Headphones for lossless audio

[AllyBassman]

Hi everyone,

I've recently switched over to Apple Music for their 'lossless' audio. I've been impressed with how it sounds through my Sonos setup, so with that in mind I decided to purchase a set of Airpod Max headphones for what I thought would be a way to listen to lossless audio on the move via a Mac / iPhone

Oh how wrong I was, they look great, feel great but for £550 I can't justify the cost for something that sounds not much better than my old and battered Sennheiser HD25's and does not support Lossless via Bluetooth 5.0.. (every day is a school day!)

Please can I ask for some advice\suggestions regarding some good quality headphones to listen to lossless audio via a Macbook, preferably over ear as they will getting used most of my working day. I'm happy that it limits me to wired headphones, will I need a separate DAC or will 3.5mm jack suffice?


Cheers!

[BIRMA]

I was in a similar position some time ago. Check out some of the Focal range, far superior sound, I suffered budget creep and bought a pair of Stellia’s. Audio T let you try a pair but you have to pay for them for the loan arrangement but well worth it to try at home.

At the moment Focal Eligia are on offer as an older model for around £500 they would be so much better sound wise than the equivalent Apple product, closed back too so you won't annoy people around you.

DAC's start to get the budget up, I have the Focal Arche which is superb but I also have a Chord Mojo that punches way above it's weight/cost it's battery powered too so transportable.

Edited by BIRMA on Tuesday 25th January 17:11

Edited by BIRMA on Wednesday 26th January 09:03

Edited by BIRMA on Wednesday 26th January 09:18

[belleair302]

Dragonfly Red as a DAC on the Mac then buy a pair of Beyerdynamic Amiron. Epic sound for not much money. Comfortable too. Focal are amazing but very pricey.

[AllyBassman]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps. I wanted to spend around the £400 mark including the DAC - I spent most of the evening doing my research and settled on a IFI Audio ZEN DAC V2 and a pair of HiFiMAN Sundra's

I've been listening to my old Sennheiser HD 25's and I forgot how good they are even just plugged into my Mac.

Too much time wasted by the connivence of airpods, sound quality is more important for me, so i'm looking forward to seeing how I get on with this new setup.