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Need Headphones for iPod

joshua_msu

joshua_msu

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2004
221
0
chicago (formerly detroit)
I am looking at getting maybe a pair of Sennheiser HD497's or PX100's. Does anyone have experience using these headphones with an iPod. I guess my worry is, since that most of the mp3's that I listen to are 128kbps, are these headphones "too good" for use on an iPod. Am I going to notice the poorer sound quality even more of an mp3 versus CD audio. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
 
headphones are the #1 factor of audio quality, so the better pair you buy the better audio you will get out of you ipod. i myself have a pair of shure E5 in-ears and in my opinion those are the best earphones ever made... i would however recommend shure E2 models instead, as those are a great deal cheaper and most people will not hear the difference. if you're a professional musician, then go for the E5's ;)

shure E2 costs about 100 dollars or less...
 
joshua,

i have the HD497, and let me tell you, i don't feel like i have heard a song till i get it to the ipod and hear over these headphones.

you will hear a lot more detail than you imagined a 128Kbps songs capturing. i did extensive research before buying these, CNET tested these with the ipod too and its the highest rated set on their site.

the only thing CNET editiors said, and i agree, because the ability to produce so much detail, you hear all the faults in the music too, like clicks which came during recordings, and sliding of figures over the guitar strings etc.

i personally like to hear all the details, make it seem more lifelike.

but you won't be doing a mistake if you choose these, they were well worth your money.
 
I hava a pair of px-100's and they're great. Definitely worth investing in decent headphones for your ipod - you can really tell the difference...

(also, I agree with the previous poster - I seem to notice the noise of fingers sliding over guitar strings a lot more with mp3s (aac mp3s?) than I did on regular CDs. Is it coincidence?)
 
i love my shure e2c's their kickin, the only issue i have had is when they connect to my 4G 40Gigger, their is a gold contact on the headphone jack that touches the metal casing on the back of the ipod. i seems that the back of the ipod is the ground, and that the gold contact is also ground for the headphone jack. This causes a ground loop. I messed with this in the lab last week, some other guys at work have some 3Gs, we hooked some sensors up and put them on the frequency analizer, and the same noise from the harddrive is apparant on both, but more abundant on the 4G. Their is an easy fix, I just use my ipod remote and the noise is very fant, only if i listen really really close, to i hear it. I am thinking of looking for a headphone cord extension, because i really hate the ipod remote.


But what do I know, I'm just an electrical engineer.
 
ToddW said:
i love my shure e2c's their kickin, the only issue i have had is when they connect to my 4G 40Gigger, their is a gold contact on the headphone jack that touches the metal casing on the back of the ipod. i seems that the back of the ipod is the ground, and that the gold contact is also ground for the headphone jack. This causes a ground loop. I messed with this in the lab last week, some other guys at work have some 3Gs, we hooked some sensors up and put them on the frequency analizer, and the same noise from the harddrive is apparant on both, but more abundant on the 4G. Their is an easy fix, I just use my ipod remote and the noise is very fant, only if i listen really really close, to i hear it. I am thinking of looking for a headphone cord extension, because i really hate the ipod remote.
Click to expand...
hmm... that's not good... I was hoping to get a pair of these, or possible something very similar within a couple of months.

btw- I had a pair of the sennheiser px-200's and they were absolutely incredible. They had wonderful sound quality, they folded into a small package, and they were incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately they broke about a week ago (one of the earpieces just fell off... most odd), hence the search for new headphones.
 
joshua_msu said:
I just noticed the HD500's are marked down to 50 at Amazon. Anyone have any experience with these?
Click to expand...
I'm a big fan of Sennheiser. I own a pair of 600's and have sampled a number of others. I listened to the 500's a week or two ago at work (a co-worker owns a pair) and they sound quite nice, esp. for the price! I'd recommend against using anything too good with the 'pod, though - it shows the limitations of the music which aren't apparent with good 'phones but are with high-end ones. The 500's are a good option - big, but comfortable.
 
Well thanks for all of the input. I think I am going to get a pair of PX200's for thier portability, and a pair of HD497's when I am not so worried about being portable. I can get a good deal on both, and since I cant decide, why not take em?
 
ToddW said:
i love my shure e2c's their kickin, the only issue i have had is when they connect to my 4G 40Gigger, their is a gold contact on the headphone jack that touches the metal casing on the back of the ipod. i seems that the back of the ipod is the ground, and that the gold contact is also ground for the headphone jack. This causes a ground loop. I messed with this in the lab last week, some other guys at work have some 3Gs, we hooked some sensors up and put them on the frequency analizer, and the same noise from the harddrive is apparant on both, but more abundant on the 4G. Their is an easy fix, I just use my ipod remote and the noise is very fant, only if i listen really really close, to i hear it. I am thinking of looking for a headphone cord extension, because i really hate the ipod remote.


But what do I know, I'm just an electrical engineer.
Click to expand...

you can get an extension very cheap just go down to rado shack if your not going to be using that remote anymoremaybe we could work something out
;)
 
yeah i need to make down to the local radio shack down here, as for the remote, eventhough i may not use it, you never know when you might need it, good try though.
 
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