Headphone search

Audio Gear Talk
1

Headphone search

Hello all,

I’m looking for a good pair of headphones in addition to a good speaker (probably from Sonos or JBL).

For me, suitable should be an ear-enclosing headphones.

Who has already made good experiences and can recommend me a headphone up to max. 200 euros, which also works well with Roon?

Thanks for your tips and recommendations in advance.

Greetings from Ansgar

2

Are you looking for wired or wireless solution?

3

I am looking for a wireless headphone.
I think it’s best if it goes over the ears. Then I will use it at home on the terrace or in the living room so as not to disturb my wife. For vacation I will continue to take a small headphones that I put in my ears.

What function is important or best for sound quality and transmission? Wifi or and Bluetooth?

4

I don’t believe that there are any quality headphones available that use WiFi but there are many wireless Bluetooth headphones available. To use a wireless Bluetooth headphone with Roon one would need a Roon endpoint that has Bluetooth, such as a tablet or smart phone, which would then send the audio to the headphones.

5

I see. For the tight budget you gave me I would be looking at Bowers and Wilkins – ideally PX7 if you can find a nice maybe used option, or go for a previous generation - such as PX5.

Things to keep in mind – try to find something which has ‘aptX’ and ‘aptx-HD’ codecs on board of these units.

Good thing about Bowers & Wilkins headphones, last 3 generations have good internal DACs which give option for users to connect the headphones via USB-Type C cable so the signal goes directly from the say computer to headphones and it gives very solid quality.

A bit firm headband though, at least people say.

6

I bought the PX7. Unfortunately, I can’t get it to work, let alone pair it with Roon. What am I doing wrong?

7

Roon works a bit different than you may think. It recognized outputs as a Roon Endpoints.

Which means that you need to setup your say smartphone or computer as an endpoint and then use Bluetooth AptX-HD to stream to your headphones. Then it will work.

There are many other options, such as setting up Roon Ready endpoint which works as a Bluetooth Streamer (Not receiver), but it requires higher budget. Use you phone or computer for now and see for yourself