Headphones

[StephenHero]

Anybody have an opinion between the following sets? I'm looking to spend about 100 bucks and here are a few I'm looking at on Amazon. I listen to jazz, classic rock/rop, and classical. Nothing too heavy. Sennheiser HD-280 for $75

Audio Technica ATH-AD700 for $95

Sennheiser HD-555 for $90

Audio Technica ATH-ES7-BK for $90

 

[Artisan Fan]

I've been using Senns on my recordings but I find them slightly veiled. Look at the Grado 125s and 225s. They will have a more open midrange in my opinion than the ones above.

 

[StephenHero]

By the way, I will be using these headphones for playing CD's on my PC while I do design work. How do I figure out if my hardware will allow for the headphone's quality to be best utilized? Are there any soundcard specs I need to find? Will an adapter from 2.5mm to 3.5 mm be essential? I'm generally clueless on most things technical. Thanks for the help.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Stephen,

Any decent headphone amp will allow you to hear the better quality of the better headphones. Most pcs use the smaller headphone jack. Fortunately most new phones have the adapter in case you need it. I believe all Grados included the adapter. Mine did.

 

[bach]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

I've been using Senns on my recordings but I find them slightly veiled. Look at the Grado 125s and 225s. They will have a more open midrange in my opinion than the ones above.
what do you think of the grado rs1's? also.. do you guys think the benefit of "headphone amplifiers" justifies the additional cost? are they only necessary when using portable, weaker devices (ipod, walkman, etc), as opposed to when using stationary devices like stereo receivers?

 

[Sprezzatura2010]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

I've been using Senns on my recordings but I find them slightly veiled. Look at the Grado 125s and 225s. They will have a more open midrange in my opinion than the ones above.
You must be mixing for factory car stereos ca. 1985, because that's what Grados across the board sound like. Boom-tizz city. Have you tried the closed Denons? Those are audibly (and measurably) superior to anything Grado's ever made. Measureably superior to the Senn 580/600/650 too, though I'm still not sure I like mine (AH-D2000) better than my venerable 580s. On another note, yesterday I bought Apple's dual-driver IEM's on a whim (I didn't feel like ordering another set of filters from Etymotic for my current IEM's, because that would take more time than stopping by the Apple Store on my way home) and they're actually not half bad in non-critical listening. I've not yet given them a serious spin comparing them to the 580s or D2000's (or the Etymotic-for-Altec iM716's that need new filters, obviously) but they're better than the Sony and Shures I've heard for under $100, as well as the Ety ER6's.

 

[enjoiii]

I have the HD555's and I think they are great headphones. Im not expert on the subject but they sound great to me and would recommend them.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Senns don't sound bad if you have nothing to compare them to but if you listen to the Grados you hear that they are more open (less veiled) sounding. We record a lot of string instruments and the violin tone on the Grados is spot on. The Senns sound pleasant but far from neutral. It's a softer sound that masks a lot of evils.

 

[Asterix]

I use the Bose QC II noise canceling headphones for everything even though I got initially for flights.

 

[Artisan Fan]

I would add one thing - auditioning each brand of headphone is important. Take along an acoustic piece of music whether rock, classical or jazz and listen closely to what you are hearing. Does the sound seem natural and effortless? Is there enough detail to convey the music without going so far to sound etched?

Ultimately headphones are a very personal choice. It is not wise to buy phones unheard.

 

[Sprezzatura2010]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Senns don't sound bad if you have nothing to compare them to but if you listen to the Grados you hear that they are more open (less veiled) sounding.
If by "open" you mean boom-tizz with nothing in the middle, then sure... I mean, seriously dude, we all know already that you're deaf, no need to compound things. Having heard most of everything under the sun, from various Stax electret and ESL cans to AKG K1000's to Senn Orpheuses to Shure's top IEMs to several price-points of Grado - which is to say, basically everything except for the 700-series AKG's and the living-diaphragm Sonys, and owning Senn 580s, Denon D2000's, Ety ER4's, and Ety-designed Altec IEM's, I think I have a little to compare the Grados to. And not only do they sound consistently awful, but also third-party measurements at HeadRoom show why they're so awful sounding. Now, they're (barely) better than iBuds, but that's about it. (Oh, and for the record I recently "upgraded" my headphone amp from a 1st-gen HeadRoom Total AirHead to a HeadRoom Portable Micro with a built-in DAC. Not because of any expectation that the new one sounds any better, but simply because the plastic TAH looked kind of cheesy next to the leather-and-magnesium Denon D2000's. So for me it was entirely aesthetic. But a deaf person like you will only see that the old one was ~$150 and the new one was $600 and assume away night-and-day differences between the two...) But then again, you also think the wildly inaccurate (and not without a hint of the bad car stereo in their voicing) Wilson Sophias are "true to the source," so I guess there's no accounting for taste amongst the deaf.

 

[Artisan Fan]

I have heard the K701 AKGs on many an occasion. They suck donkey balls. The K271s you now see in most recording studios are even worse in both sound and comfort. Avoid AKG.

I know you don't like the Sophias but they are one of the most critically acclaimed speakers out there. The editor of Stereophile has a pair for his personal use.

We can have honest disagreements here but I do have an advantage in that I get to hear recordings as they are being made and in hirez sound. That allows me to know what different instruments sound like and what the master tape sounds like. The Senns do not accurately create the sound of a fine violin, an instrument our recording team specializes in, but the Grados do. In fact we just recorded a Guarneri yesterday on Biber and Handel pieces.

 

[ConcernedParent]

I have a pair of Senn280s for recording and Senn650s for listening. Great stuff.

 

[Sprezzatura2010]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

I have heard the K701 AKGs on many an occasion. They suck donkey balls.

Interesting. Contrary to what people who I know can hear have told me, but interesting. As I wrote, I've not heard them, so besides saying "x told me y" I cannot comment on their sound.

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

I know you don't like the Sophias but they are one of the most critically acclaimed speakers out there. The editor of Stereophile has a pair for his personal use.

Considering that most audio critics are both deaf (can't hear the difference when things like the midrange drivers in Thiel speakers are wired out of phase...) and delusional (think wires, amps, digitial sources, etc. sound different from one another) neither of those things mean anything to me. The measurements and a physical inspection of the design tell me all that's needed to to be told.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Originally Posted by StephenHero

Audio Technica ATH-AD700 for $95


Disclaimer: I'm no audiophile.

I've got a pair of those. I bought them because I wanted something better than my current in-ear headphones. I am currently using Shure e2Cs and Klipsch Custom 2s for my in-ear needs (mostly for working out and travel). I also had a pair of Etymotic ER6is but those got lost on a plane.

I like the Audio Technicas a lot. I have been using them for a few months now and notice small details that I never noticed before with the other headphones. Granted, the others are built for a different mission so it's not a straight apples-to-apples comparison.

The headpiece is not adjustable. If you look at the pic you'll see the two "pads" that hang below the wire-type headpiece are designed to sit on the top of your head. This is not a bad idea in that it permits the headphones to rest on your head instead of squeezing it, which means a more comfortable experience during long listening sessions. However, this also means that the headphones are useless for vigorous activity. Not that you should be using these for jogging anyway, but I have seen some people at my gym with big cans on their head ... you can't do that with these.

The material on the ear cups is a "love it/hate it" proposition with many. I can best describe them as "plastic tissue paper" over foam. It's a weird feeling at first but I like it. Some people hate it and describe it as feeling cheap. I like it because it tends to breathe better than plain rubber, but it seals better than plain foam. Your call.

The unit comes with a very generous cord (10' or more, I haven't measured it) which makes it nice for gaming use.

For the $100 price range, I'd say it's a great buy for a closed-end headphone set.