[shingo]

I have owned a few pair of over the ear head phone over the year, but I don't really see the difference between over and on the ear. Over the ear seam to be slightly larger than on the ear, but they are still not completly over. I have a pair of ear protection and they are really over the ear which have an excellent seal. So my question is really this, why are over the ear head phones usualy so small?

 

[MohawkUS]

Some of them do actually go over your ears. The point is that in 'over the ear' headphones the pads should be pushing up against your head rather than your ears. Of course, everyone's ears are different so some models may not sit as you'd expect. What pairs of headphones have you tried?

 

[shingo]

I currently have Sony mdr 7506, they push on the edge of my ear pretty much all around. before that I used an old pair of Koss over the ear but it was the same thing, if they had half an inch more in diameter they would not touch my ear. I do not have small ear, but they are not super big.

 

[zazex]

Depends a lot on the size of your ears. 
 
Some, like the Beyer DT880, DT770, Sony MDR MD900, Audio Technica ATH AD900X, AKG 550, and 7xx series
should fit over pretty much anyone's ears.
 
Others which are called 'over ear' headphones are dicier in this regard.
 
My ears are pretty much 'regular' size, and the MDR 7506 fit on my ears, not over them.

 

[shingo]

I tried a few headphones at the store today, sennheiser momentum are on ear for me and sennheiser 558 are trully over ear.