What headphones do you onw?

[kamranh3]

I see lots of threads for people asking for suggestions on which pair of headphones they should get, and always they are given the most detailed answers that almost always answer their questions straight away which is great. My question is though: What headphones do you own? There are many suggestions for different headphones or earphones but I've always wondered what the experts themselves use :P

[RobinHiFi]

Hi kamranh3

Nice question!

I use these two most of the time -

ACS T1 Custom Earphones - for when I'm out and about or travelling

and these

Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 Semi-Open Reference Class Headphones

at home with a Just Audio AHA120

I use both for playing live and mixing music as well as just listening pleasure, I also have some Phonaks and UE Triple fi 10.

Shaun has some

Sennheiser IE8 In-Ear Noise Isolating Earphones (IE 8)

and some

Sennheiser HD650 Open Back Headphones (HD 650 Audiophile)

which he likes with Graham Slee amps

Other headphones which people in the office own and love are;

Ultrasone Edition 8

Ultrasone Edition 9

Grado 325is

Klipsch X10

and various SoundMAGICs (PL30 or E30 or EH10) for those of us who can be bothered to go to the gym

[kamranh3]

£1000 pounds on headphones? :O I mean I'd think spending around £300 would be slightly extreme, but 3-4 times that price? What do you expensive bunch see in headphones around the £1000 mark? The Grado GR10s would seem satisfactory, not Ultrasone Edition 8 / 9 :P

[dalethorn]

Originally Posted by kamranh3

£1000 pounds on headphones? :O I mean I'd think spending around £300 would be slightly extreme, but 3-4 times that price? What do you expensive bunch see in headphones around the £1000 mark? The Grado GR10s would seem satisfactory, not Ultrasone Edition 8 / 9 :P

I'm not familiar with Ultrasone or the top-end Beyers, but I've had Grados and Sennheisers plus the classic Beyer DT-48, as well as Shure 940, Phiaton MS-400, Philips Stretch, Stax SRX MKIII, B&W P5, and Klipsch Image One. As a general rule, you can get a headphone for $300 USD that sounds very close to the sound of a $1500 headphone, but that extra money (with the best brands) goes into refinements you can easily hear with good source material and a decent amp. For portable use, or use in an office where your attention is more on the work than on the music, a good $300 headphone will be just as good as the $1500 headphone. It's when you're at home or in a quiet place that you can hear the subtle improvements that the high-priced gear offers.

[RobinHiFi]

Like Dale Thorn said the Beyer T1 comes into its own running from a rack mounted pro audio sound card I have with .wav files on a night when the world is at its quietest. I do use them for mix work on a night when I can't use my big speakers or near fields monitors so I can justify it as I do get paid for the work I do on peoples recordings. Also it is difficult not to go for the top end stuff when you have had to listen to all the headphones, you end up having to buy the thing you like the most - otherwise you will always know what you are missing

My headphone habit is not nearly as bad as my Guitar habit!

[kamranh3]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated

And on a completely different random topic, I think you guys should make a youtube channel, that would be awesome

[RobinHiFi]

This has been much discussed, sounds like it would be great to me - it is just finding the time!