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Music Worthy headphone upgrade for £300?

Discussion in 'General' started by GeorgeStorm, 1 Nov 2012.

  1. Apocalypso

    Apocalypso Fully armed and operational.

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    As I understand it, the decision as to whether you accept a refund has to be yours, you've paid for a product they can't provide due to an error on their part. The onus should be on them to provide said product at the price you have already paid.
     
  2. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Mm, apparently they were struggling to understand my email since it had errors? (I think my phone was mucking stuff up)
    They said they had no eta for when they would be coming back into stock.
    They could offer me a 6% discount, but sadly not the previous offer since it had expired.

    Think I'll just have to try and keep an eye out for some grados 2nd hand/in another sale :(
     
  3. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Grado or shure are the 2 choices I'd go for before I went customs. Cost for high end shure gear is high as hell though.

    At this budge level it's all down to personal taste if you head into a high end music store they will let you listen to a few sets and I'd pick from there.

    If you ever go custom
    ACS t1 (£600 ish) tripple driver buds they are awesome but super expensive.
     
  4. Apocalypso

    Apocalypso Fully armed and operational.

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    They could quite easily offer the same discount to you, it's their store after all. Oh well the pre-sale prices are higher and their range is no better than most so I doubt I'll be going back there anytime soon.

    What customs do you have? The ACS T1?

    I only have a set of ACS custom tips for my Phonak Audéo's but the improvement to the isolation was remarkable, the rubber they use is amazingly soft I can barely imagine what a entire IEM molded from it feels or even sounds like.
     
  5. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Tis just what they said :p

    Yeah, their range wasn't that good, was hoping to see some hifimans :(
    Especially after the talk in this thread!

    Still, I'll be getting a couple of new pairs tomorrow, so I'm still happy :D
     
  6. Apocalypso

    Apocalypso Fully armed and operational.

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    So you're getting the 880's and what else tomorrow?

    http://www.innerfidelity.com/ is a great site for news and reviews, it's a little easier to absorb that the miasma of posts on head-fi.
     
  7. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Yes I own a pair of acs t1 they insane but very expensive. Enough cable replacement is pretty cheap.
     
  8. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    dt880s and q701s.
    Also getting some se215s for on the move, and some ad900s for a friend.

    Thanks, I'll have a looksie :)
     
  9. Apocalypso

    Apocalypso Fully armed and operational.

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    Ah cool, I'd be interested to hear what you think of the 880s. And the Q701s too.
     
  10. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Don't worry I'll post my thoughts :)
     
  11. Jasio

    Jasio Made in Canada

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    Having owned a pair of SE215's and SE315's- I ended up 'donating' them to other members of the family. The standard 'marshmellow' foam inserts are really nice- roll them in your finger and then insert them in your ear and hold for 3-5 seconds as they expand. Excellent sound isolation, but a bit too tedious at times. I wasn't a huge fan of the particular shape of the Shure's (personal preference) and I felt they were almost too big at times.

    I opt'ed to go for the smallest possible IEM's with good sound- I ended up with Klipsch X10's (I believe they are the X10i now due to the add-on of a hands-free mic). I have been extremely happy with the X10's and prefer their signature over the Shure's. The Shure's felt more 'bassy' with the low range being almost too obvious (muddying in the sound in my opinion).

    I was worried the Klipsch would follow the classic "Klipsch Horn" mentality and be overly bright with an emphasis on the high range. In this particular case, I was wrong. They are extremely well balanced IEMs and came bundle with a whole family of ear bud types. As I was looking for portability and did not want to bother with the marshmellows I went for the double-flange inserts. Given the X10's claim to fame as the "smallest IEM on the market" and the double-flange- they are indeed tiny little IEM's that pack a punch I was never expecting.

    Having been somewhat disappointed with the Shure's (both the 215's and 315's) I did get the opportunity to borrow 535's for two weeks and was very happy with the way they performed. Very good IEM's but they were more expensive than the X10's and I felt that the Klipsch still had the edge over the 535's. At the time I purchased the X10's they were being discontinued and were replaced with the X10i's. They are for all intents and purposes identical IEM's but as they were different part numbers the original X10's went on sale for $125 (normal $350).

    As much as I love the my HE-500's - the X10's have done most of the heavy lifting over the 2.5 years and never leave my side. The fact that they are 1/3 the size of a 5 pence coin goes a long way. Never in the way, but always there.
     
  12. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Never had any remotely good earphones to use on the move, and I won't even use these THAT much, so while I didn't think it would be worth spending a great deal, thought I might as well use the offer to get something decent and overall I'd heard good things about the se215s for their price, and so at half that I thought they'd be a bargain :)

    I'll post up some initial thoughts tomorrow hopefully, then update the thread as I listen to them all more etc.
     
  13. Jasio

    Jasio Made in Canada

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    You don't appreciate good sound until you go back and listen to either your previous gear, or attempt to listen to someone who claims they have 'the best' gear around and it ends up being headphones by Dr Dre.

    You will need more than a day to really build up an appreciable opinion of the 215's. The key is to listen to them regularly, for several days, and then go back to whatever you used previously.

    When I initially bought my HE-500's - they sounded 'great' out of the box but not 'amazing'. It wasn't until I went back to my Sennheiser HD600's that I went "Oh... hmm, okay, well that changes things a bit now..."

    Of course if you're moving from iPod earbuds, then strapping a pair of cans from Heinz instant-beans will blow you away. My progression was less dramatic, going from SE215 -> SE315 -> X10 so I could get a good feel for what I wanted and expected from an IEM. My brother who now uses the 215's thinks they are brilliant (and they are) but as he isn't into audio as much as I am is perfectly content with never having to upgrade or change them in anyway.

    It's a terrible hobby to have, and it burns a hole in your wallet before you realize it. I hate the fact that there are 2 shops on my street, within 100 meters that sell vinyl (new and used) and decks. I am now contemplating investing in a deck all over again- which is itself a terrible hobby to have- have to be careful not to spend too much. Might start off with a Rega RP1 and eventually try to make my way to a Linn LP12 Majik.
     
  14. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    I am indeed coming from generic/free ones, since as I said, I hardly use my phone to play music, so the shures will hopefully be a nice upgrade :)

    The headphones arrived today, had a quick listen to both the q701s and dt880s. Not going to lie, from a quick first listen I couldn't tell any particular difference compared to my dt770s.
    Obviously I've hardly spent any time with them, so I'll listen more this afternoon and give some more interesting feedback :p
     
  15. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

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    Right, I'm in need of some help now. My 598's have basically died. The left side has just stopped, so I just get sound from the right side. I should be able to get a refund from Scan as I've only had them for less than a month!

    So, what's a worth set of all round headphones for £140? Particular soundstages at this point don't bother me too much, just need some general recommendations.
     
    Last edited: 7 Nov 2012
  16. Tangster

    Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness!

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    Why don't you just get a replacement 598? The beat out pretty much everything under £150.
     
  17. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

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    If this kind of thing happens after less than a month, I'd trust Sennheiser a little less. :/
     
  18. Tangster

    Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness!

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    I've never had a senn break on me. If you can't get a refund, try a recable or the solder joints might just need a reflow.
     
  19. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

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    I've tried them a bit more now and I can describe the problem a little better now. Any volume adjusting I do only changes the volume of the left driver. The right side doesn't change. It's annoying because there is no good volume amount that I can use.
    God, I'm really p***ed off, I've only had them a few weeks.
     
  20. Apocalypso

    Apocalypso Fully armed and operational.

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    Any further thoughts on the dt880s?
     

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