[JimiMac]

well, today I went and tried some headphones with my new iPod. I was torn between a compact design and larger enclosed headphones. I tried a set of Sony ear pods with a much wider frequency range, and I don't think they sound any better than the Apple ones. I moved up the scaled to more expensive headphones, and was happy when I got up to the Sony MDR600(?) enclosed headphones. What an incredible sound improvement in my iPod with better headphones, plus they were comfortable to wear, but a little large for carrying around when on the move. So my question is, what was it that made them sound so good? Am I looking at frequency range, drive ohms, sensitivity, what?

[oeyvind]

What's the impedance of the headphones? iPod jack is 32 ohm, so does its headphones.

[phantomdragonz]

The mdr-v600's are good but the mdr v700DJ are what I have. there not lite, but the look damn cool and there professional quality, Not only have i seen them on tv many many times but the sound AWESOME! and the look KINDA like the ipod. they are enclosed and when i ride the buss i cant hear he buss all i hear is great sounding ipod music. The V600s are only 1 step down and i have also seen djs use those. do with sennheisers or the ultimate "grado" good headphones are the best audio related purchase you can buy.

P.D.

[tr]

Originally posted by JimiMac:
<STRONG>well, today I went and tried some headphones with my new iPod. I was torn between a compact design and larger enclosed headphones. I tried a set of Sony ear pods with a much wider frequency range, and I don't think they sound any better than the Apple ones. I moved up the scaled to more expensive headphones, and was happy when I got up to the Sony MDR600(?) enclosed headphones. What an incredible sound improvement in my iPod with better headphones, plus they were comfortable to wear, but a little large for carrying around when on the move. So my question is, what was it that made them sound so good? Am I looking at frequency range, drive ohms, sensitivity, what?</STRONG>

well, frequency response can be a factor in comparing headphone models, i think the main factor is design. as you found out, over-the-ear/cup style headphones sound much better than ear-bud style phones. with ear-buds, you are putting the main speaker element in line directly with your ear canal. with cup-style phones the speakers elements are further out, enveloping the whole ear; i believe this would provide a larger acoustic environment, resulting in more sound dispersment and maybe different resonances found in the cavity formed by the cup/ear interface.

i mean, what it comes down to is that you can't really say things like 'well, these headphones have a greater frequency response, so they must be better', just like you can't say 'hey, this speaker has greater watts, so it must be louder'. you just have to find headphones that you like, that sound good to you, fit your needs, and are in your price range.

as for the post mentioning the Sony MDR-V700DJ, i don't think those are for you, especially if you think the MDR-V600's are large. these are freakin' huge...lots of molded, silver plastic, and very bulky. they're mainly used by DJ's and such, or for people who like to be seen wearing big, silvery headphones

my personal choice for phones are Sony MDR-7506's. they are basically the professional model of the MDR-V600's. i don't really carry phones around with me, so it doesn't bother me that they are somewhat large. but they do fold compactly, and it comes with a carrying bag. i mainly use them hooked up to a mixer for recording purposes. if you were choosing between the V600's and the 7506's, i'd say go with the 7506's. they're about the same price, and 7506's seem to have better quality than the consumer model V600.


good luck,

tr

[tonton]

Even if you hate earbuds, you owe it to yourself to at least try the Sony MDR-EX70s. These are my favorite headphones ever. They sound incredible, block out a lot of external noise (great for a noisy bus or train commute), and are so comfortable I forget I have them in. They don't fall out or feel loose like other earbuds.

Enclosed phones sound great and can be comfortable, but they always give me a huge headache after about an hour.

The EX70s are the only great sounding headphones you can tuck into your shirt pocket together with your iPod.