The old headphones question.
 

Hi chaps, Haven't posted here for a while, but here goes. I have checked
out Google, and not much help there on this.

I have a budget of up to about £70 for some new headphones. I like
listening to music in the evenings, so concert levels through speakers
are a no-no. I have a very varied taste, anything from Amadeus Mozart to
ZZ Top.

I've had a search around on the internet for reviews and tests, although
the only ones I could easily find were in the US, so I'm not sure how
valid their hearing tests are compared to ours.

Anyway, I've kind of got my eye on the Grado SR60 phones at the moment,
as their reviews are all good, and they are just under my maximum
budget.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any decent hi-fi shops around
here locally (Durham) to go and try some out (unless someone knows
different). Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

Names like Technics, Koss and Sennheiser are also some I've looked at,
in partcilular the Sennheiser HD497.

Looking for some inspiriation here.

Cheers.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

The old headphones question.
 

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

In all my years of using headphones in a pro capacity, I've not found any
that needed 'breaking in'. And if they 'altered' in any way after some use
- what's to stop them continuing to alter as time goes by?

--
*Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

The old headphones question.
 

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

In all my years of using headphones in a pro capacity, I've not found any
that needed 'breaking in'. And if they 'altered' in any way after some use
- what's to stop them continuing to alter as time goes by?

Perhaps some audiophile nerdy thing I guess, but most of the reviews
mentioned it. I suppose it stands to reason that most widgets such as
these will indeed change over many years, so I guess they could in part
be right, perhaps not to the extent where the sound quality is actually
noticeable on the short term, but it must change as the drivers wear,
and corrosion affects the connections.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

The old headphones question.
 

"Andy Hewitt" wrote in message
et...
Hi chaps, Haven't posted here for a while, but here goes. I have checked
out Google, and not much help there on this.

I have a budget of up to about £70 for some new headphones. I like
listening to music in the evenings, so concert levels through speakers
are a no-no. I have a very varied taste, anything from Amadeus Mozart to
ZZ Top.

I've had a search around on the internet for reviews and tests, although
the only ones I could easily find were in the US, so I'm not sure how
valid their hearing tests are compared to ours.

Anyway, I've kind of got my eye on the Grado SR60 phones at the moment,
as their reviews are all good, and they are just under my maximum
budget.

I've got the RS-1's, and borrowed the SR-60's.

Make sure you get the "ring donut" ear pads, as they're alot more comftable
& cooler than the flat foam earpads. One thing I don't like about the
Grado's (both bottom & top of the range) is that they don't have ANY cable
strain relief at all. The cable goes into the unit, directly soldered onto
the back of the driver. If you yank the cable it'll knacker the phones.

Personally I found the SR-60's a bit boomy, the RS-1's are alot better in
this regard, although still not perfect(on some material it's boomy,
compared to myriad of other good audio systems & speakers) could be the
headphone amp though.

The old headphones question.
 

Nath wrote:

Snipped Text
Anyway, I've kind of got my eye on the Grado SR60 phones at the moment,
as their reviews are all good, and they are just under my maximum
budget.

I've got the RS-1's, and borrowed the SR-60's.

Make sure you get the "ring donut" ear pads, as they're alot more comftable
& cooler than the flat foam earpads. One thing I don't like about the
Grado's (both bottom & top of the range) is that they don't have ANY cable
strain relief at all. The cable goes into the unit, directly soldered onto
the back of the driver. If you yank the cable it'll knacker the phones.

I knew about the foam thing, although I thought that'd changed some
while ago. I'll keep an eye out for that though.

Didn't know about the cable though, nobody has mentioned that at all.
Perhaps a reason to look at Sennheiser with their removeable cable.

Personally I found the SR-60's a bit boomy, the RS-1's are alot better in
this regard, although still not perfect(on some material it's boomy,
compared to myriad of other good audio systems & speakers) could be the
headphone amp though.

Maybe, most of the reviews found the SR60's' if anything, a little light
on the bass.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

The old headphones question.
 

Snipped Text
Anyway, I've kind of got my eye on the Grado SR60 phones at the
moment,
as their reviews are all good, and they are just under my maximum
budget.

I've got the RS-1's, and borrowed the SR-60's.

Make sure you get the "ring donut" ear pads, as they're alot more
comftable
& cooler than the flat foam earpads. One thing I don't like about the
Grado's (both bottom & top of the range) is that they don't have ANY
cable
strain relief at all. The cable goes into the unit, directly soldered
onto
the back of the driver. If you yank the cable it'll knacker the phones.

I knew about the foam thing, although I thought that'd changed some
while ago. I'll keep an eye out for that though.

Didn't know about the cable though, nobody has mentioned that at all.
Perhaps a reason to look at Sennheiser with their removeable cable.

Personally I found the SR-60's a bit boomy, the RS-1's are alot better
in
this regard, although still not perfect(on some material it's boomy,
compared to myriad of other good audio systems & speakers) could be the
headphone amp though.

Maybe, most of the reviews found the SR60's' if anything, a little light
on the bass.

Personally I think the Grados **** on the Sennheisers. They aren't perfect
but, to my ears, are streets ahead of others that I have heard £100.

I've had a pair of SR125s for 6 years, have wrapped the cable round the
headband, packed them in bags, used them on personal stereos and hifis,
whilst lying down, walking - you get the idea. The solder connection hasn't
failed yet. I also know of many others with Grado 'phones who haven't
experienced problems of this nature, either.

You don't mention what amplifier you are using - do you have a dedicated
headphone amp or are you using the headphone output of an existing amp -
which one? The SR60s can sound rather bright out of the box - they do need
"burning in". Any good hifi shop that sells these will permit a dem and, if
they are happy to demo them anyway, why not ask them to plug them in and
leave them playing the day before you audition them, if they are fresh from
the factory.

The old headphones question.
 

Andy Hewitt wrote:

Hi chaps, Haven't posted here for a while, but here goes. I have checked
out Google, and not much help there on this.

I have a budget of up to about £70 for some new headphones. I like
listening to music in the evenings, so concert levels through speakers
are a no-no. I have a very varied taste, anything from Amadeus Mozart to
ZZ Top.

I've had a search around on the internet for reviews and tests, although
the only ones I could easily find were in the US, so I'm not sure how
valid their hearing tests are compared to ours.

Anyway, I've kind of got my eye on the Grado SR60 phones at the moment,
as their reviews are all good, and they are just under my maximum
budget.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any decent hi-fi shops around
here locally (Durham) to go and try some out (unless someone knows
different). Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

It's fairly accepted that heavy duty ( eg PA type ) speakers can be 'broken
in' with a few hours 'conditioning' with the result of a lower resonant
frequency but I've never heard the claim made of headphones - nor can I
think of a rational reason why they should need such conditioing.


Names like Technics, Koss and Sennheiser are also some I've looked at,
in partcilular the Sennheiser HD497.

Beyers are nice too - I have a pair currently.

I think the only Koss headphones around now are the Chinese PRO4AA 'copies'.
Very heavy. The ear seal makes for stunning ( literally sometimes ) bass
though.

Sennheisers and Beyers tend to much favoured by pros. AKG make some good
stuff too. Seems to be an area where the European manufacturers seem to have
an edge.


Graham

The old headphones question.
 

I have both the Grado SR 60's and a pair of Sennheiser HD 580's. I wore out
the earpads on my Grados and when I got new ones, I cut holes out of the
pads using an exacto knife and a quarter as a template. This seems to make
them less boomy and clearer sounding for my ageing ears. In fact, when my
friend and I compared them to his SR 80's, they sounded alike.

I've had a lot of cheap headphones (Koss, Panasonic, Sony, etc.) and the
Grado SR 60s are very nice to listen to. Unlike most people, I find them
comfortable. The only annoyance I've had with them is that they tend to
twist up funny if you're not careful (each of the ear pieces 'swivels').
But this is only a minor annoyance. Although my Sennheiser HD 580s also
sound great, they were double the price. Soundwise, I can't honestly say I
like one over the other.

But other than price, the Grados do have another advantage: Unlike the
Sennheiser HD 580s, the Grados are low impedance (32 ohms as opposed to 300
for the Sennheisers) which makes them easy to run off of portable CD units.
Most of the newer model portable cd players don't put out the same volume as
older players (to conserve battery life?) and seem to need more sensitive
headphones. When I play classical music, I can't run my Sennheisers off my
Panasonic portable player because the quiet passages are almost inaudible,
but my Grados sound great. Also, if you don't have a headphone amp, I've
read some newsgroup postings (from Arny Krueger and others, I believe) that,
because of their low impedance, the Grados won't sound as distorted with the
headphone jack of a typical integrated amplifier (however, because of their
higher impedance, I can run my Sennheisers off of the speaker outputs of my
25WPC NAD 3020, which allows me to bypass the resistor circuitry of the
headphone output).

So, I'd recommend the SR60's. They look a bit cheap and flimsy, but for the
price I've not heard better.

Roland.


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

In all my years of using headphones in a pro capacity, I've not found any
that needed 'breaking in'. And if they 'altered' in any way after some use
- what's to stop them continuing to alter as time goes by?

--
*Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

The old headphones question.
 

Andy Hewitt wrote:
Hi chaps, Haven't posted here for a while, but here goes. I have
checked out Google, and not much help there on this.

snip
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any decent hi-fi shops around
here locally (Durham) to go and try some out (unless someone knows
different). Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

Names like Technics, Koss and Sennheiser are also some I've looked at,
in partcilular the Sennheiser HD497.

Looking for some inspiriation here.

Cheers.

If you go to hi fi choice forum look for a user call ROSSOred

or contact him via web site http://www.rosso-audio.4t.com/

Tell him davewhit2 sent you

might get your Grado SR60 at your budget price

He has in the past done the top of the range for about £500


regards


Dave xxxx
www.davewhitter.myby.co.uk

Music is Art - Audio is Engineering
Steam is Fun

The old headphones question.
 

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
writes
In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Although IMHO, it seems a bit pointless testing headphones
that haven't been 'broken in' anyway.

In all my years of using headphones in a pro capacity, I've not found any
that needed 'breaking in'. And if they 'altered' in any way after some use
- what's to stop them continuing to alter as time goes by?


Usually the altering is the removal of the jack plugs and the fracturing
of the leads and the O/C of the drive units after studio presenters have
had a go at them:!

As for overall performance I have always used Sennheiser FWIW....
--
Tony Sayer