[Skyscraper Sax]

Any pianists here? I'm one (saxophone is main axe; piano is a close second). My Audio Technica K271 Mkii's sound great, but I just had to buy cord #4 and am considering alternatives.

I use a Kawai MP11 digital piano (3 grand, 80 pounds, feels close to the real thing, sort of...) and various piano sounds - internal, VST (Ivory), Pianoteq, iPad (Ravenscroft, Korg Module Pro Ivory), blah blah blah.

The AT's can be worn all day (comfort is very important, as is mobility - heavy sucks when you're playing).

Piano is the "holy grail" of sound reproduction. Buying speakers / amps is really challenging. Headphones actually sound better. And my neighbors need a break from my saxophone playing, since they are philistines.

There are various $500 to $600 Sennheisers, but I've no idea which would work best for piano. This is not for general music listening. I'm a Jazz player, primarily.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nik74]

Interesting question but in the wrong forum. Try the recommendations forum instead as you re in the market place right now. I practice on a Clavinova with my Sennheiser HD650 s and the sound is truly wonderful and most importantly for long practice , non fatiguing
.

 

[baskingshark]

Any pianists here? I'm one (saxophone is main axe; piano is a close second). My Audio Technica K271 Mkii's sound great, but I just had to buy cord #4 and am considering alternatives.

I use a Kawai MP11 digital piano (3 grand, 80 pounds, feels close to the real thing, sort of...) and various piano sounds - internal, VST (Ivory), Pianoteq, iPad (Ravenscroft, Korg Module Pro Ivory), blah blah blah.

The AT's can be worn all day (comfort is very important, as is mobility - heavy sucks when you're playing).

Piano is the "holy grail" of sound reproduction. Buying speakers / amps is really challenging. Headphones actually sound better. And my neighbors need a break from my saxophone playing, since they are philistines.

There are various $500 to $600 Sennheisers, but I've no idea which would work best for piano. This is not for general music listening. I'm a Jazz player, primarily.

Thanks in advance!

Hi friend, I play jazz and pop on the piano too, but I'm not a headphone person and mainly use IEMs both at home and for stage monitoring, for their better isolation and portability. U ever considered IEMs?

But if it's just a headphone recommendation for piano, I use the Audiotechnica M40X occasionally, which is very neutral and great for stage/studio monitoring. It seems to be a downgrade on your AT K271 MkII though.

 

[Skyscraper Sax]

Thank you! Yes, your AT's are a downgrade from mine, and have the same cord issue. $20 on Amazon to replace. It fails at the connection to the headphone. I have never used any earbuds, IEMs, etc. I play Jazz and those are not needed for on stage monitoring. If the Rolling Stones hire me though, they would be! (my friend Tim Reis is their saxophonist). I kinda don't like putting things in my ear (except earplugs when needed). I could probably be convinced to try some if they were truly great for piano and did not intrude into the ear canal very much (or at all). Any high end (but not absurd) recommendations?

 

[Skyscraper Sax]

Interesting question but in the wrong forum. Try the recommendations forum instead as you re in the market place right now. I practice on a Clavinova with my Sennheiser HD650 s and the sound is truly wonderful and most importantly for long practice , non fatiguing
.

Thanks, I'll repost there. Are those the proper Sennheisers for piano? There are a bunch of them....

 

[Nik74]

Are those the proper Sennheisers for piano?

The answer to this question will always be subjective. To my ears the 650 convey timbre beautifully so I find them convincing. I especially like that they can be driven adequately by the rather run of the mill headphone out of my clavinova. The hd800 which is a better headphone teachnically is less suitable in this particular application not only because it prefers a headphone amp in between but also because it feels like it could fly off my head very easily if I bend forward or move abruptly while playing. the 650 while very comfortable, clamp much more securely

 

[Skyscraper Sax]

The answer to this question will always be subjective. To my ears the 650 convey timbre beautifully so I find them convincing. I especially like that they can be driven adequately by the rather run of the mill headphone out of my clavinova. The hd800 which is a better headphone teachnically is less suitable in this particular application not only because it prefers a headphone amp in between but also because it feels like it could fly off my head very easily if I bend forward or move abruptly while playing. the 650 while very comfortable, clamp much more securely

Reading the official Sennheiser promo BS, the 600 apparently benefits from a pre amp (rule out). Not so the 650? I tried them years ago in a store and really dug them.

 

[Nik74]

They will scale immensely with a top class headamp but their sound signature has the sort of forgiving nature that makes them sound great even straight through a mac book. I have lend them to a good friend and he can't believe how good they are, he s listening through his iphone...

 

[Skyscraper Sax]

Of course this is not for listening. It's for piano playing, a horse of a different color!

 

[baskingshark]

Thank you! Yes, your AT's are a downgrade from mine, and have the same cord issue. $20 on Amazon to replace. It fails at the connection to the headphone. I have never used any earbuds, IEMs, etc. I play Jazz and those are not needed for on stage monitoring. If the Rolling Stones hire me though, they would be! (my friend Tim Reis is their saxophonist). I kinda don't like putting things in my ear (except earplugs when needed). I could probably be convinced to try some if they were truly great for piano and did not intrude into the ear canal very much (or at all). Any high end (but not absurd) recommendations?

Well I need the IEMs more for their isolation for stage monitoring as I'm placed next to a fullset drums and subwoofer amp, more to help preserve hearing. I've tried a few sets of midfi headphones and they don't help for isolation unfortunately. The soundstage of IEMs won't beat most open backed headphones, but I find the bass a bit lacking in most open backed headphones (I'm a basshead though).
I don't have any highend headphones, but my go to IEM for stage monitoring is the Audiosense T800. 8 Knowles BA set, very good clarity, instrument separation, imaging and details, retails ~ $298 USD. U shaped signature, with great bass and brightness. Good if u want to hear details in your music. And it provides 30 dB isolation, and takes to EQ well.

But if u are new to IEMs, I would advise u to go with a cheaper set first and see if u like the sound signature and upgrade from there, as the T800 is considered a midfi set and I wouldn't want u to waste money with a more expensive set first. If u ever need advise on IEMs just PM me.

All the best in your search for gear and always great to see other pianists here in headfi!

 

[Skyscraper Sax]

Thank you for the suggestions! I have not been playing in situations that are that loud. And I feel you for being near the drummer and needing to avoid ear damage. Most drummers I know are half deaf. Art Blakey told me that's what happened to him.

I'm a saxophonist (since 1973) and pianist (since 1969, first on Hammond Organ, now mainly piano). They fight with each other for attention.

I wonder if the online stores have a return policy for IEM's? I kind of doubt it! Would be nice for the subway, etc. Maybe there's a way to audition them somehow... No airpods for me!

 

[baskingshark]

Thank you for the suggestions! I have not been playing in situations that are that loud. And I feel you for being near the drummer and needing to avoid ear damage. Most drummers I know are half deaf. Art Blakey told me that's what happened to him.

I'm a saxophonist (since 1973) and pianist (since 1969, first on Hammond Organ, now mainly piano). They fight with each other for attention.

I wonder if the online stores have a return policy for IEM's? I kind of doubt it! Would be nice for the subway, etc. Maybe there's a way to audition them somehow... No airpods for me!

Wow jazz saxaphone and jazz piano is wickedly difficult. Nice! I've always respected saxaphonists, not to mention jazz saxaphonists.

Anyway, I've been using IEMs for the past 15 years and can honestly say the chinese IEMs have caught up to the western budget to midfi IEMs in the past 2 years. If u are not brand conscious there are good chinese IEMs that excel at price to performance ratio. Like for example, one of the CHIFI IEMs I got recently (the KZ ZS10 Pro), costs $35 USD and it hits 80 - 90% of sound quality of my Westone 3, which costs 10X more.

There are a lot of good CHIFI fare that are < $50 USD with great reviews that were recently released: TRN V90, KZ ZSX, CCA C12, BLON BL-03. U can check out or ask more at these threads:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bes...nd-impressions-sharing-reference-list.805930/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bes...ith-reference-list-no-big-brands-here.872245/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chinese-asian-brand-iem-info-thread.820747/

IEMs broadly have dynamic drivers (DD) or balanced armature drivers (BA) and they both have strengths and weaknesses. DD are generally better in timbre and tonality and have a greater bass quantity and decay. The music sounds more "natural" with DD, and genres like classical, jazz, acoustic sound better with DD.
BAs win in the area of instrument separation, clarity and details but may sound less natural in timbre and generally have faster and more accurate bass. There are IEMs which have both BA and DD (they are termed hybrids), and they combine the best of both worlds, but some may have crossover issues. There are newer technology coming out the past few years such as planar, piezoelectric and electrostatic drivers, those are more expensive though, but they tend to have more clarity.

And as per headphones, IEMs have their FR graph, most mainstream sets are tuned to the Harman curve or V shaped for consumers. If u truly want a reference IEM for piano/saxaphone, then it's best to get a neutrally tuned one, but these may sound boring with general music listening.

Amazon has a return policy and they do have a lot of western IEMs.
Problem is, as above, most of the IEMs that are bang for buck lie in the CHIFI realm, which means ordering from Aliexpress. And the return charges for aliexpress would cost almost the same as a budget IEM IMO. Some of the more popular CHIFI IEMs can be found in western physical stores, so u can audition them, but the less well known ones can only be sourced from aliexpress. But if u wanna stick to western brands, then most shops should have some sets available, u can go for established western IEM brands like Westone and Shure.

 

[Gavanater7]

For piano you want a super neutral very good timbre headphone. Akg 361 or razer opus or Hd600 or hd650