+1 for Tidal, have used it since March on a family plan and the quality is excellent. Wish it had customisable EQ though. But do I? The question comes and goes. Usually when listening to tin-eared classics like Zeppelin. That’s the one problem with better audio equipment is that it can render a lot of your favourites unlistenable. I’d certainly appreciate a function to tag custom EQ settings to albums in my collection.

All 9 minutes and 8 seconds of it

@trailwagger – Ben Ottowell lives near me and regularly plays local solo gigs. Not a huge fan – Bring it on was decent, everything else a bit pish

Not a huge fan – Bring it on was decent, everything else a bit pish

Every album released after has at least one belter of a track on it, the others are fillers at best. But Bring it on is a top ten album of all time for me, its was played on repeat for many years after its release and still gets a regular listen now.

I have started using a pair of middle of the road wireless in ear headphones for an exercise regime each evening.

The few re runs of radio 4 comedy shows were fun and albums by Faithless and Joy Division got me going on the trails.

However playing Pink Floyd’s “wish you were here” stopped me in my tracks.

The multiple layers and the abstract stuff at the beginning is incredible and I don’t mind admitting got the “Ray Meares” going as I was taken back to the moment when my brother passed.

The power of music never fails to impress.

I just got the sony wh-1000x-m3 to and have been going through the tracks above loving the suggestions so far aprart from dire straights and level 42. Think the Orb – valley, Underworld – Cowgirl and SYML Whers my love are my favs so far but will continue with listen today 🙂

Obviously depends on your musical taste but songs that I’ve listened to on a decent set of headphones and thought they sounded much better and it picked up parts I’d not really heard before:

Kings of Leon – Closer

Nine Inch Nails – Terrible Lie

Sneaker Pimps – Wasted Early Sunday Morning

Portishead – Roads

Great thread

e.s.t live in Hamburg – Eighthundred Streets by Feet, stunning IMO

some others to try:
Radiohead – Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi
Daft Punk – Around the World/ Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Alive 2007
Christina Aquilera – Fighter
Morcheeba – Crimson
Bowie – Blackstar
Groove Armada – Superstylin’
Dire Straits – On every street (live version)
Chez Moon – Midnight love (Larse’s Full Moon Remix)

California Soul by Marlena Shaw – the natural reverb of the room the drums are recorded on is a delight but all of the song is great

Killing in the Name of by RATM

Did they Ever Tell Cousteau by EST (actually all of that album (Seven Days of Falling) is mega)

Freddie Freeloader by Miles Davis

@djflexure – you have great taste 🙂 glad I’m not the only one who likes EST

@goby as you like Orb (ambient?) maybe you’ve chanced upon the Orb/Fripp album ‘FFWD’? If not, it’s worth hunting down and the audio is just as you’d expect fron Orb/Fripp

Q: What happens if you pipe the live mix straight to audience of musicphiles who are attending a gig with J D Beck and Mono Neon on drums and bass?

A: Eargasm (@1 min 57secs) 😂🤣

Everything I like sounds great to me wether it’s in the car, on an ipod or through a transistor radio.
That said, when I stick the Audio Technicas on I usually reach for
Moderat, Moderat II or Moderat III or, always blows me away – Atoms For Peace – AMOK.

Obviously depends on your musical taste

Indeed: Billie Eilish over Dire bloody Straits any day! 😀

Bad Kingdom on Moderat II is excellent if your bass can handle it.

Bad Kingdom on Moderat II is excellent if your bass can handle it.

That’s what I love about the Audio Technicas – such a clean bass sound, like unfiltered (if that’s a thing with hi-fi (probably not, but I know what I mean)). Compared to some AKGs which seemed to compress the bass, they are amazing.

I might be biased but probably any Bowie album Let’s Dance or chuck in some Van Morrison

I think this calls for a singletrack recommendation playlist on Spotify. If I get the time later this evening I’ll build a list with all the songs on this added to it.

Just listening to purple rain again, what a song

Great idea!!!

Sony WH-1000XM3

I have them as well. Bloody brilliant things they are and don’t let anyone try and tell you otherwise.

For anyone that doesn’t know about it, the original STW playlist here, obviously not headphone specific…

Spotify

Grado SR 80’s through a FiiO USB DAC/Headphone AMP are my WFH audio set up.

I also have the WH-1000XM3’s for when I’m out and about but whilst they’re outstanding for closed back Bluetooth jobbies they can’t quite match the Grados.

Some good suggestions above (Moderat!!) But for some more suggestions to get us away from all the dad-rock:

Just listening to purple rain again, what a song

Took me (IMO) too many years to listen outside of metal, rock and new wave and so at that period I just saw Prince as a showoffy rock/pop act. Started losing most of my musical virginities late (circa late 90s) and with the interwebz and file-sharing (remember the Napster and AudioGalaxy days??) began exploring dance, classical, electronica, experimental, noise, funk, soul, afrobeat, latin, folk, etc etc. Have given a lot more appreciation/respect for Prince since having my ears ‘cleaned’ and I can enjoy so much more musics. Recent years (thanks to the interwebz) I relistened Prince and I was of course found to be previously and horribly uninformed! Have you heard the Loring Park Sessions? It was 1977 and the kid was already Mr NYC Minneapolis, AKA Funkchops! Amazing and beautiful.

Ben Ottowell lives near me and regularly plays local solo gigs.

Completely OT, but I really enjoy his solo stuff. Agree that after Bring It On it all went downhill a bit though.

40 posts and no kraftwerk, autobahn. 23 mins long, 1975. Amazing, my workout music

@funkmasterp – are you local to Matlock, or does he play farther afield, or do you just hear him online?

Ah wow i got some of the Grado SR 80’s too, just what with working at home i needed the noise cancelling!
Both are great headphones, the grado are now 15 years old! still sound sublime when its quiet in the house!

Online, would love to see him live. I think his voice is great. I’m over Cheshire way in Macclesfield.

Love Grado, gloriously idiosyncratic company.

Their headphones looks like someing a WWII air traffic controller would wear to talk to Lancasters and they leak sound so enthusiaticaly they’re 100% unacceptable in polite company but if neither of those thing matter they are pretty unmatched in terms for bang for your buck sound quality.

I have £300 B&W’s that don’t sound nearly as good as my SR80’s, they can be worn on an plane without my fellow passengers wanting to throttle me with the cord though.

(non-live version probably better on headphones)

But don’t watch on YouTube while listening to any headphone tracks if you can help it – it diminishes the intimate effect you’re looking for imo.

One of things this exercise showed me was just how bad YouTube and Spotify sound compared to my local ripped library (some in high res).
Ugh – on most of my fav Bjork tracks I tried to find, they sounded like mush!

I’ll just add a song that popped up on my Spotify wrap playlist, Paolo Nutini – Iron Sky. Worth it alone for the Charlie Chaplain speech clip.

Iron sky the whole album one of my favourite s, don’t know what Paulo is doing other than smoking his herbal puff, maybe wrapping white puddin suppers with his dad

Paolo Nutini – Iron Sky.

Good call. Seen him live, he was incredible

Some epic contributions here: dusted off my old AKG’s…

Got to add this from Nils Lofgren for all you guitar / Springsteen fans out there. Super crisp:

Can’t watch that, I’ll be an emotional wreck for the rest of the afternoon.

Kicks me square in the feels every time.

Marshall major iii’s, albeit with an ear infection.

Ultravox always managed to get an excellent bass sound. Really cuts:

That pub looks familiar…

The Marshall headphones really bring out the attack in the guitar histrionics on tools ‘lateralus’.

Maybe I’m getting old, but John Martyn’s ‘may you never’, sounds utterly sublime.

@molgrips – Cathedral, good suggestion – never heard it before.

But – codecs, wtf – where do I even check these, never mind change them?

Maybe I’m getting old, but John Martyn’s ‘may you never’, sounds utterly sublime.

Got into John Martyn this year (vague memories of hearing my parents playing his stuff many monns ago)

I recommended Sivert Hoyem, Blown Away in my OP

Just listened to another of his – Prisoner of the Road – wow!

Going to go through some more now