The DT880's gave me listening fatigue at times; will the sr-325i's kill me?
Mar 29, 2006 at 1:24 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 23
markot86

markot86

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Pretty much what the title says. I've been thinking about getting a higher end grado seeing as it's a little unfair for me to compair my HD650's to my sr-60's. I'm also fairly prone to ear pains (the DT880's hurt my ears at times).
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 2:16 AM Post #2 of 23
Yes, the highs of the 325i will hunt you down and your family. I'd suggest the MS2i or finding a used RS
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 4:17 AM Post #7 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer
YES!!!

In fact if you find the DT880 fatiguing, you will have trouble with most Grados. The MS2 is still a good bit harsher than the DT880, just not as bright as the SR325 (brightness /= harshness). The SR225, HF1, and PS1 are the only Grados that I think you might be able to get away with.


That's kind of a shame, oh well. I don't really know how to describe the fatigue, but with the DT880's I'd get a sharp pain in my right ear that would last between 10 min - 1 day depending on how naughty I was in my listening habits. I should probably listen to my sr-60's more to see if I get the same issues.

If the sr-60's cause/don't cause me pain, is there any correlation between this pain and the rest of the grado lineup?
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 4:30 AM Post #8 of 23
I used to get listening fatigue with my DT 880s from the highs previously. I found that at lower volumes I didn't have any trouble with them, but that was within the first month or two that I had them. I didn't burn them in, just kept listening to them so either I've gotten used to them or the super bright highs toned themselves down a bit.

I recently aquired some sr-325i's with beta cpads (the zflats without the ports) and bowls. I also have some 414 pads on the way to muck around with. Initially I was a bit worried about the bright highs as well, but after 1 week I'm not really concerned. These phones are mostly burnt in and with bowls the bright highs aren't troubling me that much. Ear positioning seems to make a difference, if I put my ears in the centre I get bright highs. If I move the bowls forwards a bit, the highs come down but the mids recede and the bass extends a bit. The cpads change the entire sound. The bass goes deeper and is more extended, the highs tone themselves down and the mids sort of... disappear. Not quite happy with the sound yet.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 4:36 AM Post #9 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by silvalis
I used to get listening fatigue with my DT 880s from the highs previously. I found that at lower volumes I didn't have any trouble with them, but that was within the first month or two that I had them. I didn't burn them in, just kept listening to them so either I've gotten used to them or the super bright highs toned themselves down a bit.

I recently aquired some sr-325i's with beta cpads (the zflats without the ports) and bowls. I also have some 414 pads on the way to muck around with. Initially I was a bit worried about the bright highs as well, but after 1 week I'm not really concerned. These phones are mostly burnt in and with bowls the bright highs aren't troubling me that much. Ear positioning seems to make a difference, if I put my ears in the centre I get bright highs. If I move the bowls forwards a bit, the highs come down but the mids recede and the bass extends a bit. The cpads change the entire sound. The bass goes deeper and is more extended, the highs tone themselves down and the mids sort of... disappear. Not quite happy with the sound yet.


Hmm, interesting. My biggest problem with the DT880's was that I always felt like I had to crank the volume really loud in order to get a good sound. This absolutely killed my ears. The HD650's on the other hand have yet to cause me listening fatigue and allowed me to listen to music comfortably at a full 20 db lower without feeling like I was missing anything.

This is the only thing that makes me yearn to try the sr-325's; the sr-60 is also a low volume headphone. I presume this may actually allow me to listen at low volumes without fatigue, but maybe I'm wrong. What were your experiences volume wise between the dt880 and the sr-325i's?
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 4:49 AM Post #10 of 23
I'm running a revo 7.1 -> ppav2 -> dt 880 or 325i
Personally, I feel that the source and the amp are a bit bright. I really should get around to finishing off my dynalo...

I have to turn the volume up on the dt880 vs the 325i; usually looking at a ~45 degree increase to get a similar volume level.
To my ears, the dt880 sounds great a high volumes but at low sounds, well, "sweet", for lack of better words. No real hard, sharp sounds and the entire freq response is smooth.
I seriously feel that the sr325i sounds far better up louder than softer. At low volumes it's good, even great, but the dt 880 just sounds better to me. I have to say that I'm not entirely happy with my 325i's sound though. The upper mids seem to be a bit recessed. I may have been a bit spoilt by the upper mids of the DT 880 though.

Incidentally, cymbals (highhat and crash) sound more defined on the DT 880 than the 325i but the 325i have more of an impact. Bass on the 325i is more... "exciting"...
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 5:21 AM Post #11 of 23
I found problem with highs only with support of stronger mids. Suppose a woman "screaming" is not only high frequency. But mids also and cause to be harmfull with brighter mids. If brighter mids doesn't support highs then it becomes smooth IMO.

These thing I am currently facing with my A500 and A900LTD. I have to equlize the mids some time with A900LTD while I have to increase the same with A500 anyway. You should try AD900. You'll find your solution I hope.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 5:54 AM Post #12 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by markot86
That's kind of a shame, oh well. I don't really know how to describe the fatigue, but with the DT880's I'd get a sharp pain in my right ear that would last between 10 min - 1 day depending on how naughty I was in my listening habits. I should probably listen to my sr-60's more to see if I get the same issues.

If the sr-60's cause/don't cause me pain, is there any correlation between this pain and the rest of the grado lineup?


From my own listening, the SR-325i is no more fatiguing than the SR-60, so an MS-2i would probably be even less so. Also, if you replaced the stock pads with either the HD414 or the C-pads, you would definitely tame some of that sharpness off, further reducing potential listening fatigue.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 8:41 AM Post #14 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by markot86
Pretty much what the title says. I've been thinking about getting a higher end grado seeing as it's a little unfair for me to compair my HD650's to my sr-60's.


All headphones give me sonic fatigue after some undetermined amount of time, *except* Senn HD580/600 (and I assume by extension the HD650 also wouldn't). IMO it's normal with headphones that aren't laid back in the treble region. Not to say that the DT880s aren't at fault, but I agree with wakked1 -- at least they can be "tamed" in most cases through careful selection of gear and cables.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 2:07 PM Post #15 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch
All headphones give me sonic fatigue after some undetermined amount of time, *except* Senn HD580/600 (and I assume by extension the HD650 also wouldn't). IMO it's normal with headphones that aren't laid back in the treble region. Not to say that the DT880s aren't at fault, but I agree with wakked1 -- at least they can be "tamed" in most cases through careful selection of gear and cables.


Is the fatigue at all dangerous? Am I killing my ears if the headphones are fatiguing?
 
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