New headphones are fabulous, what DAC setup to get now?

duotone

Megii said:

duotone said:

^ Just watched that review and he says (among many other criticisms);

"I can’t recommend these headphones on sound quality”

 probably worth avoiding unless you can try them out somewhere

Cheers - It's a funny one - he really doesn't like them at all, and yet there are a lot of very favourable reports out there also. But one thing he's probably right about is the relatively narrow sound stage for an open-back - from what I read, which does put me off a bit. Overall, perhaps a bit of a risky punt for £140.

Yep, that’s what I thought as well.  Great if you can try them out, but probably worth avoiding if you can’t.

re. The Inner Fidelity ‘wall of fame’ now that you budget is creeping up for the right product.  It might be worth looking at https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/boss-philips-fidelio-x2

£153 at on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-X2-Headphones-Over-Ear-Cushions-Black/dp/B00MRUPSHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534932880&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+fidelio+x1


Had to include the guys review again, as the intro made me laugh.

https://youtu.be/_y2ZZxcBZ88

Megii

duotone said:

Megii said:

duotone said:

^ Just watched that review and he says (among many other criticisms);

"I can’t recommend these headphones on sound quality”

 probably worth avoiding unless you can try them out somewhere

Cheers - It's a funny one - he really doesn't like them at all, and yet there are a lot of very favourable reports out there also. But one thing he's probably right about is the relatively narrow sound stage for an open-back - from what I read, which does put me off a bit. Overall, perhaps a bit of a risky punt for £140.

Yep, that’s what I thought as well.  Great if you can try them out, but probably worth avoiding if you can’t.

re. The Inner Fidelity ‘wall of fame’ now that you budget is creeping up for the right product.  It might be worth looking at https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/boss-philips-fidelio-x2

£153 at on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-X2-Headphones-Over-Ear-Cushions-Black/dp/B00MRUPSHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534932880&sr=8-1&keywords=philips+fidelio+x1


Had to include the guys review again, as the intro made me laugh.

https://youtu.be/_y2ZZxcBZ88

He is a funny guy I have to say - not entirely sure how seriously to take his reviews, but he certainly knows what he likes, and what he doesn't.

Cheers re the fidelio x2's idea - to be honest though, I think I might back down closer to the £100 mark after all. Liking what I hear re the AKG K702's - but would I find them too light in the bass? Also Sennheiser HD 598 seem a good buy on Amazon at the mo - but maybe a bit too smooth and a little lacking in detail resolution? Also the Grado SR80e's - a more upfront, involving listen some say, but also some say not the best for a spacious soundstage. The confusing world of headphone choosing, hmm...

Megii

Bugger, the x2's do seem superb by all accounts...

beed84

Megii said:

Bugger, the x2's do seem superb by all accounts...

You can borrow my X1s for a bit if that helps?

Megii

beed84 said:

Megii said:

Bugger, the x2's do seem superb by all accounts...

You can borrow my X1s for a bit if that helps?

An outrageously kind and generous offer @beed84 , and thank you very much, I'm taken aback.  To be honest I'm going to make a decision today, and order something this evening (very likely the X2s) so I'll decline, but wow and cheers again for that.

beed84

Megii said:

beed84 said:

Megii said:

Bugger, the x2's do seem superb by all accounts...

You can borrow my X1s for a bit if that helps?

An outrageously kind and generous offer @beed84 , and thank you very much, I'm taken aback.  To be honest I'm going to make a decision today, and order something this evening (very likely the X2s) so I'll decline, but wow and cheers again for that.

No bother at all. I'm sure you'll enjoy the X2s (if that's what you go for) when you get them. And if you use them through a good source, e.g. headphone amp, dac, then you'll enjoy them even more! Anyway, do let us know your verdict after you've given them a good listen. Would be interested to hear what you think.   

Megii

beed84 said:

Megii said:

beed84 said:

Megii said:

Bugger, the x2's do seem superb by all accounts...

You can borrow my X1s for a bit if that helps?

An outrageously kind and generous offer @beed84 , and thank you very much, I'm taken aback.  To be honest I'm going to make a decision today, and order something this evening (very likely the X2s) so I'll decline, but wow and cheers again for that.

No bother at all. I'm sure you'll enjoy the X2s (if that's what you go for) when you get them. And if you use them through a good source, e.g. headphone amp, dac, then you'll enjoy them even more! Anyway, do let us know your verdict after you've given them a good listen. Would be interested to hear what you think.   

Cheers @beed84 - afraid I ran into some information re the X2's that put doubts into my head, so didn't go ahead and order. It seems a couple of years ago or so, Philips sold the Fidelio heaphones business to Gibson (yes, that Gibson) and there have subsequently been concerns with manufacturing flaws (including gluing the pads to the earcup when they shouldn't be) and wide variation in sound quality. It looks like Gibson has now sold the business on to another group, and they've sorted the issues, and are selling the model as Fidelio X2HR. Re the X2's on offer on amazon - these are older stock, and you might get a problem-free set, but you might not. If there is an issue, you can send them back, but it puts me off basically...

So, this leaves me still in a quandry - I did like a lot of things I read re the AKG 702's, but the bass is not at all strong they say. I'm currently toying with the idea of pushing the budget a tad more still, and going AKG 712's. Also perhaps the Beyerdynamic DT 880 semi-open (mentioned by someone earlier) merit consideration. Hope I'm not becoming too tedious...

edit - just to add, yes, in time I will be looking at DAC and dedicated headphone amp - I do want to have a great-sounding listening setup to use with my computer-stored music files. It occurs to me I've invested a lot of dosh on guitar gear over recent years (no regrets) but have been a bit stingy when it comes to my music listening, which thinking about it, is important to me also.

Megii

So - decided to have one more look at the X2's and checked all the last few months reviews on Amazon for the X2s - all seem to be very positive. It seems the issues I mentioned above are likely all in the past, and now resolved. Hope so anyhow, because I just ordered a set - from all the descriptions and reviews, they just seemed to tick too many boxes for what I'd like. Internet buying always a bit of a punt anyhow, but I'll see how I get on. Thanks to everyone who posted, it was all useful and given consideration I promise - it's a minefield, but an interesting one.

Jaycee

duotone said:

DrCornelius said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Grado SR60e- quite simply the best sounding headphones I've ever owned. 

Bought some of these recently, the guy in the shop suggested them despite them being way within my stated budget. I tried a few that were nearer £200 from the big names and they sounded weak in comparison.

Good to know.  Think it was @fretmeister , who had a slightly more expensive pair of Grados and while he said the sound was fantastic, the comfort was awful.  In the end he hardly bothered using them due to the discomfort.

For me comfort is as important as the sound, I have a pair of AKG on ear bought from richer sounds for about £40, they did have more expensive and better sounding models in the AKG range but my budget was very limited

duotone

Megii said:

So - decided to have one more look at the X2's and checked all the last few months reviews on Amazon for the X2s - all seem to be very positive. It seems the issues I mentioned above are likely all in the past, and now resolved. Hope so anyhow, because I just ordered a set - from all the descriptions and reviews, they just seemed to tick too many boxes for what I'd like. Internet buying always a bit of a punt anyhow, but I'll see how I get on. Thanks to everyone who posted, it was all useful and given consideration I promise - it's a minefield, but an interesting one.

Hooray!

So did you order the X2 or X2HR ?

Megii

duotone said:

Megii said:

So - decided to have one more look at the X2's and checked all the last few months reviews on Amazon for the X2s - all seem to be very positive. It seems the issues I mentioned above are likely all in the past, and now resolved. Hope so anyhow, because I just ordered a set - from all the descriptions and reviews, they just seemed to tick too many boxes for what I'd like. Internet buying always a bit of a punt anyhow, but I'll see how I get on. Thanks to everyone who posted, it was all useful and given consideration I promise - it's a minefield, but an interesting one.

Hooray!

So did you order the X2 or X2HR ?

X2 - X2HR really just a bit too pricey for me. X2 at the reduced £150 ish price was kind of absolute top end of my budget. I believe they are reduced as they are older stock being sold off - the two "models" are basically the exact same thing. But I looked at all the recent reviews for the X2 and they were overwhelmingly very positive, so I do hope the problems I read about are a thing of the past - that seems to have been at it's worst around 2016, just after Gibson took over. If there is something amiss, I can return them of course, although it would be a shame - but optimistic at the mo.

beed84

Ah nice one! I think you’ll be very pleased with your purchase. Fingers crossed it’s not a dud. Like you say, hopefully the issues concerning Gibson and QC have been dealt with and you’re delivered a problem free pair of cans.

Also, from what I understand, there’s nothing or very little in difference between the X2 and the X2HRs. It may very well be a case of rebranding and/or marketing technique. Even if there is a difference I suspect it will be negligible. 

In in terms of getting a DAC etc, then you’ll benefit hugely in doing so. I had my X1s for a few years before buying a DAC/headphone amp and thought they were bloody good then. I took a punt on a Soundblaster E5 of this forum last year not really sure what to expect. Plugged it in, pressed a few buttons, and the difference bordered on the absurd! Seriously, it was one of my better purchases and I wouldn’t listen to music through my headphones in any other way.

Megii

beed84 said:

Ah nice one! I think you’ll be very pleased with your purchase. Fingers crossed it’s not a dud. Like you say, hopefully the issues concerning Gibson and QC have been dealt with and you’re delivered a problem free pair of cans.

Also, from what I understand, there’s nothing or very little in difference between the X2 and the X2HRs. It may very well be a case of rebranding and/or marketing technique. Even if there is a difference I suspect it will be negligible. 

In in terms of getting a DAC etc, then you’ll benefit hugely in doing so. I had my X1s for a few years before buying a DAC/headphone amp and thought they were bloody good then. I took a punt on a Soundblaster E5 of this forum last year not really sure what to expect. Plugged it in, pressed a few buttons, and the difference bordered on the absurd! Seriously, it was one of my better purchases and I wouldn’t listen to music through my headphones in any other way.

Thank you @beed84, I do hope so too - hopefully they just went through some early teething problems with the Gibson takeover, and then got things back on track - I've read some things that do indicate this is the case. This is easily the most I've shelled out for a pair of cans, and I'm really hoping for something great that I can get years of enjoyment from.

Re the laptop/DAC/headphone amp setup, something of a new world for me, having got into hi-fi with vinyl and cds, not to mention cassette tapes and all that dobly malarky during the 80s and 90s. I can still use my new headphones with my hi-fi setup of course, and I'm assuming that will be very good. But now I seem to have a fair amount of digital music files - flac and mp3, plus I can rip my CDs to flac if I want, and it really makes sense that I sort out a setup for listening from the laptop. So yes, I will be checking out DAC/headphone amps also, once my wallet has recovered from buying the X2's.

Megii

These arrived this morning...



...they are not going back. I just went zooming through a selection of favourite cds that were to hand through my old hi-fi system (Sony CDP-XB740E cd player, Marantz PM4000 amp if you're interested, decent but not super hi end stuff) and bloody hell, they are extremely impressive headphones. Certainly the best I've ever owned or used for that matter, and I'd say by some distance. Some recordings fared better than others, but in all cases, I can hear things I hadn't before. Vocals are natural and lovely, acoustic guitars amazing, electric guitars also in fact - I could hear plectrum noise on some Prefab Sprout tracks for example, also fret buzz beautifully conveyed on some bass guitar... Cymbals - that's a wow too. Also highly enjoyable is the wide soundstage, and sense of air and the space in which the recording was made. Also the separation between instruments, and the way they sit in distinct places in the stereo field - it's really easy to focus in on a single instrument.

I'd say the bass response is just a tad more than ideal for my taste, but on the hi-fi, that seems easily corrected by backing the bass control down a notch or two. They do reveal the limits of some recordings - I tried a 70s recording of Murray Perahia doing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 for example, also the electronic drums/synth sounds on some 80s recordings don't always fair too well - there just wasn't the detail there in the first place I think. However, Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love album is a huge wow to listen to, they were doing something right with that one. In general, it was hair on the forearms standing up stuff though - for a music lover, getting kit like this is definitely very worthwhile.

I have a pub gig tonight, which is annoying, as I want to listen to more recordings. I'm about to try them listening from the laptop, which I doubt will be quite as good, but interesting to find out. Will have to get a good DAC/Headphone amp before long... Cheers again for all the help and advice everyone - the process did steer me towards a very good result in the end.

beed84

That's great news @Megii - I knew you'd be pleased with them. Have fun listening to old (and new) music and discovering the unheard nuances along the way 

Megii

beed84 said:

That's great news @Megii - I knew you'd be pleased with them. Have fun listening to old (and new) music and discovering the unheard nuances along the way 

Cheers @beed84, I certainly will. We got there in the end!

stickyfiddle

Excellent! There's not much better than sitting down with great music and a good set of headphones. 

usedtobe

I can’t believe I’m saying this about a pair of headphones, but they look really cool!

Axe_meister

Sorry for the thread hi-jack. My Bose QC25 noise cancelling headphones have died (a common problem the right hand side speaker dies). Need to get some new noise cancelling headphones as I fly a lot and they are a god send, but don't want to spend the £300 I original Bose.

duotone

Glad you are enjoying them!