Headphone/Earphone Reviews

[Finlandia]

I was very impressed by the Soundmagic WP10, they can be used wirelessly or as wired. Not heard the Senns, but you can't really go wrong with Sennheiser.

[ch427]

those soundmagics also look good but as you said before they can be hard to get hold of.

[Finlandia]

Unfortunately the more premium Chinese brands like Soundmagic and Brainwavz are very hard to find in shops, it's almost always a internet shop job if one wants to have a listen to them. I say unfortunately, because they are really great sounding at a really affordable price, compared to many of the more known brands that are easily available (not necessarily Sennheiser).

[tim-b]

Hello Finlandia, or anyone else who can help,

I'm looking for a new set of headphones and I've just read your(?) review of the Zomo HD1200. Looks very interesting, but the main reason I want to upgrade is that my cheap&cheerful Sennheiser HD201s are not quite loud enough to watch movies on my android tablet, when on a flight....I guess I need either more volume or more insulation (I suppose I could try making the tablet louder, but I need another set of headphones anyway). Don't know if you have any experience with the Sennheisers, but do you have any idea if the Zomo's would be better in this respect?

Thanks for any info you can give

[Finlandia]

For inflight use, I would be looking at IEMs instead of full sized headphones, if not for anything else then at least for hearing protection.

The Zomos are very nice, but I don't think they would go loud enough for your use, so either look into amplifying the out signal or try IEMs. Preferably balanced armature earphones since they offer better isolation than dynamic ones. Dunu I3C-S, Soundmagic PL50 or any Etymotic , Shure or Westone would be very good.

Then of course there are the noise cancelling headphones to consider as well, but they tend to be quite expensive.

[Koofler]

Well, I've had my Parrot Zik b/t headphones since Monday and today, they go back to the good folks at Amazon.

Epic sound leakage - I sat next to my wife with the volume at about 60% of my ideal volume and she said she might as well have them on herself, even with the TV on in the background. And that was just with old school, bass heavy reggae playing. Christ knows what it would be like with something toppy.

Battery - they reckon 4-5 hours on a single charge with all the audio processing and NR turned on and 12 hours with it turned off. Struggled to get 4 hours with everything off. So barely my commute plus some lunchtime listening.

Hot ears - as with most over the ear headsets, you're ears get hot but these keep your entire head warm. Not the end of the world waiting for a train when It is dipping below zero, like yesterday but once you descend into Hell (or the London Underground as it is known locally) then spontainious cranial combustion is a real concern.

Back to the drawing board for me then........

[Finlandia]

Thanks for the Parrot impressions

[tim-b]

Finlandia said:

For inflight use, I would be looking at IEMs instead of full sized headphones, if not for anything else then at least for hearing protection.

The Zomos are very nice, but I don't think they would go loud enough for your use, so either look into amplifying the out signal or try IEMs. Preferably balanced armature earphones since they offer better isolation than dynamic ones. Dunu I3C-S, Soundmagic PL50 or any Etymotic , Shure or Westone would be very good.

Then of course there are the noise cancelling headphones to consider as well, but they tend to be quite expensive.

Thanks, I will look into IEMs. Bit less bulky to carry in hand luggage too i suppose!

[Finlandia]

tim-b said:

Thanks, I will look into IEMs. Bit less bulky to carry in hand luggage too i suppose!

Just to clarify the "hearing protection" bit. Headphones will have to be cranked up very high to drown out the surrounding noise, and that is of course less than ideal for your hearing.

IEMs are the best option for portability and use in noisy environments.

[Mr_Yogi]

I use my Shure SE425's for listening on the train and they are great at cancelling out most of the noise. Before I used some standard Sony in ear's which I was worried were damaging my hearing having them turned up too loud on the train. Even then I could hear the sound leaking from the bloke opposites headphones during quite passages. Now with the IEM's the commute is much more enjoyable, they are really comfortable too (one you fine the right ear bud thing for your ears).

[Finlandia]

Meelectronics are pushing into the European market and have real good deals going on over at amazon, the A151 at £31.99 and the M6 in white for £14.99 are exceptional value for the money.