List your state of art headphones for smart phone use!

I think I will stick with my Sony studio professional headphones which are comfortable and have a frequency range of 20 to 80kHz.
Earbuds drive me crazy.

Well Hello @don_c55

Eric

Assuming you were replying to me, my name is spelled Erik. It’s right there in front of you.

Bluetooth is not even CD quality!

Bluetooth has come a long way, and the sampling rate and bit depth are not NOT the only or main determinant of final audio quality.


https://www.lifewire.com/what-to-know-about-bluetooth-3134591

Have you ever even heard Tidal lossless ?

Been a subscriber for years.

Your ears are not to be trusted IMO.

Because I don’t subscribe to the same technical prejudices? That’s an interesting notion. I’m an iconoclastic, technically well versed empiricist who has a history in audio going back to theater sound manufacturing in the mid 1980s. I’m a frequent contributor here as well. Who are you?


I’ve also been a Fiio fanboy for a long time, and have used:

• LG V30 with quad DACs built in
• Fiio X5
• Fiio Mont Blanc portable amp
• Fiio BTR3
• Fiio FH5
• AKG K712 (current desktop)
• ESS 422H
• Shure E4 IEM (ancient, but good)
  

The Hifiman Bluetooth IEM’s spank the FH5 in three major ways, in all combinations for these two reasons:

• Midrange-treble air
• Comfort / ear seal
• Convenience
  

They are a lot closer to my ESS or AKG’s in terms of air and ambience and realistic portrayal of music. The FH5 sounds like IEM’s. They don’t convince me they are anything else. They are not better than the Shure E4s which I wanted to replace.

I spent a couple of weeks at the office wearing the FH5 with the Fiio Btr3, looking like a prototypical dork with a calculator on his belt. The Hifiman not only sounds better, fits better but also has a much longer lasting charge in the ear buds than the Btr3.


https://amzn.to/2LvZxVn


Which by the way, is pretty good. Significantly better than going direct with my ESS headphones. One thing I have noticed though is that if I am using the AptX coder the phone drains faster than with the TWS600 which does not use it.

Side note: I’ve also owned Master & Dynamic MH40s for about 48 hours. They were dull as dirt and terribly uncomfortable. Not nearly as good as the most basic AKG headphones.


The FH5 and M&D have 1 big thing in common: They are made for tiny people. I have a large head and large ears. The tiny but wide stem on the FH5 made inserting them feel like I was doing ear surgery. Takes a lot of effort to get the same seal and sound quality compared to my E4s. The Hifiman is even easier with these ear tips:
https://amzn.to/34HLYcW


So you can sit there and point to bit rates, compression rates, codec flow charts, single drivers vs. multiple, dynamic vs balanced armatures, etc. and while I can geek with any of you about them, the truth is these are better sounding IEM’s despite the perceived benefit of wires and / or aptx coding that the FH5 enjoy.

So, you may not believe that I know anything about this subject matter, but I hope I have shown why I believe I have a pretty broad range of experience in this matter, not as much as headphone reviewers, and why my opinion of the Hifiman TWS 600 won’t be shaken by the debate over wired vs. bluetooth.


Please buy and enjoy what you like. I only share to be helpful.


Best,

Erik (with a K)

Since this came up separately I wanted to share my own experience with the Master & Dynamics.

I owned the MH40’s for 2 days before sending them back. I never send stuff back. Even the FH5’s which I am still upset at myself for buying I didn’t send back. Oh, forgot, half the ear tips on the FH5s were too small in diameter for the headphones.

Anyway, the MH40: Compared to the AKG K712s I use at my desktop, DULL AS DIRT!! Seriously lacking in mid and treble energy. I can't tell you how many reviews I read which said this model had a bright or crisp treble. BS.

Next, the fit. Don’t talk to me about these being well engineered. They aren’t. They use 1 metal band with a little foam and leather across the top to hold them together. It looks great, as a handle on fine luggage, but if it touches your head for any period of time you’ll feel it.

I also disassembled one headphone to look. It is just a driver in a plastic cup. So no, not really well constructed at all. They LOOK great, and who knows, maybe this is an issue where they deliberately make low end headphones sound crappy so you go up in the brand, but no, for the money and spend, the basic $100 AKG studio gear will be much more transparent and open, and you can wear them for hours without noticing.

Oh, and those tiny ear cups!! Why do my ears need to get squeezed like that?


So sorry fans. I really really really wanted to wear these at work. They looked great and would do a lot for my style. Nope.

Do headphones get any better than the Koss Porta Pros? 

Not heard Stax, not heard HD600s but out of all the ones I have heard up to 4/5 times the price none of them have spanked the Pros when it comes to sheer joy and life in the music. In fact some of them have been real dullsville efforts.

I'd love to hear some Grado woodies (if only half the stories are true!) but they wouldn't do for portable use.  

Mr Speakers Aeon Flow closed

Pros: Very low leakage. Decently isolating. Have low enough impedance to be driven to decent levels by the amp in a phone. Sound world class when paired with a headphone amp with some guts. Wire based headphone band very innovative and takes torquing/twisting with ease.

Cons: Don’t fold down nicely to fit anywhere. Ear pads are fragile enough to maybe not want to travel with.