The audiophile thread | Page 4 | GTAMotorcycle.com

The audiophile thread

Sounds like a nice pick-up Matt Rain. (haha). Enjoy. If you have other headphones and DAC options that you use, let us know how they compare to each other and your thoughts.


LePhillou, here's a consideration. Those sound bar setups are not much compared to what one can get for audio. Canuckaudiomart is a great website to find audio gear across Canada. Lot's of used equipment and prices ranging from <$100 to >$100K. I'd recommend this.

I'm not familiar with USB TT's. Hope they work better for you than this. https://www.cnet.com/news/usb-turntables-worst-ever-audio-product/
It's bizarre to buy an analog piece of audio equipment and digitize its output for listening; defeats the purpose of it in many ways.

Turn tables using analog outputs need extra equipment to listen to, a phono specific preamp as mentioned, plus (obviously) an amp and speakers.




On a separate note, anyone see the recent ad selling Mirage M1 floor standing towers on CAM. Wow. Amazing speakers even today, especially for the price, proudly Canadian too.
 
Last edited:
Thanks! I'll check canuckaudiomart at home since it's not rendering properly from my work.

The reason i went soundbar is I (we) wanted a budget friendly, no clutter and versatile kinda system. Didn't want to add too much additional wiring. Just something better than our current tv speakers.

As for the USB TT, i didn't research THAT too much but at least it's her friend buying it so worst case scenario we can always look at returning and getting something better eventually if she doesn't like it. Wifey's goal isn't to digitize but it's just a feature it has i guess...
 
I love CanuckAudioMart. I picked up all of my speakers (Totems - Canadian Made) and amp from them many years ago. Everyone I have dealt with through that forum have been great and the equipment has always been in mint condition.

I even picked up a pair of Shure closed back headphones a few years ago. Again, perfect shape and still work great today.

LePhillou, those USB turntables just do the trick. You will be able to hear the music from the vinyl. It will not be reproduced the way it was intended, especially if you are outputting it to the soundbars that you are looking at. As I said, it'll do the trick.

Someone I know was running their turntable through stereo receiver that didn't have a dedicated phono input. He had to turn it up to 90% just to hear the vinyl at all. He was happy with that. I was not :)

BTW, it's been a while. Hopefully you and the family are doing well.
 
Last edited:
Katapult said:
I love CanuckAudioMart. I picked up all of my speakers (Totems - Canadian Made) and amp from them many years ago. Everyone I have dealt with through that forum have been great and the equipment has always been in mint condition.

I even picked up a pair of Shure closed back headphones a few years ago. Again, perfect shape and still work great today.

LePhillou, those USB turntables just do the trick. You will be able to hear the music from the vinyl. It will not be reproduced the way it was intended, especially if you are outputting it to the soundbars that you are looking at. As I said, it'll do the trick.

Someone I know was running their turntable through stereo receiver that didn't have a dedicated phono input. He had to turn it up to 90% just to hear the vinyl at all. He was happy with that. I was not :)

BTW, it's been a while. Hopefully you and the family are doing well.
Click to expand...
Considering that wifey is tone deaf, im sure it will hahaha

Family is great. And sleep deprived. But great!

Maybe if i end up inheriting/being given some of my mom's vinyls i might look at upgrading the unit(s).... but for now, it will serve its purpose.
 
CAM is amazing. Audio enthusiasts congregating as well as various audio gear at great prices.

Ya LePhillou as you probably know, form factor and audio do not go that well together. You can do a lot better than a sound bar for sound quality, but it loses form factor. The better it sounds generally the lower the WAF, lol.

A USB TT will need to do AD conversion since USB cables are digital. Then whatever it plugs into will need to do a DA conversion in order to be able to listen to it. So it's a double conversion back and forth and that doesn't help sound quality. Neither does a sound bar. But it will work and the form factor is small and nice.

With the CAM website you can see what more traditional options are. Some bookshelf speakers and a small amplifier (integrated or not) will get you some good sound for a low price if you want. And you can plug your TV audio output into it, as well as an analog TT.

Let us know what you think of whatever you end up with.

Cheers and GL.
 
Last edited:
I've decided on open back Sennheiser 598s. Will get a couple of those small case extender jacks to mitigate for the fat plug.

thanks all for the feedback.
 
Congratulations Chaos! Great choice. In my experience I find the open back Sennheiser HD 598's to be a revelation; it's even more impressive at the discounted prices available for the last few years or so. Over 3000 reviews and highly rated on Amazon.com. The open back 598's have a stellar reputation and are great value.

Sennheiser literally invented open back headphones :), and it redefined the headphone market with regards to expectations around sound quality as well as the listening experience.

In case you missed it, I recently posted a good sale price for the HD 598 open back headphones a few posts back in this thread (previous page). And it comes with two cables including a shorter small plug version for smart phones (as well as a microphone). It is out of stock but Amazon honours an order and it should restock fairly quickly.

It was great that you described the details earlier, otherwise we'd have never identified and addressed your earlier concerns. It has been an interesting discussion. When you get some time with them let us know what you think. I'm always interested in what other's find.




For those interested in Sennheiser headphones here are a few more options to consider. If you want to go up price-wise, check out the HD 599; they are a little more money and the new version/model over the HD 598. Another bigger step up (for model and price) is the newly released HD 660 S. These are the new model over the legendary HD 650 (which was around 15 years old), and they are easier to drive than the 650 was too so they can work with smart phones (though an amplifier in combination with a smart phone may be worth the additional expense).

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Headphone recommendations to use for plane travel for good audio (plugged into phone) and drowns out those screaming kids around me?

Never knew about CAM, thanks I'll check them out.

Some really nice deals on gibbysaudiosupermarket this week as well (especially in Klipsch home audio stuff).
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Headphone recommendations to use for plane travel for good audio (plugged into phone) and drowns out those screaming kids around me?

Never knew about CAM, thanks I'll check them out.

Some really nice deals on gibbysaudiosupermarket this week as well (especially in Klipsch home audio stuff).
Click to expand...


Damn it...tube amps... here I go down another rabbit hole...
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Headphone recommendations to use for plane travel for good audio (plugged into phone) and drowns out those screaming kids around me?

Never knew about CAM, thanks I'll check them out.

Some really nice deals on gibbysaudiosupermarket this week as well (especially in Klipsch home audio stuff).
Click to expand...
Enjoy CAM and thx for the link. For headphones, there is lots of good info in this thread so read it from the start. It comes down to wants. Do you want sound isolation or sound cancelling (which has been described and discussed earlier)? Is sound quality very important? Do you want wired or wireless? (there are advantages/disadvantages to each). How much do you want to spend? That will help narrow down the suggestions.


Chaos said:
Damn it...tube amps... here I go down another rabbit hole...
Click to expand...
LOL. So many options. And then there are amps with DACs as well.

Amazon has a variety of headphone amplifiers and portable headphone amplifiers, much of it without breaking the bank. CAM has similar options for sale and you'll likely see more tube related gear as well as some high end products. CAM literally has a headphone amplifier for sale section.

I haven't bothered with a headphone amplifier yet myself. But I have been looking at them and reading up from time to time.

Rabbit hole indeed.
 
Last edited:
Voices aren't very well cancelled by noise cancelling headphones but they do reduce the volume. They work best on the low frequency sounds such as droning engines. Having said that as I mentioned before I wouldn't fly without mine and they definitely keep the screaming ankle biters quiet. I have plantronic back beat pro IIs which are a steal right now when on sale. The king of the noise cancelling headphones is Bose but you'll pay for it and the sound quality isn't great except in their latest iterations where it's supposed to be better. The plantronics set I have are well regarded for great sound and above average noise cancelling and they are wireless with all the new Bluetooth codecs. There's a new Sony pair that are supposed to be brilliant but I think these are over four hundred bucks.
 
Opinions on Polk RTi A9 towers? Already have a Polk Ref center and surrounds but have been using a pair older Advent mains for the past 18ish years (lower line) and have thought about upgrading them.
Have a open concept upper floor bungalow larger size and Yamaha receiver with 170wpc to work with (I bi-amp mains so 340rms per side).
 
jc100 said:
I have plantronic back beat pro IIs which are a steal right now when on sale... The plantronics set I have are well regarded for great sound and above average noise cancelling and they are wireless with all the new Bluetooth codecs. There's a new Sony pair that are supposed to be brilliant but I think these are over four hundred bucks.
Click to expand...
The backbeat pro 2's are an option worth considering at its price point if one wants wireless BT noise cancelling headphones, but there are many other good headphones available around that price that are also worth considering as well. The following link compares the Backbeat pro 2 to the Sennheiser PXC 480 and the reviewer found the 480 to have much better sound quality, better active noise cancellation, and much more comfort than the plantronics backbeat pro 2's. But they aren't wireless. That review also liked a few things about the Pro 2 (watch the video to see all of the review details). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEaZFZg73U . Here's a great sale price for the Sennheiser PXC 480 headphones right now at $199. https://en-ca.sennheiser.com/noise-...2pHmj4uwQ8p5h79t1mVtssmRTr-2FTwQaAtXqEALw_wcB

I saw a few reviews that rate the Sony MDR-1000X higher than the Sennheiser PXC 550 and other similar price wireless noise cancelling BT headphones. They are pricey but on sale for a big discount at this time at $329 with the sale ending Nov 30 (check other sites as well). https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...mic-mdr1000x-b-black-mdr1000x-b/10482943.aspx

On a related note, there is a new bluetooth 5.0 standard out now that people are excited about; people report it will improve wireless headphone sound quality but it isn't incorporated in current model headphones (and not the plantronic back beat pro II). So for many people it may be worth waiting for the new models that use the new standard.

And if one doesn't want or need noise cancelling (for many people noise isolation headphones are just fine), one can find much better sound quality headphones at any of the prices for the headphones discussed in this post.


Hardwrkr13 said:
Opinions on Polk RTi A9 towers? Already have a Polk Ref center and surrounds but have been using a pair older Advent mains for the past 18ish years (lower line) and have thought about upgrading them.
Have a open concept upper floor bungalow larger size and Yamaha receiver with 170wpc to work with (I bi-amp mains so 340rms per side).
Click to expand...
Audio is such a personal choice, and different people have different opinions and preferences. Take some time and go listen to a bunch of speakers in that price range and see what you think and prefer. Polk is a reasonable mainstream name and value. When looking at them a lot of people also consider Kef and Paradigm for example (there are a bunch of other examples I'm missing too such as Axiom Audio, etc). Audio enthusiasts always recommend using the same speaker model line for all speakers in HT (not just the brand), but sometimes it isn't feasible for some (e.g, cost) and it's not the end of the world. Still, if you are going to upgrade your HT speakers it is generally a priority to get the same speaker model line, so consider buying speakers where this will be possible and not too difficult, if not now then soon.
 
Last edited:
Once you've used wireless headphones in the cramped cabins of most flights these days you'll never go back.
 
Hardwrkr13 did say "plugged into phone". IMO, it's far far better to always suggest a number of options as opposed to a singular choice since obviously people have different preferences; there is no one best product for everyone out there. For example, I'd personally rather get sound quality over wireless every single time, and you are different.
 
Last edited:
kwtoxman said:
Hardwrkr13 did say "plugged into phone". IMO, it's far far better to always suggest a number of options as opposed to a singular choice since obviously people have different preferences; there is no one best product for everyone out there. For example, I'd personally rather get sound quality over wireless every single time, and you are different.
Click to expand...

You can have both with new tech.
 
jc100 said:
You can have both with new tech.
Click to expand...
It's far from there yet. Bluetooth still compresses the signal (audio) which affects sound quality, many sources and headphones don't even incorporate the best BT audio codecs now available for use (and you need it on both ends, plus those codecs have added power consumption meaning lower battery life and there is noteable delay making it useless for things like gaming), nor do headphones and sources really yet use the newest BT standard (5.0), plus there is the need for batteries (and waste), more bulk, lower quality DACs, and potential BT signal interference since it uses a very common radio band where other things also reside... from wifi to microwave ovens to fluorescent lights and other wireless BT products (keyboards, mice, etc). Your backbeat pro 2 headphones don't even have the best available BT audio codec nor the latest BT standard.

BT wasn't designed for audio transmission and its implementation for/in audio is problematic in many ways. Frankly, implementation is a gong show to this day. Better technology and/or implementation will come along, and the improvements will make all of the current BT products obsolete. It has been slowly improving over the years and it will get better, but it is still far far from the finish line.

And all that BT implementation, technology and parts costs $$$ when making headphones. If you spend the same amount of money on wired headphones you will get much better sound quality because the costs went into the audio components, not the transmission components.
 
Last edited:
Except the new bluetooth standards actually use less power than before. I have a galaxy S8 and the new headphones, like the plantronics, mesh really well. The new codecs really make a huge difference. I have a pretty expensive (at the time) pair of PSB wired audiophile headphones that I hardly ever use these days and will be selling soon because the advantage they have isn't that big any more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom