ZMF Fanboy. He wants them for travel/holidays. I used to use the GRADO RS-1e with Beautiful Audio pads. Not a bad choice.
Now my go-to is the Audeze LCDi4, but that’s not over the ear.
But for travel, I like to keep it versatile and easy. I’d say Apple AirPods Max (Not my idea, but @Torq likes them) or the Sennheiser Momentum. Good sound app, can run wired or wireless. Closed back for light isolation, ANC for better. Can shut out all kinds of annoying crap, and not so expensive that you’ll be freaked if the airlines lose your bag and they’re in it.
They were my favorite over-ear, wireless, ANC headphone at the time.
I’ve not bothered looking at any of the options that have come out since I moved to FL, as I’ve no use for closed-back headphones anymore - and there’s zero chance I’d carry over-ear headphones with me when traveling.
At this point, even if they suited someone, I would suggest waiting to see if they get updated/refreshed.
The Focal Azurys’ cups being too small is very unfortunate, since it is the easiest recommendation for a comfortable and portable close-back.
DCA E3 is quite expensive of a travel buddy, and more importantly, is not very isolating. It feels more like semi-open when it comes both to sound and hearing what is around you.
I personally use the Beyer DT770 with a paper filter for the treble peak as my utilitarian close-back while doing some work or traveling. It has served me for 7 years already and I’m never afraid to throw it in the travel bag or even if it falls on the ground. It is not as detailed and well-balanced as the Focal out of the box, but is much more resolving than AKG K361 (which also lasted less than a year before it died).
As other close-back options, I would try DCA Aeon Noire maybe, to see if your DAP/iBasso can drive it. It has more human-friendly cup shape and its foldable design helps with portability.
Oh, and another new kid on the block: Sennheiser HD620. Not the best tuning, but not too bad for a close back either, and very good passive isolation of background sounds.
Psst: some say, the new good sounding close-backs for traveling are called IEMs
They are not as high end as other suggestions but I have always been really impressed with my Sony MDR-1am2 - I think they really punch above their class - they hold up pretty well next to my Eikon. I would love to hear the rest of the sony line (z7m2 and z1r) but haven’t had a chance yet.
Howdy again, Torben. Have you tried DMS’s new headphone finder. I don’t agree with all of his suggestions (e.g. AKG K361). But it might give you some other ideas, in addition to the ones already recommended here.
Sensitivity ratings give an idea of how easy a headphone is to drive btw. To compare apples to apples though, you need to know whether the sensitivity rating is dB/V or dB/mW, because dB/V ratings will usually be higher than dB/mW.
I’m not really recommending it, but the AKG K371 is pretty loud and easy to drive. And has a sensitivity of around 115 dB/V, or about 100 dB/mW. (Note: IEMs can go higher than this.)
This is also not a recommendation, but my 250-ohm Beyer DT-770 is closer to 100 dB/V and 95 dB/mW sensitivity (I’m using rounded figures here, so don’t quote these). And is harder to drive. And will not get as loud on lower powered devices. I can’t say with certainty whether your DAP or dongle would drive it loud enough for your needs. But my amp is rated at 326 mW per side (652 mW total) with a 62 ohm load. And has more than adequate power for it.
The load impedance also makes a difference though in these power ratings. And I’d expect the power rating on my amp to be higher than 326 mW with only a 32 ohm load.
I get easily confused when the subjects of volts and watts come up btw. And don’t really recall which of the two sensitivity or efficiency ratings (dB/V or dB/mW) is the best when trying to assess a headphone’s relative volume or loudness.
I did find DMS’s headphone finder fairly helpful though for clarifying some of the terms used to describe different types of sound signatures in headphones (e.g. brighter, darker, warmer, bassier, etc.). And mostly used Oratory1990’s graphs and measurements for comparing these.
There isn’t really a broadly agreed upon consensus among headphone users on the precise definition of neutral though. So it’s important to also bear this in mind when watching a video like the one above. My definition of neutral seems to be at least in the same general ballpark as DMS’s though, fwtw. So I generally tend to agree with most of his characterizations on different sound signatures in reviews and in videos like the one above. And I also tend to agree with most of Resolve’s subjective takes on this in his reviews. YMMV though on this.
Another factor I’d add to the above list is your personal listening habits and preferences. This is vaguely alluded to in Chat GPT’s references to “sound quality”.
For some people, especially some newbies to audio or headphones, volume is the only sound quality that really matters. Especially if they aren’t able to get enough from their current setups, and are trying to push the hardware to levels it wasn’t really designed to go.
The opposite scenario is discussed in the topic below, btw. Namely, what happens if you try to drive a louder, higher sensitivity headphone or IEM with an amp that has too much power for it. Problems can potentially ensue from either type of arrangement, though the sound quality will usually be effected in different ways…
If you have all the specs for an amp and headphones, then it is also possible to compute the maximum decibels that are possible in your setup. If you don’t know what levels you like to listen at though, then that sort of info may be less useful. And some people like to aim for more headroom in their setups than others.
The peak level required in the midrange for a THX certified sound system, for example, is 105 dB (85 dB for reference level + 20 dB of headroom). This is measured outside the ear btw. And the low frequency levels can go a bit higher in these systems. Some headphone enthusiasts will target even higher levels though. I’ve heard numbers in the 120 to 125 dB range quoted by some of these folks. If you’re listening with peak levels in that range though, then the reference listening levels (at -20 dBFS) could be as high as about 100 dB!! Which is pretty dang loud, and likely to be overkill (and also damaging) for most listeners.
The type of content you listen to also matters though. Because if you like to listen to full dynamic range recordings, then you’re likely to need a bit more volume or headroom than if you mostly listen to recordings with the dynamic range more compressed.
I mostly listen to music on YouTube, where the dynamic range of the audio is usually heavily compressed in order to boost its loudness. (When was the last time you heard a BTS video that sounded quiet? Hint: almost never. ) Most CD recordings are also loudness-boosted. And if you mostly listen to these kind of louder recordings, then you generally won’t need as much volume in your amp or headphones. And are more likely to be turning the volume down to achieve a comfortable listening level on a reference system.
Higher quality recordings and movie/video soundtracks will generally be less compressed though, and have a wider dynamic range. So you may need a bit more volume in order to comfortably hear the quieter passages in these types of recordings. (The THX reference levels should generally be sufficient though.)
Another factor to consider, that could be part of your listening habits, is whether you use EQ. Because EQ will typically lower the overall dB level of the audio going into a pair headphones (or speakers) by a few dB, or in some cases more. This generally won’t have a dramatic effect on your amplification requirements. But a few dB is a few dB!.. So it does have some. And chances are you’ll be cranking the volume up a little higher on an amp in order to compensate for the negative gain/preamp settings that are necessary in your EQ to avoid any clipping of the audio content.
I have watched Cameron’s video, but probably need to give it another look before offering too many opinions. Cam is a pretty smart dude though. And much of what he’s sayin in the above vid seems to jibe fairly well with what we’ve talked about here.
Re the graphs above, different recordings will have different spectral distributions. This is not the same thing though as dynamic range. Some songs will have more or deeper bass than others though, which may or may not effect your listening levels or the amount of headroom that’s needed.
You can get an idea of a recording’s dynamic range from it’s waveform. A song with limited or compressed dynamic range will have less variation in loudness across the waveform. And the compression is mostly done to increase/boost the overall loudness of the recording. Some examples of this are shown here…
Streaming services are now adding loudness normalization, ostensibly to help mitigate the “loudness wars”. And this could lower the overall loudness of some of the music you listen to on these platforms, which could also potentially effect your listening levels and amplification requirements a bit. This is a subject I’m not so well versed on though.
Any good suggestion would be welcome?
