Re-discovering music through headphones

A

ADolla

...or really loud speakers in clubs etc.

Have you ever happened to play a song that hasn't really appealed much to you before/you've never really 'got', only through high quality headphones or in a night club or a similar situation, and suddenly found yourself in love with it? It's strange how this happens. I listen to music 80% of the time through my laptop which doesn't have excellent quality speakers, and isn't very loud, so it's a pleasure to listen to music again through my iPod and Skullcandy headphones. It's how I fell in love with much of Bjork's stuff, having been a bit up in the air about it before, and I thought B'Day was a waste of time before boogying on down to "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade U" in the gym a couple months ago.

Does anyone else know what I'm on about or am I just chatting complete shit?

Also, do you have a preferred brand of headphone? I'd love to get my hands on those Dr Dre ones that GaGa is always banging on about, but they're about £300 and I fear I only want them because... GaGa is always banging on about them. I treasure my Skullcandy in-ear bud headphones, the sound quality is the best I've ever heard for that price.
 
jknza22

jknza22

Yes! This happens quite often with me. It's most often the bass-heavy tracks that my laptop doesn't do justice, I've found. But I actually had a similar Bjork-enhancing experience... I forget what song. I think it was Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Remix). I've gotten to the point where I can tell pretty well what songs have potential to be great on headphones but that my laptop is making sound flat.

At the same time, I find kind of perplexing/off-putting the idea that songs don't have an inherent quality to them and that they can be bettered/worsened by the bitrate and means of listening.

Oh and my headphones are in-ear Sony... er somethings haha. They were like 60 bucks so good quality, nice bass, etc. but certainly not Dr. Dre caliber.
 
P

PushTart

I have in-ear Skullcandy's that were amazing, until they broke. I'd only had them about two months and there's a dodgy connection so one ear doesn't work. Heart-wrenching :( They had a certain clarity where I could hear things in songs that I couldn't before.

And I want Dre headphones too - I'm saving, innit.
 
Eric Generic

Eric Generic

I do find that listening on headphones can reveal new/different qualities in the music that I like. Only the other night, I had my "Best of 1989" playlist on the ipod and I was hearing things in the production of Its Only Love by Simply Red that I'd just never noticed before, after 20 years of playing it on a hi-fi.

Sennheiser are the brand I swear by. I've got two pairs of their "natural sound" over the ear headphones.

EG.
 
popjunkie

popjunkie

He/Him
This normally happens to me in clubs. Some songs need to be belted loud to be fully appreciated.

Off the top of my head this has happened to me with:

Lady GaGa - Love Game
MGMT - Time To Pretend
Fergie - Fergalicious
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous (I hated it till I heard it in a club)
The Saturdays - Just Can't Get Enough (sounded so much better last night in a club than at home)
 
R

Resi12

YES! I absolutely love Lily Allen and her new album but on a bus trip recently I was listening to it and Back To The Start completely clicked with me.
Just a brilliant song and definately my favourite of the whole album!
 
Filler

Filler

ADolla said:
...and I thought B'Day was a waste of time before boogying on down to "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade U" in the gym a couple months ago.
Click to expand...

I had the opposite experience. B'Day, more than any other album I can think of, is the one that suffers most from being heard in optimal quality, the production being so horribly sparse and basic most of the way through that there really is nothing new at all to hear. Essentially a capellas with the odd thump thrown on top. When the illusion of Ring the Alarm being amazing was shattered by getting proper headphones, it was quite possibly the only time I have ever thought "you know, this would be so much better with a guitar in it".
 
H

Hot_Mess29

I hear music through headphones 95% of the time, partly because it means I can play the most embarressing music without anyone hearing and party because I just like having music in my ear, it just feels like your more connected to it.

Although I break my headphones every month by fiddling with them and now only get cheap ones.
 
clockworknovak

clockworknovak

I listen to the majority of my music through headphones as well. It's really the only way to get all the subtleties of the music. Bjork is perfect headphone music. She has a song called 'Headphones' for chrissake! Which, unironically, is an amazingly detailed headphone song. :)
 
T

type:epyt

Headphones often lend your ears to subtle sounds lost in other listening formats .. especially laptops/pc's ...

Bjork's Volta is a perfect example of this ... it sounds dreadful on a hi-fi (too muddled) but amazing on an ipod ...

I have mid-range hi-fi separates so don't often find new sounds in full blown big budget studio produced music ... but when you listen to stuff that obviously hasn't had that care and attention paid to it then headphones are deffo. a good way to get more out of the music.

i urge everyone to at least burn their favourite ipod album onto a disc if you don't own the original and listen to it on a proper hi-fi ... laptops/ipods are convenient and cost effective but don't do the music justice ... you can buy an amazing hi-fi for £1k an it will last 10 years if you don't have shit flatmates kicking the arse out of it ... which, if you think of all you spend on music in a year it's not a bad outlay ... but then that might be the problem ... free/easy downloads cheapen the music slightly and therefore don't encourage folks to do it justice ...
 
andru

andru

he/him
It always happens, especially with headphones - I always pick up on the little blips and beeps that go unnoticed or get muffled when listening through your average set of speakers. It's like you're listening to a completely different song sometimes.
 
J

JJBoy01

Buying seperate speakers for my computer was the best thing I ever did! You can get a decent se for around £30 and it makes such a difference if you're always playing music through i-tunes.

As for rediscovering songs through earphones, Britney's 'touch of my hand' and 'then we kiss' are songs I love just taking in properly through headphones. Both songs have amazing production, and I LOVE hearing britneys breathey sexy talking sections right inside my ears that you normally don't notice through speakers. Also Lady GaGa's paparazzi clicked with me when i had my i-pod on shuffle the other day.
 
Josh

Josh

I don't understand how any regular visitor to this forum could settle for listening to music through their laptop most of the time; plus getting seperate speakers that are even just 'good' isn't that expensive anymore.

I've got both a desktop PC and a laptop, and a really decent set of surround sound speakers. I mostly use my laptop for work/uni stuff so I don't usually listen to music on it, but if I do I just plug in my headphones.

I'd say 60% of the time I listen to music through my iPod and my headphones - either when it gets late at night or just walking about going places. When my headphones broke last month I had about 3 or 4 days using the original iPod headphones which came supplied with it and it was such a drop in quality I really didn't enjoy listening to music for those few days because of it!

I'd say if there is anytime I do 'click' with a song that I hadn't previously, it would definitely be on nights out. Can't think of anything particular off the top of my head though!
 
D

Daneeeboy

I listen to music pretty much exclusively through my iPod. I have a stereo but it doesn't get much use. I'm saving up for a new entertainment system though - flat screen, appletv and proper surround sound, high quality speakers. PARTY TIME.
 
robots need oil

robots need oil

I have some big skullcandy headphones which are ace but I can't take them out the house cos I have a tiny head and they make it look even smaller....(sadface) the same goes for in-ear headphones as my ears are too small for them, the regular ipod headphones fit them fine though!

I find music played on huge speakers so much better though (obvz) I have some old speakers at my home home - when I'm not at uni, and they shake the floor, they're so amazing. Especially when I have my drum and bass moments.
 
airhostess

airhostess

So what would be the best budget headphones for me to listen to music through my iPod with? I prefer the in-ear ones, like the ones supplied with your iPod, as opposed to something that either wraps around your ear or big clumpy ear muffs.

And by budget i really cheap, say £20-30. I used to use the JVC Gumy ones because i liked the pink ones.....
 
A

Alex F.

I'm a fan of Sennheiser headphones - very impressive range and clarity. I bought HD595 more than a year ago and despite continuous everyday (8+ hours) use they are still perfect and no cable issues. And with the sound range of 12-38500Hz that's the only headphones I've tried that do not distord any sounds in my live bootlegs. These are open headphones though, so for work I got HD280p, which are almost as good - but a bit tighter on the ears, smaller, and closed.

The only drawback is that anything else now feels so shit in comparison :|
I completely stopped using in-ear phones or anything built-in.
 
P

primrose12

ADolla said:
...or really loud speakers in clubs etc.

Have you ever happened to play a song that hasn't really appealed much to you before/you've never really 'got', only through high quality headphones or in a night club or a similar situation, and suddenly found yourself in love with it? It's strange how this happens. I listen to music 80% of the time through my laptop which doesn't have excellent quality speakers, and isn't very loud, so it's a pleasure to listen to music again through my iPod and Skullcandy headphones. It's how I fell in love with much of Bjork's stuff, having been a bit up in the air about it before, and I thought B'Day was a waste of time before boogying on down to "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade U" in the gym a couple months ago.

Does anyone else know what I'm on about or am I just chatting complete shit?

Also, do you have a preferred brand of headphone? I'd love to get my hands on those Dr Dre ones that GaGa is always banging on about, but they're about £300 and I fear I only want them because... GaGa is always banging on about them. I treasure my Skullcandy in-ear bud headphones, the sound quality is the best I've ever heard for that price.
Click to expand...

same thing with me i feel the song more with headphones on and i can hear the different types of beats clearly. even when i put headphones on the computer it makes the music sound so much better.

for example when i first heard paparazzi by gaga from the speaker phones i was like whats the big deal with this song but when i inserted my headphones on the desktop it made me realise why other fans wanted it as a single.
 
P

primrose12

Scruffy said:
I love the way the skully candy headphones totally bring out the bass in everything, great for electro stuff!
Click to expand...

yeah man bass in music is cool.

sugababes round round & in the middle i can hear the electro bits in between
 
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