yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Accessories] Official_Rainbow_Dash:
A bluetooth headphone device that can connect with two devices at once? That is one GREAT question, never heard of one either. but ill do research and report back..

edit: to answer your question, i have to say no only if youre looking for headphones. but as a one-side bluetooth device yes. i dont know if they stream both at the same time but all i know is that it can pair with 2 devices.. they also might be a bit pricey..

This is all i got. there isnt much on this subject..

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/32801-39-connecting-bluetooth-headset-phones

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/accessories/jabra-bt8010-bluetooth-stereo-headset.aspx
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
Just bought a set of Sony MDR-1R cans. Does anybody have any experience with these?

Sent by my Kitteh he chews on muffins on my Sexy Nexi 4 using Tapatalk
[General Accessories] Official_Rainbow_Dash:
Check:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-mdr-1r_Headphones_review

http://www.head-fi.org/products/sony-mdr-1r
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
I've read some good things. How much did you pay?

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
$200 on amazon

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[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
Not bad.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
Yea I couldn't beat that price. As soon as I bought it the price went back up within minutes :eek::cool:

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[General Accessories] boulder96:
Hi! Nice to see an audiophile on xda! :highfive: Do you have any experience between UE900 and Westone 4R?

I wonder if the UE900 is better than the 4R.

BTW, what's your rig? :cyclops:
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
My "rig" is currently low-fi, though my aspirations and research are much higher.

I've not had the pleasure of hearing either W4 or UE900, though neither seems like they'd suit my needs. I like my bass (though it's not the star of the show for me either). I'm running Vibrant (voodoo sound and Neutron player)>SE215. My eyes are on an E12 and rockboxed clip soon, much later I hope to add ie80 to the mix.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Thanks. Hope you can get your dream rig soon. Since you have voodoo, i would like to ask a question. If i use my phone with an amp, should i leave the headphone amp in voodoo at 0db or at a negative value, like -18db? I find that setting it at -18db removes hissing, but i have to set the amp to a higher volume. Would the amp just amplify the hissing back to an audible level? Would i be better off setting the headphone amp at 0db and the amp at a lower volume?

Do you use the dither, 64bit and normalization function in neutron?
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
I've used 64 bit, but never needed to mess with the others. I'd leave the phone volume down lower, as the amplification should be noticeably cleaner on an external amp, though I know with some sources, leaving volume up is reported to be ideal.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Thanks. It's hard to find audiophiles in my country. My friends give me the "are you crazy?!" look when i tell them how much i spend on my rig. They are the type who believe that audio can't get better than $30 iems and that amps are for "blasting" music. But i've spotted a pair of shure 215 and ue900 in my school though
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
My wife gives me the same "wtf?" tirade.

An argument I read on Head-Fi

Wife: Why do you need more than one pair of headphones when you only have two ears?

Husband: Why do you need more than one pair of shoes when you only have two feet?

Really, though, SE215 doesn't fail at any genre, compared to others in its price bracket. I'm very pleased.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] jameski182:
You can never replace the original headset it has really great quality
[General Accessories] Official_Rainbow_Dash:
I say the same thing to my friend. And I'm a audio freak. he wants more ear buds but I tell him he's an idiot. He doesn't know how to shop smart, he just goes for the mainstream beats by Dr dre crap. There are better head phones out there. even worse he gets his music from a crappy YouTube converter that plays 126kb or lower quality songs. And I tell him they sound like crap but he isn't a audio freak, so he doesn't notice what music should sound like.

For the type of person he is on audio, skull candy are fine. IMO, I hate skull candies.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S in Equestria
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
Yep. Some people are only interested in passive listening/background noise or focus more on lyrical content than the sound. Nothing wrong with it, and almost any headphone will do. For those of with less fortunate wallets, we have to LIVE in the music.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] FAdrums:
Good guide. Thanks
[General Accessories] lesmo_sft:
This is an awesome guide! Will you update with what kind of specs to look for when deciding which headphones to buy? I think that would be very techy and interesting for us!
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
I definitely need to tweak and format some things. As to adding in things about impedance, I don't know if xda is the right place. That's more Head-Fi material. I'll consider adding something, though. I just don't see any member here that isn't on Head-Fi buying a rig that includes 300 ohm headphones running in a fully balanced setup. :p

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Maybe add the 1/8 earphone impedance to output impedance rule? I'm going to add an etymotic mc5 to my earphone collection. I wonder how it will sound like (its etymotic we're speaking of here :good:)

EDIT: Decided to go with the shure se215 special edition (the blue one). Really, its good. Sounds like my westones, just bassier and a little less recessed in the treble above 10kHz
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
Nice. I've got regular SE215 and am thoroughly impressed, even preferring them over my Bowers&Wilkins P5s

Got a Clip Zip last night, rockboxed out this morning, just waiting a week or two to order the amp. Either E11 or E12 (if finances allow).

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] boulder96:
E12! E12!
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
I know. However, I'm married. An E12 would cost me at least $260 (cost of E12 plus gift for wife). Lol. We keep it even like that.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] GuyInTheCorner:
Ah the joys of being married! ;):p

Sent from my Reborn Desire HD in another dimension...

That thanks button doesn't bite ;)
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
Yep. I went over budgeting a bit, along with some reviews. I ended up ordering the E11. It'll be here Friday. I'm excited.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
NEW TOY!!! Time to spam the pictures in a few places.

My audio rig, complete for now:

Rockbox'ed Sansa Clip Zip 4gb with 32gb micro sd.

Fiio E11 Amp

Shure SE215 earphones (with the mic cable so I can quickly plug them into my phone for hands free calling.

Size comparison with Galaxy SII T989

Neat little package in my armband, complete with tucking excess headphone cable in so it doesn't snag.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Nice! Though it looks a liittle awkward with the tiny clip :D

I use my Samsung Galaxy R (it has a wolfson chip) with my iBasso d-zero. Apparently i have 2 D-zeros as iBasso sent me a replacement due to the 1st one being defective (the USB connector was not working). BUT! The output impedance of the defective one is much lower as compared to the fully working d-zero, so i use it as an amp, and the other one as a dac for my laptop with a mediocre integrated sound-chip.
[General Accessories] koen1911:
Awesome guide. Really shows you know a lot about headphones!

Here's my two cents:

Listening to headphones using a mobile phone headphone output doesn't do the music real justice anyways. The sound quality transferred from those amps get better and better nowadays, but won't beat a full fledged third party sound card for another few years, I'd say. Using FLAC or at least 320kb/sec audio files will help a lot, then of course the headphones/earphones you're going to be using. I listen to electronic music so I bought a Pioneer HDJ-2000, which don't have a lot of bass, but the exellent mids make up for that. Plus it's for DJ's so they bear in mind that you're going to be wearing them for a long time, which means a great feeling when you put them on your head.

As for the brand-bashing/praising: everyone has their own taste just like you said, Beats give great bass, Sennheisers great everything else, it comes down to what you think is best.

Personally I just don't like the stuffed feeling of in-ear headphones. I really liked the EarPods from Apple, they feel solid in your ear, won't fall out and sound "decent". I've never had any supreme quality earphones so I have nothing to compare it with. I try to use headphones as much as possible.
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Agreed:cool:
[General Accessories] Entropy512:
One comment I have to make:

Comply foam tips for in-ear monitors are, in my opinion, one of the best upgrades for the money available for any IEM.

http://www.complyfoam.com/

They improve both noise isolation and comfort over rubber tips.

As far as budget in-ear buds that get good reviews over at head-fi:

The Monoprice 8320s are regarded highly considering their sub-$10 price:

http://www.head-fi.org/products/monoprice-8320-iem

They have been replaced with newer units:

http://www.head-fi.org/products/monoprice-109927-enhanced-bass-hi-fi-noise-isolating-earphones-black

There's a thread on head-fi about the 8320s too - the general consensus seems to be that you really need to replace the tips, but if you replace them with Complys you get a good result at a dirt-cheap price.
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
I prefer Shure olives to the Comply tips I've had, they just don't make them to fit enough different IEMs.

Also, day 4 with my E11 and I'm quite impressed at bang for the buck. Improvements in clarity across the spectrum, and the ability to kick the bass higher or lower with the flick of a switch is really nice. $60 expense I'd recommend to anyone looking to get more from their current headphones.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] pandajohn:
Never thought that there're too many things to thinking for purchasing a headset.:good:

This is good.
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
Yes, there is a LOT that can go into buying a good pair of earphones/headphones.

Sorry about your wallet. :p

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] feyodo:
I used the xiaomi m2s

Ilike it .
[General Accessories] GuyInTheCorner:
I agree with Koen1911, if you want the best sound quality, don't use your phone..

I've got a 30 GB iPod Video (5th Gen) RockBox'd out. Using only 256 320 KBps MP3 or FLAC when I have it, there is a major difference between the phone and iPod..

With around 200 hours on my CKS77's I'd say its a great improvment! The depth of the sound is clearer too.

Next job for my audio adventure is to but either Comply tips or Shure Olives (as Jeremy says :D).

Then an amp...

Sent from my REVOlutionary DHD!

thanks don't hurt ya know? :)
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
Love my amp. Great investment :thumbup::D

Please help me reach my donation goal for team Noli Bros. Autism walk ​

Sent by ma Kittehs they chew on muffins on meow Sexy Nexi 4
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
PA2V2, right? I considered that one, but the dual level bass boost and great reviews of E11 won me over. Great investment.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
That would be it. I like the fact that they are hand made and the the maker has pics of each and every amp he has ever made.

Sent by ma Kittehs they chew on muffins on meow Sexy Nexi 4 We see u meow
[General Accessories] GuyInTheCorner:
Don't we all? :D

Got my Comply TX400 on order, let's see what the hype is...

Sent from my REVOlutionary DHD!

thanks don't hurt ya know? :)
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
Been looking at those

Sent by ma Kittehs they chew on muffins on meow Sexy Nexi 4 We see u meow
[General Accessories] boulder96:
I use the Star-tips from westone :victory:

Wouldn't mind using foam tips, but it really is a pain when you have to keep removing and inserting the foam tips when someone is talking to you.
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
Well I'm looking for good tips when I'm on my road bike. I'm just not so sure which to buy yet :confused:

Sent by ma Kittehs they chew on muffins on meow Sexy Nexi 4 We see u meow
[General Accessories] jRi0T68:
You may want the REDUCED isolation of silicone/rubber tips so you can hear what's going on. Otherwise, foam, even though they're harder to clean.

-No longer accidental, just Jeremy. F.cfb

[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
[General Accessories] DowntownJeffBrown:
That's true :thumbup:

Sent by ma Kittehs they chew on muffins on meow Sexy Nexi 4 We see u meow
[General Accessories] krist2an:
If you don't want to spend too much on good headphones, then definitely check out Superluxes. They mostly make over-head headphones, but they sound awsome for their price. And of course, like the OP suggested, always check out Head-Fi forum for great advice.

Right now, when on the move, I use my sh*tty Galaxy Ace with the Superlux HD-330 and to overcome the fact that HD-330 is a 150-ohm headphone, I use Noozxoide EIZO to push the Ace to its limits. Wish it had USB-OTG, then I could use my DAC.
[General Accessories] MattBooth:
Just wanna give a nod to the AKG MKII 240's I own and use with my SGS3.

http://www.akg.com/K240+MKII-1039.html?pid=1194
[General Accessories] sancho55:
While i was in Amsterdam, about 2 years ago, i managed to run across a nice pair of Sennheiser CX200 earphones, for a dirty cheap price of 15 or 20€ thinking that they should last till i get back home and buy some better/fancier model. Boy , was i in for surprise!

The quality coming out of those cheap earphones completely surprised me. I know Sennheiser makes really good audio gear since i worked at TV where pretty much anything audio was sennheiser/shure and i also have a pretty hefty headphone collection , but for 15 euro, really?

My CX200 easily beats any Sony/Beats i had (in the price range) , not to mention my gf's sony earphones that came with her xperia z. I cranked up volume and bass on my Technics stereo and plugged the phones in and not a single time did the bass quality go down.

I'm pretty sure the model is upgraded now but for anyone with uber low budget i can highly suggest them.
[General Accessories] thalada:
Awesome guide :)

Cheers
[General Accessories] rolliradi8:
Sure SE215 for 99,-
[General Accessories] frickinjerms:
the current setup i have for my jams is a 160gb ipod classic with rockbox installed and the over the stock crapple fw and i use the bose ie2 in-ears and have the Sennheiser HD201 over-ears that came with a guitar processor i bought :P most of my music is metal/hardcore/djent/screamo with some hip-hop and classical in there all encoded in either aac or mp3 vbr and all in all it sounds nice but im curious about getting an amp and one of the portable ones recommended was FiiO E11 over at head-fi.. suggestions?
[General Accessories] mido.gawad:
need some help

Hi,

I have s3 and i really love it but i don't think that tha earphones that comes with it is that good so i was thinking of buying the new sony xperia z 's or tx's headphones coz i feel that sony makes amazing headphones what do you think and i can't afford buying even 100$ headphone my budget is about 50 $
[General Accessories] castaway1:
ordered ATH-M50 yesterday. They are awesome :) :good:
[General Accessories] Christogq:
Hi all. I just got some Beat Executives the other day as a gift. I like them so far, but are there any others that you would suggest? I like the style of the headphones (over the ear). The bass is cool, but I would like more clarity. I listen to all different types of music. I'm surely not looking to go any higher than the $300 that they cost. Someone told me to try out the Monster Inspirations but I don't know where to find them. Oh and I'm only going to use them through my Samsung Galaxy Note.
[General Accessories] boulder96:
I'm sure you can find headphones a larger "bang for the buck" as compared to beats or monster. They sure do make durable and stylish headphones, but if you want better sound quality you should start looking at brands like (Audio Technica, Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic?) :good:

---------- Post added at 03:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:26 PM ----------

Try Audio Technica's ckm 500? I think they sell for around 50 to 60 USD. Warning: The bass of the ckm 500 can be so strong it gives you headaches, hence I would recommend to EQ it down. However, the mids and treble are relatively nice and the sound is clear too.
[General Accessories] PharmNerd:
Still using an old Samsung Infuse; but at least it has the nice Wolfson DAC that Voodoo Sound can work off from. My music is generally encoded to MP3 using LAME's "extreme" preset. Most of my music is hard rock & metal.

EDIT: One other thing I do is normalize all of my albums to 89dB using MP3Gain or foobar2000. Maybe it's just placebo effect, but this way, I feel like I have a little wiggle room to apply equalizer settings on my phone before I run into distortion or clipping.

Here are the headphones I've owned, in order of preference...

1. Ultrasone HFI-780: Fun U-shaped sound, great clarity. Managed to find a pair for $150 on Overstock last year. I use these to listen to music indoors, and for movies & gaming on my home theater. Despite being closed cans, they sound deceptively like open cans; and I'm sometimes unnecessarily self-conscious that I'm bothering people with my music. Earpads were a bit stiff and uncomfortable, remedied by Beyerdynamic DT250 earpads (which took 6 months to order due to limited supply)

2. Koss KSC-75: $14, and a surprisingly close second to the Ultrasones. Slightly less bass than the Ultrasones, and slightly less clarity. I own two pair: one (modded onto a headband) for at work, and one for running.

3. Etymotic ER-6i IEMs: "Balanced" sound, with a little extra bass. With the triple flange tips, these things block out almost all outside noise. I wear my ER-6i's outdoors while mowing the lawn, running the snowblower, or doing anything else noisy.

4. JVC HA-RX700: One of my early headphone buys. Huge and comfortable to wear. Great for home theater & gaming; really disappointing when listening to my music preferences. Midrange is lacking, and guitars & male vocals have a tendency to sound like they're underwater.

5. Monoprice 8320 IEMs: Honestly, I find these to be a bit overrated. For the price, yes, they're good. Sound signature is like a slightly more balanced KSC-75 -- a little less bass and slightly less clarity. Unfortunately, these things are big, bulky, and uncomfortable; and I can't justify spending more than the cost of the headphones on new tips. So, I just bought another pair of KSC75s instead.

6. Sony MDR-EX71SL IEMs: Decent sound, okay isolation. However, they last about a year before the rubber on the wires starts to disintegrate.

7. Shure SRH440: I won't lie. These were probably the most disappointing headphone buy I've made. I'd convinced myself at one point that I wanted flat, balanced sound. Once I got these, I was ridiculously disappointed by the lack of bass. Mind you, I'm no basshead, but these headphones made me realize how much I appreciate the old U-shaped equalizer settings that so many of us apply to music. Unfortunately, even with every bass setting I could find cranked up to 11, these were just no fun whatsoever. And they were uncomfortable. But at least they had great clarity to the sound.

8. Sennheiser HD 202: Lots of bass; but overall sound quality is very muddled and lacks clarity.
[General Accessories] boulder96:
Why not try AAC? I heard it offers better quality for the same bitrate.

Also, how about lowering the pre-amp in the music player (if it has) to increase room for eq?
[General Accessories] PharmNerd:
Compatibility.

Honestly, I used to have a lot of my music as FLAC, but ran into problems being able to play the same file on my phone, my HTPC, my PS3, over DLNA, etc... Rather than deal with multiple copies of the same songs, I just converted everything over to high bitrate MP3s. AAC might be an option, but I feel pretty safe that any player will play my MP3s.

That's an option. I could also just set my equalizer bands so that the highest frequency is at 0, and march everything else

down

to make the sound I want.

Setting everything to 89dB is basically just a remnant of when I listened to my music on an iPod, which didn't have many options for EQ settings -- and most resulted in distortion with the 100dB files you typically get straight from the artist. 89dB normalizing made iPod EQs somewhat serviceable.

It's also nice to have your entire music collection at roughly the same volume.
[General Accessories] Christogq:
Thanks a million. I will try to find some of these today. I know I saw Audio Technica before. I think at my local Best Buy store.
[General Accessories] xphone1:
1: Budget: 50€-60€

2: Genres/Musical preference:

Most important: house,dubstep,commercial pop.

Like: Alternative rock,rap

Don't like: classic music, hard metal.

3: Type of headphone: IEM

4: Functionality: mic needed, noise isolation, comfortable

5: Your player/setup: power amp, beat studio eq

6: Source material (mp3, flac, stream, etc.): mp3 320kbits,flac

7: Area of highest importance:very resistant, good for running

Inviato dal mio Galaxy Nexus con Tapatalk 2
[General Accessories] Habel:
I'm wondering if you would recommend me some sub $100 IEMs. I've been buying sub $50 earphones for years now, and I think it's time for me to upgrade to sub $100 pairs.

In case you want the list:

1: Budget:<$150

2: Genres/Musical preference:Mainly rock, electronics, and hip-hop, but occasionally also classical/instrumental, jazz, and experimental pop

3: Type of headphone:IEMs

4: Functionality: Mic preferred with straight down cables

5: Your player/setup: Mainly on my International version SGS II with Appolo or Google Play Music, other times with my laptop

6: Source material : MP3s, mainly 192 kbps or 320 kbps

7: Area of highest importance: Clarity. Bass is important for the genre of music I listen to, but I don't want the overpowering bass like my (impulsively purchased) Skullcandy G.I. (I know, right?)

I've been using my JVC Marshmallows for over a year now, and I think they're the best pair I've ever put on! Powerful bass with clarity on the mids. Highs are just ok though (that said, maybe I just haven't put on a really good pair, or maybe because I got them for only $20)

Another question, does having different player apps can make a huge difference in the output? which app do you recommend?

By the way, great guide! This would really help people to upgrade from meh to awesome buds!:D