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

Soundstage = timing accuracy across both/all channels. Headphones are almost the perfect environment (almost no acoustic or distance issues, perfect separation, drivers move with your ears). If the drivers are properly matched the only improvement is an amp with better damping.

@Dramatic_Hammer ya clearly know more about this than me, but I think I have a pretty decent ear and there is a marked difference in my listening experience and the volume is no louder (I don't listen at loud volumes ever.)

Whether the difference is the cable or the balanced circuit versus the single ended circuit, who knows, but it is certainly a nicer listening experience to my ears.

@Dramatic_Hammer stereo separation is definitely the biggest difference. Eg if a guitar is meant to come through the left channel, it might sometimes bleed into the right with my old cable. Now, no such thing happens. If it is supposed to come through the left, there's no bleed at all. It just comes outta the left. I sometimes only use one earpiece at work, I'm now missing entire instruments/vocals when doing so.

It's been a while since I did my music tech degree but it's very rare to mix any instrument hard right or left, this wouldn't create a soundstage and would generally make the stereo mix sound very weird. You 'should' always be getting an amount of 'bleed' as this is what a soundscape is

To be fair, most of the music I've been listening in the last few days are mono recordings that have been remixed to stereo so that may explain that aspect of it.

Yeah sorry, that was unnecessarily snarky. I find the whole audiophile woo thing a bit ridiculous but there’s no doubting people do perceive something different, even if it’s environment/mood/ear freshness rather than measurable with a microphone. The reason I mentioned volume is because a slight volume boost (3db or less) often sounds ‘better’ but isn’t always detectable as louder to the ear. Another ‘issue’ with better equipment is that as the audio cues to louder volume (ie distortion) aren’t there, without any sudden contrast, volumes can creep up and up until you suddenly realise you’re shouting over the track!

Interesting about the L/R separation, assuming what you’re now hearing is correct it sounds like something in the original path was broken. Hard panning is a valid technique for less naturalistic recording/mixing but you’d normally have some reverb or cross delay very low in the mix to tie it all together.

I think there are also plugins to simulate bleed between speakers (when mixing on headphones) but I’d be surprised if that’s baked into whatever you’re listening from... Unless you have some kind of environment DSP running?

It's fine. I do too. A guy tried to sell me $200 p/m speaker wire with with my $450 ex-demo speakers and I obviously laughed in his face and am happily using $7.5 p/m pre-terminated wire.

See above comment Re separation. Listening to modern stereo recordings and there's definitely reverb across both channels. No DSP. Just Spotify to DAC to earphones.

Anyway - snake oil aside, I'm definitely enjoying the earphones more with the cheap balanced cable and that's all that matters I guess :-)

Hopefully taking delivery of a pair of Cambridge Audio Melomania 1s tomorrow before I take a lot of trains to and from France over the weekend. First pair of wireless earphones that have really tickled my fancy, and my Pixel XL 3.5mm jack is terrible, so sounds like it'll be a good upgrade, and I'm looking forward to being able to use them for bike nav and not ripping them out my ears with clumsy flailing and all that nonsense.

Anyone else tried them?

Not a direct recommendation, but I have a cheapo single sided earpiece, and it is a joy to cycle without any cables getting caught/pulling around

Amazon Prime days are selling Jabra Elite Active 65t for £118.99 delivered.
It's about £50 cheaper than normal.
I've taken a punt after reading reviews over the last few weeks on wireless earphones for running and they seem to be well liked.

I'm after a cheap/tough pair of cabled earphones. I normally buy these but the last few pairs I have bought only last a couple of months before they break.
I mainly wear them for commuting (just one ear so I am still in touch with what's going on around me). For that reason, sound quality etc isn't of huge significance because I'm generally being buffeted by wind etc.
Any suggestions for a decent pair at £20~?

..upthread @JB raved about these -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J0S4AAS?camp=1634&creative=6738&pf_rd_p=330fbd82-d4fe-42e5-9c16-d4b886747c64&pf_rd_r=NE50142YSDKWBRJ7GFZ4&tag=buro9

Them not being foam tips but regular plastic things means you might actually put both in, and reduce the volume a bit maybe - the way I sometimes use my iPhone ones; you still have a sense of what's going on around you but no wind in the ears plus actual stereo sound
: ]

How about earbuds so you can still hear your surroundings? I use these for riding and they sound great.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Venture-Electronics-MONK-earbud-earphone/dp/B01J0S4AAS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ve+monk&qid=1563201183&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Assuming you're using them with a phone and have a chance to recharge I'd be looking at bluetooth. Less likely to break without the need to plub/unplug, long cable, etc

@bratkartoffles beat me to it. But yeah, those guys are great. Sound more like a pair of open back headphones than a pair of earbuds.

@JB @Bratkartoffles thanks both! I didn't mention it but generally I find plastic earphones don't stay in my ears very well, hence the foam. I'll keep thinking...
Thanks again!
Joe

Some cheap ones from a decent brand will probably last better than JVC ones. Like these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDREX110LPB-AE-Deep-Earphones-Black/dp/B00I3LUSN2/ref=asc_df_B00I3LUSN2/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309952060520&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17380921383048589580&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045999&hvtargid=pla-562753989986&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

AKG k92s for £34 on amazon prime day

Just bought these for my 400km audax this weekend instead of the basic Apple ones. Cheers for the tip

One thing to note, when riding, don't be surprised if you have to max out the volume. Their impedance is higher and sensitivity lower than Apple headphones, thus are less efficient and require more power to get to the same volume level as Apple headphones.

I bought the non-active version of these in the Prime day sale, but found them uncomfortable - the body is too large the fit in my ear which is a big shame. A guy i work with has the actives and really rates them

So anyone else having frequent dropping on QC35ii or other bose Bluetooth products? It's driving me nuts. At least once per song. I've cleared all Bluetooth paired devices and reconnected only the QC35ii. I've tried to do a forced restart. And still... It seems to have started with the latest update.

I seem to be getting along with them, initially had problems fitting them properly, but now it's all good.
Not been well enough lately to actually do anything Active with them in, but hopefully in the next week or so I can go running/ cycling and see how they are.

Thanks for the advice on those basic earphones they were amazing on my 400km solo audax and kept me sane. Also saved me from giving money to Apple and spending 2x for an inferior product 👍

Pleasure. Admittedly unsure on their longevity and whilst I consider treating things as disposable to be bad for obvious reasons, it's not like they cost the earth to replace.
And congrats on the solo 400. Arguably the hardest distance to solo IMO.