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What to look for in headphones?


Edmond Smith

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I tried the Sennheiser HD 280 and ... They seemed a little tight on my head at first but they loosened up after a day of use, and the sound is less harsh to me than the 7506. I had a driver fail on one side and it was fixed by Sennheiser unnder wareanty.

I tried the Senn HD280 and they sounded good, unfortunately I don't use them as they are meant for pinheads.. and not my big fat head.....they were really tight. Just bought a pair of ATM-50 and like them, nice even sound, and hopefully the 1/8 to 1/4 adapter won't come apart and leave the tip down in the headphone jack like the Sonys.

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I have:

2 pairs of hd 25 s for accuracy.

1 pair 7506 s for convenience (curly cable and they fold).

my next pair will be:

beyer dt 250 s because they are very comfortable and sound great.

i posted this as no one else has mentioned the dt250 s

dan

Love DT250's. When I couldn't bear DT48's anymore, the 250's saved the day. Very comfortable for me, great ear cushions. The drawbacks are that they don't fold up and are a little pricey. I can't wear 7506's for more than a few minutes, they just don't suit me for fit.

Best regards,

Jim

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I`m working with Sennheiser HD-280pro for around five years now and I must say I am very happy with them. Before that I worked with HD-25, Sony7506, Ultrasone 680, and AT-50, but in my opinion the 280 are the best compromise between sound, isolation, weight, size and price.

cheers

Christian

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Put me firmly in the Ultrasone camp.

I used Sony 7506s for the first 8-9 years or so of doing location sound. I was starting to really get ear fatigue at the end of the day to the point where it was ruining my relationship with my family. I switched over to Ultrasone about 4 years ago and it took a while to find a pair that were suitable for ENG. I have 3 pair now: one of which stays in the studio and never leaves (too bulky Pro-650), and one that come with me on every shoot (HFI-780), and a spare back home (HFI-700). All 3 models are different but the ones that I use now are just about as light as the 7506 (HFI-780). The other nice thing is I never have to buy another hopefully; I've actually had them repair these things for a very reasonable (less then $100) cost.

I can't stress enough the cumulative effect of having 20% less SPL slamming against your ears. I feel like these phones have extended my studio career a few years at least, and made me a nicer person at the end of the day.

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I can't stress enough the cumulative effect of having 20% less SPL slamming against your ears. I feel like these phones have extended my studio career a few years at least, and made me a nicer person at the end of the day.

I agree, you have to be careful not to let sound levels overwhelm you. It's exactly the same thing in the re-recording business, where the mixers there get slammed by mixing stage speakers for 12 hours a day. If anything, it's even worse in the rock music mixing business. I once dropped by a friend of mine mixing an album at A&M, many years ago, and they were definitely at ear-bleeding levels by 2AM. (It's likely various chemicals numbed them to the effects.)

I'm working on a way to measure the initial set-up headphone level of the day, and will post my results after I've tried a few different settings. The last time I checked, my (not-that-scientific) iPhone was measuring a -20dBf tone based on my normal listening level at about 82dB on a weighted scale, and that seemed to work for me. I've been checking this, vs. trusting the "about 2 o'clock setting on the knob" method. But again, it's a work in progress. This is also with 7506's and the Garfield earmuffs.

--Marc W.

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I never liked the Garfield pads. They stretch across the pads and seem

to hinder fit and isolation. The stock Sony pads are problematic with

fit and flaking.

I replace them with Beyerdynamic DT250 pads: They are fantastic,

fit great, and are very durable. (about $20usd.)

Glen

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I'm working on a way to measure the initial set-up headphone level of the day, and will post my results after I've tried a few different settings. The last time I checked, my (not-that-scientific) iPhone was measuring a -20dBf tone based on my normal listening level at about 82dB on a weighted scale, and that seemed to work for me. I've been checking this, vs. trusting the "about 2 o'clock setting on the knob" method. But again, it's a work in progress. This is also with 7506's and the Garfield earmuffs.

--Marc W.

Marc, thanks for doing this, let me know what you find out.

When I'm doing re-recording it is very easy to monitor how loud things are here in the studio. Plus, I mix with a good amount of control over the dynamics so I never get whacked with unexpected sounds. I've found that I've had my worst ear bleeding experiences with unexpected sounds out in the field. Not only would I love a way to make sure I'm listening at 82db, but a way to prevent those tragic loud moments in the field to somehow get limited before they hit my inner ear.

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Beware the Sony MDR-7506HD and 7509HDs on Ebay from China at a very low price: suspecting that these were fakes, I bought a pair for a ridiculously low price from some chap in China and although they arrived promptly and were in a convincing box, once unpacked, it became rapidly apparent that these were indeed knock-offs. Terrible sound, left and right reversed, strange coiled cable, slightly out of kilter labels, no carrying bag, no warranty card and, once opened to correct the L/R swap, wrong drivers (genuine Sony drivers have three solder pads, these had two, poorly soldered, with the common wire floating around and insulated with a piece of masking tape.) After a short argument and opening a dispute with the vendor, I got a full refund, but the guy has so far failed to provide a return address, so I still have them. I suspect that people are buying these and then selling them on in the UK and the USA as genuine, so follow the old adage, if it looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As far as in-ears go:

I use them (mostly on reality shows) because they are lightweight and the custom molded ones provide tremendous isolation. Be sure to get a dual driver model, it really makes a difference. If you can afford it, a triple driver model can sound pretty amazing.

The downside of in-ears is that the incredible isolation of them can cut you off from the rest of the set. Be sure to get in the habit of pulling one or both out of your ears between takes to make sure you keep up with what's going on.

I still use my Ultrasone headphones for cart work, but I go to my in-ears for bag work.

Steve Grider

Location Attenuation

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well there's a site for everything, including headphones:

http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/over-ear

i personally prefer my ultrasone proline 650 for reasons indicated earlier about this brand: i find them less fatiguing over the course of the day. they are a tad heavy, but comfy as hell. very accurate once your ears get used to them. if you feel like headphones in general are sounding harsh, like sound is being driven into the ears, give ultrasone a try.

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