What's your portable music set-up?

Disgruntled Worker

Disgruntled Worker

Professional
I've been using a basic mix of the Sennheiser HD 280s with an iPod Touch. This combo has lasted me about 3 years. However, I just ordered Sennheiser's new Momentum after reading their reviews and looking at the technical data. With 18 ohms of impedance it's much more easy to drive than their HD600 series and above (cans that fall under "audiophile" territory).
 
r2473

r2473

G.O.A.T.
I have a nice turntable / tubes / horns setup in my house, but have never been happy with any "cans". I used to have a pricey Stax setup, but it sounded terrible when compared to my main system.

As such, I decided long ago that headphones / portable setups are just for "background noise" type music. Any "serious" listening needs to be done on my main system.

I have a cheap ipod type thing with some $5 headphones. Used for listening to audio books and for music while running.
 
Andreas1965

Andreas1965

Rookie
iPod Classic 160GB
Audio-Technica ADH-M50 Headphones

This setup is good enough for travel, the bus or just sitting in the park or by a tennis court. Serious listening to music requires better equipment.

I can't stand in-ears.
 
SoBad

SoBad

G.O.A.T.
I have been thinking about a projector, so I can turn an entire bedroom or kitchen wall into a screen. Does anyone have that set up?
 
N

NickC

Professional
Laptop running traktor wired into ableton, midi controller, headphones.

Gets the job done. As for on-the-go, I don't like to listen to music when I bike or run or go between point A and point B, I generally like to listen to what's going on around me, you know, honking cars, people screaming, etc.. I feel a bit safer that way, and it's a tad easier to figure out if some car or moving object is too close for comfort.
 
SoBad

SoBad

G.O.A.T.
What's a "traktor" - one of these?

Traktor.jpg
 
diredesire

diredesire

Adjunct Moderator
Portable: Altec Lansing im616 (ety rebrand), Pyle branded Fiio e7.

Primarily use this at work, I don't do any critical listening on the go. I don't have a long train commute or anything, so I rarely listen in a truly portable sense. I like IEMs when I'm on the go for isolation (plane rides, etc).

Semi-portable:
Grado SR-60
Alessandro MS-1
Sennheiser HD595
Senn HD 280 Pro
Senn HD 428
Audio Technica ATH-A500
Another set of AT cans that I don't recall the name to... (A55?)

Might be forgetting one or two here.

I used to build amps for fun, but I listen straight out of headphone jacks now, as I've found there's little benefit in truly portable situations.
 
Disgruntled Worker

Disgruntled Worker

Professional
r2473 said:
I have a nice turntable / tubes / horns setup in my house, but have never been happy with any "cans". I used to have a pricey Stax setup, but it sounded terrible when compared to my main system.

As such, I decided long ago that headphones / portable setups are just for "background noise" type music. Any "serious" listening needs to be done on my main system.

I have a cheap ipod type thing with some $5 headphones. Used for listening to audio books and for music while running.
Click to expand...

I like headphones, though, because you can still get 99% of the original sound at a fraction of the cost of a huge multiple-speaker system. It's hard to simulate the scale and stage of large speakers, but most people are willing to sacrifice this for convenience.
 
r2473

r2473

G.O.A.T.
Disgruntled Worker said:
I like headphones, though, because you can still get 99% of the original sound at a fraction of the cost of a huge multiple-speaker system. It's hard to simulate the scale and stage of large speakers, but most people are willing to sacrifice this for convenience.
Click to expand...

Not me.

I still opt for vinyl over digital. Now I will admit that these days, digital is so good that it **can** sound as good as vinyl. But back when I put my system together, redbook cd's were no match at all for vinyl. But I have over 1,000 good vinyl recordings, so I'm not looking to make the switch.

But headphones have never worked for me. What I hate the most is that there is no way to get spatial realism from headphones. On my main system, I worked hard to make sure all the instruments are represented in much the same way they are in a live performance (well, assuming it was recorded well). It really is fun to listen to music on a good system, but I really get very little joy listening to music on a system that just lumps everything together (and even misses a lot of what should be in the recording).

Audio is a pretty strange hobby to still pursue in this day and age. 20-30 years ago, having a "kick ass system" and some "b!tchin' speakers" was a big deal. Now its all about how small and convenient it all can be. How many thousands of songs you can pack on to a device the size of a matchbox.

EDIT: I see you also referenced multi-speaker systems. I'm a dyed in the wool two-channel guy. Surround sound might be OK for movies, but it is awful for music IMO. It really distorts the spatial realism that I prize so much. I do have acoustic panel in my listening area so the sound is right, much like a music hall has to work hard to get the sound right. But I'll never go to surround sound / multi channel for music.

.......ahhhh, nothing better than listening to a Haydn or Mozart symphony on vinyl through a low watt tube amp powering a nice modded pair of klipschhorns. It's like the orchestra is right in your room. I never get fatigued. I could listen all night. Listening to the same thing on my ipod is like listening to another piece of music entirely.
 
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diredesire

diredesire

Adjunct Moderator
r2473 said:
Not me.

I still opt for vinyl over digital. Now I will admit that these days, digital is so good that it **can** sound as good as vinyl. But back when I put my system together, redbook cd's were no match at all for vinyl. But I have over 1,000 good vinyl recordings, so I'm not looking to make the switch.

But headphones have never worked for me. What I hate the most is that there is no way to get spatial realism from headphones. On my main system, I worked hard to make sure all the instruments are represented in much the same way they are in a live performance (well, assuming it was recorded well). It really is fun to listen to music on a good system, but I really get very little joy listening to music on a system that just lumps everything together (and even misses a lot of what should be in the recording).

Audio is a pretty strange hobby to still pursue in this day and age. 20-30 years ago, having a "kick ass system" and some "b!tchin' speakers" was a big deal. Now its all about how small and convenient it all can be. How many thousands of songs you can pack on to a device the size of a matchbox.

EDIT: I see you also referenced multi-speaker systems. I'm a dyed in the wool two-channel guy. Surround sound might be OK for movies, but it is awful for music IMO. It really distorts the spatial realism that I prize so much. I do have acoustic panel in my listening area so the sound is right, much like a music hall has to work hard to get the sound right. But I'll never go to surround sound / multi channel for music.

.......ahhhh, nothing better than listening to a Haydn or Mozart symphony on vinyl through a low watt tube amp powering a nice modded pair of klipschhorns. It's like the orchestra is right in your room. I never get fatigued. I could listen all night. Listening to the same thing on my ipod is like listening to another piece of music entirely.
Click to expand...

You might like headphones a lot more if you were to grab an amp with a little crossfeed in it, or if you were able to find some binaural processed recordings.. both try to improve the channel separation artifacts from digital style recording.
 
D

Dags

Hall of Fame
I've used an iPhone for 4 or 5 years now. With it I've had:

Shure EC2
Shure SE 210 (just on the way out as a wire has split)

I initially replaced them with the SE 215's, but I had to return these as one channel was defective. However, they really didn't impress me and sounded like a step down from the 210's (maybe due to lack of burn in?), so I've decided to take a punt on the Sennheiser IE80. I've noticed that as I get older, my taste is getting more expensive...
 
D

Dags

Hall of Fame
I've been extensively testing the Sennheiser IE80's today. Clarity is a step up from the Shure's, which is what you'd expect given the price difference. My only issue is that the bass is so much clearer, I can't decide if it's actually too heavy. It's hard to tell whether I'm just accustomed to sub-standard bass and this is how it's supposed to sound; on certain tracks it can be fairly overbearing. Think I'll give it a day or two before deciding whether to return them.
 
Power Player

Power Player

Bionic Poster
My friend has an entire wall of vinyl. Not on display, but catelogued like a library. He has turntable and 2 monsterous hand crafted speakers that were custom made by a local designer.

Its probably the greatest pure listening experience that i have encountered.
 
Disgruntled Worker

Disgruntled Worker

Professional
I have the Klipsch S4. Really good for neutralizing annoying outside noise. Decent sound quality and pretty good value at a hundred bucks! I should be getting my Momentum's tomorrow so anyone thinking about purchasing these may want to hold off and read my thoughts. From what I've been able to gauge online, it's definitely not a reference headphone. Comparable to the Bower and Wilkins P5 series in that it's soft and "warm" sounding. But I'll have to actually use it before making any further statements.
 
UCSF2012

UCSF2012

Hall of Fame
Cowon S9 with the Denon D5000 is my go-to. The AKG702 and Grado HF2 are occasionally used. I just bought the ipod touch (elongated one) and I don't like it.
 
Gut4Tennis

Gut4Tennis

Hall of Fame
I would never buy a pair of Beats headphones. They're expensive and they aren't very good. Yeah, they have a cool logo and Dr. Dre endorses them, but it's still an overpriced piece of junk. I prefer my Koss earphones that I bought from Kmart for $10. I've had them for over 3 years and they still haven't worn out on me and I use them almost everyday.

Beats are no better than any other headset. In fact, they are a bit worse. They have two modes. One mode is the beats mode while the other is without. The one without the beats is deliberately modified to be garbled and stale to compare it with beats mode that is significantly better. Beats mode and the regular sound of an average headset are the same. Its one of those, the Emperor is wearing no clothes kind of things. Unfortunately many have bought into the hype.

#DontBelieveTheHype
 
WildVolley

WildVolley

Legend
Ipod Nano with $10 headphones.

I tried Beats headphones once at a store and wasn't impressed, but I'm not an expert. I am amazed that Apple is going to pay so much for them, rather than develop their own superior headphone.
 
Rock Strongo

Rock Strongo

Legend
Sony Xperia Z1 compact with Urbanears Bagis headphones. Headphones are good, though I'm rather disappointed by the sound coming out of my phone. My old Lumia 920 with the headphones that came with it (and they were surprisingly good) produced better sound, but Windows Phone 8 will not under any circumstance play Flac files, which lead to me having to abandon half of my music collection.

I might just go back to my fourth gen Nano instead for everyday music.

At home, an Akai record player that I picked up cheap going through a Luxor amplifier and then to two massive Dantax speakers.
 
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Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
r2473 said:
Not me.

I still opt for vinyl over digital. Now I will admit that these days, digital is so good that it **can** sound as good as vinyl. But back when I put my system together, redbook cd's were no match at all for vinyl. But I have over 1,000 good vinyl recordings, so I'm not looking to make the switch.

But headphones have never worked for me. What I hate the most is that there is no way to get spatial realism from headphones. On my main system, I worked hard to make sure all the instruments are represented in much the same way they are in a live performance (well, assuming it was recorded well). It really is fun to listen to music on a good system, but I really get very little joy listening to music on a system that just lumps everything together (and even misses a lot of what should be in the recording).

Audio is a pretty strange hobby to still pursue in this day and age. 20-30 years ago, having a "kick *** system" and some "b!tchin' speakers" was a big deal. Now its all about how small and convenient it all can be. How many thousands of songs you can pack on to a device the size of a matchbox.

EDIT: I see you also referenced multi-speaker systems. I'm a dyed in the wool two-channel guy. Surround sound might be OK for movies, but it is awful for music IMO. It really distorts the spatial realism that I prize so much. I do have acoustic panel in my listening area so the sound is right, much like a music hall has to work hard to get the sound right. But I'll never go to surround sound / multi channel for music.

.......ahhhh, nothing better than listening to a Haydn or Mozart symphony on vinyl through a low watt tube amp powering a nice modded pair of klipschhorns. It's like the orchestra is right in your room. I never get fatigued. I could listen all night. Listening to the same thing on my ipod is like listening to another piece of music entirely.
Click to expand...

Have you modified the crossover of the K-Horns to time align the drivers?
 
Gut4Tennis

Gut4Tennis

Hall of Fame
WildVolley said:
Ipod Nano with $10 headphones.

I tried Beats headphones once at a store and wasn't impressed, but I'm not an expert. I am amazed that Apple is going to pay so much for them, rather than develop their own superior headphone.
Click to expand...

Why would Apple buy Beats when it could just evolve iTunes into a streaming music service? Well, it wants the talent of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. But according to a source with direct knowledge of iTunes’ executive strategy, by buying and operating an external streaming service like Beats, Apple can coin off a smooth transition without cratering the record business. The record labels and artists depend on the approximately $1 billion iTunes earns them selling downloads each year which could be disrupted if the 800-million account store shifted to subscription streaming.

In short, turning iTunes into a streaming-only service is frightening to an industry fast losing cash to streaming upstarts and — by maintaining iTunes as an album/a la carte music sales service while running Beats as a sideline — the company can have it both ways.
 
Vcore89

Vcore89

Talk Tennis Guru
Traded immediately (hated the Z1 compact for some reason) for Xperia Z2 that came bundled with MDR-NC31EM headphones, not bad!
 
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