# Calling out to all the portable "AUDIO ENTHUSIASTS"



## AbhMkh (Feb 25, 2014)

So I was sitting in the office one day during the lunch break and I heard a loud voice across the aisle.I got up and scanned the area wondering what was going on ....I discovered that a guy was telling his fellow colleagues about a new sound system he had bought,"Its a 5.1 surround he said, pumps out 20 W he said...and bla..bla...bla".

Elated on discovering a fellow audio enthusiast I went up to him and congratulated him on his recent purchase.""What kind of IEM drivers do you prefer "Dynamic " or "Balanced Armatures" "" I asked ?, to which he replied

"Pta nhi yaar, main to samsung mobile ke saath aane waale headphones use karta hun"  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This, sadly is a common scenario in India.People are ready to spend 20-30 K on speakers but when it comes to IEM's and headphones, everybody asks for budget recommendations.

"Budget Headphones under 2000","Need Headphones in Rs 500" ...so on, The portable audio market is highly underrated in India.


Any ways , I am mainly a portable audio enthusiast.Never enjoyed those big booming speakers, after all " Ganna khud sunna hai...paadosion ko thodi naa sunnana hai" !


Here is a list of my audio equipment.


HEADPHONES


1. SENNHEISER HD 558

Sennheiser HD 558 - Audio Headphones - Surround sound - Stereo, HiFi

2. SENNHEISER HD 202

Sennheiser HD 202 II Price in India - Buy Sennheiser HD 202 II Online - Sennheiser: Flipkart.com


IEM'S

1. KLIPSCH IMAGE X7I

X7i In Ear Headphones | High Quality Audio by Klipsch®

2. SHURE SE215

Shure SE215-K-KCE Wired Headphones Price in India - Buy Shure SE215-K-KCE Wired Headphones Online - Shure: Flipkart.com

3. KLIPSCH IMAGE S4

Klipsch Image S4 Headphone Price in India - Buy Klipsch Image S4 Headphone Online - Klipsch: Flipkart.com


OTHER IEM'S

Sony MDR-EX220LP In-the-ear Headphone Price in India - Buy Sony MDR-EX220LP In-the-ear Headphone Online - Sony: Flipkart.com



PORTABLE HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER

SOUNDMAGIC A10

SoundMagic A-10 Headphone Amplifier Price: Buy SoundMagic A-10 Headphone Amplifier Online in India - Infibeam.com


MP3 PLAYER

COWON J3(8 GB)

[ Welcome to COWONGLOBAL.com ]


DREAM IEM'S

SHURE SE 846

*www.shure.com/americas/products/earphones-headphones/se-earphones/se846-sound-isolating-earphones

DREAM HEADPHONES


SENNHEISER HD 650

*shop.sennheiserindia.com/hd-650.html




CHEERS!
ABHIJIT


----------



## josin (Feb 25, 2014)

> "Pta nhi yaar, main to samsung mobile ke saath aane waale headphones use karta hun" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> This, sadly is a common scenario in India.People are ready to spend 20-30 K on speakers but when it comes to IEM's and headphones, everybody asks for budget recommendations.
> ...



+1000 to that. This is the main reason we are unable to get quality headphones/IEMs in our country. We are forced to pay more and forced to import the same.



> Any ways , I am mainly a portable audio enthusiast.Never enjoyed those big booming speakers, after all " Ganna khud sunna hai...paadosion ko thodi naa sunnana hai"



Its all about keeping the volume down. IMHO high volume does not always translate to quality sound. But at the same time a Good AVR coupled with equally good spks are the best to enjoy music while you are in the mood. Nothing comes close to this combination. The spacing, the staging and the separation of instruments  are best enjoyed with AVr and spks. Headphones are always a compromise.

These are My gears:
Headphones:
1.Sennheiser HD 650
2.Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro ( I love to hear this thing than my HD 650)
3.Koss Pro Dj 100

IEM:
1.SIGNATURE ACOUSTICS C-12 Elements

Headphone Amp:
Fiio E17.

My Home theatre setup:
AVR: Yamaha RX-V573
Sub: YST-SW315
Floor standing: NS-8900


----------



## The Incinerator (Feb 25, 2014)

For listening to music you dont need an avr and speakers thats for watching movies. For music you need a pair of bookshelf or FLRS (strictly no separate subwoofer) with a two channel amplifier thats eithersolid state or better a tube doing class A or class AB.....with the frontend or the source being a turntable or a cd player......phew.......its that simple....

The out of the box (speakers) imaging  which has a 3 dimensional quality is what we listen to, my friend and not "big booming speakers" which the neighbours or ur that colleague or you might have  not encountered yet.So before making loose comments pay a visit to a Audio Dealer who deals in stereo equipments.


----------



## Faun (Feb 25, 2014)

Add custom IEMs to your wishlist too.
*cdn.head-fi.org/4/45/4595e8ed_unique-melody-aero-custom-iem.jpeg


----------



## josin (Feb 25, 2014)

The Incinerator said:


> The out of the box (speakers) imaging which has a 3 dimensional quality is what we listen to, my friend and not "big booming speakers" which the neighbours or ur that colleague or you might have not encountered yetSo before making loose comments pay a visit to a Audio Dealer who deals in stereo equipments.



Before passing such comments, Please take some time to  read what I have written, I said "Its all about keeping the volume down. IMHO high volume does not always translate to quality sound". I don't believe in playing music loud, but at the same time I am no purist. every one likes to hear music in there own way. You may not like subs, but I like it and I know 70% all music lovers do that.(unless subs wont sell that much). 



> For listening to music you don't need an avr and speakers thats for watching movies. For music you need a pair of bookshelf or FLRS (strictly no separate subwoofer)


Who told you avr is not Amp? and its not good for music? Its time for you to pay a visit to good audio dealer who deals with AVR equipments. Besides IMHO AVR is more modern version of amplifiers that can take any input from any source be it video or audio and provides pretty good listing experience.

My dear brother "you can not fill a pot which is full of water" so keep some space for future. take it from me " I know everything attitude" is a road block in life.


----------



## The Incinerator (Feb 25, 2014)

Calm down Josin. Read and then think do some research and reply.

Movies and Music are recorded differently. For Movies the sound is divided in to 5 channels for the surround effect. The bass is directed to LFE channel or the .1 or the subwoofer. Hence and primarily they dont have to generically do bass amplification the stereo amps have to.  For movies the sounds are from different locations to create the effect of a "motion" picture. An Amplifier doing this sound effects generally need to power the speakers for the midrange and the upper end of the sonic spectrum.Because the sub frequencies are dedicated to the the .1.Its also why you always need a sub to listen to music on an AVR or they sound anemic on the bass end.AVR are not designed to or dont have to move coils of full range speakers for which they require a lot of current,hence no need for beefy Toroidal  Transformers or Mosfets or Capacitors. We all know that subwoofers in a 5.1 set up comes with their own amplifier so all the "AVR" does is to pass on a line level low frequency signal to subwoofers inbuilt amplifier and an AVR dosnt power or drive them.AVR drives the 5 speakers with a crossover slope fixed at say 80Hz and above. SO the amplifier section in AVR dosnt have to have the gut grit and beef of a stereo amplifier which has to drive evrything by itself. So what we conclude from here is that an AVR is not an adept piece of amplifier for music,it is known fact.For music you need an amplifier which can drive a full range speakers to its limits across the frequency range. Hence the Stereo Amplifiers are built with ultra high current mos and IGBTs since they dont pass away the bass to an active subwoofer.

Movies are always recorded louder (db) than music to create that effect. While music is not recorded that way. Even a Rs 20K AVR will sound loud ,its designed that way to make the movies more exciting. They (AVR) are never neutral which is a must for music. I dont expect an AVR to be neutral either because it will rob it off of the ambience it needs to create for the movie. Another universal fact is for music playback a Stereo amplifier costing 1.5 lakh will beat an AVR that costs over Rs 4 Lac hands down or a stereo amp eg Marantz 6004 (Rs 35000) will beat to death an Yamaha RX-V 673/Onkyo TX-SR709 ( Rs 62000 / Rs 70000) when its music. So you cant mix movies with music and vice versa.

Another very very important factor is video noise induced in the audio circuit path because of all the processing that goes in an AVR. From DAC clocks to Video processors to the potentiometers to the of the preamps,displays on the facia they all create noise and lower the signal to noise ratio or an unclean sound when compared to stereo amplifier which has none of it. *Now you know why AVRs have a PURE STEREO mode !!! *And trust me even that dosnt help because of statics or harmonic memory.

Do you know that even speakers are voiced and made in different ways for Music and Movies? The so called speaker packages are generally not good for music. Stereo stand alones never ever have packages or brethrens in the same series. eg ATC, PMC, Joseph Audio,Harbeth,Wilson Audio,Morel,Kharma etc etc

I hope the ROAD BLOCK is clear now. Dont make things personal by character assassination. This is a forum and Im here to let people know the right facts and not lick fingers or wag to make friends and stick on and pass on vague or wrong information or show off gears.

Visit a dealer sit talk listen understand. If you are from Kolkata give me a call (pm)and come over to my place.


----------



## Anorion (Feb 25, 2014)

^interesting. especially the part where 5.1 speaker sets are for movies and not music. 

my "gear". does it qualify as enthusiast ? was got on tight budget, but everything's been working for 3+ years. all of this should cost less than 6k now. 
Cowon D2+
SoundMAGIC PL11 Wired Headphones Price in India - Buy SoundMAGIC PL11 Wired Headphones Online - SoundMAGIC: Flipkart.com
X-mini v1.1 Capsule Speaker Wired - Xmini: Flipkart.com

also ep630, cx300 barely used.


----------



## dashing.sujay (Feb 25, 2014)

@AbhMkh - Pics or they don't exist 



> Ganna khud sunna hai...paadosion ko thodi naa sunnana hai" !



My logic - "_Jab tak padosi tak aawaz na jaaye, tab tak gaana baja hi nahi.._".


----------



## $hadow (Feb 25, 2014)

dashing.sujay said:


> @AbhMkh - Pics or they don't exist
> 
> 
> My logic - "_Jab tak padosi tak aawaz na jaaye, tab tak gaana baja hi nahi.._".


+1 to this. Jab tak padosi complaint na kare tab tak gane ka maza nahi aaya


----------



## AbhMkh (Feb 25, 2014)

dashing.sujay said:


> @AbhMkh - Pics or they don't exist
> 
> 
> 
> My logic - "_Jab tak padosi tak aawaz na jaaye, tab tak gaana baja hi nahi.._".




So you need proof, huh ?, Alright "Sherlock" you will get your proof
!



Anorion said:


> ^interesting. especially the part where 5.1 speaker sets are for movies and not music.
> 
> my "gear". does it qualify as enthusiast ? was got on tight budget, but everything's been working for 3+ years. all of this should cost less than 6k now.
> Cowon D2+
> ...




Not really, you need to own at-least a Klipsch before you are baptised as an audio enthusiast ! 

Just kidding , if you can effortlessly speak about "frequency response graphs" and "the variety of sizes in women's undergarments" then you will be considered as an "audio enthusiast".



Faun said:


> Add custom IEMs to your wishlist too.
> *cdn.head-fi.org/4/45/4595e8ed_unique-melody-aero-custom-iem.jpeg



When I see those all I hear is a line from an episode of the US sitcom HIMYM.."Not Happening Bro !"


----------



## seamon (Feb 26, 2014)

What about my pair?
SK Pro Over Ear Headphones by Skullcandy Headphones

I have the sparkle motion edition. These are no longer available :/.


----------



## AbhMkh (Feb 26, 2014)

seamon said:


> What about my pair?
> SK Pro Over Ear Headphones by Skullcandy Headphones
> 
> I have the sparkle motion edition. These are no longer available :/.



Sorry to tell you this bro, but Skullcandy and Beats By Dre are to the headphone world what Apple is to the Laptop/Mobile world.

Lots of flare, not really any substance !


----------



## seamon (Feb 26, 2014)

AbhMkh said:


> Sorry to tell you this bro, but Skullcandy and Beats By Dre are to the headphone world what Apple is to the Laptop/Mobile world.
> 
> Lots of flare, not really any substance !



Good enough, they look swell and I am not much of an Audio enthusiast. Mind explaining how is your pair better than mine?


----------



## AbhMkh (Feb 26, 2014)

seamon said:


> Good enough, they look swell and I am not much of an Audio enthusiast. Mind explaining how is your pair better than mine?



Well, I will try to explain without going into much details.

Basically the sound quality of a headphone depends on the driver being used inside it (Not to confuse with Software Drivers  )

The headphone driver is responsible for converting electrical signals into sound.Below is a short explanation

Audio-Technica - Headphone Guide

Now there are various parameters on the basis of which we judge the quality of a headphone driver

Frequency response(higher the range, better the headphones will be)

For eg

I have the Sennheiser HD558 which has a FR of 15hz-28Khz whereas the SK Pro has a FR of 20Hz-20Khz(Lower end of the frecuency spectrum is responsible for Bass and higher end for treble)

SPL(Sound pressure Level),THD(Total harmonic distortion),Driver material,Input Impedance,Connector Material etc are few other parameters(I don't have all this data for the SK Pro so cannot make a comparison)

But in the end the perceived quality of headphones will depend on your taste of music, FR of headphones can be tapered to cater to a specific audience like Bass-heads,precision hounds and so on(So a Bass-head will not like headphones designed for precision enthusiasts).

These are some of the headphone brands available in India which are known for their "Legendary" sound quality.

Sennheiser,Shure,Klipsch,Logitech Ultimate Ears,Bowers and Wilikins,Denon.











Audio-Technica - Headphone Guide


----------



## seamon (Feb 26, 2014)

AbhMkh said:


> Well, I will try to explain without going into much details.
> 
> Basically the sound quality of a headphone depends on the driver being used inside it (Not to confuse with Software Drivers  )
> 
> ...



uhh......oh kay.
Leave that I just wanted something that sounds good and looks swell. 
These are still Skullcandy which people will envy just like people envy a macbook/iphone over a gaming laptop/high end gaming phone.


----------



## Anorion (Feb 27, 2014)

apple good. if apple were skullcandy, they would be priced higher and come in various attractive decals, and every time anything goes womp/gandalf says something/ justice remix the device would essentially transform into a jackhammer. (most criticism of apple audio gear is that it's just good for mid range). skullcandy is not preferred because the sound is coloured, or good for head massages.


----------



## seamon (Feb 27, 2014)

Anorion said:


> apple good. if apple were skullcandy, they would be priced higher and come in various attractive decals, and every time anything goes womp/gandalf says something/ justice remix the device would essentially transform into a jackhammer. (most criticism of apple audio gear is that it's just good for mid range). *skullcandy is not preferred because the sound is coloured, or good for head massages.*



uh...............wut?


----------



## Anorion (Feb 27, 2014)

intense vibrations during bass to an extant that the sensory feedback is more tactile than auditory


----------



## seamon (Feb 27, 2014)

*Re: Calling out to all the portable &quot;AUDIO ENTHUSIASTS&quot;*



Anorion said:


> intense vibrations during bass to an extant that the sensory feedback is more tactile than auditory



I don't think that happens in mine. :/

- - - Updated - - -



AbhMkh said:


> Well, I will try to explain without going into much details.
> 
> Basically the sound quality of a headphone depends on the driver being used inside it (Not to confuse with Software Drivers  )
> 
> ...



What's the use of a FR higher and lower than the normal human audible range? SPL and THD for SK pro are not available.

Speaker Diameter: 50mm
Magnet Type: NdFeB
Frequency Response: 20 - 20K Hz
Impedance: 64 ohms
Driver Type: Dynamic

Mind doing a comparison?


----------



## $hadow (Feb 27, 2014)

The Germans get serious about making great in-ear headphones - CNET Mobile
Check out the link guys.


----------

