[Jeff.h]

In light of the tinnitus thread I stumbled upon recently on one of my random visits here, I have been thinking a lot more about my condition than usual lately. For quite awhile I ignored it and stopped trying to listen at moderate levels, but lately I am becoming a bit more concerned about it and want to think about preserving my ears in their current state instead of worsening them.

So as a result I am currently taking a break from listening to my headphones and any music at all. This is extremely difficult, and I am lucky to have a very musical mind that generates many sounds and musical memories for me, or else I would probably be going insane right now

So this brings me to ask the question. I am now on the market for some 'softer' sounding headphones. Something that I can listen to when I feel my Ultrasone's becoming a bit to much to handle, sort of a 'fall back on' can to use when my ears are feeling extra sensitive.

I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions for headphones of this nature? Right now I am thinking Sennheiser, maybe the HD600 or HD650. I remember (please HD600 owners/fans don't get offended, this is just IMO) when I auditioned the HD600 several years ago I found them to be very easy on the ears, everything was mild and gentle, and flowed very lightly. Needless to say I found them to be lacking a certain impact and if you would, 'bravado' to them, so I passed on them at time and kept looking. Now I know many of you are probably thinking 'If thats the way you feel about those, then just go get them!'. Well I may just end up doing so

, but I have a feeling there is even more ideal cans for my intended purpose, and would like to consider a few options before making a purchase.

So please, if you guys have any helpful suggestions (maybe even an amplifier that would help the situation?), I would love to hear them

 

[kramer5150]

you need to try and determine what frequencies cause your tinnitus.... if at all possible. I get it from treble exageration (for example), so DT880, HD280, SA5K kinds of sounds are BRUTAL to my ears. A K701 or A250 is about the max treble I can tolerate.

Some people get tinnitus form bass too.

So... for me, a 650 cabled HD580 or K240s is just what the doctor ordered.

 

[nsjong]

The K501's are okay. The highs might be a bit much though.

Other than that, a balanced HD650 may do.

 

[Asr]

The classic K240 or K271 might be right up your alley. They both give a very groove-tastic sound that made them earn the title of "groovalizers" here.

Lush mids, fantastic performance with female vocals, maybe a bit on the slow side but they're very enveloping.

I'm starting to ache to hear a K271 again...ahhh...'twas my first Head-Fi headphone.

 

[Jbucla2005]

My stock 650's with MG Head OTL tube amp using Sylvania GB-5751 and Holland Amperex D-Getter EL84's is very non-fatigueing, yet never fails to bring out the details and dynamics. I spend many hours listening on headphones and although my ears do get tired of them eventually, it takes a while with these and even if I've been listening loud all night and it's really early in the morning and I'm tired, etc. I can still slip these on with no ill-effects. Sometimes I crave a different sound, something not so warm and soft, but all-in-all, it's a very good headphone.

 

[Andrea]

Yup, you want a HD650. It's not exactly "soft", but it's never fatiguing.

 

[iancraig10]

The 650's are like a soft fluffy pillow (in terms of sound) and the 600's are a little harder!!

I also suffer from noises and always return after a break from headphones to the wonderful HD650 or 600. Both are excellent.

Ian

 

[Andrea]

The HD650 is obviously brighter (when asked to be) than, say, the HD595 - and that's not really "a soft fluffy pillow" ...at least for my comparatively young ears.

 

[erikzen]

Perhaps you want to look into some electrostatics. My current lineup consists of the Lamda Pros and HF-1s as my main cans. When I want to rock I listen to the Grados, but most often I'm listening to the Lambdas. I find that they are very smooth and at the same time extremely detailed.

I also find that I can retreive a lot of musical information at very low volumes. I can keep easing up on the volume knob without losing any musical enjoyment.

 

[Jeff.h]

Oh yeah, I forgot about AKGs.
I tried them awhile ago but it was hardly a fair demo, they were just being driven from my iriver mp3 so my impression of them was not very good. I will give them another listen along with the HD650 which I haven't heard yet, they are both carried at the same store so I may as well try them while I'm there.

As for electrostats I am planning to pick some up down the line, but I am worried maybe they are going to be too 'shrill' or harsh sounding for me. It is definitely sharp and bright sounds that bother me the most (so high treble stuff), wailing vocals or electric guitars. The most annoying sounds for me are electrical noises like the buzz of a computer monitor or the slight hiss you hear in the background when you have headphones on but with no music coming through. I would like to look at getting an amplifier that eliminates that noise floor, delivering a 'black' background, I think that would help quite a bit.
Back to the electrostats though, if I were going to go with them I would probably just go for the Omega II/007 first. I always wanted those and figured that one day I would just go for it and check them out

So I'll get around to trying out the K501/K701 & HD650 this week, in the meantime is there any amplifiers that do a really good job of eliminating that background noise I could look at?

[EDIT] If I was going to look at getting a HD650 recabled, what would be a good one to pick that would help make them even smoother and softer? Something that will help the bass sound lushious and deep, and smooth out sounds so they just roll right off... (listening to some nice deep music at the moment to soothe my ears

) Also, if I got them 'balanced' that would mean a balanced amp of course, right? So if there were a combo of balanced cable and a balanced amp I could pick to do that and eliminate the background noise that would be just perfect. Looks like I may have to do a little more hanging around here for a bit

 

[catscratch]

FWIW, I also am very sensitive to high frequencies and I have some tinnitus to make things worse. The SR-404 has never really sounded fatiguing to my ears, and I would imagine that the Lambda Pro with the SRM-1 Mk II would probably be even less so, though I haven't heard one. The A250 has more treble than I can stand, and the ER-4 and E4 also had far too much treble for me. The DT770 has splitting highs on some music as well. The HD600 was just right in the highs, while the HD650 didn't have enough of a high end. Ditto for the UM2, which was very recessed in the highs to my ears. Not really relevant info, this, but it lets you know where I stand.

I would second the suggestion to pick up electrostatics, mainly because they hang in there and retain their coherence at much lower volume levels than, let's say, the HD650, which I've found you have to play fairly loudly in order to get the detail to come out and the dynamics to come alive. The SR-404 specifically is more shrill than the HD650, but because of it's better performance at lower volume levels, it doesn't get the ears ringing as much as the HD650 does.

Overly soft headphones may not be the answer here, since a headphone that is very soft in the treble will usually need more volume to sound open and detailed than one that has a crisper treble or a more present high end. The Stax SR-001 is quite possibly the softest headphone in the treble that comes to mind - silky smooth, rolled off on top but very refined and velvety in the highs - and it is the headphone that gave me my tinnitus in the first place. It was so smooth that I was cranking it up well beyong hearing damage levels and never noticing it until it was too late.

 

[lmilhan]

Here is another vote for a pair of STAX. My Lambda Pros are far and away the most pleasant headphones to listen to out of all of the headphones I have ever heard or owned. Very smooth (for lack of a better word), very polite, very airy and non-fatigueing to the Nth degree. My second suggestion would be a pair of Sennheisers of some sort... perhaps the HD650s as others have mentioned. Also, as kramer has asked, it would be good to pin down the frequencies that you are most sensitive to.

 

[nierika]

I would also advise against an HD 650 for someone who has sensitive hearing. It is non-fatiguing but the dip in the upper midrange and lack of dynamics at low volumes only encourage volume-cranking.

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch The SR-404 has never really sounded fatiguing to my ears, and I would imagine that the Lambda Pro with the SRM-1 Mk II would probably be even less so, though I haven't heard one.

The Lambda Pros are extremely smooth - like butter! Well, that's not exactly right either because they don't sound at all mushy. The Lambda Pros are extremely smooth and detailed - like frozen butter! As mentioned I also think that keeping the volume low is key. Because the Lambda Pros are so smooth it is easy to get carried away with the volume. You really have to be disciplined to keep it down. However, the good side, as also has been mentioned, is that they are extremely good at providing a very musical and detailed presentation at quite low volumes.

 

[basb]

Even though you weren't impressed by the hd600, i think they're the best for your situation. I have both the hd600 and the stax lambda pro, and the sennheiser is slightly less fatigueing in my setup (i also have mild tinnitus).
I never heard the hd650, but i bought the hd600 because everyone said it's a better low-volume performer.