Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Recommended Headphones?

Don't want to offend the Axiom gods but can some one recommend some head phones? I would like to spend between $100-150. I don't know alot about them anymore and would like some advice. I understand some are open alowing some ambient noise and some seal much tighter. I would like to use them for higher listening and playback while I practice on my drum kit. I wouldn't mind if I can play a set of speakers in front of my kit and listen to a click track or metronome through my phones at he same time. Also, could some one tell me a little more about head phone amps and the difference they make.
Thanks,
K_A

i believe there was a thread about headphones a few months back..

go to the 'search' screen, and look up 'headphones' for the last 3 months.. you should find it..

bigjohn

Thanks. I should have tried that first.
K_A

I've done a bit of research myself on this subject recently and here's what I narrowed it down to (my budget was $100):

Sennheiser HD-280 Pro (noise blocking, sits over the ears)
Sony MDR-7506 (traditional headphone, sits on the ears)

For earbuds:
Shure e2c ($99) or the e3c ($179)

I ended up with the Sennheisers only because I got a great deal on them on ebay. I really like them because they are very neutral sounding but a tad laid back for my taste. The Sony's are supposedly more forward sounding than the Sennheisers.

For the earbuds, I got the Shure e2c for my birthday! They are really strange looking and awkward to put in at first, but once they are properly in place, they sound great and do a great job cancelling noise. I highly recommend them if you like a plug style earbud.

for your budget i have to reccomend the Grado SR125's They run about $130, Open air design so if you plan on using them on the plane or something then forget about it but for at home use they are great. You might also be able to get the Sennheiser HD580's for that price if you shop around.

I second the e2c earphones. I wanted something that would be able to block out the worst of ambient noise so I would not have to turn them up load, sound fantastic, and not hurt if I wear them for more than 1/2 an hour. I also have small ear canals (leave me alone!) and the e2c comes with 3 sizes and 2 types of inserts silicone and foam. Very handy.

I love these things.

james

I wouldn't recommend the Sennheiser 580s unless you've got a strong amp for them. They present a pretty tough load for your typical headphone jack and end up sounding pretty dull unless the jack gets supplied a lot of juice or you've got a separate headphone amp.

As far as headphone amps go, they make much more of a difference for headphones that are less efficient and/or present a tougher load. The Sennheiser 580 has an impedance of 300ohms, nearly 10x your typical 32ohm headphone, so it has much greater resistance to current and can lead to a rather anemic listening experience from your average headphone jack. Try listening to them out of a discman and you'll notice that first you have to turn the volume way up to get an equivalent sound level as with a 32 ohm headphone, and second you'll probably notice that they sound rather flat and dull. Hook them up to an amp with a good headphone section or a dedicated headphone amp designed to be able to handle the inefficient load, and the sound fills in quite a lot.

Here is a good place to check out some headphones. This fourm is also a good source for some info.

I have a set of Senn. 570s that sound pretty good.I am also getting a set of Senn 280 pro that should be here tomorrow.I use a Creek OBH 11 headphone amp and it does make one heck of a difference as compared to just running them of my preamp or cd player.

FYI, I have the Sennheiser HD570s. I really, really like them. I borrowed Adam's old headphone amp for far too long, and couldn't really tell a sonic difference between the amp and the straight connection to an ancient discman. HOWEVER, there was a lot more headroom (by this I mean available volume). I'm seriously thinking about getting a headphone amp for my computer/iPod listening...

When I listened to a very nice looking Creek amp in an audio store run by jerks vs a less nice looking, cheaper Creek amp, the first seemed to have less hiss on the volume pot.