Headphones

Hi All, I would like to raise the issue on human ageing, with the special focus on the ageing of human hearing and the use of TOTL headphone gear, i.e. headphones for more than 2,000 Euros, e.g. STAX headphones for 5,000 Euros and headphone amplifiers within the same region (5,000 Euros). But this does not focus at Stax only, of course, as there are so many extremely expensive headphones (electrostatic, magnetostatic, dynamic) in the market right now. I don't know how old you are, of course all ages are represented here at the forum. But I also find old headphone veterans, here, who have been active in the scenery since the 1990's or 1980's. BTW, I started…

https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/24/sony-is-buying-gaming-headphone-maker-audeze/ This should be interesting…

It's the Dodge SRT Viper of high-end headphones.

Whats the going rate for a stock HF-1, and what did they originally retail for? I've never paid this can any attention in the past, but I've recently become interested. Thanks.

So my mom really likes the K1000, but someone told her -- and I agree -- that she'd probably have better luck with closed headphones (she's essentially deaf -- but it's not attenuated deafness, it's more like tinnitus deafness -- high noise-floor and distortion that gets accentuated by bass notes). So, criteria are: closed, clean, airy, bass-light (I know, K1000's aren't bass-light, but she doesn't have anything special in the way of ampage...and it's still a criteria). Any suggestions? I'm thinking Sony MDR-V6...? At low volumes, it would seem bass-light, since the treble is so high in proportion. EDIT: Most of this has been superceded here.

How would I go about getting Sony replacement pads? I've got a MDR-F1 that looks like it's on its last legs.

I'm finally in the market for some new headphones, and I think I've got it narrowed down. I'm looking at either Audio Technica's W1000 headphonse or their AD1000PRM headphones. The only difference I know is that the W1000s are slightly more expensive and are closed rather than open. What I don't know is whether the headphones being closed is a bad thing in terms of sound accuracy... since sometimes it seems that can cripple a pair of cans. Basically, I'm looking for something that'll work especially well for orchestral/classical sorts of music. I'm slightly concerned about the bass being underpowered... I don't need to have my eardrums dominated by bass, but it's g…

I had a chance to demo some HD380s yesterday (through an Apogee Mini-DAC). I listened to some rock (Tragically Hip) and Gordon Downie's voice sounded "hollowed out", like part of his voice was missing. Trebles were weak. Bass, on the other hand, was good, but I'm not a bass-head. I listened to a few more rock and electronic tracks but it was pretty clear to me that none of my music was going to sound like music with these cans. Isolation and fit were both good, not that it really matters. My search for closed cans continues...

Is there a list of all headphones that have the HD580/600/650 style connectors? I know it's bass-ackwards, but I kind of wouldn't mind being able to browse said list. I can't seem to find my HD250-II's anywhere, and I think it's the only one I have left of that style. (I ran across it recently, so it's not completely gone, just haven't been able to find it since then.)

There isn't much talk about HE-4 but at this price point it should be a great choice for those trying headphone other than dynamic. It is less demanding on amp IIRC. Has anyone heard it? What do you think?

So I went with a friend see some speakers at the Hi.fi store and while doing our listening session the owner was always talking about this simulator device that he got but we continued to say "yeah yeah lets hear the speakers". At the end he convinced us to have a go and I could see how all smiley he was. I put the stax 202 on the ears and I keep waiting for him to turn off the speakers and boot the headphones but when I take off the headphones I realized the speakers weren't playing and that was when my jaw dropped The sound was in fact coming from the headphones, it sounded exactly like the speaker but better, you know with stax speed detail etc.. so he best of bot…

Hey all. I'm a grad student at UCLA trying to gather anonymous data from the group of people who really know what they're talking about (you all) when it comes to headphones for a class project. In return I'll be able to share with the Head Case community some really interesting insights about everything from features to preferred brands. If you can take 5 minutes to help me out, I'll be eternally grateful and I'll send out the results when it's all done - check out the questions here: http://ucla.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0k3nRTJjJtflEiN Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Hello everyone, This is my very first post in this forum I discovered very recently, and I can see many of you already do post on head-fi. My nickname on head-fi is Shamu144 if you need any reference, though I am not a very active member there. As introduction background, I can say I have some experiences with the electrostat sound (I own a SR-303) and dynamic sound (DT880, HD650 and K501). I was very pleased with my SR-303 powered by a Manley Stingray integrated amp, through an Illusion ESC-1001 adaptater box (I see many of you use SRD7). I decided however to downgrade my system for reasons too long to explain now, and ended up with a balanced amp that proba…

I just received confirmation from Drew/Moon Audio that he will be bringing the HD 800 and Ultrasone ED8. So, if you're in the general area come check out these new cans and meet Joe Grado. Official Thread: Southern/Charlotte CanFest 2009 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Anyone heard these? Are they worth a shit? I may order some just because they look intriguing. I would be using a beefed up Raptor with Tung Sol and Telefunken tubes and an EAR HP4 to drive them with an Esoteric DV-60 as a transport and Reimyo DAP 999. Any opinions would be great before ordering more stuff I won't keep and lose money on. Looks like I need to update my signature, all the heavy duty Esoterics are in my home system now.

I've recently purchased myself some budget Sennheisers and Rolands (HD 212 pros and the RH-200s) for my PC / Drum kit, and decided to plug both in to my sound card. The Rolands blew me away despite their flat, monitor purpose and the 212 pros were nice for bassy music, but not so great for gaming. If Roland RH-200's can blow me away, I want to fork out more and get something better! I've decided I was to go a few notches up and grab a pair of medium range headphones for gaming. From what little I know of specs, I see that the Denons are only 20 Ohms, presumably meaning I'd not need a canamp for them, but definitely for the 650's? I understand that open headphones …

This question will probably be a bit Head-Fi-ish, but I trust you all a lot more, so I'll try my luck...... I am hoping for some input on a decent portable/travel headphone. I have some SuperFi 5Pro, but despite trying lots of different tip options I have come to the conclusion that IEM's are not for me, so I suppose that portable closed phones are my only other option. I do already have ESW9 - pleasing tone, but they are 'slow', relatively fragile and have poor isolation. My bristly shaved head is also destroying the leather headband. I've been looking at the Beyer DT1350 which I can get locally for CA $310. Another possible option is the venerable HD25i-II at CA $…

So I've officially fallen off the wagon again as I got one of these just now. I swore I was done buying headphones but clearly not... So I just put them on my head so listening impressions will come later but first some over all impressions. Now the case...the case is super retarded whoever came up with should be patted on the back for being super "special". It's pretty much Head-fi in a case form, has wank factor off the scale but is utterly useless. Way, way too heavy too. Now the cable, from the outside it looks well enough made but I will open it up to see what's inside. The pins on the plug were all bent and it looks like the whole front of the plug has b…

I figured this topic deserved a new thread and I'll kick it off with impressions of my new Koss UR18 foster phone. Those that have been following the ortho thread on HF know about the SFI drivers that cost next to nothing yet deliver in spades. I found a Koss UR18 cheap brand new today and it had all the right characteristics of a good foster phone, pleather pads, dual entry (I just like it like that) and thin earpads and a small enclosure. By sheer luck they had drivers which were exactly the same diameter as the SFI units so conversion was easy. Remove the old drivers and insert the new ones. Here you can see one earpiece and how I damped the housing. I didn't u…

After listening to 340's for about 30 minutes the top part of my right ear begins to hurt then it becomes unbearable, I also feel the clamp is too strong on my head. I changed the elastics that did not help, I took off the plastic part and just hooked the elastics over the part of plastic used to go over and that did not really work. These have the velour pads and I have a big noggin. I am probably going to try different pads but wondered if any one had any suggestions before going this route or should I just cut the tops of my ears off?

I have a pair of Stax SR Omega headphones (serial number 00199). These are still the best headphones I have ever heard. This is an old set which has stood the test of time. I continue to use them as a reference during my mixes. The head bow broke in two places near the top and middle. From a factory authorized repair shop I purchased the last head bow they had two years ago. They came from another model. I need to find a suitable replacement. I am not afraid to make modifications to the support system. Any Ideas?

So Oppo are following up the release of their PM1 & PM2 planar's with the 2015 release of the PM3 which is a closed back portable planar with high sensitivity that Oppo claim will run directly from your DAP. I'm not totally sure, but this maybe the first portable planar ever or if not maybe for a long time. TYLL Hertsens has a video interview with a guy from Oppo on his innerfidelity site that you may like to check, but looks like planar manufacturers are really looking to push the envelope with this type of driver technology.

[url=http://www.audio-technica.co.jp/products/hp/ath-ad1000prm.html]Š”Ž

Which is easier to listen to at a low volume?

Hi everyone: I'm thinking of getting a pair of these: Stereo microphones, USB Microphones, Preamplifiers, Digital Recorders, Cables and more at Rock Bottom Prices from The Sound Professionals - Great deals on Microphone, Preamplifier, Digital Recorder, Cable and more! and then using the convolver plugin for Foobar to turn a pair of headphones (say HD650s) into a pair of R10s (if I can get a measurement on a pair). I can sort of do the same thing already with my equalizer but a convolution based method would capture a lot more of the intricacies than my method would. I think it's likely that it could even capture the effects of the tubes in the line etc which woul…