New headphones

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reydevis

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New headphones
« on: 20 Feb 2020, 09:39 am »
Hey there!
I am looking for my first open headphones! I don't know too much about it, that's why it's a little problem to choose it properly.
I've been looking thoght some reviews, searching for reviews here, but I haven't find enought information to make a desicion.
Tell me a little about your experience, I hope that someone will help me with that.
My friend has the open headphones, I tried it and I want to buy
I use headphones really often to listen some guitar guides and lessons, to write music and others
My friend gave me a link for jonsguide review on open headphones

Letitroll98

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Re: New headphones
« Reply #1 on: 20 Feb 2020, 02:23 pm »
You don't want open headphones for those applications, you'd want a closed headphone with excellent sound isolation.  Open headphones are for listening to recorded music in solitary environments.  But for open headphones I prefer orthodynamic models (planars) like HiFiman and Audeze, I've also enjoyed dynamic models like Beyer T90's and Grado wood bodied models.

Wind Chaser

Re: New headphones
« Reply #2 on: 20 Feb 2020, 03:39 pm »
I've been looking thoght some reviews, searching for reviews here, but I haven't find enought information to make a decision.

I am in the same boat. Ideally you need to hear whatever you’re considering before you buy because reviews cut both ways. Reviews and reviewers have different perspectives and often seem to be at odds with each other. Every time I feel like I’m getting close to making a decision I read something else that makes me reconsider. And no what the budget, there doesn’t seem to be a perfect set of headphones out there that everyone can unanimously agree upon. So it feels like a crap shot, especially since I cannot listen to any of the headphones that interest me before I buy them.

dB Cooper

Re: New headphones
« Reply #3 on: 20 Feb 2020, 03:55 pm »
I tend to agree with letitroll as to finess for the purpose, but if you want open headphones for other reasons, the ones mentioned are good. Sennheiser (who originated the concept) has good ones, as does Beyer. It would help to know which ones you;ve heard, a bit about your tastes in music and sound signatures, and what the budget is.

I'd add to letitroll's comments that for monitoring/recording uses, I'd also gonsider quality, neutral IEMs like Etymotics. If you are using one of those 'play along' recordings, maybe you do want to hear both.

Freo-1

Re: New headphones
« Reply #4 on: 20 Feb 2020, 05:36 pm »
The cans I've seen on videos in studio are Beyer 770, Sony MDR 7520, or Audio Technicaa ATH-M50x.

adydula

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Re: New headphones
« Reply #5 on: 20 Feb 2020, 05:37 pm »
Welcome reydevis!

If these are going to be your first pair...you need to answer a few questions:

1. Your budget
2. What will you be plugging these into?
3. What will be your listening environment?
4. Will the envrionment allow for a little "noise bleed" from the headphones or does the environment need to be very quiet. like in library etc?

There are many choices...and can be very confusing.

What were the headphones your friend had that you tried and did they do what you wanted to do??
You said your looking for an "open" type of headphone?

Alex

NOTE: I took a look at the guide reference and I would not recommend it for a really good choice in choosing headphones.
There are other sites that are much more in tune with headphones:

Head-fi.com
Headphones.com
Innerfidelity.com

RePete72

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Re: New headphones
« Reply #6 on: 10 Apr 2022, 12:21 pm »
Headphones are probably the most personal equipment in audio

Not only does the sound signature need to suit but the fit is equally important. Then the build quality and feel is also important

If you don’t have a store nearby that demos a range of headphones then buying and selling headphones till you find the ones you like is what many of us have done.

I find closed back headphones work best for me as most of my listening is done next to my wife while she watches TV

 My current favourites are the DCA Either C flow but the Beyer Dynamic T5 Gen 3 did live with me for a while before being replaced. The Sony MDR Z1R was nice but the fit wasn’t quite right

I do have a soft spot for Grados which have some quite affordable models but they are open so don’t work when other people are around or there is noise in the environment

Lots of options but the questions Adydula asked above will help narrow down the options


FullRangeMan

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Re: New headphones
« Reply #7 on: 10 Apr 2022, 11:14 pm »
Hey there!
I am looking for my first open headphones! I don't know too much about it, that's why it's a little problem to choose it properly.
I've been looking thoght some reviews, searching for reviews here, but I haven't find enought information to make a desicion.
Tell me a little about your experience, I hope that someone will help me with that.
My friend has the open headphones, I tried it and I want to buy
I use headphones really often to listen some guitar guides and lessons, to write music and others
My friend gave me a link for jonsguide review on open headphones
The best HP test I have seen so far are this site:
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sennheiser/hd-800-s

They have a great system to measure soundstage size PTRF Distance here below the HD800S data:
PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.) 1.94 dB
PRTF Size (Avg.)   4.62 dB
PRTF Distance   22.36 dB
Openness   9.5
Acoustic Space Excitation  9.1
The Sennheiser HD-800S have a great soundstage. The PRTF graph shows a high amount of interaction between the pinna and the headphones, and the activation is also very accurate except for the 6KHz region. The 10KHz notch present is very deep, but also upshifted in frequency a bit, which probably gives the impression that the sound source is elevated (in-front and slightly above). Overall, due to the good PRTF response, and open-back design, the soundstage will be perceived as large, natural, and spacious. It won't quite be as externalized as a loudspeaker setup, partly due to the lack of correlated crosstalk, but it performs better than other open-back headphones like the Philips Fidelio X3.

I choose the headphones by the size of the soundstage, the bigger the better, open headphones have a bigger stage and closed headphones have a smaller stage. So the headphone that has the biggest stage currently is the HD800, even though it is dynamic, which I use as a comparison PRTF Distance=22.36dB.

bassma999

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Re: New headphones
« Reply #8 on: 11 Apr 2022, 06:39 am »
My experience with open headphones is limited to the single pair I have the Beyerdynamic 990 600 ohm.
I like them and their openness and surprising bass response. As I get older I notice the treble is a little bright at times.
Also the inherent drawback to fully open is that others hear your music, and you hear others and ambient noise.

I hope you enjoy your Sennheiser's!