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What headphone(s) do you own ?

TheGhostOfEugeneDebs

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Like quite a few of you folks, I'm a bit of a hoarder collector as well...

Full-sized cans:

Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser HD650 (Dekoni Hybrid Pads)
Audeze LCD-3
Audeze Mobius
Stax L300 (L700 pads)
Grado RS-2e (Beautiful Audio Wool/Leather hybrid Pads)
E-Mu Teak (ZMF Lambskin Pads)

IEMs/portables:

Tin Audio T3
Tin Audio T2
BGVP DM6
and a couple modified Koss KSC75 which get, far and away, the most portable use.

I live in a city and although I have speakers and use them, I do find the intimacy of headphones to be more my speed. I can put them on and sort of remove myself from the world. When I am doing my listening with speakers, I feel more like I'm inside the music - it's all around me and I'm in it. With headphones, the sound is more directly being placed inside my head and removed from the room/the world and I like that more.
 
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JJB70

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The Etys show differences in recording more clearly, even track to track within a recording. I am trying not blame them for showing the facts when something sounds bad. I mean, digital clipping is clear as day with these. If there is bass you get bass, if not you do not etc

I agree, they're very revealing, but short comings with the recording isn't really the fault of the IEM. And with good recordings they are tremendous. I have sort of gone off my Beyerdynamic T5P IIs now as I've noticed when going to them after adjusting to the Etymotic sound there is a screechy quality to certain treble frequencies of the T5P, the bass is also much heavier than the ER4 but for some reason I don't have a problem enjoying the boosted bass after using the ER4, it is only the treble.
 

frogmeat69

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I think that many headphones need time to adjust to their sound signature. I think this is what many wrongly call burn in, I don't think that burn in is an electrical or mechanical process with the headphones but a psychological one to get used to a different sound. I have just bought a pair of Etymotic ER4 SR IEMs and I did find them rather dry and light at first, after getting used to them I think that they are superb.
It's burn in alright, brain burn in, lol.
 

frogmeat69

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Yes, I had them before and was missing them. Easy to mod b.t.w with e.g. brainwavz hybrid Pads and some dampening of the highs. I love them as they are something really special.
No modding for this guy, love them just the way they are. Tried the other Audioquest pads but like the original the best, so bought an extra pair of pads before they all disappeared.
 

TheGhostOfEugeneDebs

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I think that many headphones need time to adjust to their sound signature. I think this is what many wrongly call burn in, I don't think that burn in is an electrical or mechanical process with the headphones but a psychological one to get used to a different sound. I have just bought a pair of Etymotic ER4 SR IEMs and I did find them rather dry and light at first, after getting used to them I think that they are superb.

So, even if you were turned off by the tuning of a certain headphone, all you need to do is just "get used to them" and they'd sound good to you? Is this the cure for buyer's remorse?

If this was true, I'd be so sad. I have all sorts of headphones because I appreciate all the different sounds. Hardware based distortion as an EQ for my favorite tunes!
 

JJB70

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So, even if you were turned off by the tuning of a certain headphone, all you need to do is just "get used to them" and they'd sound good to you? Is this the cure for buyer's remorse?

If this was true, I'd be so sad. I have all sorts of headphones because I appreciate all the different sounds. Hardware based distortion as an EQ for my favorite tunes!

No. Applying EQ is to try and optimise sound signature to your own preference. Burn in is a phenomenon whereby it is claimed that the sound signature of an audio device changes because of physical and electrical changes within the device. Some advocates of the AKG K812 claim that this particular headphone needs months to burn in. I think the whole burn in argument is used to explain away the fact that it is quite normal and reasonable to be less than totally enthusiastic about a new sound initially but grow into it after some exposure to it. This is no different to things like music and food where it is not uncommon to dislike new things on first experience which we then end up loving. That is not to say you will grow into a new sound and it's entirely reasonable that something that sucks on first experience will still suck after repeated exposure (if a pair of headphones is still "burning in" after several weeks or months I'd accept that I just didn't like them). Either way I don't believe that the change are in the equipment or the result of anything physical or electrical burning in but rather within the head of the listener.
 

jaco61

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No modding for this guy, love them just the way they are. Tried the other Audioquest pads but like the original the best, so bought an extra pair of pads before they all disappeared.
Hybrid Pads are sold out and not available in Europe anymore... Mine are quite new, so hopefully they are durable. Shure 1840 Pads should be an option too...the Hawk is easy to tune to prefered sig. What I like a lot besides is this astounding clean sound .. free of distortion seems. :)
 
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DarrylG

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IEMs:

KEF M100
Brainwavz B100
Fiio EX1 2nd Generation- I blame these for my growing audiophilia.
MEE Audio M6 Pro 2nd Generation

On-ears:
Massdrop (sorry, "Drop")/Koss KSC75x
Beyerdynamic DT 1350 Pro "Facelift"- I ran across these on sale for considerably less than half the Amazon price. I hope they turn out to be a bargain.

Over-ears:
"Drop"/AKG M220 Pro
 

frogmeat69

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Hybrid Pads are sold out and not available in Europe anymore... Mine are quite new, so hopefully they are durable. Shure 1840 Pads should be an option too...the Hawk is easy to tune to prefered sig. What I like a lot besides is this astounding clean sound .. free of distortion seems. :)
I have the Nightowl, too. Bought the hybrids for that, but haven't even taken them out of the package, figure I can swap pads between both cans if I feel the need, being it's so easy to do.
 

doctorjuggles

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Past: Shure E2/E3/E4/E5/E500/SE530/SE535; Westone4/4R/UM3x; Etymotic ER6; AKG K701; Grado SR325; audio technica ATH-A900LTD; Beyerdynamic DT770-250; Sennheiser HD650/HD25-1 & HD590

Present: Sennheiser HD800S; Campfire Audio Solaris; Shure SE846; UE TF10; Sennheiser HD25-II; Shure SRH440; B&O Play H3; Bose QC Triport and various other bite of useless gumpf

Future: off to Canjam London 2019 in a couple of months with a very long list of things to audition so who knows?
 

pozz

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Sony MDR 7506 for close to ten years now. They are my reference point for headphone sound. I've tried plenty of others but whenever I've had spare cash I've tended to spend it elsewhere. Eventually I'll get a few more, starting with Sennheisers.

For casual listening I like bad IEMs, like the kind given for free in airplanes. Can't say why exactly. Maybe because the added distortion is so interesting.

I bought Final Audio Design E3000s a few months ago. I'd say they are pretty good and I switch to them to once in a while.
 

Rja4000

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I started listening on headphones on my father's Sansui SS2, back in the early 70s.
I inherited them aftewards.
My very first own headphones was Stax SR44 (1990)
I couldn't afford correct loudspeakers then.
They both still work.

The last I purchased is a Focal Elegia (2019, 2 weeks ago)
I wanted a closed-back, for sound recording, live PA... and music listening.
Quite happy with the Focal so far. Just recorded a friend with it yesterday.
(I hate the cable though)

In between, Grado SR60, SR80i, Sennheiser C25II, Parrot Musik 2 (noise cancellation, active, Bluetooth)
 
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Ratatoskr

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HD800S and Perfect Seal Deca custom IEMs. The Decas replaced an aging pair of UE-10 Pros.
 

Saffuria

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Etys er4
Beyer DT 880 990 1990
Love them all but my favourite so far it's the 1990 with A pads.
At low volume it's good as it is. When I feel like to rise the volume I have to cut a few db's @ 8khz using parametric software eq.
I'm waiting for a passive filter ...
I've got a Senny HD58X too, and it does nothing wrong but ... maybe ... I'm just a beyerman.

Edit: after lowering the clamping force I'm much happier with my 58X: much more comfort, less bass, bit more sparkle.
 
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Tim

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Here is the list:
Koss ESP-950
Stax SRX-MkIII with SR7
Sennhieser HD6xx
Monoprice M1060
Monoprice M300 iem
Koss PortaPro and KSC-75
and a couple of others, including some IEM's

I rank overall #1 The Koss ESP-950 followed by the Stax and in third is the HD6xx
 
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