Author Topic: HEADPHONES Y'ALL (Read 7554 times)

indysmith · « **on:** December 30, 2007, 11:19:07 PM »

Sorry about the capitals...

But honestly - this is the biggest, bestest piece of advice any of you will ever have had as music fans.
Get some decent headphones. Real ones; spend some damn money on them. I know loads of people - guitarists, non-guitarists, doesn't matter, who love music, but listen to it through shitety iPod earbuds, or some cr@ppy £20 "streetwear" things...
I got some Grado SR-80s for Christmas (not ridiculously expensive - a bit less than £100; less if ur in the states) and they have COMPLETELY changed the way I listen to music. It's a completely different experience; it's like I'm standing in the room with the musicians, where before i would have had trouble counting the insturments, i can hear every minor detail of each instrument, easily seperating it from the mix. Everything's just fuller, fatter, but also airier than before, retaining clarity at any volume level. I feel involved in the music in a way that i never have before.
This is all awesome - but I've found the greatest thing about these new headphones is that i can now listen to live albums! Before they were a mess of sound, muffled by the bloody screaming audience. Now it's like I'm one of the audience. Shut your eyes and it's like you're standing in the middle of a venue surrounded by hundreds, thousands of people, seeing your favourite band, whenever I like :D It's incredible. I can't preach this enough.
Obviously there will be those of you out there with decent headphones already; please back up my point and share your experiences. Thanks

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2007, 11:42:50 PM »

Well, ultimately, it depends on your hi fi. A good pair of headphones, however, can give you the equivalent sound quality of a very good hi fi. The better your hi fi, the less earth moving good cans will sound.

That being said, there is an immediacy that you get from headphone listening that only the best hi fi systems, played at reference (often this is also "lease breaking") volume, can achieve.

As for headphones, they fall into 2 categories -- open ear and closed ear. I prefer the naturalness of open ear headphones; their major drawback is the fact that everyone can hear what you hear; they are also a little impractical for tracking -- I prefer closed ear cans for that.

My absolute favourite headphones are made by a Japanese company called STAX. I have a rather old pair of STAX headphones (about 10 years old). They are NOT portable, however; nor would you want to carry them around as they need their own power amplifier and cost a lot of money!!

For more day to day listening, I prefer Grado. I'm on a first name basis with John Grado, as I've been in the audio wars for a looong time. :)

I own the following Grado heaphones:

iGrado (for PSP); my son and daughter use these headphones, too

SR60 (iPod)

SR80 (usually for checking mixes; I think I have 4 pr of these!)

SR125 (music listening)

SR325 (music listening)

RS1 (reference listening)

I also own the Grado RA-1 battery powered headphone amplifier.

The new GS1000 headphones from Grado are truly mind blowing! But, they cost a lot of money!!

For closed ear/in ear listening, I really like ETYMOTIC RESEARCH. They are not cheap, but are the best 'ear bud' style earphones out there.

Davey · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2007, 02:45:52 PM »

i got a pair of sennheisers. the HD280Pro. VERY comfortable, very clear .. they're well worth the money. they might not be the best for mixing, but for tracking they are hard to beat. especially in their pricerange

prozacbear · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2007, 04:16:15 PM »

For use with my Ipod I use the Bose in ear headphones. I've found them to be a good comprimise between sound quality afordability, and comfort. I know in ear is not the best for sound but when I'm out and about I like to wear a hat without getting it caught in my headphones. Also because they are small I dont feel so much like I'm saying these are really expensive come and mug me.
They come with different size attachments for different size ears. I found the attachments fell off easily so I've had to super glue my size on, but that's ok I'm not exactly going to share them.
There are better more expensive in ear headphones but I thought about £80 was more than enough to spend on an item that I find I have to replace every few years as I use to destruction.

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2007, 04:26:52 PM »

I use Koss Sparkplugs, not the best quality but a huge improvement over my cr@p ipod headphones I was using beforehand. http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^eb^SPARKPLUG

My first pair that I got in america broke, so I got some replacements here and they dont sound as good - much more muffled and bassy whilst the ones I got from america were much clearer and better. Are the ones sold in america any different or did I just get a cr@p replacement pair? They're really comfy though :)

Oli · « **Reply #5 on:** December 31, 2007, 06:10:34 PM »

Quote from: Davey

i got a pair of sennheisers. the HD280Pro. VERY comfortable, very clear .. they're well worth the money. they might not be the best for mixing, but for tracking they are hard to beat. especially in their pricerange

Hi-five fellow hd280pro owner :)

I find them difficult to track with - they tend to slip off too easily if i start to nod my head! Mixing isn't too bad with them, and listening is quite nice, but again, if i lean back into my chair, they slip off my head :p

Def. worth the money though :)

Davey · « **Reply #6 on:** December 31, 2007, 06:13:35 PM »

your head is too small :P

MDV · « **Reply #7 on:** December 31, 2007, 06:38:09 PM »

I use:

Senn HD25
Tracking and some mixing. Great cans. My favourite sounding, and tough as coffin nails. Outside of my Adams and B&Ws/NAD my main reference cos I know them iside out.

Senn HD202
Tracking: decent sound for the money, and good isolation. I dont mind throwing them around, either. 3m cable is handy too.

Future Sonic Atrios (IEMs)
Mixing and tracking. Amazing sound for in ears. The only thing stopping them being my best sounding is a slightly overhyped low end. Otherwise phenomenal

Shure E4 (IEMs)
Refference. Very clear, but not so pleasing to listen to cos of being a bit sterile and (though actually perfectly flat: the vast majority of speakers and phones overhype bass at least a little) subjectively lacking low end.

Senn CX300: for MP3 players. Overhyped bass and a bit sibillant, but tollerable for sitting at my desk or marching about the place. Good for the money (bought so I can keep my atrios and shures at home rather than put expensive phones in harms way).

opprobrium_9 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2008, 12:58:26 PM »

@ TO: those Grados look nice, but none of them are closed construction... that is really unfortunate. I am all about the closed construction headphones. I feel that the isolation creates the perfect atmosphere in which to work with mixes. I am not planning on spending any major money on nice headphones right now though.

Jonny · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2008, 01:20:23 PM »

I'm happy with my Skullcandy ones.

JDC · « **Reply #10 on:** January 03, 2008, 11:01:37 PM »

my sennheisers are the best thing I ever bought, I've got the PC150s for £45 a few years ago, so much better than the cr@p I used to use, everything is clearer and more defined, if they ever break I'm gunna spend £150 on a top of the range pair

anyone got any idea how the top of the range sennheisers compare to mine? I'm guessing the main benefit would be more defined and sharper bass

JJretroTONEGOD · « **Reply #11 on:** January 04, 2008, 01:13:25 AM »

Quote from: Davey

i got a pair of sennheisers. the HD280Pro. VERY comfortable, very clear .. they're well worth the money. they might not be the best for mixing, but for tracking they are hard to beat. especially in their pricerange

+1 I own these too, and they are just second to none! very good value, very flat frequency response, and very high noise reduction -32dB! I've used them to mix loads of material, and they work fine.

badgermark · « **Reply #12 on:** January 04, 2008, 11:39:59 AM »

I'm looking for some headphones for out and about ipod listening. I watched Reign Over Me last week and Adam Sandler's headphones looked so comfy, but not huge and obtrusive. So something of good quality but wont make me feel like I'm wearing a helmet.

MDV · « **Reply #13 on:** January 04, 2008, 08:12:09 PM »

Quote from: opprobrium_9

@ TO: those Grados look nice, but none of them are closed construction... that is really unfortunate. I am all about the closed construction headphones. I feel that the isolation creates the perfect atmosphere in which to work with mixes. I am not planning on spending any major money on nice headphones right now though.

Also useless for tracking.

indysmith · « **Reply #14 on:** January 10, 2008, 09:53:19 PM »

i just dug out the record player and I've hooked it up to my A/V reciever, which i got my headphones plugged into.
Dug out loads of old queen, genesis, XTC, Jam, Boomtown Rats, Sex Pistols, Dire Straits, Barry Manalow (!?!?!?) etc. This is AWESOME. actually flawless audio (minus a few pops and clicks, which add character anyways).
LOVE IT. Just gotta figure a way to get this gear back to Uni.

Author Topic: HEADPHONES Y'ALL (Read 7554 times)

TwilightOdyssey