Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Recommended Headphones for Explorer 2?

I had a little setback with the BeyerDynamic T1.2's.

After using them for a week or so a few hours a day the top of my head started to hurt right where the band touches my head.
I google around and a few folks ran into the same issue.

I could probably work around it buy adding some foam but for the price I prefer not.

After digging around a bunch the T1's are pretty highly regarded and hard to beat in this price range.

So I ordered a pair of HiFiMan X V2's.

I wanted a pair that has the double band, where the inner band spreads the weight over the top of your head.

Another pair I was tempted to try was AKG K812PRO.

Grats! I hope you find them as comfortable as I did.

The HiFiMan X V2's are extremely comfortable. You forget you have them on your head.

Sound is heavenly. Definitely a step up from the Beyerdynamic T1.2's

They are absolutely HUGE though !!

They are also quite loud to my neighbor's compared to Beyerdynamic's
It's like having two speakers on your head pointing OUT.

I like the provided cables better than T1.2's too. Very light weight and tangle free. Don't get me wrong the T1.2's cable was very high quality but was not round and so would want to coil up when twisted. And much longer than needed.

If anyone had an itch for open backs in the Workplace the T1.2's are pretty neighbor friendly.

I'll have to keep the X V2's much lower. But they probably sound better lower than the T1.2's did. Luckily my closest neighbor works at home 2 days a week and when in office has closed back headphones on 2/3's of the time.

Crion, I took your advice, now take mine and do yourself a favor and just try a Mojo. You will quickly forget what MQA is.

I wish I could use the Mojo with the DSP Speakers.

But the Mojo is so small..

I'll wait for some more MQA DAC's to show up first though. I'm in no rush.

I started to have buyers remorse on the HifiMan Edition X V2's

For a couple reasons, I just bought extended warranty for my Jeep and found out I have a hardware issue on my out of warranty MacBook Pro and I'm eyeing a new one.

So with the headphones it's like close to an $8K splurge.

Also I'm only using them about once a week.

I only had 2 days left on Amazon return and had to decide quick. I figured I could always buy X's back. So I bought a pair of HD700's and returned the HiFiMan X's

Lots of praise on the HD700 and rated most comfortable. So I thought it made sense for the amount of use.

BIG MISTAKE.

I want the HiFiMan's back.

The HD700's are not nearly as bulky as I thought and are very comfortable. But they just sound boring and now I don't care to listen at all. Bose QC15 sounded better in many respects. I think it's because they lack a lot of bass. And not nearly as spacious as the X's were.

So before reordering I figured I'd check around for a used pair to satisfy the buyers remorse thing. Zero buyers remorse on the Mojo though.

Anyway I found a used pair of HE1000 V1 for close to the price of new HE X V2.
So I bought those. And I think I might be able to upgrade them to V2's.

I hope the Mojo can drive them ok though.

Apple did an out of warranty repair on my 2011 MBP for free even when 5 years old. Replacement motherboard.

Known solder issues caused by thermal expansion. Caused graphics issues. They ran few a few checks on the genius desk, it failed one of them, and fixed MBP was returned within a week,

Mine is not that old 2015 13" MBP. The SD Slot is messed up. The slot actually works but it takes several minutes to go through anything related to the "bios". Switching boots with bootcamp is painful. Some issue with the "I/O card" for the SD Slot. It might not be that expensive to fix. But I don't even want to be without it for a week to repair it.

I found a few threads and everyone said they had it fixed under Apple Care. But I screwed up and never extended Apple Care on it. And the problem existed only a couple months after I got it, but this was my first MacBook and wasn't sure if it was a driver issue or something I did causing it or it was "normal". I also was not running bootcamp initially and didn't care that much because I never shut it off, just sleep.

Tried chat online to just get a price on the fix. And they said they needed to wipe it to verify it's not a bad install. It's "below" the OS. I went to Apple store to have them look at it and it was an hour wait. I didn't have the patients and knew they would spend a long time wiping it etc. anyway and still not give me a price because it's not that common an issue. If it's $200 or Free to fix, no problem. If it's $500 I might pass, since I can live with it. Just wicked annoying.

Easier to buy a new one. Then I can get this one fixed at my leisure and then sell it. And not have the down time. I developed an app for the iPhone and I don't like not having access to the laptop for that long.

Hi George

You could try a clean install on a memory stick to see if the problem still occurs.

Cheers
Tom

Brought it to Apple again tonight. Didn't have to wait long. They ran diagnostics on it and the SD I/O card popped up as failing.

It's only a $100.00 to fix but they didn't have the part in stock. He would have fixed it on the spot if they had the part. I'm going to another store tomorrow that does have the part on hold for me.

The tech encouraged me to buy another laptop while this was being fixed and return it after. I was all set to do so but they didn't stock any 13" i7's. Has to be custom order.

Hardly a fair comparison George for those that may pick up this recommendation thread in the future, the difference in price between the HIFIMan's and HD700 here in the UK is actually more than the retail cost of a new pair of HD700's. You get what you pay for. I would suggest a better comparison would be the HD800's where you would have had more bass.

IMHO the HD700 for the money (currently £399) are an absolute bargain.

But we all have our unique perspectives of course.

Lee

I try to go by my ears than the price tag.

I think the Prime didn't sound much better than Explorer 2. Little more power and nicer package, but similar sound wise. The ifi iDSD beat both at $399, by a small margin. And Chord Mojo well... we'll leave that for the other thread. Oh and it's half the price of the Prime and 1/3 if you include Prime Power.

The $200 ATHM50, QC15 sound better. But the HD700 is way more comfy than ATHM50.

I didn't expect them to be as good but I thought they would have been good enough.
I think it's more the type of sound planars vs dynamic. I bet I'd prefer HE400 over these HD700 but HE400 probably not as comfy.

Some headphones are designed for professional use and some are more for leasure listening (sometimes called more colored). I lean towards the leasure listening ones.

The HD800 are often labeled as analytical and HD700 more leasure. The HiFiMan X were often referred to as more leasure. I'm a little worried the HE1000's are more towards professional side. But folks consistently say the HE1000 are better. And some folks do prefer HD700 over HD800 (for leasure listening).

Me too. And mine tell me the Prime is considerably more superior than the Explorer 2, notwithstanding I love the Explorer 2 also as a mobile piece of kit.

IMHO of course

Speaking of which, I would appreciate any recommendations on ear buds in the £150-300 price range for using with the Explorer2. The HD700's may be many things, but mobile isn't one of them!

Have defaulted to bundled iPod buds when out and about and was hoping to upgrade on a relatively modest budget.

Any thoughts welcome.

Lee