Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Headphone brawl. The purchase of the iPod has suddenly piqued the dormant Audiophile gene inside me. For the last five or so years, my headphone reference has always been the Grado Labs SR60's (which I effectionally call 'Ole Ironsides' or 'The Fugly'). For approximately 70 bucks, there is nothing that holds a candle to the SR60's price/performance ratio. After five years of constant use, they still sound as good as the day I bought them.

Unfortunately, they look like throwback headphones from an era circa Happy Days and aren't very portable. I bought some Sony MDR-G74SL's this weekend to replace the freebie earbuds that come w/the iPod for when I'm on the go. Which means, when I'm at work. Not necessarily high-end headphones, but I've become considerably cheaper over the years.

How do they sound? Pretty good. Bass response is good and the mid-to-high frequencies are pretty decent. Although they're not sonically on par w/the SR60's, one thing that the Sony's do better is slightly better soundstage. My favorite thing about the Sony's however, is the cloth braided cords. They don't tangle as easy and comes with a 1M extension.

Next up is a do-it-yourself project called the CMoy Headphone Amp, which can be housed in an Altoid Tin. Yay.
posted by HZA | 10:39 PM | email | archive