Closed up to 150€ Headphone (and music !) reccomendation

[Strontium Wizzard]

They didn't seem too fragile, and were small enough not to take up half of the bag ?

[CrowdAds]

[IDvsEGO]

they were more sturdy than a $30 pair of JVCs. not tanks or anything, but not too bad. yeah, they were small enough for my bag. the cups folding flat and a relatively thin headband were a help. I think you would have to go with some JVC flats to get much more portable than the k181. dang it, I am making myself want a pair again. I have had my eye on the monoprice MEP-839 as a replacement but they are OOS at the moment. Won't quite sound as good probably but goes around the ear, folds flat, and is half the price so I wouldn't care if I had to replace them due to loss/theft.

[Strontium Wizzard]

I'll probably get the AKG K181s then . Thanks all for the advice (but still no music recomendations...)

[Urne]

Originally Posted by Strontium Wizzard

-AIAIAI TMA-1: my only concern is clamp and isolation, and I'm not sure how well it performs with rock.

My first pair of cans was the AIAIAI TMA-1 so I really don't have anything to compare them to (now you're warned), but here we go.

The low clamping force took me a little week to get used to, but afterwards I haven't had annoyances with that. Today I am using them on the next-to-lowest setting on the headband as I actually find the low clamping force really comfortable. I can wear these for hours and even fall asleep with them on.

As to isolation I would pretty much describe it as dfkt did in his review. Without sound I can still hear some foggy background noise - people speaking, announcements or the like. But as soon as I turn the music on at normal volume (20-21 on my J3) it doesn't bother me much anymore. I experience a slightly worse isolation than I had with my Hippo VBs - but they were IEMs after all so it would be very unfair to compare these two!

Rock? I have no idea, sorry. I mainly listen to Dance/House/Trance and the like. The closest I can get to rock would be Coldplay so I can't help you here I think.

EDIT: Too late I guess, but now you know what I know ^^

[Strontium Wizzard]

Not too late, I'll order tomorrow, here in France there's a strike, so no school tomorrow It's really the eclecticy of musical types I listen to that influences my tastes, so unless I can get another TMA user, I'm gonna be buying the AKG, as I said ^^

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by Strontium Wizzard

(but still no music recomendations...)

Check out Skrillex if you like electronic music. I am not big into that genre but enjoy his stuff. In the rock genre I have been playing the crap out of Black Keys, old Kings of Leon, Cage the Elephant, Dead Weather (or any of Jack Whites projects). Them Crooked Vultures and Wolfmother get some time too. For some lighter stuff I occasionally queue up A Fine Frenzy, Lily Allen, Paolo Nutini, MGMT, or Kate Nash. I love some old Prince too.

For hip hop....do you self a favor and check out Brother Ali, Atmosphere, Murs, Pharoah Monch, and Kanser. I wont be offended if you don't like it, but you need to listen at least once. Oh, Aesop Rock too. If you really want to get into some recommendations on hip hop there is a thread over in the media section here and there is a blog that I follow called Potholes in my Blog.

[koolkat]

Music recommendations...

I don't have any preference in dubstep but here are two dubstep remixes that I really like.

The Prodigy - Breathe (Numbernin6 remix)

You Tube

You Tube

Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (Zeds Dead remix)

You Tube

You Tube

I listen to mostly alternative rock. My all-time favourite band is The Killers. Some of my fav songs are:

Change Your Mind

You Tube

You Tube

This River is Wild

You Tube

You Tube

For Reasons Unknown

You Tube

You Tube

I listen to a lot of Arctic Monkeys as well.

My Propeller, Old yellow bricks, Cornerstone, Dance Little Liar, Fluorescent Adolescent, Brianstorm.

[Confispect]

From here on out. http://www.head-fi.org/t/544388/elec...ubstep-etc/495

[Strontium Wizzard]

Thanks, at last ^^

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by Strontium Wizzard

Thanks, at last ^^

We actually have a Music subforum...next time try posting there and you will get a quicker response than mixing it in on an unrelated topic in an unrelated subforum...

http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=77

[Confispect]

Originally Posted by Strontium Wizzard

Thanks, at last ^^

Your welcome and yeah what ID said it would have helped you get more responses actually when you get a chance you should go do it.

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...splay.php?f=77

[dfkt]

The K181 are really cheaply built compared to the TMA-1 and the HD 25. They also aren't really in the same league, sound-wise, in my opinion. I actually somewhat prefer the cheaper K518 to the K181. My thoughts about the HD 25 vs. the TMA-1 can be read in the review Urne linked above. Both are great phones.

[IDvsEGO]

Originally Posted by dfkt

The K181 are really cheaply built compared to the TMA-1 and the HD 25. They also aren't really in the same league, sound-wise, in my opinion.

I hope that I didnt give the impression that they were ont he same level. The k181 are significantly less expensive than the tma-1 or hd-25 and are definitely not the same class of can. I did not intend to compare them at all. I gave my observations of the K181 because its the only one I have experience with. For the money I didnt consider the 181 to be cheaper than its like-priced competitors.

[dfkt]

No worries. This was directed at Strontium Wizzard, since he already seems to be dead set on buying the K181. He PMed me about this thread, so I just added my $0.02.

[SHY]

tma but if you want to go for less cost youd be hard pressed to beat the shure srh 440 with 840 pads on for the price!

[Strontium Wizzard]

Well... After everything, I went with the AIAIAI (Yeah, I know...). It should arrive soon (I ordered last thursday from Thomann, so hopefully they'll arrive soon !

[razorblader]

Originally Posted by Strontium Wizzard

Well... After everything, I went with the AIAIAI (Yeah, I know...). It should arrive soon (I ordered last thursday from Thomann, so hopefully they'll arrive soon !

Great choice, bought mine today at a local music store (Klangfarbe ftw ;-)), very pleased so far, bought a straight 1.5m Cordial cable with Neutrik plugs for € 6.50,- as well. Been testing a shitload of headphones these past few days and the construction of the TMA-1 is just so much more simple and well thought-out than some of those creaky mo-fos that try to pass for mid- to high-end cans. Wanted some headphones for on-the-go and these fit the bill perfectly.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50 are nice as well build-quality wise, I did also like the Shure SRH 840 but finally settled for the TMA-1.
Their sound signature is different from the more 'neutral' phones out there, relaxed treble, extremely nice midrange and punchy yet defined bass, basically tuned for music that has very pronounced bass and treble.

They might sound somewhat dark at first if you are expecting more of a hi-fi presentation but the treble and extension is all there, just tuned down a bit. They do respond well to EQing if you feel the need for it.

Clamping force with my big fat head is good for now. Let's see what happens when they have loosened up a bit.

[IDvsEGO]

If the cups folded flat on the TMA-1 I would already have one myself.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by razorblader

Klangfarbe ftw ;-)

Indeed. The new Gasometer location might take some time getting used to, compared to their awesome dilapidated backyard they had before, but they're still the best.

[razorblader]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Indeed. The new Gasometer location might take some time getting used to, compared to their awesome dilapidated backyard they had before, but they're still the best.

Agreed. They went from this

to this



I've known the shop since they started in the early 80's and yesterday was the first time I checked out their new location and tbh my heart was bleeding a little. The new location is nice'n all but where's the soul and character of the old store?
Lol, I'm sounding like the old fart that I am.