[JaredNCK]

Anyone else suffer from tinnitus? May I ask- which headphones do you use?? I had abysmal luck with the Fidelio X2HR's (these were an all out assault on my ears, even after eq'ing and listening at lowest volumes). I switched to planars and my current daily drivers are the Hifiman HE4XX's, and they are really great—not fatiguing at all and I love them! However, I'm just getting back into the hobby and want to explore what else is out there! Anything bright or analytical leaning will be too painful for my ears, but what other cans do you guys recommend for warm/mid forward sound signatures under $500?

Thanks,
-J

PS- is hifiguides.com a good reference?

PPS- I've also ordered a Schiit Magpie/ Mimby stack. Still en route! Hopefully these will complement my headphones in the right way and elevate the listening experience taking it from being just 'tolerable', and turn it into 'pleasurable'

 

[tomb]

The better the amplifier and headphone quality, the better off your ears will be. The issue with so much equipment is that details are lost, so we turn the volume up to hear them, and tinnitus is the eventual result. You'll discover that there are very few headphone and amplifier (and source) combinations that can really pump out the detail at low volume. Super-low noise floor and super-high signal-to-noise performance helps, but low distortion and correct tonality are also very important. Lack of any of these will result in turning up the volume and making things worse.

 

[WorksUnit]

Coming from the background of a tracking monitor headphone + cheap audio interface and an obsession with some minutiae of audio production at the time...
Had the classic ringing and the tinfoil "Hum" tone too.

My tinnitus is very much mitigated letting different sounding amps and IEM/Headphhones coexist on my table.
And none of those have to be expensive.... just the constant contrast slowburned my issues away and made me appreciate more music.

In terms of gear I found the HD650 /HD6XX and a OTL cheap tube amp a bit of a turning point, also a huge fan of the OG Focal Clear for lower level listening.

 

[JaredNCK]

Super-low noise floor and super-high signal-to-noise performance helps, but low distortion and correct tonality are also very important. Lack of any of these will result in turning up the volume and making things worse.

excellent takeaways, thank you!

In terms of gear I found the HD650 /HD6XX and a OTL cheap tube amp a bit of a turning point, also a huge fan of the OG Focal Clear for lower level listening.

the hd6xx's have recently come on my radar! seeing lots of praise for these, they very much may be in my possession eventually

As far as my tinnitus goes... a result of very old trauma from 20 or so years ago; mixing music, dj'ing in loud venues and lots of nightclubbing and parking myself beside the speakers ha ha...cant go to any events without plugs these days. Last time I had my hearing checked there was some loss in the high frequency range, I forget what exact frequency it was but its effect on me has been difficulty in hearing speech. Volume isn't a problem, it's the lack of clarity. Oftentimes speech can sound a little bit muffled. (e.g. saying 'what?' a lot, always watching netflix with the captions on, etc)

I usually eq my music on a heavy treble cut and boost the mids a bit to make my ears happy. Too much bass can also be a problem, the soundwaves seem to knockaround and reverberate in my ear canal and starts to get painful. This was the problem I had with the Fidelios... something about the way they are engineered I suppose. I felt like the sound energy would get trapped in my ears and build up too much triggering flare ups. I'd end up with my tinnitus being 10 times worse for several days anytime I put those headphones on I don't know yet if it's a dynamic vs. planar thing, but when I got my hands on the HE4XX's my ears were totally fine. Left me with the impression planar engineering might be gentler on my ears...? I dunno. Either way, glad hifiman reeled me back into this hobby- lot's of music I'm rediscovering and reminds me how amazing a quality listening experience can be