#! Music Hardware - Coloring Life with Sound Waves

sunfizz98 · 2011-10-22 20:56:58

Since we seem to have 2 music threads, I thought it would be appropriate to have one about our music hardware which rock our lives (Speakers, headphones, subwoofers, etc).

At the moment, I'm rocking some Sennheiser HD-202s, while looking for a better set within the same price range.

For home, I only have a cheap but good 2.1 Logitech speaker set that easily puts all of my headgear to shame (due to lack of better headgear).

beadmaze · 2011-10-22 21:11:14

i'm using a very old Sennheiser HD 520 II which is very lovely to my ears.
then there are these lousy speakers on my laptop...

and i've got this stereo thing (nad stereo receiver 701 + pro-ject 1.2 turntable + akai gx-75 tapedeck + philips cd711 cd-player + a pair of mission 760i boxes) which does everything i want, especially playing old & weird vinyls on sunday mornings...
smile

Last edited by beadmaze (2011-10-22 22:07:15)

rhowaldt · 2011-10-22 21:21:28

i suppose for some people around here that would also mean Audio I/O boxes, mixers, synthesizers, drummachines, MIDI-interfaces etc.
personally i have only recently started doing digital audio processing on Linux, and have not yet attached a synth or anything of that kind. i use a pair of Sennheiser (not sure which model - how do people know this, nothing is written on it anywhere! do you remember it or something?) headphones and that's it.

pvsage · 2011-10-22 21:43:43

I really should look into investing in some decent headphones, considering how much I listen to music on them. Right now the best ones I have are a pair of Sonys I bought from a box store, which claim to be the "studio monitor" variety - great bass response, but a little shy on the treble. My second-best headphones have great treble detail - "Mercury" from The Planets suite sounds particularly spectacular on them - but they lack bottom. This second set is actually a very cheap pair of Philips supra-aural headphones, also from a box store.

I have some wonderful Sony earbuds that came with a Walkman mp3 player, but they never want to stay seated in my ears...

beadmaze · 2011-10-22 21:54:06

@pvsage these sony earbuds that "never want to stay seated in my ears..." - i have them too, exactly the same model. just forgot to mention them... i only use them when working in the library. and: they are nearly as lousy as my laptop speakers...

pvsage · 2011-10-22 22:59:16

^ You sure they're the same model? Mine came with a NWZ-E344, and actually sound better than the best headphones I own...and the worst headphones I own still pwn my netbook speakers. (I think the key to their great performance is the bass porting in the back of the earpiece.) The *only* reason I don't use them very often is they don't stay seated. (EDIT: I'm listening to "Desperado" on them right now, and I feel like I'm there in the recording studio with Don Henley.)

Last edited by pvsage (2011-10-22 23:10:03)

beadmaze · 2011-10-22 23:27:33

ehm, this was meant metaphorically somehow.
they don't have a number, just as rhowaldt's Sennheisers, but it i felt to have exactly those which "never want to..."

and yes, netbook/notebook/laptop-speakers are all lousy.
in this comparison i had my nice headphones, my stereo thing and the rest (sony earphones & laptop speakers).
no offense against earphones intended.

AwesomeFist · 2011-10-22 23:28:02

I'm using the speakers that came with my emachines computer, It does just fine. lol

Last edited by AwesomeFist (2011-10-23 00:06:02)

rhowaldt · 2011-10-22 23:59:31

beadmaze wrote:

ehm, this was meant metaphorically somehow.
and yes, netbook/notebook/laptop-speakers are all lousy.

couple of days ago i saw a laptop being advertised with the phrase 'when was the last time you heard something beautiful coming out of a laptop?' (or something along those lines). so the current standard for laptop audio-quality might be changing... but we'll wait and hear first.

pvsage · 2011-10-23 00:07:38

^ As long as it isn't that Beatz cr@p that HP puts in its laptops. I'm sure it's fine for rap (it has Dr. Dre's stamp of approval, after all roll ), but I would want something designed to reproduce...music.

Gala · 2011-10-23 00:10:35

Amp : Sony TA-535
Speakers : Pioneer CS3030

Not-so-good-&-quite-old-stuff... but I just like it.

Headphones : phillips shp8500
Cheap but nice headphones. I've never seen anything as good as this little thing for this price range. It's quite incredible.

pvsage · 2011-10-23 00:20:10

Nice headphones recommendation - I'll have to check those out.

I just searched top-rated headphones on Amazon, and I see Bose noise-cancelling headphones on the first page. I no longer trust Amazon's customer ratings. neutral

I'm giving my ultra-cheap Philips SBC HL150's another shot for casual listening. They're really not bad, so long as you aren't listening to anything that has massive bass.

Last edited by pvsage (2011-10-23 00:23:18)

safetycopy · 2011-10-23 00:22:44

I have a pair of Audio Technica ATH-A700 headphones on my wish list, at the moment. I've heard good things about them.

Gala · 2011-10-23 00:29:22

ATH-A700 are great... but they are "closed" (I don't know if it is the exact english word for it). And I just hate this kind of thing, it gives me headache. big_smile

pvsage · 2011-10-23 00:34:50

^ "Closed-back"

I prefer the closed-back variety to open-back - helps keep the music in and environmental noise out. Sometimes I don't want people around me hearing what I'm listening to, and I rarely want to hear them when I'm listening to music.

hhh · 2011-10-23 00:43:42

Grado headphones.

safetycopy · 2011-10-23 00:59:25

I'm with @pvsage as far as preferring closed-back 'phones - I don't want to bug everyone around me with my noise - I'd just have the speakers on if I wanted that smile

@hhh I've heard good things about Grado, but I don't like the way they look hmm

Anaconda · 2011-10-23 01:16:48

I look at headphones, when needed, as a necessary evil, but they just can't give you that feeling of having the music shake your body like a good set of speakers hooked up to a powerful amplifier. I've never bothered to invest in good headphones because of that and just use the earbuds that came with my cheap mp3 player if I have to, or the off the shelf Sony headphones I bought a few years ago from a big box store.

OTOH..... Most of the time if I'm listening to music, it's on my Yamaha HTR-5590 with Infinity Alpha speakers. 100 watts x 6 chanels + 150 watt subwoofer for 750 watts of very clean sound. Awesome rig for it's age. I think I bought it about 2003. Great feature set even today and the phono pre-amp in these units is better for us vinyl junkies than what came in the competitors equipment.

On my computer I use an Altec Lansing 5.1 surround setup. It's no match for the Yamaha when it comes to blowing the roof off of the house, but it does sound pretty good.

Last edited by Anaconda (2011-10-23 01:17:02)

h8uthemost · 2011-10-23 01:42:02

I pretty much use on-the-go equipment a lot anymore. I switch between either my 16GB Cowon D2+ or 2GB Sansa Clip+(both us external memory cards and both are Rockbox'd), with either Grado SR60's or Shure SE 215's.

Besides that, when I listen to music at home I do it on either my computer or my old vinyl set up. Both aren't anything really special and both need upgrading. Especially my vinyl set up, I want to sink a bunch of money into it to make it high end. I would love to be able to start ripping my vinyl as well. Someday I'll start setting aside a bit of cash each week for it.

@safetycopy, Grado's are the shit. I've tried other brands of full headphones and keep going back to my Grado's. A common complaint is their looks. Personally I love their old-school style.

Last edited by h8uthemost (2011-10-23 01:43:57)

hhh · 2011-10-23 02:17:44

Lol at not purchasing Grados because of their appearance. I don't recommend them for commuting as they're open-air anyway, but how can you see your headphones when they sit on top of your head? tongue

The ear-pads that come with Grados used to be pretty uncomfortable (I got my SR-100s more than a decade ago, I have no idea if they still use the same ear-pad design), but you can get greater comfort and a little better bass response by using these Sennheiser pads...
http://www.spectrumaudio.com/sennheiser-h-19545.html

safetycopy · 2011-10-23 02:25:54

hhh wrote:

Lol at not purchasing Grados because of their appearance. I don't recommend them for commuting as they're open-air anyway, but how can you see your headphones when they sit on top of your head?

I know, I know... I'm a bit daft like that smile

mynis01 · 2011-10-23 02:40:34

For having so many musical toys, I have some pretty basic headphones/speakers. My headphones are Sennheiser HD 205 and my backup pair are Koss UR 40. I have an old school JVC PC-V2 boombox with a small sub on it that is plugged into my Mackie d.2 DJ mixer that I use as well. It's nice because all of my stuff has a completely analog signal path which is optimal for listening to vinyl. I also have 2 Technics 1200 m3d turntables with Shure m44-7h cartridges, a Native Instruments Audio 4 DJ interface (which works amazingly well with jack and has nice preamps), an M-Audio Delta 1010 LT PCI interface, an M-audio Axiom 49 Key Rev 1 MIDI keyboard, a Jackson DXNY guitar, Behringer FCB 1010 MIDI pedal, Radial Passive DI box, Mogami cables, and a bunch of other random stuff that is too trivial to mention. My next music related purchases will probably be some AKG headphones, KRK RP8 monitors/sub, and a bass guitar. When I get rich I'd like to get some analogue synths that I can automate with hydrogen and various other linux softwares. I'd definitely get a SE-1X for my monophonic synth and a Vermona DRM-1 drum machine. Not sure what I would get for a poly synth yet, probably one of the Dave Smith Instruments ones.

pvsage · 2011-10-23 02:45:25

Since we're talking about the way particular headphones look, I feel compelled to mention the iconic white earbuds that come with iPods. To say that they're crap is an insult to excrement. They may look cool, but they sound abysmal.

sunfizz98 · 2011-10-23 03:29:04

@pvsage
LOL, so those ipod earbuds are below excrement huh? I agree, but I also have a ton of no-name brand earbuds that are of the same abysmal character. I wouldn't say that amazon doesn't know what they're talking about, but they have a good indicator of what's good after you read a couple expert reviews from other places like head-fi.

Anyway, I just ordered these today.
Panasonic RP-HTX7

Hopefully, these can provide something that the Sennheiser HD-202 lack. The candy red retro look tickles my fancy too.

@mynis01
Funny you mentioned the Koss UR-40, cause I was looking at those today too.

pvsage · 2011-10-23 05:03:25

^ Heheh, you know headphones are good if a manga character wears them! Those should be just fine though.

I've tried the no-name earbuds sold under brand names lake Ear Candy or Gummi Ears or some crap like that. roll The less I say about them, the better.

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#1 2011-10-22 20:56:58

#! Music Hardware - Coloring Life with Sound Waves

#2 2011-10-22 21:11:14

Re: #! Music Hardware - Coloring Life with Sound Waves

#3 2011-10-22 21:21:28

Re: #! Music Hardware - Coloring Life with Sound Waves

#4 2011-10-22 21:43:43

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#5 2011-10-22 21:54:06

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#6 2011-10-22 22:59:16

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#7 2011-10-22 23:27:33

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#8 2011-10-22 23:28:02

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#9 2011-10-22 23:59:31

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#10 2011-10-23 00:07:38

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#11 2011-10-23 00:10:35

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#17 2011-10-23 00:59:25

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#18 2011-10-23 01:16:48

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#19 2011-10-23 01:42:02

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#20 2011-10-23 02:17:44

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#21 2011-10-23 02:25:54

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#22 2011-10-23 02:40:34

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#23 2011-10-23 02:45:25

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#24 2011-10-23 03:29:04

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