A review of the Pandora's sound and music capability.


First of all, I beg your pardon if I'm being an "heretic"


I'm more fond of "in ear" headphones (are they called earphones?) because I use my gaming gear mostly while travelling - I have no room for big headphones


Maybe you can hint some brand or model that can use the pandora's sound capabilities better than the 3€ earphones found everywhere around eBay!


That would be great!
 
^ The original KOSS plugs were decent after ditching the provided earbuds for actual ear plugs modified accordingly :)
 
If anyone wants some impressions of any of the following cans, let me know and I'll spend some time with them plugged into the Pandora.


AKG K701


Superlux HD681 (modded)


Stock Superlux HD681


Skytronics HP350 (modded)


Sennheiser HD595


Allesandro MS1


Sennheiser 280


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Koss Porta Pro


ToaD

Please do - and also, please explain what you mean by (modded)?


Thank you.
 
This is brilliant.


I haven't owned an mp3 player for years... and using my phone is an abominable waste of battery life so I never do. I.e. gimmicky and virtually useless feature unless my phone is plugged into mains. Same goes for watching movies on it.


So apart from everything else, the Pandora flaunts her audio prowess much to the humiliation of mp3 players everywhere. :D


Pandora: How would you like to escape reality today?
 
If anyone wants some impressions of any of the following cans, let me know and I'll spend some time with them plugged into the Pandora.


AKG K701


Superlux HD681 (modded)


Stock Superlux HD681


Skytronics HP350 (modded)


Sennheiser HD595


Allesandro MS1


Sennheiser 280


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Koss Porta Pro


ToaD

Please do - and also, please explain what you mean by (modded)?


Thank you.

What all of them? LOL


Modded cans are basically headphones that have had some modification. Mods can be as simple as changing the foam pads or as complex as mounting a different pair of drivers in the headphones.


Here's some links to how to modify Sennheiser PX-100s & Skytronic HP350s that I posted on a headphone forum I frequent.


PX-100 Mods


HP350 Mods


At the other end of the modding complexity scale is a DIY ortho type headphone thread.


DIY orthos
 
I was really surprised at the power output the Pandora has for audio.


I tried them with my audio-technica ath-m50 headphones and quickly found that I only needed about 20-30% volume for it to be loud (100% would definitely be painful). In comparison, on my Cowon D2 I need the volume at about 60%, and my N900 about 90-100% (N900 simply isn't loud enough to be used on a bus). Even if you had some lower sensitivity or higher ohm headphones, the Pandora would probably drive them just fine. This is actually the best sounding portable device I've ever heard, and the D2 isn't any slouch.
 
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this thread makes me very happy, especially that the board designer is an audiophile as well
 
This sounds very promising.. ;)


Seriously though, I listen to my music via a set of Sennheiser HD-555 headphones, though I have some PX-100s I use for my portable music. Anyone with a Pandora and a set of HD-555 want to chime in on how they sound?
 
If anyone wants some impressions of any of the following cans, let me know and I'll spend some time with them plugged into the Pandora.


AKG K701


Superlux HD681 (modded)


Stock Superlux HD681


Skytronics HP350 (modded)


Sennheiser HD595


Allesandro MS1


Sennheiser 280


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Sennheiser PX-100 (modded)


Koss Porta Pro


ToaD

Please do - and also, please explain what you mean by (modded)?


Thank you.

What all of them? LOL


Modded cans are basically headphones that have had some modification. Mods can be as simple as changing the foam pads or as complex as mounting a different pair of drivers in the headphones.


Here's some links to how to modify Sennheiser PX-100s & Skytronic HP350s that I posted on a headphone forum I frequent.


PX-100 Mods


HP350 Mods


At the other end of the modding complexity scale is a DIY ortho type headphone thread.


DIY orthos

All might be overkill. Sorry if it feels like you're turning into a headphone product advice service. I appreciate that you've taken the time to truly evaluate what you're using and would like to benefit from your experience.


I work in a cubicle environment and travel some. What is the best seat of head/ear mounted speakers that I can:


1. Listen to at levels that override the general office hum.


2. Produce so little external sound that my office mates won't know I'm even using them.


3. Are comfortable enough to wear for 10 hours straight without resulting in red ears.


4. Produce very high quality sound (Jazz, SKA, Punk, Blues).


5. Do not require me to sell a kidney to afford.


6. Pack down so that I can throw them in the pouch on my laptop bag for going through security at the airport.


7. Durable - they're going to take a beating.


My main experiences with headphones (and yes, most of these are ancient):


a. El cheapo disposable ones that you can buy in the checkout lane are not worth the time it takes to open the packaging. I bought a few sets of these for my kids to use with some old Palm PDAs. They're not good.


b. iPod in-ear headphones. Wow - these are so bad that I'm shocked the iPod sold at all.


c. Sony's $50 ear buds sounded -ok-, but after 3 days use started to produce static cracks and were dead in 7 days. Low end sound was not accurate at all. Sound stage was worse than e.


d. Koss QZ Pro cups sound -ok-, but after an hour the fleshy bits of my ears hurt from being smashed down.


e. RioVolt in-ear headphones from a CD MP3 player I bought back in 2002 - these are what I go back to after every failed attempt at others. They sound pretty good and have turned out to be durable and comfortable. They sound WAY better than the iPod ones - and are on par with the Koss for everything but the low end. Good stage, great for Rodrigo y Gabriela, not so much for Cherry Poppin' Daddies. They produce accurate low end - just not much of it and can become a bit overwhelmed/mushy if the volume is pushed very far beyond standard levels.


So, I'm trying to find something that I like better than a 10 year old set of headphones that came with one of the very first MP3 players sold, are comfortable, produce solid sound over broad frequency ranges and have minimal 'leakage' to those around me.


Which ones would you recommend I check out?
 
Awesome. For listening to music, I'm usually split between my DS with moonshell or my Walkman. The DS plays all sorts of Codecs, but doesn't quite have the volume I would need on the bus. My Walkman plays to a good volume, but doesn't play ogg vorbis, flac, or midi files. I could use my laptop, but the battery life and size makes that a tad impractical. :p


I wonder what other sort of secret awesomeness MWeston packed in the Pandora.
 
grench i would recommend a closed cup headphone, my sennheisers hd280pro set me back around $70 and it was money well spent, very comfortable, wont fall off with head movement, people around you wont hear it cause its closed, and i can easily forget about them when im wearing them, plus its a Sennheiser, what more can i say?
 
Yes I did try to tweak the audio as best I could between the limited board revisions. I used a pair of Shure SE530's to get the noise floor as low as possible. Those bastards hiss at any noise! My laptop sounds like my damn shower is running! :)


The DAC has a 99dB SNR level at the voltage used. The headphone amp has a 100dB SNR with low gain and the output can swing 4Vpp which is much more than most MP3 players out there. Ferrite chip based pi filtering was done on the amp's supply and the 5V supply was denied pulse skip mode to keep ringing out of the audio stage.


I built a headphone DAC/amplifier designed to drive headphones up to 600 ohms and I use it for my Sennheiser HD-650s. It can drive signals to 20Vpp so it has all kinds of dynamic range. I was amazed that the Pandora drives the 650s to sound levels as high as I need for all but ear abusive listening.


Craig, the main reason we had to use all this external hardware was because of that volume wheel. ;) The only way to attenuate an analog signal is to produce it separately.


I'm glad you like how it sounds BaDToaD. I'm not afraid to say I like a little EQ in my music and Audacious sounds fantastic.
I didn't know all this detail had gone into the audio hardware. I just presumed that an on chip DAC had been used with an external driver and that would be all. Now that I know there's some decent hardware in there I'm looking forward to getting my pandora even more. Could it be soon I get rid of my old Zen?
 
grench i would recommend a closed cup headphone, my sennheisers hd280pro set me back around $70 and it was money well spent, very comfortable, wont fall off with head movement, people around you wont hear it cause its closed, and i can easily forget about them when im wearing them, plus its a Sennheiser, what more can i say?

Those don't look very portable. Hmm...


Does anyone have experience with Sennheiser PX 200 II B?


The PX 100 isn't readily available anymore - is the PX 100 II as good?


Both are folding - are the durable?


Currently listening on my Tapwave Zodiac 2 (yes, still - the sound quality beats every other portable device I've tried so far) - looking forward to the Pandora.
 
^ I don't know about the PX200 II B, but the original PX200 model is very durable indeed. I've been using mine pretty close to daily since before the Pandora pre-orders first went live, and they're just as solid as they always were. I think it would be a fair guess that its successor also would be.
 
grench i would recommend a closed cup headphone, my sennheisers hd280pro set me back around $70 and it was money well spent, very comfortable, wont fall off with head movement, people around you wont hear it cause its closed, and i can easily forget about them when im wearing them, plus its a Sennheiser, what more can i say?

Those don't look very portable. Hmm...


Does anyone have experience with Sennheiser PX 200 II B?


The PX 100 isn't readily available anymore - is the PX 100 II as good?


Both are folding - are the durable?


Currently listening on my Tapwave Zodiac 2 (yes, still - the sound quality beats every other portable device I've tried so far) - looking forward to the Pandora.

The PX 100 II is very similar to the old PX-100 but it's an open can so in order to block out your colleagues you'd need to have it loud enough so that the sound leakage may annoy them.


I'm not a fan of closed cans as they sound... well... closed :) but the PX200 should be a safe bet if you want a reasonable sound in a small package. I've heard the mk II's are better than the old ones.


The best pair of closed cans I've personally heard are another pair of my £12.99 HP350 skytronics cans modded with electrical tape over the inside of the cups to block the holes LOL
 
grench i would recommend a closed cup headphone, my sennheisers hd280pro set me back around $70 and it was money well spent, very comfortable, wont fall off with head movement, people around you wont hear it cause its closed, and i can easily forget about them when im wearing them, plus its a Sennheiser, what more can i say?

Those don't look very portable. Hmm...


Does anyone have experience with Sennheiser PX 200 II B?


The PX 100 isn't readily available anymore - is the PX 100 II as good?


Both are folding - are the durable?


Currently listening on my Tapwave Zodiac 2 (yes, still - the sound quality beats every other portable device I've tried so far) - looking forward to the Pandora.
the 280s do fold


http://www.dansdata.com/images/hd280/280fold640.jpg


http://www.dansdata.com/images/hd280/280flat640.jpg
 
I have a 7 year old Sennheiser PC 151 headset, while not as good as their other pure headphone offerings.. I find the Pandora audio the best music device I've hitched to them so far (well outside my Surround sound Receiver). Also I found most mp3 / phones can't drive them properly at full volume,while the Pandora can.
 
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but the PX200 should be a safe bet if you want a reasonable sound in a small package. I've heard the mk II's are better than the old ones.
That says a lot, because the old ones are superb. :lol:
 
First of all, I beg your pardon if I'm being an "heretic"


I'm more fond of "in ear" headphones (are they called earphones?) because I use my gaming gear mostly while travelling - I have no room for big headphones


Maybe you can hint some brand or model that can use the pandora's sound capabilities better than the 3€ earphones found everywhere around eBay!


That would be great!

I use a pair of Etymötic Research HF5's with my Pandora. The sound is pretty damn good, but they cost around $150. They sell through Amazon. Like I said, the sound is good, but I'm not sure how good they are if you want something with the best quality per dollar (or euro), which you probably do. :p
 
First of all, thank you BaDToaD for writing a review that served a purpose.


Second (and probably more importantly), thank you MWeston for liking good sound. :)


What about sending a Pandora to http://anythingbutipod.com/ once Pandoras will be in stock? If it's that good in terms of sound then they might want to review it.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh man. Puns like these physically hurt. Can you please tone it down?
Oh, I like a little play on words. But if you want me to stop doing it, I'll pause for a while.


Man, all this pun-making is getting me rewinded. Maybe I went too fast forward with this.


Okay, these puns are getting so bassless, they make me treble.


Now I'm done.
You're right, these puns don't seem to be at an advanced stage.


If you keep writing such inferior word play nonsense then I'm afraid I'll have to move to another audacity entirely. Good puns are supposed to make your head banghurt. Yet yours don't really rock!


audiophiles.png



Source: http://xkcd.com/841/
 
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