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Do they come with an ample array of tip sizes ?


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Lossless will help tremendously. While high bitrate AAC is pretty good, Apple Lossless is definitely the way to go if top audio quality is important to you.

Paired with a set of Sennheiser cans, music sounds great.

I just got the HD 650 and I'm dying to try them out....
 
so....one decent brand (sennheiser) and 2 garbage brands, i hardly consider those audiophile level comments.

Decent brand can have garbage product and vice versa. Hence your comment too is hardly on audiophile level.
 
bose is crap.

Fair enough if you don't like in ear headphones. I would than recommend BOSE noise cancelling headphones. Had some older model a few years ago and they were spectacular. Obviously they are pricey tho. I'm also not sure how good wireless headphones are compared to cabled headphones, I'm sure the sound quality on wireless is worse.
 
I found the iPhone 6 to be quite lacking in terms of music playback. Quite a harsh, compressed sound.

It's OK when out and about, but I bought an AMP for my desk at work, which brings out some detail, adds a touch of warmth and is a much nicer experience.

If you only use Earbuds, or poor to average headphones, then it will be fine.
 
Had klipsch x10i earphones but the wire broke :( they sounded awesome with my iphone 6. Searching for discount deals, but havent been able to find x10i or x11i at a low price :(
If you like bass then its not for you. But if you want clear sound, hear the instruments and voices perfectly, then its heavenly.

I think most phones are on par or worse then the iphones with sound quality.
If you really want a high quality music player check sony out. They have awesome sounding music players.
 
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I found the iPhone 6 to be quite lacking in terms of music playback. Quite a harsh, compressed sound.

It's OK when out and about, but I bought an AMP for my desk at work, which brings out some detail, adds a touch of warmth and is a much nicer experience.

If you only use Earbuds, or poor to average headphones, then it will be fine.

Seriously? Even among those of us who have small fortunes invested in our headphone collections there are few who don't agree that iPhones don't sound pretty good as they sit from the factory. There are people who obsess over the small differences between models and whatnot, but overall they are considered excellent sources. Even with my Shure SE846's the difference in sound straight out of the phone and fed through even my expensive DAC's and amps is extremely small. Certainly not earth shattering. What amp and headphones are you using?
 
I know a lot of people, audiophiles etc, that disagree. I'm not saying they are the best but they are really good and easily give 100$ headphones a run for their money. Obviously if music quality is crap it won't make a difference but they do not feel like 25$ headphones in my optinion.

Indeed, I'm a producer and play many instruments and listen to music all day everyday. Music is a big think for me essentially! When I'm recording I use the very accurate ATH-40fs headphones (I hope to replace with ATH-50 eventually), but out and about I need easy to conceal earphones, I can't wear and carry full size head phones while I'm at lectures and tutorials.

I use the Apple EarPods for day to day use and the quality is outstanding for only €30. Keeping my music compressed down to 256Kbps (I can tolerate 192Kbps too, but 128Kbps is so thin it hurts my brain.) I can really hear the vast majority of frequencies expressed in diverse rock and electronic tracks.
 
Undeniably the standard earPods from Apple and high quality music (itunes, spotify etc) give you a great experience out of the box. The earPods easily beat the crap out of most headphones in the 80-100 dollar range. I have showed people that had high quality headphones the EarPods and they couldn't believe how good they were.

In what world??? My $50 Sennheiser CX 300 II's kick the living daylights out of the earPods, as do my $20 HD 201's.

They don't isolate sound at all, and that's a major no-no for me. I might as well listen to music from the speaker.

If people think earPods sound good, they obviously haven't tried out much better alternatives. I'm not even talking hundred-dollar+ headphones here.
 
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Well it depends if you're looking for open or closed back headphones. Open back leak sound but allow for a terrific soundstage with more width and depth. For example, you'll hear a knock in a song and you'll think someone is knocking on your door. Whereas closed-back don't leak any sound but have less width. You can't use open back in the metro, library, or anywhere you may annoy people.

I'm a big fan of Sennheiser myself, so the HD 598 (open) for around $150 sound literally better than anything Bose has ever done. If you're looking for closed back the Sennheiser Momentum is the best headphone for daily use and costs around $200. Audio Technica ATMH50X is a pretty good bet too.

For around $400 your possibilities are endless as there you enter the Hi Fi realm but they're all going to be open-backed. Beyerdynamics DT-880 is an insane one, but I use the Sennheiser HD 650 with an 02 amp for Hi FI listening.


I would't pay more than $150 for Bose because it's mainly a fashion accessory as the sound objectively falls short (by a great margin) of all the brands I mentioned. Seriously, there are mathematical charts that prove better sound reproduction and fidelity from Hi Fi brands which cost less than Bose and Beats. Sometimes by several hundred dollars.


With Bose and beats you're paying for the brand, not good sound reproduction.
 
Usually Cowon is known for better sound quality. I'd still go for the iPhone 6, but if you're looking for a dedicated high quality music only player, go with a Cowon product.
 
In what world??? My $50 Sennheiser CX 300 II's kick the living daylights out of the earPods, as do my $20 HD 201's.

They don't isolate sound at all, and that's a major no-no for me. I might as well listen to music from the speaker.

If people think earPods sound good, they obviously haven't tried out much better alternatives. I'm not even talking hundred-dollar+ headphones here.

See post above yours for my answer

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Indeed, I'm a producer and play many instruments and listen to music all day everyday. Music is a big think for me essentially! When I'm recording I use the very accurate ATH-40fs headphones (I hope to replace with ATH-50 eventually), but out and about I need easy to conceal earphones, I can't wear and carry full size head phones while I'm at lectures and tutorials.

I use the Apple EarPods for day to day use and the quality is outstanding for only €30. Keeping my music compressed down to 256Kbps (I can tolerate 192Kbps too, but 128Kbps is so thin it hurts my brain.) I can really hear the vast majority of frequencies expressed in diverse rock and electronic tracks.

Thanks, I am not the only one thinking that. All my music is itunes 256kps and it sounds pretty damn nice with the EarPods.

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Well it depends if you're looking for open or closed back headphones. Open back leak sound but allow for a terrific soundstage with more width and depth. For example, you'll hear a knock in a song and you'll think someone is knocking on your door. Whereas closed-back don't leak any sound but have less width. You can't use open back in the metro, library, or anywhere you may annoy people.

I'm a big fan of Sennheiser myself, so the HD 598 (open) for around $150 sound literally better than anything Bose has ever done. If you're looking for closed back the Sennheiser Momentum is the best headphone for daily use and costs around $200. Audio Technica ATMH50X is a pretty good bet too.

For around $400 your possibilities are endless as there you enter the Hi Fi realm but they're all going to be open-backed. Beyerdynamics DT-880 is an insane one, but I use the Sennheiser HD 650 with an 02 amp for Hi FI listening.


I would't pay more than $150 for Bose because it's mainly a fashion accessory as the sound objectively falls short (by a great margin) of all the brands I mentioned. Seriously, there are mathematical charts that prove better sound reproduction and fidelity from Hi Fi brands which cost less than Bose and Beats. Sometimes by several hundred dollars.


With Bose and beats you're paying for the brand, not good sound reproduction.

Sorry I'm not an audiophile by any means but I think your are confusing BOSE with Bang and Olafsen (whichs uses Philips or Panasonic tech).
BOSE is quite known for their good sound quality. Again not saying they are the best but they are defiantly not in the Beats league of sound quality.
 
Sorry I'm not an audiophile by any means but I think your are confusing BOSE with Bang and Olafsen (whichs uses Philips or Panasonic tech).
BOSE is quite known for their good sound quality. Again not saying they are the best but they are defiantly not in the Beats league of sound quality.

B+O are exceptional, high end. Bose is just marketing. They are so afraid of Beats that they banned NFL players from wearing them during games. It's one marketing giant vs another. How many Senny or Audio Technica ads do you see on TV?

As for earPods, I'd rather use Beats. I rate them that badly, except Beats are closed headphones that sound bassy while earPods barely fit in my ear and leak sound. Any decent IEM will beat the earPods, trust me. Pick up a pair of Sennheiser CX300II's or 180's and you'll see the difference. Just the provided tips will do wonders compared to the non-adjustable earPods.
 
Well it depends if you're looking for open or closed back headphones. Open back leak sound but allow for a terrific soundstage with more width and depth. For example, you'll hear a knock in a song and you'll think someone is knocking on your door. Whereas closed-back don't leak any sound but have less width. You can't use open back in the metro, library, or anywhere you may annoy people.

With Bose and beats you're paying for the brand, not good sound reproduction.

Agreed on above assessment. I'll add that I've heard unfortunate soles on the metro literally blasting their ears to their ultimate deafness. They are using open designs and elevate the volume in order to drown out surrounding screech and rumble. Plus, the nattering one hears as a bystander of the open phone is annoying. They don't know any better and it's sad.
 
The EarPods are excellent. Very comparable to 100 dollar earphones and they stay in the ear really well (unlike the vast majority of IEMs). The sound quality is there and the convenience and comfort are there. It's a winner IMO.
 
The following comparison only affect sound coming out of the headphone jack not the speakers. Currently the 5s holds the best sound quality coming from an iOS device beating the old 4/4s. The 6/6+ holds a nice second place thought there are some significant differences. The Stereo crosstalk on the 5s is the best with the 4s second. Surprisingly the 6/6+ have slightly lower stereo cross talk but in practice they can be considered the same. The 'sound quality' is considered better on the 5s than the 6/6+ by a small margin but both are technically better than the 4s. It seems people hear a 'warm' sound on the 4/4s compared to the sharp 'cold' sound coming out of the 5s/6/6+. The difference of sound quality is subjective so determining which sounds better is objective but technically the 6/6+ holds first place. In general, clarity on iOS devices seem superior compared to other devices used as music player even if the technical specification say otherwise. The HTC M8 seems to indicate much superior sound quality but users have commented that 6/6+ sound objectively better. In such case the 6/6+ have superior clarity to the 5s (by a small margin) and 4s (much more noticeable margin). As for load, the 6/6+ seem to be able to handle headphones that require more power much better than their earlier counterparts. More information can be had from GSM Arena and Head-Fi forums.
 
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