[moonsurf]

I have very sensitive ears.. maybe damaged a little that my ears hurt after an extensive period of headphone listening.. about a couple hours continually. Strange thing is my ears don't hurt when I am listening to speakers unless it's really loud.. I mean really loud. I may have to give up on headphones as whole, but I just like listening to headphones a lot more than speakers. Well... you know.. we all know comparably sound quality speakers are just way too expensive. Anyway.. so I was thinking about purchasing an Ultrasone, since they claimed to be safer for ears. Does anyone know if Ultrasone really is better for ears? And if so, which line of Ultrasone is best for ears? Not in sound quality but for easy listening? Or, if anyone knows any other phones which are great for ears like mine, I would highly appreciate to know. Thanks a lot in Advance!!

 

[Mink]

I cannot comment about Ultrasone, never auditioned them, although some find the highs of some Ultrasone cans - Proline 650 and 750 for instance - a bit aggressive.

I think you're looking for a laid-back, more distant sounding type of headphones and preferably open-back ones (closed-back phones generally sound more shut-in and therefore may be more fatiguing to your ears)

An open-back Sennheiser comes to mind
In some aspect you may say they sound speaker-like because the sound never penetrates directly your ears, there's an airy wall between the music and your ears and in case of most Sennheisers this wall is pleasantly warm.
Some find the sound veiled or muffled, but to my ears it is just more distant.

I'd check out open models like HD580, HD600 and HD650.

 

[3x331m]

Check out the following:

HD650
Denon D2000/D5000
E500/SE530.

 

[moonsurf]

Thanks guys! I will check those out. I was going to get HD650 for sure, just issue of timing. For Shures.. I have the most problem with closed canals phones like Shure.. They can really hurt my ear. Anyway, thanks a lot for input!

 

[esuko]

Do you mean that your ears are sensitive loud volumes that headphones are usually capable?
Then i would not recommend HD650 because they have one volume level where they shine. If that level is too loud for you, they lack bellow this point(my opinion).
Usually brighter phones gives you the chance to listen using low SPL.

 

[moonsurf]

Thanks Esuko!

Anyone has tried an ultrasone?? perhaps i should ask in the ultrasone treahd..

 

[ericj]

Ultrasones are not safer.

Their claims about 'radiation shielding' are laughable at best and fraudulent at worst. This is the sort of thing the FTC fines companies hundreds of thousands of dollars for.

They have a frequency response that is peaky at the bass and treble and recessed in the midrange. This has basically the exact same effect as twisting the 'loudness' knob on an old stereo. It makes it easier to hear at low volumes, and worse at high volumes.

 

[mcmyers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by esuko /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you mean that your ears are sensitive loud volumes that headphones are usually capable? Then i would not recommend HD650 because they have one volume level where they shine. If that level is too loud for you, they lack bellow this point(my opinion). Usually brighter phones gives you the chance to listen using low SPL.

Yeah, having just bought 650s, I'm sort of on the fence about this myself. I bought them because every other headphone I tried was too bright, and I'd heard that they were more laid back. I've found that they are, but in order to sound their best, I believe I am turning up the volume a little more than I used to. I don't have an SPL meter, so I don't know if I'm going too high. But my ears are not feeling fatigued the way they did with my previous cans, so I think I may have found my sweet spot.