Headphones

[richardfinegold]

Took the public transport into the city today to meet some friends for dinner. Temperature was in the low 70s but humid. Had to walk 6 blocks from home to the El, then after my stop another 3 to the restaurant. Walking somewhat more difficult than prior to my heart surgery 6 weeks ago but not appreciably so. Took my Blu tooth phones, which are over the ear with a vinyl covering. Was sweating like a pig upon arrival, alarming my friends who thought I was having a heart attack. It took me while to get them to understand that it was the heat of the phones and the humidity.
I have experimented with many cans and have not found one that doesn't make feel like I've emerged from a sauna, even in the freezing Midwestern winter.
Ear buds don't cause this, but after half an hour I go crazy feeling like I have a cigar stuffed in both of my otic canals.
Can anyone suggest a satisfactory set of cans that are generally comfortable and sound acceptable? Ideally they should have a low enough impedance to be driven without a separate headphone amp.

[Pulcinella]

Richard

I treated myself to a pair of these yesterday, and am currently sitting in the bright morning sunshine in the garden here in the UK listening to Harris 3!

http://www.richersounds.com/product/all-headphones/sennheiser/hd202-mk2/senn-hd202-mk2

Great price, and perfectly adequate for my needs.
But quite heavy, so ideally you'd want to try them for comfort first.
Good noise reduction, so you'd have to be careful to pay attention to traffic on your city streets!
But like you I cannot stand ear buds.

I'm sure fellow boarders will have their own suggestions, though!

:-)

[richardfinegold]

I listened to Harris 3 yesterday as well, in the car.
I hope you enjoy your phones but they look and cost similar to my Blu tooth phones. I suspect my overactive sweat glands will react the same way.
I will be using my Bose noise reducing phones on the trip because they really do silence the plane engines. They cost much more than I would have liked to spend so I don't like to use them on the El, as they would make a tempting target for our public transportation entrepanuers

[umslopogaas]

In the days when I lived in a small flat and had to use headphones to avoid enraging the neighbours, who didnt seem to like Wagner, cant understand why, I used a pair of Sennheiser HD 530 ll They sounded fine to my ears and I've still got them but have moved to a detached house and no longer need to use them.

A word of caution, I have tinnitus, a continuous hissy whistling noise in my ears. I cant be sure, but I think it is the result of listening to music on headphones at too high a volume.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Open-backed headphones are probably the answer in the home. They do leak a little sound, so would not do on a train or plane, but I find they are not tiring, even when listened to for hours at a time. I've had a pair of Sennheiser 540 headphones for 25 years.

[richardfinegold]

In the days when I lived in a small flat and had to use headphones to avoid enraging the neighbours, who didnt seem to like Wagner, cant understand why, I used a pair of Sennheiser HD 530 ll They sounded fine to my ears and I've still got them but have moved to a detached house and no longer need to use them.

A word of caution, I have tinnitus, a continuous hissy whistling noise in my ears. I cant be sure, but I think it is the result of listening to music on headphones at too high a volume.

Tinnitus can be caused by many things. Listening at loud volumes through conventional speakers is also harmful.

[richardfinegold]

Open-backed headphones are probably the answer in the home. They do leak a little sound, so would not do on a train or plane, but I find they are not tiring, even when listened to for hours at a time. I've had a pair of Sennheiser 540 headphones for 25 years.

Wow I congratulate you on having a rorduct last that long.
I do have a Grado open back set of phones that is around 10 years old. They are comfortable but the leakage issue prevents me from using them more.

[johnb]

I too would like to get some decent headphones to use when I'm out and about earbuds tend to fall out of my ears, and their cables are often distractingly noisy.

When I use headphones at home I use a 20 year old pair of Sennheiser HD600s which are still going strong, are very comfortable and sound wonderful. They are still in production and are still highly recommended.

[Flosshilde]

Open-backed headphones are probably the answer in the home. They do leak a little sound, so would not do on a train or plane, but I find they are not tiring, even when listened to for hours at a time. I've had a pair of Sennheiser 540 headphones for 25 years.

Probably wouldn't be too popular at home, either - one of the reasons I want to use headphones is so that I can listen to music while my partner is reading, & I think he'd find the leaking noise irritating.

I have a (fairly cheap - £50 ish; which seems cheap when I look at what other people spend) set of headphones, but while the sound is OK the aural experience isn't, by which I mean that it doesn't feel as if I'm sitting in a room with an orchestra playing, but sitting with my head in a box with the orchestra etc playing in the box. Or worse, the orchestra inside my head. Doe anyone know of headphones which give the 'open' experience rather than the 'closed' one?

[Cockney Sparrow]

This guy is a speaker maker who acknowledges that headphones provide the closest match to revealing the sound that was recorded (he judges the speaker by how close it gets to the most faithful headphone reproduction). He rates Sennheiser HD800 as the most faithful (I think) but he recommends the HD650 for a rewarding listening experience. However, much more costly than £50. Post no 896 here :

http://hddaudio.net/bb/viewtopic.php?id=8572&p=36

In my experience the HD650s are noticeably better than most others for not only their natural sound and their clarity but because Sennheiser somehow image out of the head like no others.
I compare these things with acoustic music and natural sound, so that you have a reference.
One does get the feeling that what most are actually saying is that whatever headphones they recommend make their music sound how they like it, which isn't terribly useful IMO.


Not a site prone to tolerate audio sophistry and sane on audio matters (avoid the political stuff, though).

And as it happens the HD650's have been on offer at a substantial discount at Amazon ("Sennheiser HD650 Reference Over-Ear Headphone")at the moment - they have been for several days now, so that may not last. BTW Sennheiser connecting leads unplug and can be replaced, including with longer ones if necessary I think, helping to preserve them over a longer term.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Oops. Too hasty, you want the spatial image AND closed back. HD 650's are open back. Might be difficult to fulfil this requirement with closed back headphones....

[johnb]

I have had a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones for 16 years and they are still going strong. The HD600s are still in production (£219 at Amazon) and are still very highly regarded: many people prefer them to the HD650s. One advantage of the HD600 and other Sennheiser headphones is that parts are readily available - e.g. I replaced the velour ear muffs, velour headband pads and cable some years ago.

The HD600 are extremely comfortable and have a beautifully balanced and refined sound.

One thing to watch out for is that some (many ?) headphones have an unnaturally boosted bass to cater for the pop enthusiasts.

[MrGongGong]

In my experience the lower priced Sennheisers are a bit liable to fall apart, however the top end ones are excellent
I'm more keen on AKG and Beyerdynamic myself I have some AKG K401's (open) that are wonderful and DT250's (closed) are nice to wear for long periods.

[Keraulophone]

I recently traded in my 20-year-old Stax 'earspeakers' for a newer model (SR-L700). Carefully used models are often available and sought after as they are not cheap to buy new and require an 'energiser' (high-voltage amplifier, usually with valves). They are the equivalent of Quad Electrostatic loudspeakers for the ears, and seem to place the sound out of your head, as if you have a string quartet, for example, laid out in front of you rather than occupying a narrow space between the ears. After over 50 years of production and innovation, Stax have learnt a thing or two about these designs which, many feel, suit classical music and jazz extremely well.

However, Stax are the complete opposite of closed-back headphones, for which I could recommend the fairly recent and comfortable Oppo PM-3 closed-back Planar Magnetic Headphones, which suits on-the-go use with a smartphone or DAP (through a Chord Mojo - an amazing DAC the size of a cigarette packet - if possible), as well as isolating the listener from extraneous noise in their armchair.

http://www.oppodigital.co.uk/ecommerce/product/pm-3-planar-magnetic-headphones.aspx

[richardfinegold]

I recently traded in my 20-year-old Stax 'earspeakers' for a newer model (SR-L700). Carefully used models are often available and sought after as they are not cheap to buy new and require an 'energiser' (high-voltage amplifier, usually with valves). They are the equivalent of Quad Electrostatic loudspeakers for the ears, and seem to place the sound out of your head, as if you have a string quartet, for example, laid out in front of you rather than occupying a narrow space between the ears. After over 50 years of production and innovation, Stax have learnt a thing or two about these designs which, many feel, suit classical music and jazz extremely well.

However, Stax are the complete opposite of closed-back headphones, for which I could recommend the fairly recent and comfortable Oppo PM-3 closed-back Planar Magnetic Headphones, which suits on-the-go use with a smartphone or DAP (through a Chord Mojo - an amazing DAC the size of a cigarette packet - if possible), as well as isolating the listener from extraneous noise in their armchair.

http://www.oppodigital.co.uk/ecommer...eadphones.aspx

I second the Oppo PM-3 as everytime I use it, I am amazed by how good they sound. I don't think that they need a seperate headphone amp, however. My low end Samsung Phone , Oppo BD 105, and ipad all seem to drive it as well as the Creek headphone Amp that I had rather needlessly purchased and have therefore since sold off.
It would be fun, though to try them with the Chord Mojo or Hugo