphones, they aren’t going to sound like an auditorium anyhow. ANC does its job, it’s not like sensory deprivation but it definitely blocks out lots of noise. Pass through is weird, but then I always think pass through is weird. If I’m doing chores at home, I just leave that voodoo stuff off.

Definitely sounds better through the amp than the phone. I’m sure that’s because of resolution differences between aac and aptX.

They are fairly comfortable even with my glasses on and the tighter clamp than my Sennheisers. They are definitely heavier that the 599s.

If you have big ears you may just want to foot the extra money for the Px8… seems like you get slightly better sound that way too. They are rectangular and just big enough for my ears. My big noggin has no problem putting them on though. I’ve never experienced this hotspot stuff folks talk about and that goes for these as well and I just got done wearing them for a solid three hours.

Fun thing. When I watched the first half of the rock hall ceremony through them, I played with various settings on my tv’s sound. When I had dialog enhancer on…. Things hard panned and Stevie Nicks sounded awful singing with Sheryl Crow. When I turned that crap off, it sounded good and the hard panning went away. So you know… they definitely sought out the weird the various effects the settings threw at them.

Using the app when possible with my iphone creates better results than using airplay. The first track on the Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee album was anemic when using airplay, but rich and full through the app.

All of my listening thus far has been through Qobuz (or Disney + for the Rock Hall).

The Sennheisers compete readily if I’m using airplay with the B&W’s but if I stream from the amp or the app on my phone the B&w’s wipe the floor with them. (Which is a good thing, I guess since they retail for twice as much, lol)

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when both have burned in a bit. I probably have about the same time, maybe a couple of hours more on the Sennheisers.

The B&Ws are just more fun though. Lots of well what does this sound like and what if I listen to this?
 
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Question, and I guess I should listen to it in the Sennheisers, but the B&Ws have been a lot of fun for when I need headphones. They sound great no matter the source (admittedly, haven't tried vinyl yet)... anyhow, the new Samara Joy A Joyful Holiday sounds weird in them. Like her voice is pitched low. It's the only thing I've listened to where I am like Ack! with them. Any idea what could be going on? For clarity, sounds fine through the ELACs and the NAD. Sounds good at work with CD quality to my little wireless speaker. Just sounds like garbage on the B&Ws.
 
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