Earphones / Headphones: Where to try, what to buy?

What hi Fi has rated -
Beyerdynamic Byron as the best budget in ear headphones.

Anyone here tried them?

I have a UAmp headphone amp that is surplus to requirements now that I have gone wireless.

Anyone interested in it, for say £25?

The bone conduction jobbies are perfectly audible unless you’re descending at high speed - the wind noise can be a bit overpowering then. But I happily listened to a John Le Carre novel and the first series of Serial while riding Paris>Bordeaux using them and found them very effective.

Anyone want some old Sennheiser 212s that need new ear pad foam?

Is John Lewis the sort of place where you can try a few pairs of headphones out easily?

selfridges have more on display to try

Hmm ok. John Lewis is really all that’s close to me in Kingston, selfridges is a bit of a pain to get to

Sevenoaks is good too.

John Lewis is fine. You'll probably need to ask the assistant to get the model you want to try from the store tho which can mean a bit of faff.

I went into Kingston John Lewis today, vouchers in hand. It was slightly busier than normal, but it is New Years eve.

They have a bar with all the headphones on you can try, i was kinda surprised they had them all out on display, you can just turn them on, pair your phone and try them out.

I tried Sony WH1000XM3, Bose QC35 II and Beats Studio 3 and to be honest the Sonys were the clear favourite.

Unfortunately i came away empty handed, I loitered around the headphones bit for ages and there was no sign of any staff, i eventually went and cued at a till and was told i had to put my name down to be served at the "service desk" further up the electronics section where there was already a cue to put your name down on the list and 20 people already on the list

Haha, that's like "please fuck off and buy it on amazon".

Facepalm. That’s a shame. I’ve been very happy with their service when buying headphones in the past. At Christmas, no less.

It's probably to do with their situation. Sinking ship and all that.

Nah, John Lewis electronics dept has always been understaffed. Best to order online to get their guarantee.

Annoyingly I am tied to buying them from there to use the vouchers otherwise I’d have bought them elsewhere

Yeah, i intend to buy them online and do click and collect to my local Waitrose. Which is reasonably good as you also get covered by distance selling legislation.

.

This best of all worlds. JL and waitrose group often more than double mfrts warranty. Got 3 years proper warranty on a laptop that anywhere else would have only given 1 year.

In the end i actually had no choice but to buy them online for click and collect anyway - they didn't actually have a pair in stock in the store at all.

I'm really glad i didn't cue up for an hour and a half to find that our the other day!

Still love my QC35s - the noise cancelling is just so good, makes so much difference when travelling. He says whilst wearing his in the noisey Aberdeen airport lounge

After losing my Flares AND the enemy losing the Klipsch(!!!) I bought a 2nd hand pair of Master and Dynamic ME05.

They are heavy and is a bit off-putting, but after mucking around with tips I have got s good seal that doesn’t feel like the have been hammered in. They feel like they are going to fall out all the time (but they haven’t yet). I think it will take some getting used to.

I have ordered a set of comply tips. They are proprietary to the phones which is a pain in the dick.

The first impression of the noise they make is really, really good. Big, punchy sound compared to the flares, but don’t run out of steam when you crank them up like the klipsch.

Impressed so far. Will see if I can get used to the fit. I suppose it is the downside to having the flares so long. I just got so used to them and loved them.

Let’s see how long I can keep these.

Are we there yet with true wireless earbuds? The cable on my shure’s is almost broken but rather than replace it I may just go wireless. Anyone?

No airpods.

Looking at RHA True Connect, Audio Technica’s highest end offering that I can’t recall the name of and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless. Decent isolation is a must, as is as good as possible connectivity. Obviously.

I got the Sony true wireless ones for Xmas. What HiFi raved about them. Apart from two niggles I love them.

The sound is brilliant, they are comfy, the charging case is great, the controls work well, the noise cancelling is a bonus, the mic works perfectly.

Niggles: no volume control on the phones, you need to use the controls on the source. The right earphone loses connection and drops off and back on again a bit too frequently. I'm hoping a software update will sort it.

The model name is impossible to remember. Something like wx100.

Oh. And the best thing of all is the wirelessness. It's ace to put them in and that's it, nothing else to manage.

@mcmyk the word is queue.

You're welcome.

How do you know there wasn’t a pool tournament, the winner was served first.