Hi everybody, first post here, sorry for my English but it’s not my first language :).
I’d like to improve my sound experience over my two years old AKG Y50, which were my pick at the time because I was on strict budget.
I plan to use them at home, and the source would be my smartphone, atm I’m not planning to buy any amp or dac(see below), so it’s just the phone.
I listen to a wide range of music, spanning from alt-rock to IDM and electronic music, so I’m not really sure which sound signature would fit me.
I’d also like them to be comfortable, I wear glasses and have a big head (lol), the Y50 got tiresome after a while
I’m aware that all the new phones are lacking the jack output so, while I know that cord is gold (I’m an analogue guy in that sense), I fear that, when I’ll have to switch from my current smartphone(OP6) to a newer one, I’ll have compatibility issues.
So, my question is: is it worth buying a bt headphone over a wired one, in light of what I wrote above? The difference in quality is that big?
Which headphone is the best for the price?
My budget is around 150€, I might push it to 200€ if the surplus is worth it, I’m currently a student so I don’t have that much money to spend right now.
At the price point, I think you will have a higher quality sonic experience with wired, but convenience is important and it really depends on your use case here. You can get simple dongle dacs or a dac amp combo when you upgrade your phone, but if that’s not something you would want, wireless makes more sense
If I decided to go wireless, the best models seem to me to be the Bose QCII and the Sony WH-1000-X3. However, I am not very convinced because I have read around that they perform worse than cheaper wired models.
Honestly, I’d hate to spend more than my budget to get a product that sounds bad.
I am not very interested in noise cancellation, as I would use them at home and only rarely outside.
If I want to get wired headphones, which models do you recommend?
Also, I can’t get the drop models because I do not live in the US.
Hmmm so you aren’t sure what sound signature you like yet, what aspects of what you have do you like, and what would you change? Also now we have to work with something that wouldn’t be too affected for glasses. Also open or closed?
My Y50 sound really flat, I don’t feel like it changes much compared to cheap earbuds like Jbl T110, I’d like to change that, I’d like to immediately feel the difference.
As for closed or open, I’m going to use them mostly at home so leaking is not an issue, and I like the extra soundstage you get from open headphones.
Hmmm, you have a decent amount of options then. If you aren’t planning on getting a dac/amp you would want something reasonably easy to drive. This might be pushing it without an amp, but how much is a K712 Pro over there?
If you want to stay under your 150 budget you could grab the koss ksc75 and porta pro and kph30i… all very nice headphones and would provide some variety to discover a sound signature you like… or at least help narrow it down some
Hmmmm would be great if you could find a 58x used. And not needing to buy it from drop. It’s just such an amazing headphone at a great price and also does not need an amp. But in the future can still improve if you ever get a dac/amp
Gotcha. Hopefully someone can come up with something since my experience with gear is pretty limited. And besides the 58x everything I own is hard to drive. IEMs might be something to look into unless you want a headphone. Much cheaper, just as good sound and more portable too
From 150 to 200€, I can go over that only if it’s really worth. Open, easy to drive(no amp, source is a one plus 6), I posted some reference songs above.
Yes, open is preferred because I do not care about the sound leaking, so I won’t incur into the cons of closed ones. This would be my first good headphone.
Still open to closed tho.
Well, it’s hard to find anything that I would say is a good upgrade that is under budget that is also open, and easy to drive. If you can stretch your budget, the K712 Pro, or the Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon would also be good.
Both are easy to drive from what I hear. Well, I know about the Nighthawk because I own them and they are my favorite headphones.
.