Headphones

[SEAWOLF97]

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this Sennheiser commercial is bizarre/creepy enough to repost link , comparo below it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...j_yimZboGA#t=3

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/headphones-under-100-grado-sr80i-pioneer-se-a1000/

[martin2395]

My favourites are Stax headphones, expensive and easy to break but I love their sound.
In the past I had the old Lambda Pro Classic + SRM-Xh and now I have the slightly newer Lambda Nova Basic, also with an SRM-Xh.

I also like the old AKG 600 ohm cans, the K240Monitor for example. Very, very relaxed and natural sound with a nice, extra long decay time.

Heard the new 55 ohm K240's but the magic is gone

[dr_gallup]

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this Sennheiser commercial is bizarre/creepy enough to repost link , comparo below it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...j_yimZboGA#t=3

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/headphones-under-100-grado-sr80i-pioneer-se-a1000/

OMG that Sennheiser commercial should never have seen the light of day.

[SEAWOLF97]

OMG that Sennheiser commercial should never have seen the light of day.

Neither should most of the new "JBL by harmin" ads ..

see === http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...350#post372350

I also like the old AKG 600 ohm cans, the K240Monitor for example. Very, very relaxed and natural sound with a nice, extra long decay time.

Heard the new 55 ohm K240's but the magic is gone

Was digging around and came across my old AKG K-55's .. cheap but OKAY on non-complex sounds.
Had some K240's (don't remember which flavor) , but sold them as was not impressed (but they were comfortable)

[SEAWOLF97]

Headphone Measurements Explained - Frequency Response Part One

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/headphone-measurements-explained-frequency-response-part-one

Headphone Measurements Explained - Frequency Response Part Two

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content...ponse-part-two

[SEAWOLF97]

Not clear if any of the Grados still live in the building but certainly the oldest son of John Grado mentions growing up in the building and living on the top floor. Go to the website of the company and they unabashedly show off their small family oriented business. The front of building is covered in graffiti and by the look of the cracked paint on the door it may be they just gave up repainting. The equipment in the listening room shows some line source speakers that the "old man" built as a prototype for new product line that never went to market.

Fun to compare the videos of the Grado "factory" with that of Sennheiser that SEAWOLF97 posted above.

http://gradolabs.com/company/brooklyn-factory

Looks like Joe died just earlier this month.

http://www.cnet.com/news/grado-a-pio...es-away-at-90/

http://www.stereophile.com/content/j...1925%C2%961915

[SEAWOLF97]

Looks like Joe died just earlier this month.

http://www.cnet.com/news/grado-a-pio...es-away-at-90/

http://www.stereophile.com/content/j...1925%C2%961915

..hauled these home today ...very punchy/dynamic , good for Rock ....but I'd never
call them neutral/natural/balanced. Large image, forward ...L100's for your head.

have about the heaviest cord that have seen on a set of cans.

[SEAWOLF97]

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http://www.innerfidelity.com/content...ver-headphones

[jasn]

I've owned the HD-598's for about a year and love the sound...but alas not the color (be nice to the new guy, OK?). Even before I bought them (now around $160 on Amazon) I found some threads about the less expensive HD-558's ($105) having the exact same drivers and earcup design (internal and external). The only diff was the 558's having, for whatever reason, a large piece of black rubber tape across the inside of the earcup against the screening. Many have apparently removed the tape and gotten very good results. YRMV

http://www.head-fi.org/t/615531/is-t...8-mod-worth-it

[SEAWOLF97]

I've owned the HD-598's for about a year and love the sound

Glad your mod to go "open back" worked out ... they really look like updates of my HD-580's

Have picked up 2 pairs of Bozes cans this last week ... abysmal build quality from Ch1na. yuk. worth abt what I paid for them (by the pound)

Those Grados are actually pretty nice , in a kind of L-100 way ...fake but fun.

7 hours later:

I came home today with some Sennheiser PMX 70 Sport Earbuds. http://www.shimshamfit.com/workout-e...nd-headphones/

little guys sound pretty good and work well with bike helmet.

[markd51]

A few years back I bought a pair of AKG 702 Phones. Been very happy with them, and thy remind me of a JBL sound, that goes on your head. Accurate, clean sounding.

Quite comfortable, at least to me, and in comparison with the older Koss with the Oil Filled Rubber Seals. In fact I still have an original bought new pair of Koss 2+2 Phones which were sort of like a 2/4 channel version of the Pro 4A.
After awhile though with the Koss, your head would feel like it was in a Vice, and in warmer weather, your ears would be soaking wet from sweat.

The AKG 702's have a disconnectable Cord, via mini DIN at the Ear Cup, and better Cables (Cardas-etc) can be gotten if one so desires.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
went down to my fave salvage store and walked around a bit ... came across
a velour headphone earpad ..hmmm , I remember those ...it's from a Beyer Dynamic DT-880 ? .

looked around a bit more and found the other one .. now gotta find the cans themselves.

NO JOY. But did find the source of the earpads ...Fostex T40RP MK2's. Great shape, but missing
the cord (it's just a standard mini-plug) ..snapped that puppy up. Fostex is the only headphone set that I've sold and then regretted it. ... the T40RP2 was the followup model to the one I had. It is commonly referred to as: ORTHODYNAMIC .

When I got home, madly searched for a mini to mini cable to test. Oh yes, they work fine. Very comfortable.
The mids and highs are comparable to my Stax , tho the bass isn't.

Online forums mention the bad OEM earpads and recommending replacing them (already been done) .

Anyway, very happy with my purchase (<150) ... and I stopped in the Johnson-Tideman refuge and went down to Johnson Creek and soaked my feet in the cold Spring runoff water a while, shoes & all ...


The new Fostex T20RPmkII and T40RPmkII now join the acclaimed T50RP in offering the true and accurate headphone monitoring crucial for recording studios, post houses, remote broadcast facilities, project studios and DJ'.
Here is a range of headphones which have been designed from the outset to offer the widest frequency range, to minimise listening fatigue and to allow you to accurately pinpoint and analyse all aspects of your creative output.
Headphones which faithfully reproduce all aspects of the program material, free from any sonic coloration and distortion. And headphones which combine supreme clarity and audio performance in a comfortable, sophisticated design. CLEAR, TRANSPARENT SOUND
All RP Series headphones deliver this uncolored reproduction and natural clear sound right across the full frequency range with full bass and sparkling highs. But it's the sonic quality at high sound pressure levels which really sets these headphones apart. Whereas lesser headphones struggle at high sound pressure levels, the RP Series have no such problems. The bass is always powerful and distortion-free even at high levels. - Essential when headphone monitoring in noisy environments such as ENG recording, DJ work, and in applications where you need to concentrate totally on your the program material.
The Design of the leatherette padded ear cushions enhance the excellent sound isolation and superb deep bass reproduction UNIQUE FOSTEX RP TECHNOLOGY Key to the transparent sound reproduction is Fostex's Regulated Phase Technology, a proprietory transducer and diaphragm design that has earned Fostex more than twenty international patents and has been successfully applied to microphones, headphones and loudspeakers used and relied upon in professional and commercial sound installations worldwide.

[SEAWOLF97]

. ...Fostex T40RP MK2's. Great shape, but missing
the cord (it's just a standard mini-plug) ..snapped that puppy up. Fostex is the only headphone set that I've sold and then regretted it. ... the T40RP2 was the followup model to the one I had. It is commonly referred to as: ORTHODYNAMIC .
Oh yes, they work fine. Very comfortable.
The mids and highs are comparable to my Stax , tho the bass isn't...

I've been getting listening time in with the Fostex's They seem to be getting better everyday .... I dunno if it's a break-in or if my ears are just getting retrained ?
They still need some EQ for the bass , like the old 4410's ..which seemed to be bass shy, but actually only put out bass when the source material had it. Kinda an "anti-Beats" type of headphone I keep reading that new earpads is the key to better low end response.

Did an hour with them in the sack last night, the poor little iTouch doesn't match up well enough to drive them very loud. May hookup an amp in the chain to help.

I do have older STAX to compare them to. The highs & mids are very similar ... STAX still have better bass, but that area seems to keep improving on the Fostex's . They seem VERY ruggedly built.

Anyway , at $100'ish SP , the Fostex T40 RP mk2 is a screaming bargain (if you can find them in stock). They are made for studio and many reviewers state that listening to music is not their strong point. I do hear layering in music that was previously masked ... yes, even fostex calls them studio production cans , but they sure do make fine music too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...QWHBMT599J5BZP

It's odd, but these may have been NEW when I found them. The Beyer earpads had no signs of use ..ie: not even a stray hair on them, and the headphones seem to be breaking in as they get used more !!! ???

[SEAWOLF97]

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been listening to them nightly . Another improvement that slipped my mind
was that on the same day I found these , also found a Pilots communication
headset... they wear those for long periods and have to comfortable.

These were thrashed , nothing salvageable there ..except the velcro attached
lambs wool padded band cushion. So I paid for that and attached to the Fostex's.

Now not only great sounding, but wearable for long periods with the BeyerDynamics
earpads

[SEAWOLF97]

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I, like many vets, have a hard time with the sounds of the 4th July festivities (Rich knows). It gets aggravated by near neighbors with quasi commercial sky displays.
Usually I just sit & stew and visualize going PO on them.

Last night I got a little smarter. Found my noise blocking SHURE SE210 IEM's and inserted. Wasn't enough to block it all.
Got out the Nexus Fondle Slab (it has lots of sound power) and genned up a Pandora station consisting of Linda Rhonstadt, Patsy Cline, Julie London and CCR and turned it UP.

They were soothing enough to stop my visions of neighbor genocide. Going to make this a yearly solution.