[wader]

Greetings folks.

Background on what led to my current headphone discomfort with Sennheiser HD555s

I've been using on-the-ear headphones for years, at the computer and now with my portable player (a COWON D2). These days, I enjoy the Sennheiser PX100 model for ease of travel, comfort and decent SQ. Aside, I'm not much into the IEM style of phones, for various reasons.

However, I wanted to move up in the world of digital audio listening while at the computer, so recently obtained a rather new, very lightly used HD555. In line with this headphone upgrade, I just purchased a used Porta Corda MkIII for making the music coming from my ESI Juli@ Line Out accessible to headphones. No more living off the headphone jack of a SoundBlaster "Live!" .

The Sennheiser HD555 matches all that I've read here in terms of performance and SQ characteristics - I apparently enjoy this Sennheiser "sound", too. Still burning them in as I type, hoping to bring out a little more bass definition . . . though, that's never been a huge preference for me. I like deeper mids with just enough bass definition and not-too-bright highs for most music (rock, jazz, some classical).

Pain when wearing the HD555 phones

Unfortunately, wearing the HD555s left me with an unexpected, boring pain on my head, just behind and below the ears. It also caused soreness at the back of my jawbone and slightly above my ears. That is, in all the areas where the velour pads contacted my skin. I don't have a wide or round head

- actually, it's kind of egg to cylindrical shaped. There's additionally some itchiness from the velour itself as it causes some heat reaction on my skin, but my hope was that minor symptom would become less noticeable over time.

Overall, it almost feels as if the contact pressure on my head from these phones is too much - I've had that experience from on-the-ear types in the past, where the cartilage/skin essentially becomes sore and tender after longer listening sessions. In most cases, those (usually lighter weight, with plastic band) phones would loosen up over time.

Surprisingly, the physical pain from wearing the HD555s starts up after only a few minutes, though. Yet, I genuinely enjoy the sound it offers for the price and am already anticipating upgrades within the Sennheiser line to further try out. But, my hopes are more than a bit dampened due to the high level of physical discomfort experienced in this first listening session, which lasted about two hours before I decided to give up and place the phones into a burn-in loop.

Any advice on dealing with discomfort from (relatively new) circumaural phones?

I guess my reason for posting this thread is to ask about the experiences of others who may have gone through similar circumaural headphone wear discomfort, and if there are options I might consider (e.g., bending the band, other models, etc.) to help alleviate my own pain in wearing these phones. Again, I'd very much enjoy keeping them and/or trying more models up this line and beyond, but am now worried that my head may be simply too sensitive for over-the-ear, open phone designs.

Thanks.

- wader

 

[scompton]

A lot of circumaurals clamp too hard. I usually stretch them out buy extending the ear cups fully and stretching them over my computer. After a couple of weeks they ease up some. You can also try brands that don't have the problem such as AKG.

 

[Jigglybootch]

Damn. The 555 must clamp really hard!

 

[wader]

scompton: Thanks for the suggestion, as I recently read similar advice in a head-fi thread on someone's experience with DT1000 discomfort, and it was mentioned that placed the phones around books slightly more than the width of one's head and keeping that in place for some nights could help. Around the computer is a great idea, though there's not enough clearance from how I have my CPU mounted to the desk!

As you mentioned, I'm now eyeing other brand models, such as ATH-AD700s and similar, due to their oft-mentioned comfort characteristics. Problem is, I genuinely enjoy the HD555's SQ. I wonder if there's a reasonably priced AKG which is good for rock/pop/blues/jazz I might consider . . . more research! Well, this is the perfect place for that, at least.

Jigglybootch: from some posts at other sites, it seems I'm in a minority on clamping pressure from the Sennheiser 555, 650 and similar models in those lines . . . even though most folks note that they find these highly comfortable, there's other posts and reviews I've found where owners have described my symptoms almost exactly. Could be a manufacturing variation too, I suppose.

But yeah, it's weirdly clamping hard: I can feel the blood collecting around the points of pressure from these otherwise soft cups, as if nerves as being pinched up/down/front/back.

I am a little sensitive to excess pressure from on-the-ear types that are new, but nothing like this pain around the ears. Buds tend to hurt the cartilage next to my left ear canal pretty quickly, so maybe my anatomy (vascular structures, skin thickness, etc.) is just in the minority of over-sensitivity.

Thanks for your replies!

- wader

 

[lostbobby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif A lot of circumaurals clamp too hard. I usually stretch them out buy extending the ear cups fully and stretching them over my computer. After a couple of weeks they ease up some. You can also try brands that don't have the problem such as AKG.

I love my 701's and I liked Senn 600's, 650's when i've tried others', but unfortunately, they don't seem bendable. Beyerdynamic and Grado's are pretty bendable, of the big 4 brands. Grado's, at least the lower-range models are really easy to replace headbands on, just slip the black "R" and "L" pieces off them.

 

[F107plus5]

I had exactly the same problem you outlined in your opening post when I went from my Alessandros' to my HD600.

Exactly.

That was about six months ago, and during that time I fiddled around with what little adjustments are available on the HD600 and finally the problem just kinda went away on its' own! I did find a point where I can adjust one side out a notch farther than the other, and that seems to help, but it almost seems as if I just kinda fit me to them rather than the other way around.

I had considered trying to bend them, but after learning that the metal parts of the headband only go a little way into the plastic material, and the plastic part of the headband is the most expensive part of these phones, I took the cowards way out and decided that putting undue pressure on the headband may not be the best idea. They do apparently flex some and some folks do have good luck carefully doing it that way, but then again there are lots of folks I've read about who have spent lots of time and effort in acquiring new headbands! And that IS scary!

....I would wonder if the folks who have had better luck have bigger heads?! After all; if the metal parts are further exposed when the bending procedure is initiated, perhaps the metal straps do much of the bending.

 

[silverrain]

Denon D2000 gently cup your ears, better than any other cans I've tried.
If/when any of my other cans start hurting, I switch to D2000 and go "ahhhhh -- relief!".

(We need a D2000 smiley!)

 

[wader]

lostbobby: Yes, I've read about Grado bendability in the bands, though their SQ is probably not my style. However, there are some Beyerdynamic models of interest to me, so thanks for that advice - I'll look more into their lineup.

F107plus5: Very interesting and I appreciate your sharing of this similar experience. I am hoping that these HD555s will somehow soften in feel over time - as you say, either the phones or my head will reasonably acclimate to the other - and the SQ is enough to motivate me into trying this for some months before giving up. Is the flexing that you've alluded to from usage and/or explicit stretching of the band (i.e., as I'm doing right now, with the phones wrapped around a set of books that are overall slightly wider than my head)? As you properly warn against, I don't want to place these phones into a situation where the band would actually require replacement to fit at all. Right now, I'm just working on "relaxing" the plastic band portion, rather than the metal straps, from what I can see - the can extensions are fully hidden, and only the plastic band with velour head padding is being visibly stretched.

silverrain: I've also read about the D2000s being very comfortable, thanks. Unfortunately - and, I should have mentioned this above - I'm more interested in open back circumaurals for now.

- wader

 

[tennisplyr3]

i have hd650's, and the first time i wore them, the clamping pressure was unbearable after 10 minutes of wearing them. i browsed forums and read that people often stretch them out, but they warn not to stretch them out "the hulk" way. i put two tissue boxes together and clamped my headphones around them for 3 days straight to stretch them out. They're ridiculously comfortable now.

 

[wader]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tennisplyr3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i have hd650's, and the first time i wore them, the clamping pressure was unbearable . . . i put two tissue boxes together and clamped my headphones around them for 3 days straight to stretch them out. They're ridiculously comfortable now.

*furiously scours the recycling container for tissue boxes, to replace these books*

- wader

 

[feh1325]

i think my hd555 is the most comfortable headphone i own

 

[xollox]

In response to silverrain...I switched from 555s to D2000s and it took a little while to get used to. I think the 555s were more comfortable.

 

[wader]

*adds another book between the headphones, for good luck*

Just for completeness, I'll be sure to followup with impressions after some days of artificial stretching and such. Meanwhile, I continue to appreciate the experiences being shared here on HD555 comfort and considerations to help me become part of the well-fitted owners group.

- wader

 

[scompton]

I did 2 weeks for my HD580 over my computer. That's 2 weeks of never removing them. When I finally took them off and put them on with the head band fully extended, they almost wouldn't stay on my head. Properly adjusted, they're among the most comfortable cans I now own.

 

[wader]

Interesting, thanks.

It seems prudent try them every few days in order to gauge "progress", I suppose.

Unless your computer was a closed laptop

- wader