never been asked.....best headphones!

[hibidy]

bduffy: the "purpose" of Sennheiser's "open" headphones is to provide the best possible accurate reproduction of the audio, meaning flat frequency curve and high amount of detail. It's extremely hard to achieve that with closed headphones. The studio oriented open headphones aren't for walking around outside listening to an iPod anyway, they're for studio work.

Yes, I know why they make open headphones, thanks. I just prefer the privacy (and less mike-bleed) of closed headphones. Plus, I didn't like the sound of the open Sennheisers at all, so that left a bad taste in my mouth.

certainly not trying to beat a dead horse, but that is so strange to me. Damn, the crystal clarity I get from these 580's.....

of course there are some issues

a. I mentioned the bass.....that's a duh/no brainer
b. oh how I hate thy stupid "duo" cord connection btw, have I mentioned you get to replace these often at a nice tidy 35buck-ish deal And the "pads" go bad for me quickly, but I do have toxic hair/scalp

[neoxtrope]

The Sony 7509's are a notch up from mine, and considered some of the best in that price range.

Like I said: I found on my day-to-day machine at work, where they were plugged into the sound card, or in my mp3 player, they had zilch bass and were rather quiet. Through the mixer at home, they're near-perfect sounding, and I did much comping and mixing of the album on them, so I guess they may tend to shine with headphone amplification.

I've got Sennheiser HD25, HD600, AKG 240-s and Sony MDR-7506. As was mentioned earlier, the 240s are good, but not for forensics, and if I'm reaching for the cans it's usually to clean something up. So most of the time I use the MDR-7506s. I also have a pair at work for listening to music on a laptop - no problem with bass on my pair, and reasonable isolation (I'm listening to them as I write this).

I read somewhere a while ago (probably rec.audio.pro) that people who have experience of 7506s and 7509s tend to prefer the cheaper 7506s, and they're very popular with film/TV location sound people. Have a Google...

Happy hunting!

[hibidy]

The Sony 7509's are a notch up from mine, and considered some of the best in that price range.

Like I said: I found on my day-to-day machine at work, where they were plugged into the sound card, or in my mp3 player, they had zilch bass and were rather quiet. Through the mixer at home, they're near-perfect sounding, and I did much comping and mixing of the album on them, so I guess they may tend to shine with headphone amplification.

I've got Sennheiser HD25, HD600, AKG 240-s and Sony MDR-7506. As was mentioned earlier, the 240s are good, but not for forensics, and if I'm reaching for the cans it's usually to clean something up. So most of the time I use the MDR-7506s. I also have a pair at work for listening to music on a laptop - no problem with bass on my pair, and reasonable isolation (I'm listening to them as I write this).

I read somewhere a while ago (probably rec.audio.pro) that people who have experience of 7506s and 7509s tend to prefer the cheaper 7506s, and they're very popular with film/TV location sound people. Have a Google...

Happy hunting!

Ya know, in some ways that makes sense about the mo' expensive ones. It goes back to that "fancy shmancy" talk I mentioned......when I start hearing (no pun intended) about uga-this and uber-that in phones I get suspicious.

I think they have most of the models we are talking about at the closest GC (with my bud who always gives the kill deal) .......hopefully I can get my ass out of bed and give them a shot tomarrow

[bduffy]

Interesting; I thought I always saw the 7509's more. I believe it: I catch lots of little mistakes with these. Like I said, at home, they sound awesome.

hibidy: I just don't know. I keep waiting for the pair of Seinnheisers that will sweep me off my feet; so far, nothing yet. The open pair I was referring to were from 7 years ago, so I don't know if they fairly represent their creed.

What are ya leaning towards now? Sony, Seinn or AKG?

[hibidy]

Interesting; I thought I always saw the 7509's more. I believe it: I catch lots of little mistakes with these. Like I said, at home, they sound awesome.

hibidy: I just don't know. I keep waiting for the pair of Seinnheisers that will sweep me off my feet; so far, nothing yet. The open pair I was referring to were from 7 years ago, so I don't know if they fairly represent their creed.

What are ya leaning towards now? Sony, Seinn or AKG?

price wise, the akg 240's are the ones I seems to be "visualizing" the most so far. I'd love to check the 271's, but I don't think they are a local commodity. I'd have no problem with simply ordering them, but with cans it's just too hard to know online......hoping to hear.

Did I mention how much I disliked the ultrasones? Sorry, not to bother those who like them but the 650's have this crazy "fulltech" like 2k dip/2.5k spike........too bad too.......seem so nicely built.........

[bduffy]

Never heard of Ultrasone, don't think we get those here...

[hibidy]

Never heard of Ultrasone, don't think we get those here...

really? Well, I don't think you are missing much (just a guess) here is the website

http://www.ultrasone.com/htdocs/08_fram ... _index.php

[neoxtrope]

The Sony 7509's are a notch up from mine, and considered some of the best in that price range.

I read somewhere a while ago (probably rec.audio.pro) that people who have experience of 7506s and 7509s tend to prefer the cheaper 7506s, and they're very popular with film/TV location sound people. Have a Google...

Ya know, in some ways that makes sense about the mo' expensive ones. It goes back to that "fancy shmancy" talk I mentioned......when I start hearing (no pun intended) about uga-this and uber-that in phones I get suspicious.

Had a quick Google myself, and no, I didn't dream it.

Better than 7509s?
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.audi ... bf018498ab

Good for location sound and editing? (Interesting thread in general):
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.audi ... 029910bb64

[deastman]

I used to use AKG 240s, but never liked them. Very uncomfortable and i didn't particularly care for the sound. I'm now using Sennheiser HD-650's, and they sound amazing! Also, I can wear them for hours with no discomfort.

for me, I TOTALLY hear what you are saying. Though my 580's are not the "spec" of your 650's, they are of the same "breed" and they fantastic for really everything.......

EXCEPT TRACKING BASS!!!! The bummer is that with tracking guitar, the "tink tink" sound doesn't really bother me but with bass I can hear the twank WAY too much......so closed is best.

I'm not clear if you're saying they have too much bass or not enough. I've noticed that when I do any kind of mixing with the 650's, I end up with not enough bass. This really isn't a big deal to me, because as everyone knows, the proper way to work is alternating between headphones, good monitors, and various cheaper listening environments. Its just a question of learning how the mixes translate.

Back to the AKG K240s- do keep in mind that they become physically uncomfortable rather quickly.

[KKeene]

the proper way to work is alternating between headphones, good monitors, and various cheaper listening environments. Its just a question of learning how the mixes translate.

Absolutely. My collection of cheap ear buds and computer speakers are as important to my mixing as are my Sony mixing phones, and am comfortable enough to be able to predict how things will sound from one to another.

[phraggle]

I have Beyerdynamic DT-250s - I really like them, had them for a few years now with no problems. Great frequency response and modular construction so you can easily replace parts - haven't had to so far.

[james0tucson]

From AKG's specs, it looks like the only difference is that the 271's go to 28,000 Hz, and the 240's go to 25,000 Hz.

Hmm, so, "far beyond the threshold of human perception", or "marginally further beyond".

This should not be a difficult choice.

[The Chase]

Just one thing...

"flat" with headphones means noth like the term"flat" for monitors...an actual flat frequency response with headphones would sound pretty bad - bassless and, well, just awkward. "Flat" with headphones is more perceived flatness and the flatness of headphones can't be very academically rated.

[bduffy]

From AKG's specs, it looks like the only difference is that the 271's go to 28,000 Hz, and the 240's go to 25,000 Hz.

Hmm, so, "far beyond the threshold of human perception", or "marginally further beyond".

This should not be a difficult choice.

Yeah, I don't know...it'd be best to try them both. I'm not sure if the specs report all the items that could make a difference in sound. Take my recreational headphones, the AKG K26P; the next one up is AKG K 27i, they spec about the same and the AKG K 27i's go for $10-20 more. But when I tried the AKG K 27i's, they didn't sound as strong or as good IMHO. Maybe it's the casing, the wires, the drivers...who knows; but I wouldn't take the frequency spec as gospel.

The K26P's also had more bass and stronger output levels than the AKG K81 DJ's, which are twice as much. Can't say enough about the AKG K26P; great consumer headphone.

[realisation]

£50 HD215 - Closed head, great bass response.

Made for DJ's so they are rugged.

I used to have HD580's and they fell apart - and the bass wasn't that great