Thu Sep 02, 2004 12:37 am
For what it’s worth,
I use two different brands of headphones, Grado SR325 and Sennheiser HD 600. They both provide absolutely excellent sound. Both are ‘open’ type phones.
However, there are significant differences in these two headphones. The Grado phones do not have ear cups that fit completely over the ear as the Sennheiser phones do. That makes the Grado phones much less comfortable after an hour or so of use. When I was doing a lot of recording through Hauptwerk (the whole Band Organ episode, etc.) I used the Sennheiser phones and wore them sometimes for the better part of 6 hours some days. I found, that though they were comfortable enough to allow this, I ran into a completely unexpected problem. A small mole next to my left ear was so irritated by the light pressure of the ear cup that it began growing out of control. I had to have it surgically removed. It grew from about the size of a pinhead to about ¼” across. The doctor confirmed that the presence of the phones stimulated the growth. Weird huh?
As to the sound, the Grados are not only much more efficient (drivable directly from a mp3 player or computer output) but they are also noticeably brighter (very smooth though). The Sennheisers need preamping and give a less bright but terrific sound. Both phones give full sound down through the 32Hz 16’ pedal, as well as clear mids and highs without any tone boosting.
Leo Chris.