Getting the most out of premium audio - what speakers/headphones do you use?

So I'm absolutely in love with my Envy 14 beats edition (even w/o the radiance display, screw it - I've never seen it in person so I literally don't know what I'm missing to cry about it). What I was attracted to with the Envy series was the audio.

Now that I purchased a new set of speakers (of course) I'm curious what people like to hook up to their machines. I don't think someone's opinion would sway me from these Swan M10's anyway because they just look sexy ...But at the same time I'm now also putting a set of beats on hold because I just spent the money on speakers.

I have used my Shure SE115 earbuds immediately upon getting the laptop and checked between my old laptop and the Envy just to make sure the premium audio wasn't a waste (because back it would go and I'd be living w/o a backlit keyboard and looking at some sort of dv6 or something).

Those earbuds are fantastic and the Envy sounds amazing with them, but my ears get sore wearing those all day and I work from home. So it was a no brainer to get speakers. They didn't have to be 2.1, they could've been 2.0 speakers and I almost got another pair of Swan speakers (the D1010MkII08) but in the end I got the M10's because I read such good things and they finally came back in stock.

Not disappointed at all! To anyone trying to decide on the Envy for the audio (yes it's worth it if you love to listen to music) or trying to decide on what speakers to hook up to one...I'm absolutely in love with these Swans, Swan M10 and for $125, can't go wrong. Mmmm, sexy s3x.

However, curious to see other people's impressions and most importantly if I should also consider some beats studio headphones at some point in the future?

 

Beats is overrated for the price to be really honest with you. I tend to stick with Audio Technica M30 or the M50. Good sound, deep bass for the money!

 

Ultimate Ears that I got on a crazy sale.

 

how comfy do you find those UE's ? if i move from earbud to earbud it has to be for comfort. i use the foamy kind of inserts on the Shures like the material earplugs are made from. The rubber inserts never work for me they fall out and too non-conforming/hard.

 

Ive been trying different tips but its kinda hard cause apparently my left canal is bigger than my right. I got the Sony Hybrid tips and they are nice but I might end up going with the foams cause they fit better. I like them a a lot and for the price that i got them for, $100 sale vs $400 retail, they are well worth it.

 

Only buy the beats headphones if you like the looks, or so I hear.

I'm waiting for my pair of sennheiser hd25-1 II's to come in. I've heard great things about them.

 

IEM's ftw. Any of the Etymotics will do. It's like having an audio direct input to your brain.

 

I have posted this in many headphone discussions, but do yourself a favor and find a vendor for the Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones. @ $300 they are pricey, but absolutely "AMAZING" audio in perfect across the board. I hear more nuances in non-compressed music that I have never heard before and MP3's are just as good just not as much scale to the music. They have just enough bass to be satisfied, but if you are "BASS" junkie then they might not be the ones for you.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Sennheiser 650, 555, or 595. Ultimate ears triple fi 10.

Don't get the beats lol I sold the ones that came with my envy. They are horrible.

 

has anyone used BOSE IE2 on Envys?

 

I have the in-ear Beats headphones. I believe they are the Tour ones. I love them. I got them at a STEEP discount. I would've hated them at the original price.

 

Sennheiser HD 555. Best value I've seen in headphones for the quality, and comfortable too.

 

It all depends on preference. If you want an IEM, the triple fi 10's are a great go to for an analytical frequency response, I like a little more bass in my music, and went with the monster turbine pro golds, and absolutely love them.

If you are looking for a full sized headphone, get the beats if you want an overly heavy bass response, in overly flashy packaging. Otherwise look into sennheisers.

 

I've been a Sennheiser hd 280 pro user for years, and no regrets. They sell for around $99, best bang for the buck. They're flat, non-biased sounding, which I like cuz can equilize however I want, but sound best with a pre-amp because of their high impedance (64 ohms); without a pre-amp they still sound superb though. Haven't tested them with the Envy because hasn't arrived yet, but I'll let you know in a few days .

IMHO, the best way to know what you want out of headphones is simply go to the store and test them. With the 280 you can hear stuff in your music that you never imagined was there, that's what I love from those cans

 

Sennheiser? Really? I had a pair a while ago (def. on the lower end I'm sure) but I just wasn't at all impressed. Poor build quality and poor sound. Will have to see if I can try a better pair, but one pair really turned me off. I may have paid $60. I know now (recently) my rule of thumb is no pair under $100 can ever sound good. So I should retry. Must be the parts or something but it just seems like all of a sudden there's this "jump" in price and very noticeable quality.

That said, I'm not sure if the Beats were ever worth their asking price (especially because it's Monster, nuf sed about that company and their pricing). However they were nice when I tried them, it's more than just their bass. I love bass but I don't consider myself a "junkie" because I'm not looking to just drown everything with thumping (in fact, I have the sub turned down half way on this set of Swans and I'm listening to Thievery Corporation so yea there's bass, but there's also so much more to music than thump thump thump - and no, I don't think anyone should ever have a shaker under their office chair). So the beats were attractive too for me. However, I just got ripped off on eBay for an old edition of the Beats Studio headphones for $200. Seller never shipped, actually quite a few people also got scammed from the same exact sale. Waiting for my money back...Crossing my fingers.

Outside of headphones...Has anyone tried some desktop speakers? Second day I had these Swans and I'm absolutely in love. They just need to make speakers smaller, but still have the same sound quality =0 I guess that one isn't possible. It's ok, keeps my desk from getting cluttered.

Speaking over powering bass...I also had to adjust the levels on the beats audio control center. Most of the higher frequencies are amped up a few dBs. However, that's to suit powered speakers with a sub sitting in my face (not on the floor where apparently the Swans M10 does not belong)... Does anyone know to get more presets? It seems like it's just "Custom" as the only one I can use unless I want to possibly override the others. I know if I put my headphones back on it's gonna be all off and I don't want to lose the settings.

 

Sennheisers are the first company I'd recommend to anyone looking for headphones. The first time I tried the Beats it was a huge let down. Good thing people are stupid on Ebay to buy them for full retail price from me.

 

If anyone is looking to pick up some senn's I recommend looking for authorized online retailers, like zzsounds. Call or email them that you've seen a lower price. I just got 50 bucks taken off my hd25-1 II's from 200 -> 150

As for the quality, yeah don't expect much sub 100 dollars, especially quality building materials. Unfortunately, all I have for big speakers to hook up is a semi nice logitech set. So far they've sounded great. Since I live in an apartment I see no reason to invest in a good open air speaker set. Ah the student life.

 

Thats a good deal on those senns.

I personally have Audio Technica M50's and Ultrasone pro 550.

But just so you know, you WILL NOT enjoy the best audio from the headphone out on a computer, You need an external DAC that bypassing the laptops.

 

After using my ASUS Xonar STX (with a headphone amp) on my desktop for months I was fairly disappointed with the audio on this laptop, but then again it *is* laptop audio, and the "beats" thing is just marketing garbage.

 

Im using the Klipsch Pro-media 2.1s. Incredible bass, and beautiful highs. The mids can be over-powered without an equalizer, however they sound amazing compared to my old realtek soundcard. The 'Beats' is an awful marketing scam, but at least they still use semi-quality audio components, even if they are way-overpriced.
I also use the Etymonic HF3 Earbuds, and Sleek Audio's SA-1s. Both good quality ear-buds that sound wonderful. I would recommend the HF3s as a $150-200 pair, and the Sleek Audios, or Klipsch S4i as a sub-100 pair.

I would like to know however, how to lower the bass just a little bit. When Beats is turned on, it is soooo overbearing, but when its off, Bass is hardly noticable. Anyone have any solutions?

Also anyone have any suggestions on a good amp/pre-amp to use with my setup?

 

I use Polk Hitmaster gaming speaker with my laptop. Not a SQ speaker for audiophiles ofcourse, but great bang for bucks at 39 dollars and free shipping from Walmart.
Note: This things is real loud

Polk Audio HitMaster Powered Stage Monitor Loudspeaker for Music and Gaming (iPod, PS3, Xbox, or Wii) - Walmart.com

 

I got my sennheiser hd25-1 II's today. Got its like on my ears. Too good honestly, it makes a lot of my music sound like crap if it uses low quality samples. But some of the stuff I've listened to is so beautiful I forget my eyes are open.

 

When Beats is turned on, it boosts the bass level in the Windows Tone controls to +4. When it's off, it drops it to -4. To change it to 0 (which is flat), go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound, then select Speakers and click Properties. Then go to the Tone controls tab. Make sure to turn OFF Beats first, then move the bass slider to 0 or whatever suits your taste. I think treble is set to +4 by default as well, so you'll want to move that down to 0 also, if your goal is to get a nice flat response.

Beats must be kept off, or it'll move the sliders back to +4 when you enable it.