Is there a "comfortable" headphone?
Sep 1, 2020 at 9:54 PM Post #32 of 45
your wife just took them off and threw them in the garbage? lmao
why didn't you get new pads, heck she should have gotten you a set. :floatsmile:

had a 580 once, wish i had kept it... was nice.

I had a 580 for sale. :) But not anymore...
The 580 is a little bass-lite for my tastes so I bought a used 6XX to transplant it’s drivers to 580 because 6XX headband is too tight! If I dont like Ill be selling both (again).
 
Jul 1, 2021 at 9:42 AM Post #34 of 45
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Jul 1, 2021 at 10:18 AM Post #35 of 45
To me Meze and DCA are signficantly more comfortable than any of the Sennheiser HD6__.
Sennheiser headphones are by no means uncomfortable. I would actually rate their comfort very high, but Meze and DCA I can wear 12+ hours with absolutely no problems.
The HD6__ can get uncomfortable after 7-8 hours which is probably more time than most people spend with headphones on their head in a day.
 
Jul 1, 2021 at 11:29 PM Post #36 of 45
I have/had some very comfortable headphones:

1) Grado GH2's. When I switched the pads to Beautiful Audio pads, they were perfect. Light and comfortable.

2) Senn HD660's. Strong clamp for the first month or two, but then very comfortable and pretty light.

3) Another favourite is the Focal Elex's. Heavier than the above models, but Very comfortable.

4) A past favourite was the Meze 99 Classic's. Light weight and squishy pads. I still miss them.

5) Another past headphone is the Shure 1540. I found them kind of boring, but Very comfortable.

6) A new set I recently bought (and am now selling), is the Audio Technica ATH-WP900's. Beautiful, light and comfortable.

To me, comfortable means that I can wear them for 7-8 hours per day, every day.
 
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Jul 2, 2021 at 7:57 AM Post #37 of 45
Haha

Seriously tho this should be the goal of all headphones in comfort, to be comfortably transparent as if not there. The hd700 does this far better than either the HD6xx (clamping force fatigue), hd8xx (massive earcups face fatigue), or grados (ear pressure/friction fatigue).

The super transparent fit of the hd700 with it's glove-like light earcups and minimal clamping combined with it's big soundstage that appears to extend beyond the headphone driver tricks you into thinking you don't have headphones on sometimes. Just need right amp to tame its highs :)
I bought the HD 700 a long time ago because of the comfort. HD 800 was just too big.
Plus the HD 700 cups swivelled forwards and backwards.
 
Jul 2, 2021 at 11:14 AM Post #38 of 45
DCA Aeon Flow Open X are the most comfortable (and best sounding) pair of phones I've tried with Beyerdynamic Amiron Home being second. I'm also really digging the comfort of the Hifiman Deva I just got. Its better than the Sundara and way better than the HE4XX comfort wise. The Sennheiser 600 family of phones are also quite comfortable after they break in and the headband clamp lessons a bit. New they have too much clamp for me but thankfully the loosen up with wear and become quite comfortable.
 
Jul 2, 2021 at 11:59 AM Post #39 of 45
To me, comfortable means that I can wear them for 7-8 hours per day, every day.


Excellent point!

As well as the other tip to roate headphones. :D

But also switching to an IEM helps, when for example the top of head gets sore.

I mean there are other factors like pad material which can be comfy like leather, but them over time heat up.

But lightweight 200-300g with velour and open seem to be the ones which rank highest from my experience :D I'm not surprides F1 and MA 900, and HD600 are up there. SHP 9500 etc.

I usually use my DT48 and suffer first with it's death grip and sweaty pads, and then everything else becomes more comfortable .
 
Jul 2, 2021 at 4:02 PM Post #40 of 45
I've owned quite a few headphones, light/small and large/heavy alike, and the only one that I'd truly classify as uncomfortable was the Avantone Pro Planar, and even then that's because of a specific design flaw that interacted with my specific head. 10-15 hours of most anything would likely become uncomfortable.
 
Jul 3, 2021 at 3:50 PM Post #41 of 45
Beyerdynamic DT770 pro. There's a reason you see these a lot in radio studios. They're insanely comfortable. Hours on end, no problem!

Btw i use dt880 99% of time but the pads/headband do bug me time to time..along with single exit cable.

Haven't tried alot of the more expensive models being referenced here. But I'd agree that the Beyers are some of the most comfortable circumauraul HPs I've used at the lower end of the price scale... As long as you are in a fairly cool environment. Because the velour pads can get rather toasty and sweaty in warmer conditions. The DT-990 is probably the most comfortable, because it's open.

I am also not a fan of the fixed single-sided coiled cable on my 250-ohm DT-770. If you are tinkerer, then it's probably not that difficult to replace the cables, since all of the parts on these HPs are replaceable (including the earpads). I assume they are soldered though. And have never been that great at soldering. So I just put up with the coiled cable for now. It'd be nice if Beyer updated their HPs though to include several different detachable cables, like some other mfrs are doing.

The metal headbands on the Beyers can be stretched to provide more or less clamp as well. So the clamping force on these headphones is also basically a non-issue. Most of the Beyers need modifications or EQ-ing though to get the brightness in the treble, and some other spots of unevenness under some better control.

The velour earpads on the Beyers are also washable with some soapy water. Though it takes a bit of practice to get them on an off without tearing the plastic lips that hold them in place.
 
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Jul 3, 2021 at 4:09 PM Post #42 of 45
I tried the Sennheiser HD560s on at Best Buy a day or so ago. And they did not seem to be as good a fit for my head as the Beyers. They were fairly light weight though. And the large oval earcups did not put any significant pressure on my ears. Plus they are also open, and somewhat breathable. So I would rank these as being somewhat above average for comfort, compared to some of the other sub-$200 studio type HPs I've used.

The headband appears to be plastic on these. And they might be a little clampy at first, especially on larger heads. I would not be surprised if the headband stretched out a bit though with some use. The velour padding on both the earpads and headband might also get a bit warm and sweaty in warmer conditions. They should breath a little bit though due to the open design.

The earpads are not very thick on these, btw. So it's possible that your ears could begin to rub on some parts inside the cups after some wear, if you have larger ears. The drivers are angled though, like on other Senn 5 and 6 series HPs, which may help a little with that.

According to Sennheiser's site, these use the same lightweight (mostly plastic, it appears) headphone chassis as the HD599. But with different drivers.

Rtings found a fairly sizable L/R driver imbalance in the upper mids at around 2k on the HD560s unit they reviewed btw...

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-5/graph#18492/7903
 
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Jul 3, 2021 at 4:21 PM Post #43 of 45
I assume, btw, that folks who are really interested in getting the greatest comfort will experiment with a variety of aftermarket earpads on their HPs.
 
Jul 5, 2021 at 11:01 PM Post #44 of 45
I just hit a new level of comfort! Today I finally received my T60 Argons. They come with big suede earpads (cowhide?).
I wore these for nine hours straight and there was NO irritation at all.
I know it'a cliche, but it's like wearing very small pillows on your ears. :L3000:
I can't wait to put them on again tomorrow.
 
Jul 6, 2021 at 2:34 AM Post #45 of 45
I tried on a pair of Shure SRH840's today, and those are also quite comfy HPs! I was really surprised by that. They seem to be pretty sturdily built as well. So probably wouldn't disappear completely because of the weight. But the padding was very soft on both the cups and headband. And there was almost no clamp!

The padding is a little shallow, so if you have large ears they might start to rub on the inside of the cups, esp. after a bit of wear. Shure includes a set of replacement pads though. The cups were also maybe a little small for my ears, and didn't quite surround them completely. So it might take a little experimentation to get a proper fit and seal. They were ridiculously comfortable though for such a sturdy-looking pair of studio headphones. And have definitely moved up a few notches on my potential buy list as a result.

I haven't actually listened to them yet, but I suspect that EQ could probably also fix a few potential issues with the response, since they are closed. If the sound quality is halfway decent on SRH840, I will be sad that I didn't give them a try alot sooner. Because I've already tried or used most of the other standard studio beaters in the same price class, and a fairly large percentage of them just plain suck! :) Especially when it comes to comfort.
 

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