Recommendations on Headphones

[Kevmosmith]

Hi all,

I am looking for some recommendations on a set of headphones for home listening.

Looking in the $100-200 range.

Thanks - any help would be appreciated.

Kevin

[Deang]

These people have their act together -- nice site with good write ups.

http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-application/audiophiles/

[ColonialHoo]

Kevin -

I've been using a pair of Sennheiser HD 485 phones for about a year. Cost me around $85 (if I remember correctly). I have been very happy with these. Nice quality and pretty nice sound. On top of that, they're really comfortable for "over the ear". I know there are a few nicer pairs in the line that are much better, and in your target range.

Good Luck - Chuck

[kaiser SET say]

Good call Dean, Headroom is dedicated to phones and portable listening[]

IMHO Grado SR-60's are going to give you 75 to 85% of what a $200.00 pair will give you plus you have media money left over[]

[kaiser SET say]

A couple pairs if your going the distance[]

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/full-size/sennheiser-hd-595.php

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/earpad/grado-sr-225.php

I still think the SR-60's are the best bang for the buck and I hear they are under $69.95 now[]

[PrestonTom]

A couple pairs if your going the distance[]

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/full-size/sennheiser-hd-595.php

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/earpad/grado-sr-225.php

I still think the SR-60's are the best bang for the buck and I hear they are under $69.95 now[]

I certainly agree. Both the SR 60 & 70 are a great bang for the buck. They are a supra-aural design (sits on top of the outer ear). so there are two caveats.The first is that the bass response is dependent on how carefully you put them on and second, some folks find them uncomfortable after an extended period of time (most are fine with them).

If money is not an issue, then the more expensive Etymotics are quite good (eg ER4x). They were well-designed and well-thought through. A very accurate sound.

Good Luck,

-Tom

[mdl]

I think headphones are really tough to recommend. For example, I am not a fan of Grado's, though many people clearly love them. I have owned them long term, and they were just not musical for me (more hyper detailed and flat). There are the Alessandro versions which may be more to my liking, but I have never tried them.

The cans that have worked for me are the Shure e2c (cheap in ears) and the Sennheiser HD600 (available for under 200). I also recommend looking at an external crossfeed circuit to make the headphone listening experience better. I picked up a nice external crossfeed for 100 bills. My Klipsch setup these days is a pair of Heresy's and an HK A402 integrated (*mint*) so if the sound of that appeals to you, you may want to check out my recs :-)

[Audio Flynn]

Big Shoulders, Hereseys and a pair of 2A3 amps.[8-|]

[fini]

Whatever cans you get, save some dough (ha!) for a BBX to power 'em...

[UFObuster]

ditto on the Grado recommendation...

I use the SR-125....an "upscale" version of the low-end cans. You gain just a little more bass extension...not much....still well under $200.

Besides, they're retro and look cool!

[pauln]

If you have monoblock amps you might try altering your headphones to balanced. The usual phone is ring-tip-sleeve with the two channels sharing a common ground. I separated mine so each headphone channel has a pos and neg for each amp channel. The improvement is rather clear on my 30 year old Sennheiser HD424's, which are still very fine headphones; 102dB with 1.41 Volts / .001Watts 2000ohms.

[Jay481985]

A couple pairs if your going the distance[]

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/full-size/sennheiser-hd-595.php

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/earpad/grado-sr-225.php

I still think the SR-60's are the best bang for the buck and I hear they are under $69.95 now[]

I certainly agree. Both the SR 60 & 70 are a great bang for the buck. They are a supra-aural design (sits on top of the outer ear). so there are two caveats.The first is that the bass response is dependent on how carefully you put them on and second, some folks find them uncomfortable after an extended period of time (most are fine with them).

If money is not an issue, then the more expensive Etymotics are quite good (eg ER4x). They were well-designed and well-thought through. A very accurate sound.

Good Luck,

-Tom

you can get the etymotic er4 portable model for 199.

[fini]

If you have monoblock amps you might try altering your headphones to balanced. The usual phone is ring-tip-sleeve with the two channels sharing a common ground. I separated mine so each headphone channel has a pos and neg for each amp channel. The improvement is rather clear on my 30 year old Sennheiser HD424's, which are still very fine headphones; 102dB with 1.41 Volts / .001Watts 2000ohms.

pauln,

Where did you separate the channels? Right at the plug? Or did you replace the wires all together?

[pauln]

After many years of not using my phones I got them out about six months ago to try again and was again sort of disappointed with the sound. After a while I convinced myself that something was wrong with one of the channels and decided to disassemble each side (open the drivers). I was pleased to find that the elements and structures of the pair had a slight difference, and in fooling around I discovered that a little formed peice of plactic that holds the internal contact connection to the driver in one channel was slightly slipped out of place. I fixed it! The sound was clear and pleasant after that, but with additional listening I began to feel that I just might not be a headphone person - the spatial and localization information just sounded funny as always with phones and not like listening to speakers in a room. But I was happy they were fixed and thought I would just listen with them on occasion. Reading the phone site mentioned at the beginning of this thread got me to thinking, and I decided to try the balanced approach they advocate for better phone listening.

First I removed the wire from the headphone; on the Sennheisers each channel just connects to each side of the headphone with little plugs.

Then I cut off the ring-tip-sleeve phono plug at the other end, separated the two main bundles, stripped each to find the pair of wires in each channel, stipped the ends of those individual wires.

In mine, the left channel is marked with a yellow connector and right is red where these plugs go into the headphone itself. At the cut end, the two wire pairs where yellow/black, and red/blue. I assumed that the yellow and red were pos and the black and blue neg; then I used a VOM to ensure continuity and verify the assumed polarity. The yellow and red plugs that go into the headphone end are designed with one pin slightly larger than the other within each plug to insure it only goes in one way.

I was originally going to use a small terminal strip to make the connections between the phone wires and the amps, but then I realised I had a pair of dual banana connectors and used those to terminate each phone wire pair. Plugging in the headphones is just twice as much trouble now since there are two connectiones to make. I am hooking the phones directly to each amps' outputs since the 2000ohm impedance of the phones protects everything.

I thought of doing this because of noticing that the headphone site sells balanced amps for thousands of bucks (integrated two channel amps in which the common ground between the channels has been removed or designed not to have that) made especially to provide this balanced feature for headphone listening. And yes, they offer some cables that may be found where the design is as I have done to mine for hundeds of bucks.

I have had my phones for ages and have not used them much because I always thought they had a unnatural sound in terms of space and location cues. The above mentioned website had some things technical to say about that including the idea that some fundamental problems with headphones stem from the shared common ground of the stereo channels, and that the balanced configuration addresses that and in so doing does away with perhaps a good portion of the fundamental problems of phones. There are other things going on that relate to the nature of sound and recording and different techniques resulting in different effects with headphone listening - read about it at the site if you want.

I am quite pleased with the result. The first record I played (to test my wiring) was a delight. It was as if each previous headphone listening had been attempted while I had a head cold, and this was the first time I listened when I was clear. The foggy congestion of past listening went away. The sound is more dispersed outside one's head. There is more of the feeling of listening in a room. It is a noticable difference I enjoy. For example, in the past I have noticed that swinging the balance control has made a big difference in the sound, but in the new wired form the sound image is mostly unchanged and stable with wide swings of the balance control (except at the extemes where one channel is cut off entirely). This was unexpected and I don't have a sense yet of why this would be but I sure do like the change in sound. My phones will be getting more use now, for sure.

[Gilbert]

Having worked in a relatively noisy office for the past 12 years, I've tried a few, and so have many of the other engineers in this office. Wireless in both IR, UHF varieties, hardwired, you name it, I've tried it.

With that said, Sennheiser seems to be the most prefered here in the office. If exterior noises, e.g. (kids screaming, dogs barking, cars driving by, etc., etc.) are a problem, consider the sealed type headphone. These are the type that will form a seal around your ears, but these will get warm after a while. If exterior noises are not a problem, then get the style that do not form a seal around your ear. The later style are by far more comfortable, and can be worn for hours on end with out any discomfort. I would not say that one style has better sound quality than the other, becasue I've had them both.

[Jay Registrar]

I would have to ditto DeanG. There is a wealth on information on headphones in general, plus they have every product under the sun. I have bought three pairs of headphones from them at different times. They emailed me on one pair and said it was on backorder for a month. Funny thing, it came 3 days later, and less cost than the ad stated. Good place to do business!

http://www.headphone.com/

[fini]

After many years of not using my phones I got them out about six months ago to try again and was again sort of disappointed with the sound. After a while I convinced myself that something was wrong with one of the channels and decided to disassemble each side (open the drivers). I was pleased to find that the elements and structures of the pair had a slight difference, and in fooling around I discovered that a little formed peice of plactic that holds the internal contact connection to the driver in one channel was slightly slipped out of place. I fixed it! The sound was clear and pleasant after that, but with additional listening I began to feel that I just might not be a headphone person - the spatial and localization information just sounded funny as always with phones and not like listening to speakers in a room. But I was happy they were fixed and thought I would just listen with them on occasion. Reading the phone site mentioned at the beginning of this thread got me to thinking, and I decided to try the balanced approach they advocate for better phone listening.

First I removed the wire from the headphone; on the Sennheisers each channel just connects to each side of the headphone with little plugs.

Then I cut off the ring-tip-sleeve phono plug at the other end, separated the two main bundles, stripped each to find the pair of wires in each channel, stipped the ends of those individual wires.

In mine, the left channel is marked with a yellow connector and right is red where these plugs go into the headphone itself. At the cut end, the two wire pairs where yellow/black, and red/blue. I assumed that the yellow and red were pos and the black and blue neg; then I used a VOM to ensure continuity and verify the assumed polarity. The yellow and red plugs that go into the headphone end are designed with one pin slightly larger than the other within each plug to insure it only goes in one way.

I was originally going to use a small terminal strip to make the connections between the phone wires and the amps, but then I realised I had a pair of dual banana connectors and used those to terminate each phone wire pair. Plugging in the headphones is just twice as much trouble now since there are two connectiones to make. I am hooking the phones directly to each amps' outputs since the 2000ohm impedance of the phones protects everything.

I thought of doing this because of noticing that the headphone site sells balanced amps for thousands of bucks (integrated two channel amps in which the common ground between the channels has been removed or designed not to have that) made especially to provide this balanced feature for headphone listening. And yes, they offer some cables that may be found where the design is as I have done to mine for hundeds of bucks.

I have had my phones for ages and have not used them much because I always thought they had a unnatural sound in terms of space and location cues. The above mentioned website had some things technical to say about that including the idea that some fundamental problems with headphones stem from the shared common ground of the stereo channels, and that the balanced configuration addresses that and in so doing does away with perhaps a good portion of the fundamental problems of phones. There are other things going on that relate to the nature of sound and recording and different techniques resulting in different effects with headphone listening - read about it at the site if you want.

I am quite pleased with the result. The first record I played (to test my wiring) was a delight. It was as if each previous headphone listening had been attempted while I had a head cold, and this was the first time I listened when I was clear. The foggy congestion of past listening went away. The sound is more dispersed outside one's head. There is more of the feeling of listening in a room. It is a noticable difference I enjoy. For example, in the past I have noticed that swinging the balance control has made a big difference in the sound, but in the new wired form the sound image is mostly unchanged and stable with wide swings of the balance control (except at the extemes where one channel is cut off entirely). This was unexpected and I don't have a sense yet of why this would be but I sure do like the change in sound. My phones will be getting more use now, for sure.

pauln,

Thanks for the info! I just ordered a replacement cord for my HD600s, so that I can make a dedicated balanced cord. You mention the 2000 ohm impedence of your cans, and it protecting everything. The HD600s are 300 ohm. What am I risking hooking these up to an amp? I'm comsidering the TEAC chip amp, as in it, the grounds for each channel are separate.

[pauln]

After many years of not using my phones... Yada yada yada... My phones will be getting more use now, for sure.

pauln,

Thanks for the info! I just ordered a replacement cord for my HD600s, so that I can make a dedicated balanced cord. You mention the 2000 ohm impedence of your cans, and it protecting everything. The HD600s are 300 ohm. What am I risking hooking these up to an amp? I'm comsidering the TEAC chip amp, as in it, the grounds for each channel are separate.

No risk at all. My ancient HD424 instructions reads,

"All Sennheiser hi-fi headphones are... yada yada yada ...If your power amplifier does not have a jack for headphones, the connections should be made directly to the loudspeaker terminals on the back of the amplifier. It is not necessary to provide protection resistors."

"The matching of impedances between a source and a load becomes

important when maximum power has to be transferred. This is not the

case with headphones. They will require only a very small power in the

order of a few thousands of a watt."

"A relatively high impedance was chosen for Sennheiser headphones to automatically limit the power delivered into the headphone. This protects them, as well as your hearing, from excessive volume."

There is also a chart showing the Watts to SPL dB output provided when the Watts

driving various model (1975) phones reaches 0.001 Watt (1mW) (one thousanth of a Watt) and the

phone with 200 ohms impedance is 94dB.

Likewise, there is another chart showing the voltage needed to get 102dB

with various models (1975); the model that has 200 ohm impedance requires

1.13 volts to get to 102dB. Goes on to perform a sample calculation

that a 10W amp driving an 8 ohm speaker will put 9 volts at the

terminals; so even modest amps have plenty of signal level for

headphones.

From looking at recent websites about headphones it

looks like the impedance of headphones in general has crept lower

through the years... right now folks just begin to get wary with phones with

impedance in the 20 ohm range (!).

You know the http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/build-a-graph/ site has the graphs for FR, dist, impedance, and isolation...

[fini]

Thanks again! This will be an elegant solution, me thinks. I guess banana plugs will be the termination of choice...