Im searching for some over-ear head phones for my CD player. There are so many choices. Any of you guys have any recommendations? right now i am considering this: http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=004974
thanks
Are you looking for something that seals out some of the outside noise?
There are different styles of over the ear headphones. Some are sealed (like the HD280 Pro’s that you linked to) meaning they seal out some of the outside sound and keep the sound from your music from leaking out and annoying the person sitting right next to you.
There are also open headphones where the back side of the driver is open and not enclosed like the sealed headphones. Open headphones generally sound better than sealed headphones. There are some good sounding sealed headphones, but many of them sound really bad. Open headphones will let outside sound leak in and will allow the sound from the headphones to leak out.
Also, what is your source? Is it a portable CD player? One concern is the impedance of the headphones. Headphones with a high impedance are harder to drive and require more power from the CD player to drive them.
The Sennheiser 580’s are an example of an open headphone. They sound really good. I have them. I love them. But they’ve got a high impedance and don’t do to well plugged right in to a portable CD player. You kind of need a portable headphone amp to go along with them if you want to play them from a portable. Some home hi-fi equipment is able to drive the 580’s and they’re better suited for home use than portable use. I use them for home use. For portable use I use a Grado SR60. The Grado’s are good for portable use and sound great, but they are a bit uncomfortable and they sit right on the ear rather than over the ear. They are also an open headphone so do not block out outside sounds.
Sennheiser also just introduced the HD515 HD555 and HD595. They’re open headphones. They’ve been getting good reviews so far. They’re lower impedance than the HD580’s (120 ohms vs. 300 ohms). Still a bit high for a portable player.
What John is talking about with open driver head phones is probably not what your looking for. Headphones like that are not only generally exspensive (a cheap pair will run you well over 100 USD), but also need a diffrent style of listening. Because they let ambient noise in, they have a better, more real, sound. But they need to be listened to in a quiet room. Most need a headphone amp, and are only worth it if you’re listening to very high quality audio.
It sounds like you want a pair of headphones for traveling around. I really do reccomend cllosed ear style phones. I have nice huge ones, and although heavy, they are really great. You can get a nice pair from 100-250 dollars, anything after that is getting into overkill I think.
If your going to beat your up though, get something for like 50 bucks, and get a radioshack or best buy or something warentee on it, so they replace them when they break.
Re: over ear headphones
yeah, these
headphones have popped up for discussion before
check out those two threads for some other thoughts
u can’t go wrong with sennheiser
i’m a fan
Re: Re: over ear headphones
I’m a big fan of Sennheiser too, but you can go wrong with some of the Sennheiser headphones. Sennheiser has some duds in their product line.
Sennheiser also has a lot of headphones in their product line. They have at least several dozen different headphones across several different lines and overlapping price points. It makes it difficult to pick a headphone from them unless you read some reviews to help narrow the choices down.
Grado’s product line is much simpler. Fewer choices and if you pay more you get more. It’s not so simple with Sennheiser. Paying more doesn’t always get you more.
The Sennheiser 580’s/600’s are my favorite headphones. I love them. They’re a bit laid back and reserved for rock (they don’t have the punch that you get with some other headphones) but they sound sooooo good that I overlook that one slight fault.
I’m listening to Ozzy’s Fairies Wear Boots right now with my HD600’s. The HD600’s even make Ozzy sound good.
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i’m going to forget u said that and pretend i’m still your friend;)
the rest of your post does make sense tho and i need to retract my statement that u ‘can’t go wrong with sennheiser’
a product must be aligned with it’s intended task
i’ll rephrase to ‘it’s more difficult to go wrong with sennheiser’
kewl?
Re: Re: Re: Re: over ear headphones
I could rephrase that and say that the HD600’s allow you to listen to harsh music like Ozzy without being driven to deafness and insanity.
Lesser headphones would have me digging into my eardrums with an icepick to stop the pain.
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the best argument in favour of investing in high-end headphones
the cheapies will damage your hearing
well i ended up getting the 280’s. they are so huge but the sound is beyond what i could imagine. german stuff rocks.