What Headphones Do You Actually Use?

[jose]

I know gaming headphones aren't the goal of the thread, but I've been spending quite a bit of time with them lately.

To play DCS and IL II (military flight simulators) and to have business teleconferences I needed a headset with mix and bought a Logitec G432 a couple of weeks ago.

It does not reach the level of most headphones that I have at home (obviously) but they do their job quite well in games and I can "listen to music" while I work without worrying about whether they fall or suffer a blow, etc ... I do not know how long the coating will last of the earpads but in general I think he is quite well built. 

One detail that I really liked is the is the DAC that comes with them because it´s very useful since you can convert any 3.5-jack headset to USB.

I think it was about 50 bucks well spent.

 

 

 

[swt61]

On 9/17/2020 at 5:06 PM, Kenjazz said:

Depends which room I'm in
Den/office: AKG K601or Aeon Flow Close
Rec room: K702
Family room: Audeze EL-8C or Grado GS1000
Bedroom: Hifiman HE560 or Audeze LCD-2
Deck: M&D MW60 or Bose OE

On order: Focal Elear & Hifiman Ananda

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk
 

So, in the same way that a ferret will not go into another room to use a litter box, you won't use a headphone that may be more than 10' away? Granted, the ferret backing into a corner to poop is a bit messier, but it still seems a bit lazy.

[Craig Sawyers]

In the bedroom: Stax Lambda originals bought late 80's fed by KG T2 clone. An absolutely awesome headphone!

In the dining room: Stax ST007 fed by original design of BH

In the other bedroom: DT990 and K701 fed by original Dynalo with Borbely discrete regulators.

I also have a pair of Koss PRO4AA, bought for nostalgia sake, because they were the first headphone type I bought in the early 70's. Truly lousy SQ and a real head crusher weight. And Koss ESP9, with a bias source and amp that is the biggest POS ever, but sounds good. Both pairs of Koss started life with their fluid filled pads that were supposed to seal the things to your head, that were no longer fluid filled and rock hard. Replaced by soft pads that seal well enough.

The other thing that needed replacing on both Koss's was the foam cup filling, which had gone like tar. Hell of a mess to clean out.

[ktm]

22 hours ago, swt61 said:

So, in the same way that a ferret will not go into another room to use a litter box, you won't use a headphone that may be more than 10' away? Granted, the ferret backing into a corner to poop is a bit messier, but it still seems a bit lazy.

Well, I guess it's a way to justify keeping all the gear owned. otherwise, sooner or later we'd

have to logically sell some of it. And we all know that's not going to happen....

[Kenjazz]

I agree with KTM.  Also, 5200 sq ft 3-floor house.  Rooms are more than 10' apart. Easier to have HPs "strategically located".

[swt61]

My point is that generally, as the title of this thread alludes to, we have a favorite headphone that we use most of the time. For me it's the K1000, and I'll walk through the house to listen to them first. 

[Craig Sawyers]

For me it is that each headphone is associated with a different listening system. The T2 clone is fed from an Audio Sythesis DAC and a Meridian CD transport. The BH is fed from a phono stage, and a Thorens TD 150/SME3009/Shure V15IV with Jico stylus. And the Dynalo from a Tent Labs CD player.

So it is what source I want to use, rather than a go-to pair of phones.

[Kenjazz]

It appears I misunderstood the question. But, I think my response is appropriate.  I use  all of my current HPs. But, my use is situational. Depends on which room and who's there. Most of my listening is in my office so I rotate between the Elear, Ether and AEC. I sold off all of the the HPs last month that I don't use: Grados 325is, RS-1i, GS1000i and A-T ATH-700.

[Pars]

22 minutes ago, Craig Sawyers said:

For me it is that each headphone is associated with a different listening system. The T2 clone is fed from an Audio Sythesis DAC and a Meridian CD transport. The BH is fed from a phono stage, and a Thorens TD 150/SME3009/Shure V15IV with Jico stylus. And the Dynalo from a Tent Labs CD player.

So it is what source I want to use, rather than a go-to pair of phones.

Interesting Craig. Per the bold, I was always interested in hearing one of these. What do you think of it? Guessing since it is on the phono and Dynalo, and not on the T2 that you prefer the Audio Synthesis.

[Fitz]

7 hours ago, swt61 said:

My point is that generally, as the title of this thread alludes to, we have a favorite headphone that we use most of the time. For me it's the K1000, and I'll walk through the house to listen to them first. 

Honestly I got tired of how fiddly the K1000 is. Has to be positioned just right to sound best, and I tend to move a lot while I'm listening to music and vibing. S'why I sold my last pair, just isn't compatible with how I am despite how nice they sound.

[MexicanDragon]

15 minutes ago, Fitz said:

Honestly I got tired of how fiddly the K1000 is. Has to be positioned just right to sound best, and I tend to move a lot while I'm listening to music and vibing. S'why I sold my last pair, just isn't compatible with how I am despite how nice they sound.

Sounds like you may benefit from this.

[Fitz]

1 minute ago, MexicanDragon said:

Sounds like you may benefit from this.

I used the K1000 money for my PC upgrades, can't afford nothing like that right now.

[MexicanDragon]

20 minutes ago, Fitz said:

I used the K1000 money for my PC upgrades, can't afford nothing like that right now.

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by MexicanDragon

[Fitz]

Well, when you put it that way.

[swt61]

33 minutes ago, Fitz said:

Honestly I got tired of how fiddly the K1000 is. Has to be positioned just right to sound best, and I tend to move a lot while I'm listening to music and vibing. S'why I sold my last pair, just isn't compatible with how I am despite how nice they sound.

I find myself increasingly enjoying the fiddling. It takes me back to a lost time. I'm even getting back into vinyl, partly because of the fussy nature. I like the preparation before listening. It makes it more of an event. Background music has its place, but I find myself wanting to let the music take me somewhere, not unlike when I was a teenager and would get lost in music, and the hobby of audio. I would spend a lot of time fiddling with my gear, taping sessions and so on. My friends would bring over albums and we'd spend hours listening and recording them. They learned that if they bought the album for me to keep, I'd make them a better cassette tape of it than they could buy. 

Music has always pulled me through life. It took me to a better place, or helped me grieve some of the things I felt I couldn't control. It kept me company before I learned how to be a social being. I guess it's an old friend. 

[Grahame]

39 minutes ago, MexicanDragon said:

Sounds like you may benefit from this.

Especially if they require 1 MegaWatt to produce 116dB ( t=64 )

[Fitz]

34 minutes ago, swt61 said:

I find myself increasingly enjoying the fiddling. It takes me back to a lost time. I'm even getting back into vinyl, partly because of the fussy nature. I like the preparation before listening. It makes it more of an event. Background music has its place, but I find myself wanting to let the music take me somewhere, not unlike when I was a teenager and would get lost in music, and the hobby of audio. I would spend a lot of time fiddling with my gear, taping sessions and so on. My friends would bring over albums and we'd spend hours listening and recording them. They learned that if they bought the album for me to keep, I'd make them a better cassette tape of it than they could buy. 

Music has always pulled me through life. It took me to a better place, or helped me grieve some of the things I felt I couldn't control. It kept me company before I learned how to be a social being. I guess it's an old friend. 

I used to love the whole ritual to sitting down for serious listening, getting everything ready, reading the liner notes, etc. Now though I find music connects with me much deeper if I don't "plan" to be listening, and just do it spontaneously. Especially when I'm listening to something, and somebody on discord suddenly posts a link for some completely different track than what I was listening to, so I switch to it next, and just continue grooving to something I wasn't even considering listening to a few minutes before.

28 minutes ago, Grahame said:

Especially if they require 1 MegaWatt to produce 116dB ( t=64 )

1.21 jiggawatts?!

[Craig Sawyers]

8 hours ago, Pars said:

Interesting Craig. Per the bold, I was always interested in hearing one of these. What do you think of it? Guessing since it is on the phono and Dynalo, and not on the T2 that you prefer the Audio Synthesis.

The Tent seems to have a problem with the SPDIF output that stops a DAC from recognizing it. I have not got round to finding out why. I could I suppose just use the analog outputs the same way that I do with the Dynalo. Might be worth trying.

I actually got it for fee from a guy who I did some audio consultancy for - he was strapped for cash and paid me in audio gear (The Tent, a couple of LFD amps, and ESL57's).

The Tent did not work; the design was mainly surface mount, and one of the transistors associated with the clock had blown. That had taken out the astonishingly fussy CDM-pro spinner. I replaced the transistor with a discrete one on thin wire legs to the SM pads. Then Tent sent me a new CDM-pro mech FOC - which in spite of antistatic handling failed to work. I sent it back to Guido Tent, and he replaced it free with another one and sent it back; it has worked since.

The manual for the Philips CDM-pro says that power rails and clock have to appear in a particular order, or death and destruction will happen. How they let these things out of the factory with such arcane requirements is bewildering.

[jose]

On 10/5/2020 at 8:48 AM, Craig Sawyers said:

I also have a pair of Koss PRO4AA, bought for nostalgia sake, because they were the first headphone type I bought in the early 70's....

The other thing that needed replacing on both Koss's was the foam cup filling, which had gone like tar. Hell of a mess to clean out.

I also have some Pro4aa bought new a few years ago (I unzip the box). Headphones had been in the store for about a thousand years. 😁 

Despite being new, the inside of the pads had "volatilized" and one of the drivers was not hearing well due to dust on the pad. I was able to send them to the Peninsula (continental Spain) and with the Koss guarantee I replaced the driver that did not work.

being honest ... they sound horrible and are quite uncomfortable, the plastic coating of the earpads is hard and sticks with sweat, but they are indestructible

[Pars]

On 10/6/2020 at 2:14 AM, Craig Sawyers said:

The Tent seems to have a problem with the SPDIF output that stops a DAC from recognizing it. I have not got round to finding out why. I could I suppose just use the analog outputs the same way that I do with the Dynalo. Might be worth trying.

I actually got it for fee from a guy who I did some audio consultancy for - he was strapped for cash and paid me in audio gear (The Tent, a couple of LFD amps, and ESL57's).

The Tent did not work; the design was mainly surface mount, and one of the transistors associated with the clock had blown. That had taken out the astonishingly fussy CDM-pro spinner. I replaced the transistor with a discrete one on thin wire legs to the SM pads. Then Tent sent me a new CDM-pro mech FOC - which in spite of antistatic handling failed to work. I sent it back to Guido Tent, and he replaced it free with another one and sent it back; it has worked since.

The manual for the Philips CDM-pro says that power rails and clock have to appear in a particular order, or death and destruction will happen. How they let these things out of the factory with such arcane requirements is bewildering.

Yikes! Glad I never looked into buying one then. I'd never read anything about them to this level of detail (such as the rails having to sequence correctly). That said, when it does work, how does it sound?

[Craig Sawyers]

Excellent. Quirkily it has a tube output stage and tube rectifier. It was also fitted with an Audio Note paper in oil capacitor, which went leaky. Sent a message to Audio Note, the accepted that this was a flaw with that design, and sent me a pair of film in oil capacitors free of charge. That problem was sorted too.

So really there was a series of problems with the design, but now everything works flawlessly, and sounds great.

[Fitz]

On 10/6/2020 at 3:14 AM, Craig Sawyers said:

The Tent seems to have a problem with the SPDIF output that stops a DAC from recognizing it.

They aren't accidentally sending an aes3 signal instead of spdif over it, are they?

[Hennyo]

HD 800 plus hpeq or Sorrodje's SuperDupontResontor modification, or campfire audio solaris for Darin Fong's OOYH and Smyth A8 prir files for Netflix or film and 2 channel or surround presets. I have to see if OOYH can be run from Android. I sold the solaris recently due to expense but in the future I would like another diamond like carbon iem for Dsp through the phone. On Android if ever Darin gets it working! 

 

I will probably update this post very soon about the Android functionality if I hear back from Darin,  whom always promptly replies to requests about Out Of Your Head software. 

living room setup, laptop to Stax Lambda Signature from 727 with Out Of your Head A8 realiser AIX studio 5.1 and 7.1 prir. And Adam A7x prirs.

I find out of your head to be remarkably convenient because you can just process through software from the source device rather than in an actual Realiser A8. So it's what I actually use. 

This thread is really cool.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Hennyo

[Voltron]

3 hours ago, Hennyo said:

I will probably update this post very soon 

Don't bother.

[ilikebananafudge]

Ah, the impossible balancing act between having compassion for all humans and minimizing personal suffering by decreasing unwanted social interactions. What are we to do?