KVR Audio

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:20 pm

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD280 Pro which I use for general music making (my needs are rather modest!). They sound pretty good to these ears for the general day-to-day work.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD28 ... B000065BPB

However, these are closed almost to a level that an Astronaut would use.

After using these for an hour, clamminess builds up in my ear canals and I sense wax production going into overdrive. The cups use a kind of faux-leather cushion which is creating a hermetic seal.

What would be a good replacement in the £80-£150 range with fabric cushions that might let me clammy lugholes breathe.

[edit - oh, and preferably not a 2-tonne curly cable like this thing has as well, with it's annoying regular brrrrrrrrrrrriiiipppppp-PLOP as it slides off the desk for the 9 millionth time...]

gamecat666 · Post by **gamecat666** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:28 pm

lol, clammy. havent heard that in ages. Not from North-East UK are you?

jasco · Post by **jasco** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:31 pm

I can wear my Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO all day, but they are that 'open' I can hear things I don't pick up on without headphones! They also have curly cable.

ThomasHelzle · Post by **ThomasHelzle** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:36 pm

Not sure about the price of the AKG K701 in the UK but these things are the first headphones I ever had that I can wear 7 days a week for hours without being annoyed neither by the sound nor by the pressure or the cushions etc.
Absolutely fantastic IMO.
No curly cable either, very well balanced.

I used to hate headphones before and went through quite a lot of them, never really happy.
Now it's bliss.

Cheers,

Tom

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:48 pm

You could try replacement velour pads.

My current superluxs are much better with them. My audio technicas pads started to disintegrate so i took all the fake leather crap off with sticky tape leaving just the bare foam; much better too.

A quick google suggests pads intended for beyerdynamic dt250s should fit.

MickGael · Post by **MickGael** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:50 pm

I find my Sennheiser HD650 to be extremely comfortable and never fatiguing. I can wear them for hours. They also sound sublime.

Gonga · Post by **Gonga** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:57 am

Extremely comfortable all day long, including wearing glasses, great even for mixing (they beat out my AKG K240s), low impedance, sturdy, and cheap - Yamaha RH5MA.

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RH5MA-Moni ... headphones

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:10 am

rockstar_not · Post by **rockstar_not** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:15 am

Are you sure it's earwax (cerumen) building up or sweat?

You could go in-ear monitors. Disclaimer, I work for Westone - makers of what I believe to be the finest in-ear monitors on the planet (I MAY be a little bit biased.)

http://westoneaudio.com/

Many reasons to use these for your cans, chiefly:

1. Sweating reduced to a minimum as your outer ears are much more open to the air
2. They make great cans for doing microphone placement because of the outstanding passive isolation from exterior sound - your ears hear much more of with microphones hear
3. They are going to be the best personal listening earphones you've ever owned without looking silly on the tube, airplane, etc. with great isolation from environmental noise.

PM me if you would like more information.

FWIW - for over the ear cans, the best I've ever used regularly were STAX Electrostatics Lambda model. Near second, Sennheiser HD850 - and those are dynamics.

-Scott

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:46 am

Thanks everyone!

gamecat666: Scotland. Other favourite regular vocab includes 'dreich', 'minging' and 'bawbag'.

jasco: I have another pair of Senhheisers that are open and, yeah, I find noise of the PC itself (i.e., fan noise) seeping in.

ThomasHelzle: Hi Tom. Do you know, I had the AKG K701 on my Amazon universal list at Thomman.de for a few months? It was reduced in price but I waited too long and the price has now gone back up. I should have grabbed these when I had the chance.

GaryG: Do these have to be bought from the original manufacturer? Will look into the pads you mentioned, thanks. I'm not very good with hardware and suspect I may end up trashing these getting the pads off. Still, I do like the sound and replacement pads would be a great solution.

MickGael: Yep, looks like those have the nice fabric cups. Wee bit out of my range, but will put them on the radar.

Gonga: I have to confess haven't looked into Yamaha headphones. It's faux-leather, but looks like it rests on the ear rather than smothers them completely as my current set do.

rockstar_not: It's probably sweat, the earwax being the body's defence after noticing irritation in the ear. Will definitely have a look at the site, thank you. I think I may just try replacement pads, but if I have more questions after looking at the site I'll give you a PM. Thanks! [edit - in fact, I used to use a pair of SHURE in-ear buds which were quite good, but a little 'tinny', these look much more up-market... though I'm still terrified of these being yanked out - i.e., cat jumping on the cable and the pressure change pulling my brain out of both ears ]

Gonga · Post by **Gonga** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:57 pm

Yup, the Yamahas are over-ear, that's why they're so comfortable with glasses. I use AKG 240Studios for isolated tracking. I also have a pair of 35+ year-old AKG K240 with the 6 passive radiators - once the industry standard. They still work, but are very high impedance and not comfortable with glasses. I swear the Yamahas have a more flat response...anyway, when I started using the Yamahas all my low-end problems when mixing on headphones went away!

Headphones that won't make ears 'clammy'. :|