sonance
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2005
- Posts
- 553
- Likes
- 27
I'm looking for a new pair of headphones - something very compact like IEMs or earbuds, but they need to be wearable / listenable for a few hours a day while at work, so I want aurally low fatigue headphones (not harsh) and also physically comfortable headphones. In the past I've had issues with IEMs and gave away my Etys ER4S (found them harsh as well.) They felt very uncomfortable in my ears after a while. Yes I tried all the different tips including foamies. Pushing them in deep enough to get good sound caused me pain / discomfort / fatigue relatively quickly.
I don't really need the isolation, but I need something without a headband as my outer ears and entire head gets physically fatigued from listening to RS-1 / 650s after a while. This is while working in a relatively quiet office. Soundwise - I like both the Senns and the Grados. I listen to the DT-880s on my 2nd PC / ext DAC based home system, Balanced 650s on my primary music system and cycle the HD600 / RS1 / DT880s at work.
I tried Sony e888lp earbuds which are very light in the bass. I was originally OK with this but I want higher end earphones. As you can see from my ety experience I am somewhat wary of IEMs now.
Could anyone make some recommendations, given these priorities:
- Low fatigue sound (shouldn't feel 'harsh' or tiresome after a short while)
- High physical comfort factor
- No headband (earbuds or IEMs, I suppose)
- Nice even tonal range (mids, lows, highs)
I am flexible on cost and amplification requirements. I will buy a new portable / desktop headphone amp for use at work if I have to - using a Tomahawk right now.
It's been a while since I bought a pair of headphones now - almost two years. I've been reasonably happy with my collection and waiting to upgrade my entire system before I bought new headphones. As a result I haven't been reading head-fi as much anymore, until now.
For reference I have a pair of balanced Sennheiser 650s / with a zu balanced cable as my primary cans, RS-1s, DT-880s and some other lesser cans (SR225s, HD600, HD595s, K501s.)
I don't really need the isolation, but I need something without a headband as my outer ears and entire head gets physically fatigued from listening to RS-1 / 650s after a while. This is while working in a relatively quiet office. Soundwise - I like both the Senns and the Grados. I listen to the DT-880s on my 2nd PC / ext DAC based home system, Balanced 650s on my primary music system and cycle the HD600 / RS1 / DT880s at work.
I tried Sony e888lp earbuds which are very light in the bass. I was originally OK with this but I want higher end earphones. As you can see from my ety experience I am somewhat wary of IEMs now.
Could anyone make some recommendations, given these priorities:
- Low fatigue sound (shouldn't feel 'harsh' or tiresome after a short while)
- High physical comfort factor
- No headband (earbuds or IEMs, I suppose)
- Nice even tonal range (mids, lows, highs)
I am flexible on cost and amplification requirements. I will buy a new portable / desktop headphone amp for use at work if I have to - using a Tomahawk right now.
It's been a while since I bought a pair of headphones now - almost two years. I've been reasonably happy with my collection and waiting to upgrade my entire system before I bought new headphones. As a result I haven't been reading head-fi as much anymore, until now.
For reference I have a pair of balanced Sennheiser 650s / with a zu balanced cable as my primary cans, RS-1s, DT-880s and some other lesser cans (SR225s, HD600, HD595s, K501s.)