Very New to "Improving" my audio experience and need some basic advice

[Chris Fortune]

I am about to take my first steps into the realm of "low end audiophile" headphones and have been watching reviews and doing my research but I am ending up way more confused than I was with just using "good" junk headphons.

 

What I am looing for:

 

Good base response for music

 

Lagless audio if wireless

 

Budget: £300 max (kinda will creep over but not much)

[Cocococo]

What features are you looking for? bass response isn't a lot of information to go off. Noise cancelling? Wireless or wired? Really good soundstage and imaging? There's a lot of good headphones around this price bracket that do different things better than others. 

[Chris Fortune]

18 minutes ago, Cocococo said:

What features are you looking for? bass response isn't a lot of information to go off. Noise cancelling? Wireless or wired? Really good soundstage and imaging? There's a lot of good headphones around this price bracket that do different things better than others. 

Not bothered about wired/wireless as long as wireless is also lagless

 

The area I am looking to step up is for listening to music and I have a preference for base heavy music and want to have a less muddy base whilst not loosing too much top end.

 

If getting lagless audio requires a base station and it will be laggy on portable then that is OK as when mobile I don't watch accompanying video whilst listening

 

The other side of it is I am not sue what questions I should be asking to get where I want to be and whilst reviews have been useful I am finding myself more and more lost at the same time

 

Last point I want to be able to push the volume without distortion, I often will be looking at late night use so want to avoid annoying others whilst still getting the fix I need

 

[Cocococo]

The big one i'm thinking is noise cancelling, something like an Audio Technica R70X or FiiO FT3 would be my first recommendation to anyone in the £300-ish price range but they're both completely open back (all outside noise goes straight in and in really quiet environment people might be able to hear what you're listening to, it really benefits all aspects of headphone sound) but they also have no volume controls, something like an Audeze Maxwell is an easy recommend but they tend to sell for more than MSRP and also have a backlog when ordering (if you can find a pair in budget get the PS version unless you use an xbox console) 

[Chris Fortune]

I am not bothered with ANC or even passive noise cancelling as a feature, I am not concerned if it is there just not bothered if it isn't. That said if having it is going to fundamentally improve my experience then yeah I want it but my experience so far has been less than favourable.

 

I have seen good things about the Maxwell but as you suggest they are a little over my hoped for price point. Will the PS version work with PC?

[Cocococo]

2 hours ago, Chris Fortune said:

I am not bothered with ANC or even passive noise cancelling as a feature, I am not concerned if it is there just not bothered if it isn't. That said if having it is going to fundamentally improve my experience then yeah I want it but my experience so far has been less than favourable.

 

I have seen good things about the Maxwell but as you suggest they are a little over my hoped for price point. Will the PS version work with PC?

With the USB dongle included yes, the xbox version has dolby audio licences (PS doesn't, but dolby audio in headphones is kinda bad) have you been to any audio stores? I know that Richer sounds has a pretty good variety of headphones that they'll let you demo, along with carrying both versions of the Maxwell incase you decide to buy a pair and want a warranty.

[Chris Fortune]

1 hour ago, Cocococo said:

With the USB dongle included yes, the xbox version has dolby audio licences (PS doesn't, but dolby audio in headphones is kinda bad) have you been to any audio stores? I know that Richer sounds has a pretty good variety of headphones that they'll let you demo, along with carrying both versions of the Maxwell incase you decide to buy a pair and want a warranty.

I have recently found out about Richer Sounds as in today and will be paying them a visit as soon as I have some time off. Good to hear they have demo units as that will likely help me nail down things way better than just talking about it. With that said thank you for the talking too

[Psittac]

Being able to listen to something is key, but do as I say not as I do lol.  I entered this hobby with a "reference" pair of headphones and never looked back, at those headphones or my wallet.

 

What kind of music do you listen to?  Because I feel this cliche aspect has been ignored to much however my own and @Cocococo's tastes are rather different, he says that the Rode NTH-100 is upper bass/lower mid bass heavy, and after some thought I agree.  But to me this is nothing but smooth richness in everything I listen to.  But I listen almost entirely to technoesque muisc and it doesn't ditract from a single thing I listen to.

 

If you want brain pounding bass... Then Beyerdynamic dt880 edition 600ohm is what you want but good luck driving them.

 

Lower bass or sub bass almost isn't a thing in headphones because of physic's, you can't do what a subwoofer would because it's shaking your body and the whole room, no bueno when just around your ears.

 

Bass is a very tricky thing to do with headphones and you need to learn what to expect.  Like I said I went into this wanting to experience what I could so that I could compare and contrast with reviewers.  Then there is the problem that most reviewers will not mesh with your own views, so your back to relying on buzzwords or a reviewer that shares your taste.

[Chris Fortune]

On 1/31/2024 at 7:28 PM, Cocococo said:

With the USB dongle included yes, the xbox version has dolby audio licences (PS doesn't, but dolby audio in headphones is kinda bad) have you been to any audio stores? I know that Richer sounds has a pretty good variety of headphones that they'll let you demo, along with carrying both versions of the Maxwell incase you decide to buy a pair and want a warranty.

Well I was able to pay Richer Sounds a visit and true to the expectation they were knowledgeable and had units to be tried out. In the end I opted for a set of Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S2s which fitted my head comfortably and gave me a sound that I am really enjoying. 

[Cocococo]

1 hour ago, Chris Fortune said:

Well I was able to pay Richer Sounds a visit and true to the expectation they were knowledgeable and had units to be tried out. In the end I opted for a set of Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S2s which fitted my head comfortably and gave me a sound that I am really enjoying. 

Congrats, hope you enjoy them