[mlantinen]

Hello! Been lurking around the forum for a couple weeks and was hoping to get alittle advice. I'm new to the higher end headphone scene and I just bought a pair of Senn's HD555 and have been using them for an hour or two per day for the last 7 days or so. I've also been burning them in overnight when not in use.

I play them through my Creative Fatality X-Fi Sound Card on my computer. I really love the way they sound but my ear drums are quite sore and I have periods of soreness throughout the day even when not listening to them. My hearing is fine and I barely play them above 35%-40% or so.

I just can't seem to listen to them for very long without my ears aching. With my old Steelseries 3h cans I never had this problem.

Is this normal? Do most people experience this and will this get better or do I need different head phones?

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MayorSimpleton]

Is it because you are now hearing music mastered for digital media in all it's 'glory' for the first time? I find that with every upgrade in terms of headphones, the ability of these cans to reveal the harsh highs and clipping that dogs 95% of digital music just seems to make the actual listening experience worse. I am now on a mission to find a set-up that will get me as near to a 'vinyl sound signature' even if it means down-grading equipment or artificially inducing the effect.... Your Senns ( which aren't known for being harsh on top ) could also be revealing high frequency signals originating from your computer's internals ( rather than from the music itself ) which you may not be registering aurally but may be having a negative impact on your eardrums.

Pluck

 

[wantmyf1]

Another possibility: I remember when I got my first quality 5.1 speaker system. I had a friend over and once it was setup we sat down to listen. It sounded great, in fact so good that we didn't realize how loud it actually was. After a few minutes of listening we realized that when speaking we had to shout at the other to be heard. I was surprised at how the better sound didn't seem as loud when it was actually louder. Maybe my older speakers were too harsh or had some other negative sonic characteristic that made them seem harder on my ears so I didn't turn them up as loud? I don't know. Maybe you're experiencing the same phenomenon? Also when you say you only play them at 35% or 40% - 35 - 40% of what exactly? Because if it's a percentage of the volume setting, that actually doesn't mean much. Different phones will sound louder or quieter than others even when at the same volume setting.

 

[Ilovebeef]

Turn them down.

 

[AtomikPi]

There are a few options.
1) You're listening to loud - as already mentioned, different devices have different volumes. You should try to borrow/buy an SPL meter and measure your listening level with the meter stuck through a piece of cardboard. If your listening level is above 80 dB, it's too loud and may cause long-term damage.
2) The headphones' sound signature is prone to cause listening fatigue. Certain headphones cause fatigue more than others. For example, when I had my 650's and AD2000's, I could listen to the 650's for hours and hours with zero fatigue, but the AD2000's would tire after 2-3 hours.
3) Your ears are in some way irregular.

 

[wordfool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilovebeef /img/forum/go_quote.gif Turn them down.

+1... if your ears are sore after only a couple hours a day you gotta have them too loud, unless there's some other issue here. Have you tried adjusting the EQ to see if that helps? However, I thought Senns in general are pretty mellow (muddy to some).

 

[mlantinen]

Thanks for the posts. Yup, I've tried to monkey with the EQ and generally have found that a flat eq is now best for me. Maybe I need to turn a few other things down in the EQ as well. I use the Creative Console Launcher software that came with my X-Fi sound card. So 35% to 40% volume using that particular software. I was able to use those volumes with my more muddy Steelseries 3h set. Definitely not a set with audiophile in mind but they are instead a cheap, portable gaming set.

Well, maybe I'm used to closed phones rather than these open phones and to compensate for the less isolated sound I turn them up alittle louder. But even when I've got them turned down to like 10%-20% my ears generally tire.

Guess I'll have to monkey around with some different pairs. Maybe my ears were not destined for higher quality phones? That... would be a shame.

BTW, I just bought a pair of Denon Ah-D750's from CharlieX. Maybe these will be more mellow.