Bose or Sennheiser Poll

be as diplomatic as possible they say...

bose is junk in reality
they have smal speakers big sound people are awed by this
they have horrible mid range sound
they release NO i repeat NO specs on their systems because theyd be quite horrible
basically what they do is have high range sound on the speakers
and low range on the sub thus creatin a "mid range" by that

anyone who votes for bose either has too much money or doesn know realy sound quality

so you stick with Sennheiser, or do you recommend something else?

I'm not sure if this is about headphones or not, but if so, get the sennheiser SP25 headphones.. i have them and they are in my opinion the best out there.. (expensive though)

Senns all the way. Fine German engineering. Made in Ireland.

Between the two Sennheiser all the way. What is your target price range though? What are you using them for? What type of music do you listen to?

A better debate might be Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic. Add in entymotic if you prefer in ear headphones. Even between those three it will depend on the answers to the questions above.

EDIT: HD 25-SPs are great, especially for the price, they are what I use for cans when I am away from home. But for sound quality they are an extreme far cry from the best out there. The Sennheiser HD-590s are hands down far better, but I think they have been discontinued in favor of the HD-595 which I have never used. And even then the 590s do not hold a candle to BeyerDynamic DT-880s. There are even better cans out there than the 880s but I could not justify the cost for myself.

I'll be using them to edit movies and audio files with my powerbook. I'll also use them with my ipod mini, and from what I've been hearing, the quality of ipods isn't the best. That's ok though, I'll use them for other things as well, and ipod quality will improve over the years.

(By the way, an ipod's quality is based on its OS right, not just its hardware? If it is, that means ipod quality can improve through updates and patches, right?)

Anyway, basically I want a set of headphones that are so good in terms of quality, that I'll still love and use them ten years from now.

Pricing really doesn't bother me considering I won't voluntarily replace them for a good long while: a nice good investment...

So you say either Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic?

EDIT: Ok some days I am a little slow... If you want the opinion of someone who actually knows what the heck they are talking about go to http://headphone.com . That (and Guitar Center) is where I bought most of my headphones from. I stand by my opinion below but have to admit the staff at headphones.com know more than I do.


Bear in mind this is a somewhat objective thing. Below are the cans that I own or have owned. I will spare you the "great sound stage with weak mid range" kind of comments because I have no idea what the heck it means. I mix and do some sound engineering, but at best I am a talented amatuer.

Low End (though still high quality)
- Sennheiser HD 25-SPs (around $70) these have the benefit of being fairly small for over ear headphones with reasonably good sound reproduction. They are small enough not to be embarrassing in public, these are not for studio work though. I would start with something like this and if you feel the need for better go to a music shop (or studio if you have access to one) and see if they will let you try different models out.

Mid range
- Audiotechnica ATH-M40fs (~ $90): Studio cans but not the best. They have a very flat response so if you are used to "high-fi" equipment the Bass will seem a little weak. This is not a fault in the headphones though but a reflection that consumer hi-fi equipment exaggerates bass. These I use as monitors for guests. Good enough to do the job but not so expensive I am scared of them being damaged by accident.

- entymotics R <something>, sorry I can not remember the exact model. (~$200) - these are in ear headphones with good sound reproduction but excellent isolation, really blocking out external noises. They come with different shapes to form fit to your ear canal. Unfortunately I discovered that prolonged use of in ear headphones cause me to get disoriented and nauseous so I sold them soon after I got them. This is not a common problem though. If you want a set of headphones that are not embarassing to wear out and about but good enough for mixing these are a decent choice. Just do not go out in traffic.

High End (This range is approaching being wasted without a high end sound board, though they will sound better even over built in sound)

- Sennheiser HD-590s ($220 when they were available)- studio headphones with good separation (picture being able to hear the individual rasps of Tom Waits' voice) These are large though, not ones you can wear about town without embarassing yourself. They used to be my cans of choice before I got the 880s.

- Beyerdynamic DT-880 ($250) - Some of the best studio cans out there. There are better but generally you are going above $500 for a set of headphones that you would need truly high end equipment ( something like a MOTU-828 or Hammerfall) to tell the difference with. These are my in home and studio headphones of choice. Be wary on listening to MP3s except very high rate ones with these cans though. All the compromises in the sound will become apparent.


Headphones I have never owned but hear (no pun intended) good things about.
- Ultimate Ears ($600-1000): These are in ear so for the reasons above are not practical for me. They are supposed to be the best in ear headphones money can buy though.

- Grado headphones - this is a sweeping generalization but if you are predominantly a rock musician these are worth considering. I did not like them the few times I tried them mostly because they exaggerate bass too much for studio cans in my opinion. It gives a "punchy" sound to me, like when you are in a club and you can feel the sound pressure from the beat. Not sure how else to describe it. Generally this is good for casual listening to Rock though.

Grado is where it's at baby. I have a pair of Senn. HD570s, but I really want to get some Grados. Their best set of headphones actually has a 30KHz max rating. Is that NUTS or what? That's 10,000 more Hz than almost anyone else. It's one and a half the highest-end pair of headphones by most manufacturers. 12 Hz - 30 KHz. Nuts. What's also crazy is the Sony Studio Monitor Series. They go down to 5 Hz, which is probably why everyone claims they 'boost their bass.'

Wow, that was huge help, thanks for the info. I've never heard of any of the brands you mentioned. Well, I guess I'm off to headphones.com to do some research. Oh, do you agree with me when I say that I should stay away from wireless?


Thanks again...


Anyone have any clue about the possibility for ipods to get better sound quality from updates?


:headphone

From my understanding mid range wireless is not bad, but the sound does not compare to wired headphones of the same price. I can't get over my prejudice enough to give them a try to be honest. I am contemplating getting a set of bluetooth stereo headphones though as I am a gadget freak.

No idea on the iPod sound improvements, sorry.

Well, i just have to say that after hearing the tri-ports, although all i do is listen to music, and half of the music i listen to is on vinyl and i just use speakers for that,but i have to stick with the minority and go with Bose, and bose also makes some noise canceling headphones that are a few hundred, and they are just amazing... it makes me cry when i think about those triports when i wear my dinky ipod headphones!

I just picked up a pair of the bose triports on sale for $130. they are incredible headphones. They sound good, but the body on them is a bit flimsy, and the cord is thin. One complaint I have is that the cable goes to both ears via a y under your neck. I prefer the dj style where the cable goes in the left ear, and around the headband to the right.

As far as sound quality, I have heard the sennenheisers, but not the high end ones, and they were good, but the bass reproductions (what I really want) is fantastic in the triports. I do a lot of electronic music production, so I like bass . And for $130, which is less than the sony dj headphones, and the good sennenheisers, I think I got a great deal.

ok, found this thread doing a search for Bose.....

I'm in search for headphones for my ibook, my obvious choice was the Bose Triports, but after doing alittle research, they don't seem to fit their price tag. I've used them in the Apple store a few times and think they sound fairly good although I cannot really atest to how they reproduce highs. Right now I have some sony v600 or something like that.

Sennheiser seems offer some really good headphones; I haven't had the chance to hear them yet...

Any suggestions? I listen to a wide variety of music, lots of piano jazz, rock, rap.. Also I'll be using them to watch dvd's so comfort is an issue.

so as of right now i'm considering
bose triport
sennheiser hd497
another pair of sony's?

thanks guys!
Jason :mac:

Either one is too expensive for me.

BigBear said:

so as of right now i'm considering
bose triport
sennheiser hd497
another pair of sony's?

thanks guys!
Jason :mac:

Click to expand...

Go with the Sennheisers. Sony and Bose are too interested in marketing and money, not in the actual interest in the science and art of sound.

i'll definately check them out! thanks.

I tried to find someone with a set of bose triports this past weekend but no one I know uses them so I can not judge myself. (It is not too amazing since I hang with a pretty small crowd). Generally bose are not held in high regard for sound reproduction. Different people like different types of cans though and the triports are supposed to have good isolation and fairly good bass reproduction, though less than stellar mids.

I am fond of both the Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic lines, so keep that in mind when I discuss the triports which I have never listened to personally. For short term wear (less than 4-5 hours at a time) I would go with Beyerdynamics. BDs in that range are generally closed which is good for isolation but might be uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. The DT 231 seems to be in your price range ($59 same as the 497s). I looked up the Senn 497s and they also look pretty good considering the price. On the other hand the 497 runs a wire to each side, which I am not fond of.

As a best guess the BDs will give you a better over all sound then the other 2 with decent isolation. If you want to really drive the bass though I would suggest a headphone amp. That is not to say bass is weak on BDs, just less authoritative. The Senns will likely handle rock and rap better, jazz worse. The bose will have the best isolation, drive electronica/trance well and probably rap, but will be weaker for most other types of listening.

hmm... yeah, the beyerdynamics look pretty impresive (going off of the info on headphones.com). I think the only way to pick the best one is to listen to all of them! Although I don't think there are any bd dealers around here and I am leary of purchasing an item like this without being able to use it first. Thanks for the info kokopelli!

Any other suggestions?

How come no one mentioned Bang & Olufsen? I'm disappointed now!