(Tangent ahead)
I have an HP laptop that uses Beats in some capacity – there’s a Beats logo on the top, and if I open Audio properties there’s a Beats logo there, as well. I don’t know if they made the soundcard, or the speakers, or the software drivers, or more than one of the above. But the speakers (except at very low, almost unusable, volume) sound like shit, with crap piled on top of it. If I plug in a cheap pair of USB speakers (but still, speakers in little cabinets, with some acoustic space in them) that I got from Amazon, it all sounds fine.
The built-in mic sounds even worse, like the DAC is fucked up. If I plug in a USB mic, it’s just fine.
Maybe it’s HP? I bought the thing refurbished and cheap, and with a really short warranty (there’s some auto-rotate function that’s for shit, as well, as it keeps trying to tell me something while I’m typing). Maybe it’s HP + Beats = craptastic sound? Lesson learned, either way.
Beats had some kind of sellout licensing deal going on with HP for awhile there; their laptops claimed to have Beats speakers (even though they most definitely didn’t make them) and the desktops used Beats “filters” to beef up the audio, supposedly. It was crappy across the board. That was all pre-Apple, though, and I think that’s all been discontinued. It didn’t do their brand any favors.
As do I, but your skin oils harden the pvc cable jacket. And I would still get the cable snagged where it was exposed between the shirt bottom and pocket or belt clip.
My Kia won’t let you screw with it in motion. YMMV, my wife always had trouble with the BT but I have not.
This is why I haven’t bothered upgrading my turntable, because I need, to some extent, to dedicate a room to it, and dedicate 30-40 minutes at a time for listening. The latter’s probably the harder part. I do some listening in the car, but I only have a 10 minute commute each way. I try to take as long of a walk as possible while I’m at work, and do my listening then.
If I have 30-40 minutes to myself then I’ll spend it blowing overtones (on alto sax). If I can do that, then I feel like I’ve made an accomplishment, though I can’t remember when I’ve played scales or riffs… (Speaking of meditation, about 15 years ago I got to a point during my practice regimen where I didn’t even sense myself being there. At least that’s how it felt. My body’s there, and I’m in it, and the right notes are coming out of the horn but I sure as hell didn’t have anything to do with it. But to this day I still haven’t wrapped my head around II-V-I.)
I’ll throw mine into the list because they’re earbuds, not headphones. I’m using these with my Moto X and lots and lots of audiobooks, and have been quite happy for three months now.
Like @gellfex, I had a serious problem with cords catching on things. It was kind of scary when they got caught on the handlebars of my mower on turns. I didn’t relish the thought of having to chase a runaway 500-lb piece of powered machinery.
1914 Conn tenor, satin silver with a gold bell. 7* Otto link mouthpiece, and a fifties era green Naugahyde gig bag. I bought it from an old guy in a Winnebago in 1996. Same year as I took the Oregon gold medal (god I feel old now).
I suspect if I picked it up again it would sound more like tuvan throat singing than trane or bird
Wow, I’m guessing that’s before the automatic G# key? (I guess that’s what it’s called – if you’ve got one of the other pinky keys down, you can still play a G#, but on a really old horn you’ve got to actually move your pinky to G#)
I started 34 years ago, in the 7th grade. Played until 9th grade. Picked it up again in my mid-20s, then got down to brass tacks and got a teacher. He moved away in 2001 and I’ve practiced less and less ever since.
I play on a Buescher Aristocrat from 1950 or so. Mouthpiece (right now) is an H. Couf 7 (like a Meyer, or hard rubber O. Link, I gather). (I also have a King Super 20, but it played so sharp in the middle register that it’s long stayed on a shelf in the closet. Might get it out again just to try…)
So, you read an article about very nice $800 headphones employing an external DAC and amp integrated as a total solution and you think the port type was what made it sound so great? ok…
FYI, there are dedicated audiophile MP3 players with excellent built in DAC and amp employing a 3.5mm jack that will sound just as good if not better when paired with a quality set of cans. All of this can be had for much less than the price of a iPhone 7 with $800+ in external DAC/amp devices and headphones.
But yeah, that port makes music sound better…
No. I read articles about the fact that the Lightning port can provide a higher quality audio signal to inline-powered headphones, which can give you better quality audio than a 3.5 jack.
From all reports, Apple is providing a 3.5 adaptor free with the phone, so whatever kind of headphones you might have – traditional jack, Lightning, or wireless – you’ll be able to use them, so I don’t see the issue.
The lightening port simply becomes a way to deliver the data stream. The actual quality of sound being delivered is entirely up to the devices post-jack which will, in the end, create an analog signal to power the headphone speaker drivers.
In a traditional 3.5 setup, the audio is sent directly to the headphones via analog signal because the pre-processing of digital to analog conversion and amplification is done pre-jack. Having those components outside the device such as the iPhone scheme provides absolutely no benefit other than to cover up for poor quality DAC and amp built in to the phone.
Basically, you are saying that the new jack is great because your iPhone has a crappy DAC and amp and the new jack lets you spend money to connect an in line DAC and amp to make up for it. How about instead of a new port, Apple puts a quality DAC and amp in the device so you don’t need to spend another grand to get decent sound?
I like Meyers. I had a modern one for the alto I used to gig with, and they are excellent for unmiced shows. Aristocrats are frickin solid. I love old horns, they have character. Ever play a Naked Lady?
Naked Lady would be a 6M alto, right? But I haven’t played one. The guy I bought the Buescher from had several Conns incl. a Connqueror, whose keywork had little pins and discs instead of corks. My friend let me borrow his late Mark VI – pretty beat up but he still wanted several thousand for it, as-is. Had to pass that up.
I still have the Bundy II that I started on, and the S80 mouthpiece that I tried to adjust myself, when I heard such a thing was possible. (It wasn’t, in my hands.)
Similar here. Bluetooth isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than replacing headphones every year because the stupid plug and cord got yanked too many times. Bluetooth audio quality is not an issue at streaming music service bit rates in your car, on the train, or other commuting – the headphone durability, signal reliability, and controls are more important.
I haven’t really studied the market in depth, but I’d love to find a BT headphone with more buttons. I’d like the ability to FF through a file, and to not jump to the next file when I’m trying to adjust the volume.
