[BYOB]

Hi all, I look forward to some input to decide which travel cans to buy.

I currently have Etymotic in ear for travel and they are not meeting my needs now that I am spoiled with my office cans Beyerdynamic 990.

Based on reviews my wish list is: sennheiser amperior, HK soho i, B&W p5, Beyerdynamic t51, sennheiser momentum, Grado 225 or Beyerdynamic dt1350. Wish I could listen to these in one place...

Depending on sale pricing, most fit in the $200 area. All are closed back and over ear which I now prefer for travel. Sound should come before style but the style points go to the P5.

I purchased klipsch image one on woot that I thought would work but sounded like carpet between my ear and the driver. Will sell these or give to goodwill.

Happy new year.

[BYOB]

Oops,a Grado is open back....delete them from my list.

[toocool4]

I would say go and have a listen for yourself and see which ones you prefer. Out of the ones you listed, I have listed to B&W P5 and the Sennheiser Momentum all I can say about those 2 is don’t waste your money. They are not good headphones but go and try them for yourself. Do not buy on review only you are the one that has to live with them, not the reviewer.

[mcgsxr]

By travel do you mean on planes?  Here in Canada, the only type of earphones that can be worn during takeoff and landing are the in ear types.  Is that the same in the US?

I used to wear noise cancelling Panasonic phones on work trips (plane) but that stipulation irritated me - I would start a movie or some work, and have to pause for takeoff and landing.

I now use Shure iem's, and am very pleased with them using foam tips.

[BobM]

Koss - Sporta Pro's, or Porta Pro's. These just can;t be beat for their price points, plus there's a lifetime guarantee on them. Just return them to Koss with postage and they will send you a new pair.

So buy them once and keep them forever, plus they fold pretty small and sound great.

[BYOB]

Good stuff, looks like two are out. Interesting my short list is HK soho and t51.
Yes, travel is mostly planes. I am not aware of over ear not being allowed for take off in US but I usually take them off anyway. TSA recently loosened regulations and now we can keep our tablets on for take off and landing so hopefully no concerns with cans.

Fold flat and style go to HK but so far I have been very impressed with Beyerdynamic.

Thanks all.

[BYOB]

What about KEF m500? Good reviews on amazon. Wish there was an easy way to listen to them all.

[2gumby2]

I like the sound of the B&W P5, but even better is the Sennheiser HD25 for the on-ear style. I own the Koss PortaPro and I think it's a great value. I'm currently using the Sennheiser HD439 for travel and I think they are outstanding headphones.

[toocool4]

The best advise I can give you are go and try all the headphones you’ve shortlisted, as only you know what you like. Also take your portable music player with music you know well, not just one type of music along to test them with.

Never take any ones reviews as gospel.
I take reviews with a grain of salt.

[toocool4]

One thing that's been a problem for me are the in-store auditions. I can use my own music player and amp and listen for 20 minutes if they allow that, but when I get home and listen at length, the headphone usually sounds different from what it did in the store. Since even closed headphones rarely block more than 10 db at the upper frequencies and much less than 10 db lower down, and since the background noise level will be about 20-25 db higher in the store, I hear things at home that are buried in the background noise in the store.

Dakethorn you are correct but since he will be using them on the move, at least doing it this way he will have a good idea on how they will perform out and about.

This is still a better way than trusting someone else’s ears.

[toocool4]

dakethorn i remember reading the reviews about the Sennheiser  Momentum, every review I red rated them very highly. By the reviews you would think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, when I did get a chance to listen to them I thought what a pile of pooh.

These are the headphones I use with my personal stereo as at home I don’t use headphones.

I have Etymotic ER-4S, modified Beyerdynamic T90 in a T70 housing, T70p cables, T90 ear pads, added damping in the housing and holes drilled in the bottom of the housing and B&O i3 which are years old.

All of them are driven by Ray Samuels P-51 Mustang, I only ever use headphones out and about.

[toocool4]

Hi dakethorn I did not see your review of the Momentum so did not know what you said about it.

Not in the same league as the HD800 which is an excellent headphones, the HD800 I really like but like most high-end headphones very picky about material. If your music is not well recorded and your player not up the scratch it will render it un-listenable a bit like the Beyerdynamic T70.

I don’t know if you have tried the Beyerdynamic T1 another one I would put next to the Sennheiser HD800. To me the T1 is more forgiving then the HD800. The T1 I feel plays better with most music unlike the HD800, but they are both top flight headphones.

If I could have the T1 in a closed back and a bit more easy to drive, that is what I would want to use on the move. I have not heard the Beyerdynamic T5p which is meant to be the T1 for mobile headphones.

[ajzepp]

That's a good illustration of why I dont' base my purchase decisions on graphs. I'm always interested to review the available data, but the next time I say to myself, "there's that damn treble peak again!", it'll be the first time.