Looking for over ear low impeadance headphones with velour ear pads

[roog]

Hi I’m looking for low impeadance over ear headphones with velour ear pads and a big cup. It’s mostly about comfort for use with a digital piano.
I see that Beyerdynamic 990’s seem to hit most of my requirements including a coiled lead, but they don’t seem to measure especially well.
I have had issues with getting decent volume with higher impeadance phones and the large dynamic range can give rise to distortion even though the average volume is reasonable.

Whilst my requirement is not for HiFi, digital pianos present their own special challenges

Any ideas?

Large open cups with velour pads for comfort
Low impedance
Good tolerance for big dynamics
Light weight

 

[Soandso]

Would you give a preferable range for low impedance? Your mentioned DT 990s are at 250 ohms.

 

[johny_2000]

How about the FiiO FT1 Pro? Only 20 ohms of impedance, and the rest of your requirements are met. And it costs only $199

 

[unpluggged]

I have had issues with getting decent volume with higher impeadance phones

With low-impedance phones you will have to make sure your HP output can handle the required currents and won't enter clipping. And if you are talking about a digital piano, I doubt its HP output has low enough output impedance and/or current handling capacity. It's better to stick to a higher-impedance headphones in that case. Get the Sennheiser HD 600/650 or their Drop version. At 300 ohm, they are easy to drive (I can get them to more than enough volume levels using the lower output ref level of my RME ADI-2 Pro, which is +7 dBu / 1.7 V, that's including headroom for +5 dB bass boost in EQ). The DT990 are indeed considerably less sensitive.

the large dynamic range can give rise to distortion

What is this supposed to mean?

 

[solderdude]

Hi I’m looking for low impeadance over ear headphones with velour ear pads and a big cup. It’s mostly about comfort for use with a digital piano.
I see that Beyerdynamic 990’s seem to hit most of my requirements including a coiled lead, but they don’t seem to measure especially well.
I have had issues with getting decent volume with higher impeadance phones and the large dynamic range can give rise to distortion even though the average volume is reasonable.

Whilst my requirement is not for HiFi, digital pianos present their own special challenges

Any ideas?

Large open cups with velour pads for comfort
Low impedance
Good tolerance for big dynamics
Light weight

For digital piano and selecting the 80ohm version the DT990's will probably be fine.
The pro series have a coiled cable.

There is a 32 ohm DT990 edition but does not have a coiled cable.
Also the TYGR300R is 32ohm, straight cable

All of the above have a fixed cable.

Then there is the (more expensive) DT900 pro X which is 50ohm with 2 different length straight cables (replaceable cable with mini-3-pin XLR).

I've always felt the Beyerdynamics to be comfortable.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I have had issues with getting decent volume with higher impeadance phones

As in which models?

What kind of digital piano are we talking about? Odds are they're not all being made alike.

Would you be open to using an external amplifier? $100ish class? This could be velcro'd to the piano (or stuck down with double-sided tape) if need be, assuming you can accommodate the second power supply. (I mean, you could also stick on a power strip...)

 

[roog]

Would you give a preferable range for low impedance? Your mentioned DT 990s are at 250 ohms.

I believe they do an 80ohm version too, but anything from 32 to 120 ohms

 

[roog]

With low-impedance phones you will have to make sure your HP output can handle the required currents and won't enter clipping. And if you are talking about a digital piano, I doubt its HP output has low enough output impedance and/or current handling capacity. It's better to stick to a higher-impedance headphones in that case. Get the Sennheiser HD 600/650 or their Drop version. At 300 ohm, they are easy to drive (I can get them to more than enough volume levels using the lower output ref level of my RME ADI-2 Pro, which is +7 dBu / 1.7 V, that's including headroom for +5 dB bass boost in EQ). The DT990 are indeed considerably less sensitive.


What is this supposed to mean?

Good point, a load of nonsense from me I guess! What I can say, my experience is that musical instruments seem to have an ability to cause my headphones to sound distorted. Perhaps the sound is uncompressed?

 

[roog]

As in which models?

What kind of digital piano are we talking about? Odds are they're not all being made alike.

Would you be open to using an external amplifier? $100ish class? This could be velcro'd to the piano (or stuck down with double-sided tape) if need be, assuming you can accommodate the second power supply. (I mean, you could also stick on a power strip...)

Mid range Kawai es920. Your idea of using a headphone amp would certainly take the headphone impeadance our of the equation

 

[staticV3]

Mid range Kawai es920. Your idea of using a headphone amp would certainly take the headphone impeadance our of the equation

If you're uncertain about the quality of a particular headphone output, then you want to aim for high sensitivity and high impedance.

If the headphone Amp is not up to snuff, then using a low impedance headphone may result in poor voltage bridging, increased crosstalk and distortion.

In contrast, a high impedance headphone will keep output current low, damping factor high and the headphone Amp unstressed.

Any ideas?

Large open cups with velour pads for comfort
Low impedance
Good tolerance for big dynamics
Light weight

HD490Pro, HD505, HD550, HD560S

 

[roog]

If you're uncertain about the quality of a particular headphone output, then you want to aim for high sensitivity and high impedance.

If the headphone Amp is not up to snuff, then using a low impedance headphone may result in poor voltage bridging, increased crosstalk and distortion.

In contrast, a high impedance headphone will keep output current low, damping factor high and the headphone Amp unstressed.


HD490Pro, HD505, HD550, HD560S

Good points, I am currently using Sony MDR 7510, which claim to be 24ohm. They work ok, but the ear pads aren’t comfortable on me and the last straw were the bits of leatherette flaking off and dropping in between keys!

 

[solderdude]

What I can say, my experience is that musical instruments seem to have an ability to cause my headphones to sound distorted. Perhaps the sound is uncompressed?

It is a lack of output voltage.
You need a headphone with high sensitivity (> 110dBV) so you can dial the volume control a bit down.
Note: this is a different number as efficiency which is noted in dBmW.

 

[roog]

It is a lack of output voltage.
You need a headphone with high sensitivity (> 110dBV) so you can dial the volume control a bit down.
Note: this is a different number as efficiency which is noted in dBmW.

Sounds entirely possible, I don’t expect the headphone output to be the last word in quality

 

[johny_2000]

It is a lack of output voltage.
You need a headphone with high sensitivity (> 110dBV) so you can dial the volume control a bit down.
Note: this is a different number as efficiency which is noted in dBmW.

That's why I recommend the OP the FiiO FT1 Pro headphones: "The low 20ohm impedance combined with the high sensitivity of 112dB/Vrms@1kHz means you can easily get great sound from the FT1 Pro."

 

[roog]

Sennheiser HD560s have arrived, the good is that they easily go loud enough, so there seems to be no issue with the piano feeding them, the cup around the ear is large enough for me! But the clamping force is a bit much for me. Hopefully they will ease off with time, either that or careful application of heat to the headband might help.

Open back was definitely the right option though, because despite the physical key sound break through, its really helpful to listen to a YouTube lesson without having to remove the headphones from my head.