High Quality Bluetooth Headphones

[thoughtcriminal]

I'm looking to replace my worn out sony mdr-v250 headphones with a wireless bluetooth set. Just wondering what some good options are.

I would prefer dj style, but will accept other styles as long as they have large drivers. NO EARBUDS!!!! and they have to be durable enough to take a decent beating. For sound quality, I will not accept anything lower than what comes out of my Sonys (excellent bass response, very little harshness, clear in all ranges). And I would really prefer they can do double duty to replace my bluetooth headset as well

Anyone can recommend a pair? I'm looking at the motorola s805 or the jabra BT8030 or similar. Motorola HT820 would also be acceptable. thanks a lot

tc

edit: if the set has a wired option too (like the s805), I would be extra pleased

 

[gahndalf]

I'm looking to replace my worn out sony mdr-v250 headphones with a wireless bluetooth set. Just wondering what some good options are.

I would prefer dj style, but will accept other styles as long as they have large drivers. NO EARBUDS!!!! and they have to be durable enough to take a decent beating. For sound quality, I will not accept anything lower than what comes out of my Sonys (excellent bass response, very little harshness, clear in all ranges). And I would really prefer they can do double duty to replace my bluetooth headset as well

Anyone can recommend a pair? I'm looking at the motorola s805 or the jabra BT8030 or similar. Motorola HT820 would also be acceptable. thanks a lot

tc

edit: if the set has a wired option too (like the s805), I would be extra pleased



If you need the large diaphram headphones i suggest the Motorola s805's you are not going to find better,
just different styles of the same thing. (untill proaudio catches up)
I have the Motorola HT820's and like them for every day carrying around.
But IMHO they are not good for a DJ (no cup to isolate the sound nor loud enough)

 

[Consequence_9]

DO NOT buy the s805's, they are TERRIBLE, especially at almost a hundred bux! I got mine for 40 on ebay & they were still a rip off. They are poorly made, horribly uncomfortable & they have terrible sound quality. Honestly, when it comes to bluetooth & audio, the words 'high quality' don't belong in the same sentence. You are much better off just getting a good pair of wired headphones for the same amount, trust me.

 

[dyslexicsponge]

I know this is kind of related to Pandora, but it still seems like the wrong forum...

 

[Tobriand]

Agreed... should probably be in off topic.

Moved there

 

[Ranma13]

Although I can't make any recommendations, be careful of bluetooth headphones. There's a very good reason that no audiophile ever uses them, and that's because they recompress the audio into a noticeably lower quality. However, if you're ok with your Sony headphones, you probably won't notice the difference. The lower-end Sony headphones are all pretty much crap compared to other headphones in their price range.

 

[aatu]

Although I can't make any recommendations, be careful of bluetooth headphones. There's a very good reason that no audiophile ever uses them, and that's because they recompress the audio into a noticeably lower quality. However, if you're ok with your Sony headphones, you probably won't notice the difference. The lower-end Sony headphones are all pretty much crap compared to other headphones in their price range.

... Whaaat? Is this true (the recomression part)? I've also been looking at BT headphones for quite some time, especially to use with my phone (and the upcoming Pandora). But if it's really true, then I think I'll have to find something else. And is the recompression true for only BT or for wireless in general? Because I have one set of Philips wireless headphones that I use with my computer, and always thought they were good enough...

 

[Chip]

And is the recompression true for only BT or for wireless in general? Because I have one set of Philips wireless headphones that I use with my computer, and always thought they were good enough...

It's sort-of true for all wireless headphones. It depends on how the signal is transmitted, and in most cases it is not so much "recompressed" as "resampled". To the best of my knowledge, most wireless headphones do not compress audio, though they likely digitize it at a lower sample rate than the source.

The Bluetooth stereo audio transmission standard (A2DP) does include compression of the audio signal. The compression is necessary to transmit stereo audio over BT's relatively small bandwidth. It is also necessarily very simple, as it must be built into small, low power devices (such as headphones). The result is audio that is significantly below audiophile quality. This may or may not be an issue for some users.

 

[thoughtcriminal]

Although I can't make any recommendations, be careful of bluetooth headphones. There's a very good reason that no audiophile ever uses them, and that's because they recompress the audio into a noticeably lower quality. However, if you're ok with your Sony headphones, you probably won't notice the difference. The lower-end Sony headphones are all pretty much crap compared to other headphones in their price range.

I guess it might be a pipe dream. I really wanted wireless headphones that would pair with the pandora without adapters. But the more I look, the less I want a set of BT headphones.

I guess I would not quite call myself an audiophile, but I am certainly much more concerned with sound quality than the masses.

And while I generally agree that most everything sony is crap, these headphones are a major exception. Everyone who has listened to music through them has raved about the quality, especially after finding out they are only about $25. I've had one audiophile comment that they sounded almost as good as his $100 sennheisers

 

[Ranma13]

Yes, chip clarified that quite well. Another thing I'd like to add is that sound quality is heavily affected by the power of the output and the headphone's impedance. The higher the power, the better, and the more impedance a headphone has, the more power is needed to drive them to a decent volume. This is why MP3 players like the iPod with weak headphone outputs have lower sound quality than those that have a higher power output. However, these differences may not be noticeable with cheap earbuds that have low impedances, but it's pretty obvious with higher-impedance headphones.

My concern with the Pandora is that the headphone out will be too weak. I know the developers have said that it's powerful and the audio quality is excellent, but by what standards are they basing that on? I won't be doing any critical listening on the Pandora, but it'd be nice if it could match some of the better MP3 players out there. Also, I wonder if it can support USB DACs.