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

Shure having been lagging behind the competition for eons now to be honest. If you really want foam tips, Dekoni make them for Airpod Pro's. I am pretty serious about sound quality and I love my AirPod Pro's. They're tuned incredibly well.

Oh neat, didn’t know that! Just been around Shure stuff in studios/live PA for a decade and they always seemed the industry standard for many things (IEMs included), and I much prefer going pro-audio than consumer electronics for speakers large or small

Yeah, I feel you. To be honest, just going wire free while still retaining pretty great sound quality is enough for me. If I want really good sound, I'll use my HiFi, but their IEMs have been lacking from a value for money perspective for a while. The influx of the crudely named 'ChiFi' brands, haven't really done them any favors. I really like Etymotic ER2XRs for a pro-brand IEM that is really affordable and sounds great. Has some cable microphonics which are kind of annoying, but if you're relatively sedentary while using them its not a big deal. But yeah, I don't use any wired headphones anymore and tbh, going back to wires seems kind of archaic now.

I posted on the last page but I just moved to wireless headphones from a Focal set up which was really nice, but just cumbersome to use. SQ definitely not as good, but again, for proper audio, I'll use my HiFi.

Edit: and I have owned 425s by the way. They were great a decade ago. But not so much anymore.

No idea about Shure’s, but I’ve got Comply foam tips on my AirPod Pros.

Thanks, they look interesting but not sure about the “deep insertion” that seems to be the big selling point for the Etymotics.

Yeah I’m torn between wired and wireless, but I may use them for musician IEMs to do wired probably makes more sense as it’s compatible with studios without yet another receiver/transmitter pair.

Interesting in your move from focal headphone set up to AirPod pros and you didn’t notice a huge drop in quality. Agree if I want quality at home then my home studio set up is what I’ll use but sometimes the neighbours don’t appreciate it as much as I do (4x studio monitors and sub, so not headphones)!

That’s two options to explore then! And cheaper than Shure IEMs…

Sorry, I've had the AirPod's for a long time. I moved from my Focal's to Sennheiser Momentum 4s and have been really enjoying them.

An gotcha. I was just having a look at the Senheiser IEMs actually (IE400Pro/500Pro) as an alternative to Shure. Maybe the momentum’s are worth a look

I had the Shure 425s for many years, recently upgraded to the Aonic 4s with the second-gen true wireless doodads and I think they’re a great improvement - the 425s are monitors and quite flat/clinical, whereas the Aonic 4s are much richer and more enjoyable. Combining the in-ear isolation with the noise cancelling makes even the screechiest tube lines tolerable and I love them on airplanes. I think the sound is just as good as my Momentum 3s (which I mainly use when I’m at home). But just my personal opinion.

I’m after a pair of AirPod pros for my partner. Any top tips on bargainous sources? Could be used if in great nick.

Continuing the IEM vs AirPod Pro from ^^

Had the opportunity to try a friends pair at the weekend. Like the lightness, fit was ok for the short trial and I almost forgot they were there. ANC was nice, bit odd at first though, kinda felt like diving underwater. Thought transparency mode was a gimmick till I tried it, now I get it. Spatial audio definite gimmick, but maybe more for TV?

Sound wise, they were pretty impressive. Out the box with flat Eq from Spotify wasn’t overly impressed, didn’t sound much better than my 7 year old wired buds that cost 1/3 price, but tweaking the EQ definitely helped. Fairly decent range I found, could get the bass up for cello/percussion in orchestra pieces and still hear 1st violins and flutes. Wasn’t blown away for pop/dance stuff but not terrible.

Very different as you can’t feel the base in the way I am used to (even with half decent over-ears) but sound to convenience seemed hard to question, even at £250…

Has anyone replaced the cable on their headphones? I have a pair of OG Grado SR60, where the cable failed last year after 20-30 years of use. It seems reasonably easy to repair, however, I'm not sure of what cable would be suitable? It won't be a disaster if I mess up, as I replaced them with a pair of SR80x at the time.

A few days ago but... I'm looking for a set of relatively small true wireless earbuds. So far my favourite in ears are ety er2xr with comply small foam tips. Would you say the Senn momentum 4 are worth looking at? I don't care for ANC, just decent fit and sound quality. And a battery that last more than 2 hours.

Edit. Just realised you're talking about over ear headphones with the momentum 4's... Not the momentum 3 earbuds... Reading fail!

Is anyone selling a set of half decent over ear headphones? Sound quality doesn't need to be amazing but I'd like them to be pretty noise cancelling. Suggestions for decent budget options also appreciated!

I'm sure someone linked to a comparison/review website that was really helpful but I can't remember what it was at all.

Edit: should have mentioned, not wireless.

Most wireless headphones can be wired too.
Anker Q30 is my answer, cheap enough to buy new.
I follow Oluv’s Gadgets on youtube.

Thanks for the recommendation. I didn't realise most wireless headphones couple be used wired as well, shows what I know!

Oluv is a bit cranky, but I like the way he talks about hifi.

Just wanted to give thanks to those reccomending the Soundcore Q30s, I bought a pair based on all the good press on this thread and finding them excellent. Comfortable even with big lugs and sound fantastic for the money

Excellent, still happy with mine.

Anyone use new Apple AirPods? Am tempted but I want to know what the mic is like. I use a busy co-work space, so sometimes clients mention there's a lot of background noise that my current wired earphones pick up. Do the Airpods cancel out background noise on the mic?

AirPods Pro 2? (I've not used normal AirPods)

Vastly better than the Jabra shit we get given for work.
People can actually hear the unintelligible mess I spout when I'm in the office rather than just the unintelligible background mess when I'm using the provided headset.

Cool. May invest when payday comes around.

Note of caution for all Bluetooth mics on earbud headphones, they all sound terrible for the other party. Bluetooth isn’t the highest transfer medium so if you want good audio stick with wired sadly.

I’ve got AirPod pro 2s and love the sound from them, but the mic is worse the the inbuilt on my old go work laptop so I gave up. Have no context, have always had wired headsets in previous jobs and sound so much better vs listening to someone on a wireless set.

Thanks - good point re: BlueTooth. Plus another thing to charge rather than plug and play. Its more about isolating background noise/conversations as I'm currently using wired with a mic that came with my iPhoneSE back in 2016 so hoping the tech has moved on a little. Everyone I've spoken to raves about the AirPods so may splash the cash - think probably looking to justify the purchase in true Forum style tbh!

USB wireless is my favoured option for the office. Much better range, lossless (in theory) and just works consistently.