All about Cans!

[Miracle Mile]

On request by several members in here I've started a new thread about my adventures with headphones.
Feel free to join in with your expierences of any kind related to headphones and have fun!

Let's kick off with some pics........

 

[Dazen1]

Cool.

Look forward to seeing how this thread develops.

 

[speakerman1]

This is just my take. I'm not a big fan. If headphones sound better than my system. I have a problem. They make my ears sweat. I have used headphones maybe an hour in a year. To each his own. That is what makes the world go around.

 

[Elite-ist]

I'm glad you started this thread, Miles. It's easy to refer to when seeing what headphones members use, have rebuilt, have newly acquired, and, of course, some new artistic endeavours by yourself and others.

Nando.

 

[Miracle Mile]

If headphones sound better than my system, I have a problem...

It's impossible headphones will sound better than ANY system.
It's the system that will make the headphones sound.

Simple.

 

[Elite-ist]

I would be curious to know whether members use a stand-alone headphone amplifier. Headphones are very important to me when I'm recording. I can't be without them for recording, but once the recording is completed it's through my regular stereo system for the shakedown runs. I feel the stereo separation and level of detail heard through a good set of headphones at lower volumes is better than what I can hear through my system's speakers at low volume.

Nando.

 

[Miracle Mile]

For working in environments like radio or recordingstudios a pair of good cans is an essential tool.
It's nice to switch to another pair of cans in a mixing process, each genre of music or sound has it's own characteristics and so do the different types of headphones.

For example:

The K240 DF is (although out of production for years) still one of the "refference" cans used in studios worldwide:

 

[Elite-ist]

I hope to show off a few vintage headphones, besides the AKG K-240 Monitors I regularly use.

Nando.

 

[speakerman1]

I would be curious to know whether members use a stand-alone headphone amplifier. Headphones are very important to me when I'm recording. I can't be without them for recording, but once the recording is completed it's through my regular stereo system for the shakedown runs. I feel the stereo separation and level of detail heard through a good set of headphones at lower volumes is better than what I can hear through my system's speakers at low volume.

Nando.

If I use headphones. I use a headphone amp.

 

[Dazen1]

This is just my take. I'm not a big fan. If headphones sound better than my system. I have a problem. They make my ears sweat. I have used headphones maybe an hour in a year. To each his own. That is what makes the world go around.

My personal preference is to listen via some well positioned loudspeakers. I want to feel the music resonate around the room.

Headphones have their place and as Nando and Miles have indicated; they can be essential tools of our hobby.

I rarely use headphones. I'm not sure I could be trusted to keep the volume down to a reasonable level to be honest (!) and I want to preserve my hearing for as long as possible.

The last decent set of cans I had were from Sennheiser and that is going back 20 years! All I have now are several pairs of satisfactory earphones mainly sourced from Sony.

 

[speakerman1]

It's impossible headphones will sound better than ANY system.
It's the system that will make the headphones sound.

Simple.

Am I plugging into a source, amp, pre, headphone amp. Impossible is a hard word to prove. If I only use a source. The system is not in the loop. Am I wearing a 400.00 pair of AKGs or a little pair of Grado 80s. Your system is only as good as it's weakest link. If the headphones aren't it. You will get a better sound.

 

[Miracle Mile]

Your system is only as good as it's weakest link.

Ah.....

I see.

Edit: In all studio's I've been and worked I've never seen somebody wearing Grado 80's....

 

[Miracle Mile]

 

[BubbaH]

Im with Daren on this one... I like to feel my music as well. Headphones are great for when im recording though. Especially with vinyl.

If im using phones they're plugged into 1 of 3 things, the cassette deck, the reel, or the MD deck. Cant even remember the last time I plugged my phones into my pre amp.

To be honest, I dont ever see myself upgrading my phones from my V-400's. While maybe not the greatest phones, they simply just work.

 

[Elite-ist]

If I use headphones. I use a headphone amp.

Larry: remind me which one it was. Was it a Creek?

Nando.

 

[Elite-ist]

Nice pic, Miles.

Rarely, do I plug into the preamp or receiver - it's usually into the recording deck while I monitor my recordings.

Nando.

 

[speakerman1]

Larry: remind me which one it was. Was it a Creek?

Nando.

Yes the Creek when I had it. I don't run a studio. I have never owned a mixer or an equalizer. I run everything if it even has the knobs to adjust at the detent or dieabled. I very seldom record. If you have line levels on CDPs then I use the on board phone amp. The only pieces I Have that has a jack is the Creek integrated and the Shanling CDP. The Behringer has a line level amp on it I have never used. I pluged them into the computer when my CVs went bye. That lasted an hour. Speakers came in very quickly. The bang for the buck I like the Grados. I got rid of the AKGs. If I record I know the sound going onto the tape. The only thing I can change are the peaks. The Shanling has a tubed headphone amp. No headphone jack on the garage rack. Had to look I just don't use them.

 

[Lazarus Short]

I was never much into cans + stretched string, but was into headphones big time for a few years. The real madness began when I bought a secondhand pair of Stax SR-5's, and then got the tubed driver unit (worked off a line-level output) to replace the usual transformer (worked off speaker-level outputs). It was so good, that I could hear singers open their mouths prior to singing - seriously. I joined Head-Fi, racked up >3200 posts, attended Head-Fi meets, bought more headphones, found that I loved Sennheisers, and hated Sonys.

Then someone posted on Head-Fi a statement by some rock superstar, that it's not the big loudspeakers on stage that kill your hearing, it's the recording studio headphones. My headphone use then went into a long slide, and I eventually sold my Stax, and my best Sennheisers. I gave away my Yamaha YF-1 headphones, which were truly great for non-Stax. I sold my MF X-Can unit too.

Still, it was good times, I still own some good headphones, and still drop in at Head-Fi from time to time. BTW, some of my best personal audio playback has been with headphones. It's like a friend said about motorcycles: they give you all the thrills of a Ferrari at 1% of the cost.

 

[Miracle Mile]

Then someone posted on Head-Fi a statement by some rock superstar, that it's not the big loudspeakers on stage that kill your hearing, it's the recording studio headphones.

True.

Some headphones will be turned up to incredible high volumes when used for monitoring in studios or DJ boots.

The MDR-V 700's can reach an ABSURD high volume with their output of 3000Mw, which is crazy and certainly destructive for your hearing.

 

[Lazarus Short]

"MDR-V 700" sounds like a Sony model number - there's almost no chance of my listening to them for more than a few seconds. I can't stand even the TOTL Sony headphones. Awful! Awful!