#195

@sam, I used a pair of TMA-2s for a couple of years, and used to be happy with them, but I wouldn’t recommend them now. Comfort and isolation is great with the large microfibre over-ear cushions, but the sound quality just isn’t good enough for me anymore. I have both the S01 and S02 drivers, and they are really rough and grainy (distortion, basically) compared to other headphones in the same price range. The high-end drivers might be better, but I certainly couldn’t justify them after spending around €400 on parts. Also, they are covered in that rubbery soft-touch plastic coating, and will get ugly and sticky after a few years. I tried to clean mine up with isopropyl alcohol. Most of the coating came off, and now they look terrible as well. Shame, they are beautifully designed.

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#196

Yep, that’s a definite deal breaker, I hate that stuff.

Anyway, just replaced the headband padding and the earpads on my Sennheiser HD650s, the headband padding in particular has made a big difference.

#197

Any recommendations for some decently isolating closed back headphones? I’m currently sharing my workspace with a work-from-homer and they need to listen to music, podcasts, etc for concentration but are unable to use headphones. I have Sony MDR-7506 but they don’t seem to isolate too well and the very pronounced high frequency peak becomes quickly fatiguing. I already have some good open backs and monitors for critical listening duties.

#198

maybe consider beyerdynamic dt770s or audio technica ath-m50s? the beyers are pretty comfy at least…

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#199

Thanks. I considered ATH-M50 but according to reviews they do not isolate well. Will research the Beyers. Also seeing that Sennheiser HD 380 PRO have good noise isolation, any experiences here?

#200

I know it’s entirely different price bracket so proceed with caution, but have you considered noise cancelling headphones?

Eg. way before the pandemic I bought a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3 for the office, and even now, having worked from home almost a year, they’ve been a great purchase - comfy enough to use for long periods, cancel noise really well, and sound very balanced. They work both wirelessly (use them with my work computer via Bluetooth) and with a cable.

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#201

Similarly, I recently purchased the slightly lower model, the Sony WH-H910Ns.

My plan was to use them for lectures, Teams meetings and occasional music listening, but they are so comfortable and have such suprisingly good sound quality that they are now almost glued to my head!

The addition of being able to use them with a cable means they have currently taken the place of my dodgy HD-25s (that I’ve had for around 15 years) for monitoring use.

Also, on the right side of the headphones the tap / swipe controls are clever, and the method to activate ambient sound by covering it is igenious.

#202

covid, ugh. the situation here has progressed such that very little music can be played out loud without someone complaining. so, headphones. I primarily need a mix solution, and I know, I know, mixing on headphones not so much. but I need to be able to sit in the living room with others and have the best possible representation I can, so they really need to be closed back, which, also not optimum. but I hope to pair this with some car stereo checks and maybe all the rest of the headphones I own and hopefully I’ll get to a good place.

I have loved my Grado 60s but the wrinkled diaphragm thing is almost constant with electronic music. I have the etymotic er-4s but they are so uncomfortable that I can only really wear them for an hour before pain ouch and the bass is not really representative. from careful reading of this thread, the two contenders look like the 770s or the AT M50s. anybody care to compare the two for mixing/mastering?

#203

So far I’ve used Focal Spirit Professional and ATH-M50 for that purpose.

Focals are pretty much the only headphones I could personally actually make consistently sensible mixing decisions on, but unfortunately they were not very comfortable for my head shape for longer periods. I don’t think that exact model is available anymore, but they have something equivalent or better now. If you have a place where you can buy / borrow those for auditioning, I highly recommend trying them out for the sound. If they feel comfortable to you, I’d rate them over any other closed back headphones I’ve tried so far.

ATH-M50 is kind of opposite but not completely. It’s a fine monitoring headphone and quite comfortable all things considered (I don’t remember having to take frequent breaks unlike with the Focals), but it took a while to get used to the sound and learn to translate that so that the end result didn’t sound weird on speakers. Still, they’re a good pick for not a lot of money, there’s absolutely nothing seriously wrong with them IME and one can learn them as with any pair of headphones.

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#204

Hmm, now I’m intrigued about these noise cancelling headphones. kbra, manfromuncool, do you notice any audible artifacts from the noise cancellation algorithm?

#205

I can’t hear anything obviously wrong with them - although I’m not an audio professional. The Sonys (at least those higher tier ones, no experience of any of the others) seem to have a really good NC algorithm in either case. I haven’t tried them for eg. mixing, but for listening to music they are superb. Perhaps a hint of loudness curve if anything, but nothing like weird transients or hiss masking things… plus they’re very comfortable and nice to use. I just see them as a very decent sounding comfortable pair of headphones which cost a lot due to a really good NC feature.

The only weird thing is that sometimes when using the headphones with Bluetooth connection when listening to music, the headphones and computer seem to negotiate a weird connection protocol and things suddenly sound muffled until you turn off the phones and turn them on again. I don’t think I experienced this with a wired connection so it sounds BT-specific.

#206

If you wanted to avoid bluetooth, the Direct Sound brand of headphones is used pretty regularly by drummers in recording studio settings; depending on the model they provide 33-36dB of passive attenuation. I haven’t myself heard any of the current models, though, so can’t speak to their sound quality.

#207

I know this is a bit out of the main wheelhouse of this thread, but I wanted to chime in with my favorite pair of beater headphones, the Monoprice Over the Ear Headphones. Nothing fancy at all, but in terms of inexpensive headphones, these are a lot of fun and sound really good. I think that sometimes having an easy to find low cost option can be a saving grace in times of need. There is a really entertainingly glowing tape-op review of them that turned me on to them a few years back.

I don’t think they would compete with or replace the nicer 'phones that have been mentioned in this thread, but I have never had a problem with them on gigs or during my walking commutes.

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#208

i recently ordered to demo Austrian Audio x55, Beyerdynamic DT 1770 and Neumann NDH-20 and kept the Beyerdynamic sounded best to me and easily best build/ most comfortable

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#209

Likewise, no expert, but I haven’t noticed any issues with noise cancellation.

I have found the sound quality, along with the fit, entirely non fatiguing.

I was worried about the codec used, but with MacOS and Android I haven’t noticed any quality issue. There may be latency issues, at least with MacOS.

I have also had some weird connection issue, only with MacOS, where it very rarely disconnects and then reconnects.

Overall I am very happy with them, one of the most rewarding purchases in a long time. My partner is annoyed with how much time they’re on my head (something that would be way too painful with my Sennheisers), because despite the ability to cover the right side to enable ambient sound, that doesn’t exactly appear social!

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#210

thank you, the Focals were not on my radar but the new model does indeed boast improved comfort so that is a very strong contender. appreciate your take.

wanted to chime in about the Monoprice as well, I have been using the over-the-ear models and they’ve been great. I have those and their even more consumer, less bulky $15 models and they both are really hardy. I am a little hard on ‘phones in general and the $15 ones spend 50% of their time on a seven year old and neither has had a problem. the response on both is rolled off in the highs, but there doesn’t seem to be any peaks either so they don’t sound harsh. the over-the-ears have more bass to be sure, and I use them as a “too much bass” check against the Grados, but not nearly as muddy down there as my old Fostex T20s and T40s.

#211

I find my DT-770s are pretty good at cancelling out quieter ambient noise- using them on an airplane or something would be another matter, but at home they’re great and super comfy. They are a bit bass heavy, but I’ve seen some recommended mods for dampening that, but also if you listen at quieter volume like I do its not so bad- its when you start going up in volume it can get a little overbearing, or when things are mixed to blast you like modern movie sound design is. I use them a lot for recording too since the room I work in at the moment is way too small for my monitors and theres no good way to position them. I’ve done a lot of work on them the last few years and have been happy with how it translates to loudspeakers. Also they are super comfortable. I remember when I went and tried a bunch of different headphones at around the same price bracket I liked the sound of the Focals more but I couldn’t see wearing them for more than 20 minutes without it being super uncomfortable (especially if you have ear piercings). I can wear the 770s all day no problem. I swap them out for grados now and then for reference or if I don’t need to really be using a closed back. Also replaceable earpads is always good.

If you want to go budget, there is always the superlux option. I’ve listened a little bit on the HD-681 which is the AKG K240 clone, and it looks like they have one now called HD-660, which from the name and look I would venture is their 770 knock-off.

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#212

I’ve had my Etymotic ER4XR in-ears since Christmas, and after the first day I considered returning them - my eardrums were hurting all next day, I was in physical pain from the insertion fit and wondering how such headphones could be allowed to exist on the market. But I had read enough comments about how important it was to find the tips with just the right fit for your eardrums, so I kept trying different fits after my ears recovered - triple flange, double flange, memory foam. I initially thought memory foam was my preference, but some of the sound quality felt lost to me and I was a little annoyed at having to do the squeeze-roll-insert thing each time I put them on. I settled eventually on double flange, small- or -medium sized (I forget which), which I insert fairly deep into my ears, upside down (so the tips are pointing up towards my ear canal), then remove just slightly so that they’re snug and enclose the earhole fully without actually getting into painful territory. I find I get the best possible sound and a full low end this way, without having my ears hurt during and after the experience. I wouldn’t say they’re especially comfortable - I can feel their presence and there’s no mistaking it - but they’re not painful and it becomes second nature eventually.

As far as bass and low end, I have trouble believing anyone could think the ER4XRs don’t offer enough bass. On tracks where the production prioritizes bass, I get as deep and full bass as any headphones I’ve ever used, and it never tips over into distortion or undue misrepresentation to my ears. Listening to Jamie XX right now and yeah, the bass is a physical experience, pretty awesome. My guess is that anyone who isn’t getting enough bass from them is 1) listening to recordings that don’t prioritize bass and thus they want something the musicians/engineers didn’t give them, or 2) they haven’t dialed in the fit properly and are wearing them without a snug, enclosed seal.

My preferred method of listening is also my phone, since another recent purchase was an LG G8X ThinQ. LG is the only phone manufacturer I’m aware of that makes a point of offering a premium audiophile-level quad DAC in their phones (at least the ThinQ series) along with robust settings and configuration for it, and that phone with my custom settings in combination with the excellent sound from the ER4XR ends up being the best listening experience I’ve ever had at home. It’s barely advertised/known but I would choose one of these LG phones over any fancy features of other phones due to the audio quality alone. (They’ve also paid special attention to the microphone, which can get extremely sensitive for a phone mic. There’s even a dedicated “ASMR” mode.)

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#213

really appreciate your response. I have not tried the different tips and as evidenced by how uncomfortable they are, I would agree I do not have the fit correct. great to hear you can get there though, and I would be overjoyed if I could solve this problem with gear I already own (plus whatever the tips cost).

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#214

Funny enough, I was just sharing my experiences in general since a few people mentioned ER4/ER4XR upthread, but actually reading your question more carefully, I see how it can help you with your dilemma. Good luck! If you haven’t tried different tips, I would highly recommend it since that made a huge difference for me.

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