So this morning the light on the broken beats was blinking. All on its own! I did nothing since yesterday. I check it out and the button is working again, but the headphones are still not working.
First, you told me the wrong reset trick. It’s volume down, not up.
So I go to reset them. When I do this, my phone detects them and tries to connect. It connects! But then right after connecting, the light on the Beats blink red. Then it disconnects. Then it blinks white again.
So, I have this garbo headset that connects with Bluetooth. I only use it when I exercising. It’s sweatproof.
It just sort of died. Wouldn’t charge, no lights, nothing I did could get it to come alive or connect again.
A week or so later, I pick it up and start poking at it (preparing to throw it away), and it lights up, syncs, and works fine!
I also had that exact thing happen with some bluetooth headphones.
In the land of actual headphones, I bought a set of MassDrop/Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee cans.
The upside is they are an amazing sounding and secure fitting set of open-backs with all the awesome sounds of the (normally $500) HD660S cans, but at the low low MassDropian enabled price point of $150. Good robust low end, ample mid-range, and detailed highs, these leave me wanting or compromising nothing for sound. They also look great, certainly prefer them to the HD 598. These are light and clean and all around solidly made and conceived.
The downside is they are yet another set of open back, wired, all-around cans, which puts me at 3 pairs now. All are good in their own way, each with strengths and weaknesses, but to be honest they are all so good that I don’t see myself switching between them in the middle of a session very much.
I only have 2 ears.
The other downside is if I want to recommend them, to they aren’t currently available on MassDrop. Im sure they will be again, just not now.
I recently needed some new cheap headphones, so I got some Skullcandy on-ear plastic things. They are perfectly okay. Which is about exactly what I wanted for 25 euros.
My friend got Beatsx and highly recomended them to me. I bit.
9 months later his Beats died. The power button stopped working, but, if you connected to the charger they could be switched on… Until you next turned them
off!
He got them replaced and EXACTLY 9 months later the EXACT fault reoccurred.
My Beats are 9 months old, got them for Xmas.
I am… worried.
In the streets I rock the RHA MA750’s, there are better headphones out there sure, but the sound of these are great and RHA has such a great guarantee I’ve been using the same model for the past 3-4 years, replacing it when need be (still mad at that dickbag that pulled at my headphone sideways on the subway, breaking both my phone and the headphones).
In the sheets I rock my ancient Audio Technica ATH50’s for recording stuff and my AKG K7xx’s for music listening and some mixing. I use a FiiO E10K to drive those, because I don’t really notice much of a difference past that point.
YOU ONLY HAVE TWO EARS!
(that is absolutely a complete sentence FORUM)
I only have two ears is right.
I gotta treat them well 
Speaking of, I was down in Florida for a photo shoot this weekend and went to the local shooting range. I picked up a set of Safariland active ear plugs and they are really quite nice, despite being in an indoor shooting range with many people shooting large handguns and even shotguns in a confined space, I was not any worse off than normal with these things. Definitely can recommend.
Edit: Reading some reviews people are saying they would not recommend. Well, it doesn’t muffle as good as big ol earmuffs, but honestly I got really good results. They were doing about as good as the orange foamies.
If we were at a range that was full of rifles then I’d not rely on just foamies or these things, btw.
While waiting for the Vokyl Erupt project to complete and ship (They’re giving regular updates, and a week ago got in their big shipment of drivers which is cool. Looking towards sometime April-May now.) I decided after seeing a few reviews to pick up a proper closed-back gaming headset for when things at home are loud, and because I finally found one at a reasonable price that meets the various criteria I have for a headset.
The primary factors here for me are closed back, removable microphone, quality audio experience, and not looking “ultra-gamer-extreme!”
So, about those things. Main thing right off the bat is that the headset itself is essentially an upgraded version of an already well-regarded low-mid range set of headphones, with the added microphone function. But these look better to me with the almost black satin-matte finish and a more hard-edge shape. They are fairly non-descript and simple. These are not statement pieces. They don’t shout “I’m a gamer”. I appreciate the logo doesn’t actually say Cooler Master on it, because I’d hate that. The design staff at that company is on point with this one.
Sound quality is quite good. I’d say I have no complaints, but it isn’t blowing my mind. Bass is definitely good, I will say detailed: it’s not “booming” bass that amps up the lows, there’s no deep rumbles here. but they will do justice to a good bassline. If you have a strong need to feel the wubs of a dubstep track, there are objectively better options for that. I’d say for straight up gaming you need no better than these, and for general use they don’t falter. Remember, they are under $100 USD.
And don’t neglect the fact that the version I linked of the headset has an removable in-line USB DAC/Amp with volume controls, plus mic volume controls. With this addon, you really don’t need any other solutions for good sound on laptops, computers, TVs, or really whatever you plan to use as long as it can output sound via USB. And if that isn’t an option, they are easy enough to drive with the regular plug in jack. Now, that is a 4-pole jack to include the microphone, so to use the mic you’d need something that responds to that. From what I gather most bases are indeed covered. As far as whether the USB amp is any good, well, I might almost prefer the sound to my normal DAC/Amp setup. I just leave it on USB power so I can switch back and forth to other cans easily.
Unlike the previous gaming solution I had, which was a set of DT-990 with a ModMic, this only has one (removable!) cable doing all the work for the input and output. This means if I don’t need the mic it just unplugs from the headset and sits on my desk. No extra wires to mess with, and the headset looks completely normal without the mic plugged in. From what I’m told the microphone quality is perfectly good. I havn’t done extensive testing here, but I’m sure it’s not any worse than anything else in the price range.
Now the key, key reason I actually pulled the trigger on this set is to get sound isolation from being closed-back. And I got that. Certainly, not as good 3M worktunes for being able to listen to music next to running CNC equipment; and they won’t help at a shooting range. The isolation is good enough to justify them for the intended environments where you’d use them. Blocks out ambient talking quite well and muffles loud noise (fans, washers, furnaces, horny roomates, etc). For use on the bus/airplane, they could do that job on rare occasion but maybe still get something with ANC if you do it regularly.
That said, comfort is quite good. They are super light, and there’s ample padding. The short of it is I forget I’m wearing them most of the time. I have a legitimately big head and like to wear hats, and usually max out the adjustment bands on headphones. These actually have a notch or two left over. I can’t complain about comfort at all.
What else? Packaging was very good. It had a great unboxing experience if that matters to you. The box is full of a really nice foam and the colorways and package design are all satisfying to me as a designer. Seriously my only complaint is that everything fits together so nicely that it isn’t convenient to regularly use as a box, because if it was I’d be tempted to keep them in there the foam is so nice and the box so good looking. That said, it also comes with a very nice carry bag; as good as anything I’ve gotten from any other headphone maker. (All told I just hang my headphones on the wall.)
Overall there really isn’t anything else I want from a closed-back gaming headset. It’s very close to exactly what I’ve been looking for, and at a price low enough that I can recommend them to basically anyone.
Amazon is selling the Sony 1000XM3 headphones for $50 off it’s normal price.
I’ve never bought a pair of headphones this expensive before, but considering I was tired of replacing my $50 ear buds every 7-9 months or so because the wires would inevitably go bad, and because I was interested in getting some noise-cancelling headphones for my commute, I decided to splurge and get these.
The AirPods Pro are exactly what I was waiting for.
I’m curious about how well it will do with air travel, and I haven’t tested the “transparency” mode.
My girlfriend bought herself some AirPods Pro, mainly because she’s going to spend next week in hospital for an operation, and wanted some new headphones with noise cancellation.
I tried them out. They are pretty incredible! It’s one of those things where Apple have nailed an experience so perfectly that I can’t imagine future technology being the same again. I’m sure other tech companies are solving problems in this fashion, but nobody seems to do it so regularly as the nerds at Apple.
The latest episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz provides a detailed breakdown on how to test headphones for their strengths and weaknesses and the rather simple methods for testing them. (Transcript available on the page.)
