Headphone advice

I know real shops are out of fashion and having trawled round Curry’s HMV and Apple this lunchtime I can see they all hold limited stock and the market seems to be either in ear pods or big clunky headphones. Getting what I want from t’internet is tricky as you can’t really judge mass on photos.

I want neither. Pods are causing me irritation and the big ones are no good for putting in pocket etc

So I’m looking for an over the ear type which is similar in size to the old Walkman type ones we had as kids. A slim band and modest size cans. Bluetooth wireless and budget ideally no more than £100 but could stretch that a bit

I used to have a set of wired AKGs that were the right shape and size but they don’t make anything like that anymore.

Let me know if you have recommendations


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These are the only pair which come to mind, but I cannot attest to their weight or quality having never used them.

https://www.richersounds.com/marshal...-iv-black.html

Richer Sounds has excellent customer service, so if you order online and they're not right I'm sure you'll have no problem retuning.

If you want something pocketable look for on ear rather than over ear.

You mentioned AKG. Have you looked at either their Y400 or Y500s?

I don't want to endorse Amazon, but these look OK

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1500_.jpg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Rewin...37088899&psc=1

Have you tried a search on What Hi-Fi?

Depending on your budget I’d seek a hifi shop, there are some still around, phones area very personal choice, I have a couple of set of Bose that sit in the outer ear area rather than in the canal, comfy for long use.

AKG would have been my suggestion. Have you looked at Beats?

Sony XM3 or XM4 or XM5 would be my vote (budget dependant). They fold up OK, excellent sound and noise cancellation, very reliable in my experience. I'm still using my XM3s for years and no issues.

Richers have the Shure SE215 iem for £209 .

They come with a selection of different types and sizes of ear bud cushions . They have great sound quality , excellent isolation with no leakage so you won’t need sound cancellation and you can turn on an external mic to let you hear the outside world .

I have the 5s for travelling and serious listening but use the 2s for gaming and late night movies.

6 year warranty

If you want cheaper Richers have some offers on normally .

I generally won’t touch anything but Shure for iems , open backed will be Sennhieser HD series , closed back would be Beyer Dynamic .

The Sennhieser HD open backed are probably the most comfirtable headphones out there as well as the best sounding . But they are open backed so leak and don’t give any isolation.

The Beyer Dynamic DT220 are a good alternative if you require closed back . I use these a lot in studios and they are very robust , comfortable for an hour or so and have decent isolation and good frequency response . BD also sell pretty much every spare part so its easy to repair them if required.

FIIO make decent blutooth dacs that will convert any wired phones to blutooth and have decent battery life .

FIIO BTR5 2021 Bluetooth Headphone Amplifier https://amzn.eu/d/0JaVYUc

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Originally Posted by gorrie

You mentioned AKG. Have you looked at either their Y400 or Y500s?

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AKG are excellent headphones, as a previous retailer of them they are right at the top along with Sennheiser.

You might want to consider Shokz headphones (not over- or inner-ear, but hook around ear and sit on the bone in front of the ear). I bought my first pair (OpenMove) 2 months ago (£80, but the more expensive models c£125-150 have improved bass), thinking I would try and return (QVC), but I was converted and they are now my daily headphones (mainly for walking). I have since bought a pair of Shokz OpenSwim headphones for swimming (I swim 1hr every day), again they are brilliant, great underwater sound (they have transformed my swims). May well not be what you're looking for, but thought I'd mention it.