[AudioDwebe]

Easy. AKG 501's.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assorted /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think IEMs are pretty comfortable. I'm the kind of person that has more sensitivity to touch in my canals, and IEMs give me that arousing, almost sensual feeling.

I'd much rather have a good looking woman lick my ears.

That's sensual.
I can't say that IEMs would do that for me though.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Because obtaining the ultimate comfort means sacrificing at least some of the sound. The Jecklin Float box says "music without compromise" but anyone who's worn one can tell you that old Joerg compromised on everything under 100hz. And this is an unavoidable fact of 'float' type frames. I can tell you with certainty that a Float frame is more comfortable than anything circum-aural. But aside from compromising bass, you also compromise convenience because you pretty much have to be sitting or standing, and in either case with a plumb neck, to wear them properly. You compromise fashion, too. It is also true that a QP55x is more comfortable than a DT880 costing 10 times as much. No matter how cushy your pads are, cardamatic suspension is pretty much the king of evenly applied clamping force, and it only comes from MBQuart. I would like to try out the MB headphones OEMed by Charter Oak, but I'm not curious enough to buy them. The OP asked what was the most comfortable, bar none. I like my beyers a lot but quarts have got 'em beat on the comfort front.

Interesting points you make. Most of the people I know that prefer speakers over headphones always say the same thing: that they're #1 reason for not using headphones is because they don't like the feel of something on their head.
But if more of these companies that produce audiophile-grade headphones concentrated on comfort, there would be a much larger market for headphones. I can't believe that clamping force is essential to ultimate sound quality because many headphones have the drivers placed at a distance from your ears anyway. Also, it doesn't seem to matter as much with open-air headphones, since they don't provide the same isolation as closed headphones. I happen to prefer the sound of closed headphones though, as they provide a more intimate listening experience. Circumaural headphones are a necessity for me. I can't stand the feeling of supraaural headphones for more than a few minutes at a time. They make my ears sore.
If you haven't tried on a pair of D5000, you really should. They provide the ultimate in comfort while maintaining incredible sound quality and very little clamping force. I'm sure they give the MBQuart some competition.

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

koss td 61, for big headed people

 

[zaero69]

IMHO the sennheiser HD595. Feels very comfortable

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't believe that clamping force is essential to ultimate sound quality because many headphones have the drivers placed at a distance from your ears anyway. Also, it doesn't seem to matter as much with open-air headphones, since they don't provide the same isolation as closed headphones.

But you're missing some key bits of reality and physics here.

Bass isn't like other sounds. Bass waves go in every direction, and they're slow enough that the bass back-wave can cancel out the front-wave.

Headspeakers like the K1000, Jecklin Float, Precide Ergo, etc, actually do produce a heck of a lot of bass - they just can't effectively deliver it to your ear canal due to backwave cancellation.

Take the KSC75 for example. Lotsa bass. But it sits right on your ear - if you move it just a little bit away from your ear, such as in a UR40 (which uses the exact same driver - even has the lug to attach the ear loop), most of the bass under 100hz goes *poof* and disappears.

If you study the way that bassy open headphones are designed, you find that the drivers are tuned for tons of bass, and that the enclosures are carefully designed to block, control, or slow down the backwave. If you sufficiently delay the backwave until the phase is 360 degrees instead of 180 degrees, such as in a k240-sextett, the backwave becomes useful bass.

Earpad design comes into play as well. The amount of space in the enclosed area created by circum-aurals is a big concern, and porous earpads absorb bass waves that would otherwise be reflected. A lot can go wrong. Beyers are typically tuned for enough bass that velours are more or less required unless you're a complete basshead.

Edit: I also suspect that a lot of high-end headphones flirt with circum-aurability while creating something more like a big giant pillowey supra-aural that creates a good seal, much like the Fostex T20 v1 and v2, and T50 v1 and v1.5. This gives you a better seal than most supra-aurals while not creating a large cavity the way a circum-aural would.

 

[OverlordXenu]

Custom IEM's don't even feel as if they are there.

 

[physh]

I personally think the triports were very painful.

The handband is narrow, and gave me excruciating pain.