Headphones. NEVER AGAIN will i put less then 100$ on my ears

[Hairball]

I explained it poorly. Its a momentary clip, followed by nothing as the protection circutry cuts in. Clipping will toast speakers, so your advice is sound. Good equiment will protect you.

As for the IPOD, good headphones will reveal the limitation of MP3 and other compressed formats. Keep in mind that the encoding used for CDs was selected because it was determined that 44.1 khz was the minimum sampling frequency before degredation of the sound occurred. So once you start compressing that, like the MP3 format and such, you do start to degrade the sound. Shoot, listen to an LP with a good cartidge and table, and it'll whoop an equivilant CD. The fact is that anything less than analog compromises the sound.

I actually am a stickler about compressing my music in 192kbps AAC format which iss superior to 192kpbs MP3 anyway. Normally I have my iPod hooked dup to my stereo, playing pretty loud, and it sounds great.

[trevorjk]

all my songs on my comp are at 192kbs .wma files would that make a difference in the sound at all?

[trevorjk]

yeah its the media files on my computer thats for sure just did a little test and figured that out...

anyone know of a good program to put cds onto my computer at extremely high quality like 320 kbs? not 192 like windows media limits you to?

[Steelrat]

There is no great compression out there. Again, the 44.1 standard for CDs was the lowest level the engineers thought they could get away with. With most of the crap recodings out there, it doesnt really matter, but with any decent recording it makes a world of difference. Again, we are talking about playback on a high end system. I love my Diamond Rio MP3 player, but id take a nice turntable over it any day.

[MarkM]

To answer a couple of posts that have gone since I last posted...any halfway decent cd ripping program (one you actually pay for ) will put files onto your pc at 320 kbs.
As for analogue being better...not even close and as for vinyl being superior, no chance. The limits set for the CD was done as it was "felt" that as the human ear didn't hear the higher frquencys on the real low head...below a certain level there is no stereo image ..hence the use of single bass speakers that the limits were placed with a cd sampling was deemed to be sufficient.....oh and it was cheaper to limit is too.
The human ear likes distortion and the majority of the sounds at the lower end are just that, when you use vinyl (hence comments about vinyl sounding "warmer") and since the human ear picks up on the higher end more easily the comment that was made about cd's sounding "tinny" is not strictly accurate.
I have used systems of varying costs and all the BS that goes into Hi-Fi sales if it was to be believed then we would all be using OFC cable of about a 1/4" thickness with solid gold connectors (despite the simple fact that silver is a better conductor...it is just that it tarnishes that stops the widespread use...if you think I am wrong about this what do you think the tracks on a pcb board are made from ) Plus a huge cable is all well and good except that when you get down to it how thin is the actual connection when compared to the cable the only time cabling has a big benifit is when you are running a large power amp and you need to avoid melting the cabling and also siting of the speakers too close to the source cause feedback (turntables) this can be avoided in two ways...heavier cable (promotes signal loss) and longer lengths (promotes signal loss).
To swing this back to topic most all halfway expensive "closed" ear headphones will sound good, the current trend is for big "open" or "free air" units fitted to headphones...I don't include earbuds of any description to be anything other than toys. Another company to look to buying from would be Beyer Dynamics but they are far from cheap.
It has to be said that since we are skewing away from PC's which is what this appears to about it doesn't matter what money you spend on speakers for the pc they are all plastic boxes that are made to a price and can't possibly be compared to a "proper" set of speakers whatever money you have spent on them, metal shielding in them compromises the sound immediately and the power amp driving them is tiny.

[Bolter]

pioneer or technics seem to be the best headphones!

[SIGSays]

your being serious? $80 m ore for headphones makes a difference?

[barrel break]

I, personally wont pay over $40 for a pair of headphones, since neither my computer, nor my portable CD player, or even my stereo (a pretty nice sony one, which has now decided it wont play half my CD's) can pump out super nice quality music anyway...

I'm thinking of buying a record player, just so i can listen to ONE song (never released on CD)

[LudavicoSoldier]

For kickin around town I use a pair of Sony V700s. I really dig the foldup feature, and they sound decent. For home use I have a pair of Grado SR125 open cup phones with a 8 foot Cardas cable upgrade. I am seriously considering a pair of Grado RS 1 phones. For those of you who havent heard of them, they use Mahongany wood earpieces for tonal quality.

http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/rs1.htm

[Steelrat]

To answer a couple of posts that have gone since I last posted...any halfway decent cd ripping program (one you actually pay for ) will put files onto your pc at 320 kbs.
As for analogue being better...not even close and as for vinyl being superior, no chance. The limits set for the CD was done as it was "felt" that as the human ear didn't hear the higher frquencys on the real low head...below a certain level there is no stereo image ..hence the use of single bass speakers that the limits were placed with a cd sampling was deemed to be sufficient.....oh and it was cheaper to limit is too.
The human ear likes distortion and the majority of the sounds at the lower end are just that, when you use vinyl (hence comments about vinyl sounding "warmer") and since the human ear picks up on the higher end more easily the comment that was made about cd's sounding "tinny" is not strictly accurate.
I have used systems of varying costs and all the BS that goes into Hi-Fi sales if it was to be believed then we would all be using OFC cable of about a 1/4" thickness with solid gold connectors (despite the simple fact that silver is a better conductor...it is just that it tarnishes that stops the widespread use...if you think I am wrong about this what do you think the tracks on a pcb board are made from ) Plus a huge cable is all well and good except that when you get down to it how thin is the actual connection when compared to the cable the only time cabling has a big benifit is when you are running a large power amp and you need to avoid melting the cabling and also siting of the speakers too close to the source cause feedback (turntables) this can be avoided in two ways...heavier cable (promotes signal loss) and longer lengths (promotes signal loss).
To swing this back to topic most all halfway expensive "closed" ear headphones will sound good, the current trend is for big "open" or "free air" units fitted to headphones...I don't include earbuds of any description to be anything other than toys. Another company to look to buying from would be Beyer Dynamics but they are far from cheap.
It has to be said that since we are skewing away from PC's which is what this appears to about it doesn't matter what money you spend on speakers for the pc they are all plastic boxes that are made to a price and can't possibly be compared to a "proper" set of speakers whatever money you have spent on them, metal shielding in them compromises the sound immediately and the power amp driving them is tiny.

Etymonic research "buds" are outstanding headphones that compete with anything out there, but they arent anything like the $15 koss specials at Walmart.

As for analogue, its all personal opinion, but I will play people LPs using my turntable, and it blows them away. What kind of setup was being used when you compared an LP to a CD? I run a Sumiko project turntable with a sumioko blue point special cartridge, and while not the absolute top end, it produces phenomenal sound. When you listen to it, the music seems to come to life. How can anyone say digital is superior, when all they do is [I]sample[I] the analog waveform? There are some advantages to both formats, but dismissing Lps as being inferior to CDs is a mistake.

[MarkM]

Etymonic research "buds" are outstanding headphones that compete with anything out there, but they arent anything like the $15 koss specials at Walmart.

As for analogue, its all personal opinion, but I will play people LPs using my turntable, and it blows them away. What kind of setup was being used when you compared an LP to a CD? I run a Sumiko project turntable with a sumioko blue point special cartridge, and while not the absolute top end, it produces phenomenal sound. When you listen to it, the music seems to come to life. How can anyone say digital is superior, when all they do is [I]sample[I] the analog waveform? There are some advantages to both formats, but dismissing Lps as being inferior to CDs is a mistake.

I realised about other "buds" after I posted but to be fair if anyone who is considering "buds" of a true quality they wouldn't be shopping in Walmart to begin with nor would they be the sort of person to complain about dropping a good few dollars on a needle either.

As far as equipment is concerned I was using a Rega Planer for a while together with Individual Quad amps/preamps, a NAD cd player and Bose speakers...since then I have swapped things about for varying reasons so now I just have a basic combined amp and a Technics turntable and JBL Control 1 speakers but then the use I put this to is very basic and does for what I need it to...I listen to music at home very infrequently now. Though I do create tracks using combinations of Behringer gear (desk and rack processors) Denon cd players and various makes of mindisk recorders, the vinyl only gets used when I need samples which I will clean up with the PC or dependant on the use I will include the crackles and pops.
I agree the sound of vinyl is very subjective.....I have just got used to the "clean" sound of cd's..the durabiltiy of cd's can't be subjective though as vinyl degrades pretty fast when compared.
As for the sampling in relation to cd's the source is very often a cd or at the very least a digital source so which is sampling which

For spleefstylez you must have way too much money if you can afford Grado headphones and their cartridges are nuts in both weight and price...but then some people like them.

[Steelrat]

Good god, Grado RS-1s! That rocks! Grade makes wonderful stuff, Joe Grado has a great ear for musicality.

Mark, glad to find another audiophile. The first system sounded great with the rega, Quad, and NAD stuff. I actually use an NAD preamp now, good and cheap (relatively), along with ADCOM amplification, Mirage speakers, a M&K sub, and an outlaw audio electronic crossover. I just need to upgrade my CD player, which is currently a yamaha, which aint horrible, but aint great either. I agree that the major limitation of LPs is the durability. I've found that using a nice vacuum/washer can significantly clean up the noise on the LPs, though its expensive and time consuming. CDs own LPs in terms of durability.

I acutally use headphones very little, as I am a soundstage freak. In fact, the reason I selected the Mirage M-5sis is because they are bipolar, and throw a HUGE soundstage with wonderful imaging. Headphones just cant do that.

[LudavicoSoldier]

I do love Grado phones, and since I have a local dealer who gives me damn good prices on them I have tended to go that way. The RS 1s are rediculously expensive, but not nearly as bad as the new Sony Qualia phones. My iPod has caused me to lust after headphones. For my main system I have the following:

- 1 pair Canton Ergo 702DC speakers in cherry
- NAD 216THX stereo amplifier
- NAD 116 stereo preamp (w/balanced XLR outs!!)
- NAD 515 5 disc changer
- NAD C440 tuner
- Monster Bi-Wire speaker cable w/Vampire banana jacks
- Monster interlinks
- Edirol UA-1X USB audio interface (to link my G5)

I am looking to upgrade to the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile interface, get an Audio Alchemy DAC, and link my desk to the system via fiber. Currently I am using a pair of high end RCAs to link A to B, but I can def. notice the loss, snce the audio rack is ~10 feet away.

Here are a couple of pics of the system when it was just setup after moving limbo:

[trevorjk]

To answer a couple of posts that have gone since I last posted...any halfway decent cd ripping program (one you actually pay for ) will put files onto your pc at 320 kbs.y.

a few examples please ... and even a free sample is all i need i can get all my cds on in a day or 2 i cant beleive the difference there is between the actual cds and just the mp3's i refuse to listen to mp3's anymore unless of extreme quality

[MarkM]

a few examples please ... and even a free sample is all i need i can get all my cds on in a day or 2 i cant beleive the difference there is between the actual cds and just the mp3's i refuse to listen to mp3's anymore unless of extreme quality

Any of the PCDJ range will do it properly...the demo's won't allow you to do ripping Soundforge, Cubebase as well are good though expensive but then they have other toys included.