Source
r/headphones•
cfq

Looking for good portable closed circumaural headphones to use with iPhone.

Hello r/headphones,

I'm looking for a good pair of headphones to use outside. What I'm looking for is:

  • Circumaural
  • Closed back (don't want to be "that guy" on the tube)
  • Good outside noise isolation (not noise cancelling though)
  • Bonus points for iPhone mic/controls
  • Easy to pack

I don't really have much of a budget concern. Just need a good pair. A bit about myself:

  • Gone through 4 pairs of Sennheiser HD 202's at work, took them out occasionally but the long cable is hard to manage.
  • Got myself a pair of Sennheiser HD 238 because they sounded better than 228 or 218, but can't use it much because of the open backed design. Useless.
  • At home, I mostly listen to FLACs through a pair of ATH-M50s connected to an interface. Absolutely love it. And I can tell the difference between a V0 and FLAC at least half of the time.
  • Got a pair of Audioengine A2's connected to the said interface. Love'em as well.
  • I convert my music to Apple Lossless with XLD and add them to iTunes to sync to the iPhone.
  • Here's my last.fm: http://www.last.fm/user/cfq
  • I usually test the two extremes of what I listen to with these songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwfNY7H3xiI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ummlj4VoYfM (I especially listen to the first few minutes of Red in Tooth and Claw to see how well I can hear individual tracks at first and how well it handles the lull afterwards)

One other thing I should add is, I borrowed a pair of a mate's Bose around-ear headphones just to see how they sounded. Wasn't happy with the sound but was well impressed by how comfortable they were and how well they blocked outside noise.

Sorry for the long post. Have been looking around for a decent pair for ages. Do you have any ideas?

Cheers

Posted Jan 26, 2012, 3:34 PM UTC

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crowsmen•

Why not use your ATH-M50's? Not portable enough? If you want really portable consider some good IEMs, they won't disappoint.

I use Sony MDR-V6 for my portable headphones (with iPhone and alac), and sometimes HD25-1 ii, but those are not circumaural.

3
cfqOP•

Cheers for the suggestion, but they don't sound as good without an amp. I've got the coiled cable one and it's hard to manage it. I don't want to unscrew the 1/4" jack every time I leave the house either.

Edit: btw, how is HD25-1 ii for outside noise isolation? And how do you like it?

1
crowsmen•

The HD251-ii isolates pretty well, but probably not quite as well as most circumaurals. I like them a lot; they're very tight and quick sounding, good for hip hop and electronic music and some rock, but not as good for classical or live music because they sound kind of closed in (not much sense of "spaciousness" in the music). Very portable though and good all around headphones.

One thing about the HD251-ii is that I think they really need a basic amp (like a portable CMOY for cheap) to realize their potential, though they sound pretty good and are loud straight from iphone.

2
crowsmen•

Another idea is that you can get a cheap CMOY amp and a Fiio line out for your iphone and try using your M50s. If they're too hard to manage that won't solve the problem but at least then they'd be amped.

2
Massacare•

wait..you've said the circumaural thingy, that's mean your whole ears should be inside the ear cup CMIIW. And you've mentioned that you've tried the HD 238 (that's not circumaural actually), and you want to have a good noise isolation, you can try the ath ws55 or if you want to have a really good noise isolation, try the ath anc-7b (the noise isolation for this one is quite freaking decent).

2
cfqOP•

Cheers, I'll look into them now! You're right about circumaural and HD 238. I just wanted to try out something new - didn't really like it :-)

1
Massacare•

well, try the ath ws55. Some friends tell me that the sound is quite balance with nice and punchy bass. But it's not really circumaural since the earcup size and shape doesn't give any chance to become a circumaural thingy. Try the anc-7b, quite decent sound, but I think in some points it is a bit expensive for the sound (too much money wasted on the noise isolation tech maybe ಠ_ಠ).

2
cfqOP•

Not so big on anc-7b because I don't really like active noise cancelling but the WS55 look really good. Adding it to the list. Cheers!

Edit: How would you compare it's sound output to the ATH-M50's? I've got a good idea of how they sound.

1
Massacare•

well I don't have the chance to hear the ath ws55 yet but my friend said that the sound is kinda a bit improvement over the ath m50 (this is 100% pure subjective comment actually but that's what my friend've said :p). Try to ready the review, hope it'll give you a little "image" about the sound.

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[deleted]•

Shure SRH-440 or Sony MDR-V6. Both are cheap, durable, and foldable.

2
cfqOP•

Cheers. I know it's not a popular opinion but I'm not really a big fan of the MDR series. Shure's look really good though, adding it to the list. Have you got a pair? How do they sound? Is it comparable to any others?

1