The loudest Headphone

Are you sure you haven't simply realized that you've damaged your hearing over the years? That's what it sounds like. Any headphones can be loud with an amp. Look for low impedance and headphones with a narrow soundstage and small dynamic range; Grado comes to mind.

Heya,

 

This is like the one place I would think the HD650 would suit someone, lol.

 

Very best,

You being a drummer as you say, you should understand "Loud" doesn't equate to good/best... Clean sound at natural levels are the most appealing, this has been proven over and over again.. Your speakers will start to break up when your amplifier "Clips" or runs out of power.. This is why matching equipment is so important.. If you want loud dynamics you could go with really efficient horn loaded speakers like Edgar Horns and you will pay some good money for a pair and horn speakers are usually very large.. Everything is a trade off,  even with the headphones you're talking about the amplifier will make the difference not the headphones for being able to play loud...... I don't know how old you are but you better take care of your hearing or you won't be enjoying music and no one wants a drummer who can't hear the count.... JMO I've been a drummer and been into music most of my 59 yrs of life and you will learn that being able to hear is almost as important as being able to see.

Well the loudest headphone I've heard would be XB500. Paired with a ZO amp, listening to 11% volume is enough for "normal" listening volume. Your hearing would be severely damaged very fast with max volume for sure. I bet at max volume it would work nicely as a speaker too. I've been very interested in trying exactly how loud it gets and see if it can make out the vocals if I'm downstairs while it's playing upstairs if played at max but since I occasionally use them still I haven't really given it a try. I think it would easily pass this test.

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 11/13/11 at 4:36pm

Get a more powerful amp, you're clipping the one you have. Pretty much every headphone will get loud enough to destroy your hearing.

Or you might want to get a pair of hearing aids to use with your current setup. I think you're going to need them.

You're on track for tinnitus and/or deafness.

You probably won't take seriously an opinion from a stranger on a forum. So go see an audiologist. Take your rig along and get a professional opinion on the volume you're listening at and take a hearing test, too. See if you've lost any range yet.

Call me a wet blanket trying to ruin all the fun. But try falling to sleep when there's a loud ringing in your ears. Or having to wear hearing aids in your late thirties. Don't take it from me, go see an audiologist and hear it face-to-face from a professional.

Sounds like you've experienced hearing loss.  I'm a fellow musician and I've already partially considered hearing aids.  

Chiming in to say that I think you've definitely damaged your hearing, and finding "louder" headphones could be one of the worst things you do to yourself. Please see an audiologist asap.

The Klipsch Image ONE, Dr. Dre Beats, Grado 325i, HD555, SR850, Bose on ear, Pro900, HFI550 and Jays.

Most of us are coming to that conclusion because it's likely true. It's natural to be defensive, but the idea of looking for a "loud headphone" never comes up for 95% of buyers -- any headphone will do. If you're actively seeking something that a very loud headphone WITH an amp can't deliver, you've obviously damaged your hearing. Especially being a drummer? It's a classic case of partial deafness. I'm sorry it has happened but you need to get help to protect what you have left ASAP.

 

Internet hearing tests are 100% meaningless. Different encoders invariably add harmonics at lower frequencies as distortion when encoding audio for web app use, and on top of that many popular audio containers on the web don't even have the capability to hold information above 16KHz. I repeat, they are totally meaningless. And even if they were accurate, which they aren't, simply being able to hear a certain frequency is also nearly meaningless when it comes to hearing loss; what matters is the lowest decibel level you can hear it. If you're turning up the volume to hear this unrealistically-accurate hypothetical internet test, you're nullifying the meaning again.

 

 

Edited by soundstige - 11/13/11 at 5:26pm

My (very basic) understanding is that how loud and cleanly a headphone can be driven would depend on both the headphone and the amp--it's likely one or the other will be the bottleneck, but both play a part.

 

The amp needs to handle the electrical load properly, otherwise we will hear clipping or distortion. However, there must be a limit as to how hard a headphone can be pushed, which I think is dependent on the durability of the headphone's speaker coil to all the flexing necessary to achieve high volume.

 

Surely, though, there is a breaking limit. We see this when drivers are blown: often the case when there are unintended spikes in volume (e.g. the power on/off 'thud'). I believe Uncle Erik once mentioned a speaker that was so difficult to drive that it would make lesser amps melt (literally, mind you).

 

Back to the point on hearing: 

You're maxing the D1. I've had that amp for a short period, used it with my Beyer DT 880 (250 ohms version). The headphone's not too hard to drive, but it can use a little amping... I think I have some idea of how unhealthy the D1 could be when cranked to its full volume.

Ya I've pushed a hell of a lot of watts in to those, i they wont ever blow out. Although the XB1000 would probably be able to handle a lot more with its 70mm driver vs. XB500 40mm. I think thats more than triple the surface area.

Loud Music Sucks!

This is a bit dated, but last time I looked, the Sennheiser HD25 has just about the highest dB level available in headphones (146 dB):

http://gilmore2.chem.northwestern.edu/tech/dbohn1_table.htm