Spatulaorama
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2006
- Posts
- 16
- Likes
- 13
Hello, here’s my first post, and I’m pretty new to the world of good quality headphones. Unfortunately for most of my life, I’ve used those pesky and very painful ear bud type things of terror, which my ears will never forgive me.
About four years ago, my mom bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 495’s. Of course this is the first time I ever heard of “good quality” headphones, so when I tried them on, needless to say, I was blown away. What’s even funnier is that the model was on sale and was NO where near the top tier quality stuff that Sennheiser nor any other manufacturer had to offer, but it suited me for our budget at that time, and I was happy.
Since then, I’ve felt it’s time to step up a bit. My HD 495’s don’t seem to function anymore; one side doesn’t produce any sound whatsoever, and the L side where the plug is, seems extremely staticky. This is probably due to some broken wires due to misuse or or something, since my kid sister also (mis)uses it sometimes. I’m basically looking for a step up (or several steps) up for a corded headphone.
Here’s my following criteria:
•Price range of $100 to $200 Canadian – so about $90 to 180 USD, but if I have to spend a little bit more, then that’s okay, as long as it’s paying off well in terms of value.
•Peferrably by Sennheiser, as after experiencing their “economy” range models, I’d love to try out higher tier stuff.
•Not an audiophile really. As a matter of fact, I really can’t distinguish every nuance each headphone has to offer, I’m still a novice in this field and quite ignorant in headphone knowledge. So a Sennheiser 555 or a 590 or even a 600 might all sound equal to my untrained ears.
•Used mainly for watching DVDs and movies on my TV set, listening to music on my computer, and ESPECIALLY for video game usage.
•Portability is NOT an issue, these headphones will stay in the house and will basically never be taken outside.
•Doesn’t absolutely need an amplifier. I just want to use something better than my 495’s or even *gasp* those super-cheap headphones that came with the $49 discman from Walmart, oh no!
•I want something my ears can “grow” into, and not have to keep “upgrading” every few years. I’d like a high quality headphone that I’ll be using for well, let’s say a very long time.
•I’d like the headphones to not “overheat” too too much with only a few hours of usage. Sometimes I like to wear these at least maybe 5-6 hours at a stretch (with low volume, of course).
•Besides using it for general multimedia usage, I like to listen to classical pieces, some jazz, rock, pop-rock, and orchestrated music.
A few models I’m interested in:
Sennheiser HD 515 - $150 at Futureshop. These seem pretty good, but I read the reviews and it gave the HD 555’s a perfect score:
http://www.headphone.com/products/he...ser-hd-555.php
The 555’s are selling at $200 CDN at Futureshop/Bestbuy.
Here’s a few questions I have after observing my 495’s.
1)Do your ear pads tend to smell and give off well, a sweaty odor from months and years of usage? Maybe I should dry my hair to rid of the foul smell my ear pieces have collected. My 495’s reek pretty bad, but at least my ears don’t have “noses”.
2)What do you think has caused my 495’s to crap out on me? I think it must be a severed wire from the L to R, so the R is non-functional.
3)As I live in Canada, it looks like repair and technical support for Sennheiser products are pretty hard to come by. If I want to send it there and get it fixed, whatever the problem may be, I think I’d rather spend the money on a new set
4)How long as your headphone set has lasted you? Despite the burn in effect, does it still seem in it’s prime to your ears?
5)Any other “by the ropes” stuff I should know about? I never knew that you should disconnect your headphones when the source is at lowest volume or completely off to not “shock” the plug. Maybe this was the cause of my 495’s biting the dust.
About four years ago, my mom bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 495’s. Of course this is the first time I ever heard of “good quality” headphones, so when I tried them on, needless to say, I was blown away. What’s even funnier is that the model was on sale and was NO where near the top tier quality stuff that Sennheiser nor any other manufacturer had to offer, but it suited me for our budget at that time, and I was happy.
Since then, I’ve felt it’s time to step up a bit. My HD 495’s don’t seem to function anymore; one side doesn’t produce any sound whatsoever, and the L side where the plug is, seems extremely staticky. This is probably due to some broken wires due to misuse or or something, since my kid sister also (mis)uses it sometimes. I’m basically looking for a step up (or several steps) up for a corded headphone.
Here’s my following criteria:
•Price range of $100 to $200 Canadian – so about $90 to 180 USD, but if I have to spend a little bit more, then that’s okay, as long as it’s paying off well in terms of value.
•Peferrably by Sennheiser, as after experiencing their “economy” range models, I’d love to try out higher tier stuff.
•Not an audiophile really. As a matter of fact, I really can’t distinguish every nuance each headphone has to offer, I’m still a novice in this field and quite ignorant in headphone knowledge. So a Sennheiser 555 or a 590 or even a 600 might all sound equal to my untrained ears.
•Used mainly for watching DVDs and movies on my TV set, listening to music on my computer, and ESPECIALLY for video game usage.
•Portability is NOT an issue, these headphones will stay in the house and will basically never be taken outside.
•Doesn’t absolutely need an amplifier. I just want to use something better than my 495’s or even *gasp* those super-cheap headphones that came with the $49 discman from Walmart, oh no!
•I want something my ears can “grow” into, and not have to keep “upgrading” every few years. I’d like a high quality headphone that I’ll be using for well, let’s say a very long time.
•I’d like the headphones to not “overheat” too too much with only a few hours of usage. Sometimes I like to wear these at least maybe 5-6 hours at a stretch (with low volume, of course).
•Besides using it for general multimedia usage, I like to listen to classical pieces, some jazz, rock, pop-rock, and orchestrated music.
A few models I’m interested in:
Sennheiser HD 515 - $150 at Futureshop. These seem pretty good, but I read the reviews and it gave the HD 555’s a perfect score:
http://www.headphone.com/products/he...ser-hd-555.php
The 555’s are selling at $200 CDN at Futureshop/Bestbuy.
Here’s a few questions I have after observing my 495’s.
1)Do your ear pads tend to smell and give off well, a sweaty odor from months and years of usage? Maybe I should dry my hair to rid of the foul smell my ear pieces have collected. My 495’s reek pretty bad, but at least my ears don’t have “noses”.
2)What do you think has caused my 495’s to crap out on me? I think it must be a severed wire from the L to R, so the R is non-functional.
3)As I live in Canada, it looks like repair and technical support for Sennheiser products are pretty hard to come by. If I want to send it there and get it fixed, whatever the problem may be, I think I’d rather spend the money on a new set
4)How long as your headphone set has lasted you? Despite the burn in effect, does it still seem in it’s prime to your ears?
5)Any other “by the ropes” stuff I should know about? I never knew that you should disconnect your headphones when the source is at lowest volume or completely off to not “shock” the plug. Maybe this was the cause of my 495’s biting the dust.
