Headphone question.

[ggunn]

Audiologists are generally against earbuds because their form factor tends to cause people to turn up the volume leading to possible hearing damage. Since earbuds don't completely cover the ear and sheild it from outside noise, outside noise can interfere with hearing well with earbuds. That's makes folks tend to turn them up so that it seems to sound decent but in reality the volume is way higher than is safe for long-term use. I was guilty of this. Once I switched to closed back headphones, I could hear things much better at lower volumes.

Some food for thought.

It can work the other way as well. Some years ago, I switched to in-ear monitors because the band I was playing in at the time was too loud; I was able to significantly lower my sound exposure with them. You'd need custom earpieces to do this, though; off the shelf earbuds don't block ambient sound very well.

 

[dalahorse]

I use a set of AKG 141 headphones for late night practice. They're really comfortable and have a nice flat frequency response curve.

The V-Moda earbuds mentioned above are awesome, too. I use them on my iPod all the time, and sometimes with my keyboards when I travel w/o an amp. Something I really like about them is that they fill your ear canal entrance and significantly cut ambient noise. Because of that, you don't have to turn them up very loud to hear detail in all frequencies. Note that you'll need an extension cable for them.

 

[Ivan M]

Well i ended up buying the SENNHEISER HD 380 PRO, after trying a few while at samash these were simply the best fit for me and the nicest freakin sound, the bass is awesome, thanks all for your help, and they are very light indeed, spent a little more than i wanted, but well worth it, now i can play at 3 am and bother no one.

 

[scottice]

Great choice! I could't afford the 380 at the time (but I love my 280's). Enjoy!!!!