[Bizzel]

I'm going to a nearby store this weekend to try out a variety of cans - Grado, AKG, Senns, etc. My ears are quite untrained, so what should I be listening for to tell the difference between the various headphones? I tried some HD555s and 595s the other week (amped from a lossless source btw) and I was hard pushed to hear a difference. What do you look out for when demoing headphones?

 

[F107plus5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm going to a nearby store this weekend to try out a variety of cans - Grado, AKG, Senns, etc. My ears are quite untrained, so what should I be listening for to tell the difference between the various headphones? I tried some HD555s and 595s the other week (amped from a lossless source btw) and I was hard pushed to hear a difference. What do you look out for when demoing headphones?

I like your choice of two cans to save for! I'm pretty close to that myself!!

I have the not-so-bright(compared to SR-325i)MS2i and the not-so-warm (compared to HD650)HD600, so I see where you're heading! Having one of each is a cool way to go if you can't find a one-size-fits-all middle of the road set that covers your entire range of music. I use the HD600s for all my bigger classical stuff and the MS2i for most stuff rock, and they overlap for whatever sounds best for whatever I'm listening to in the middle!

What I would do if I had a good shop to visit would be to take my favorite CDs and see just which phones sounded the best to me, and which gave me the greatest amount of "never-heard-that-before" revelations as well as that set which did the best job of making the world far less important than it was.

Your basic preferences are quite important too, but may not be trusted for the long haul. For instance there are a lot of folks here who originally thought that they were major bass-heads who found that tighter more accurate bass that didn't overwhelm the music was more to their liking after hearing it for a while.

But ear training is important, and time listening will help with that.

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm going to a nearby store this weekend to try out a variety of cans - Grado, AKG, Senns, etc. My ears are quite untrained, so what should I be listening for to tell the difference between the various headphones? I tried some HD555s and 595s the other week (amped from a lossless source btw) and I was hard pushed to hear a difference. What do you look out for when demoing headphones?

You'll hear some kind of difference...at least between the brand. For example Sennheiser cans are velvety and warm, while Grados are hyper and loud.