Hello Folks,

Based on previous recommendations here, I bought the HD280 Pro phones
for tracking. I have the 580's for HiFi. Anyway, the 280's sound
somewhat hollow or boxy when used with a new MBox or directly plugged
into my TiBook. The 580 sound rather nice even off the TiBook.

Are my 580's bad? What else at the 100$ price at GC should I return
them for?

Thanks,
Robert A. Ober
PS: Saw the thread where Scott D. recommended somthing with a hyped high
end. I do NOT want something like that.

"Noboby" wrote in message om...
Hello Folks,

Based on previous recommendations here, I bought the HD280 Pro phones
for tracking. I have the 580's for HiFi. Anyway, the 280's sound
somewhat hollow or boxy when used with a new MBox or directly plugged
into my TiBook. The 580 sound rather nice even off the TiBook.

Are my 580's bad? What else at the 100$ price at GC should I return
them for?

Thanks,
Robert A. Ober

PS: Saw the thread where Scott D. recommended somthing with a hyped high
end. I do NOT want something like that.

How would you know until you tried?

Aren't the 280s the big monsters which place the drivers almost two inches
away from your ears? I can't imagine those *not* sounding boxey.

Your definition of 'hyped' is probably quite different from anyone elses.
I have an affinity for the Sony MDR-7506, which many people believe to
be hyped on both ends. Personally, I believe they must like to listen at
outlandish volumes or something g. I think they're darned smooth...
if anything, I'd call them 'revealing' rather than hyped. If the highs and
lows are in line, they won't sound hyped.... but they do easily reveal any
excesses on both the very top and very bottom. If you drive them to
extreme levels, I can see why some people might call them hyped.

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

Hi, Robert. Headphone recommendations are always a fundamental problem
for a forum like this. Not only do people's opinions rarely agree, but
even when we try to figure out why our opinions don't agree, the
reasons don't seem to add up! So I think the most you can really get
here is some suggestions for some phones to try yourself.

See for example David Morgan's post of March 20th in this thread--I'd
certainly trust his judgment on many subjects, and I'm sure he really
hears things as he describes them. But I can truly find no way to
reconcile what I hear from those Sony headphones (I used them on a
daily basis for well over a year) with what he hears. It's as if
suddenly, one of us is speaking Martian and between the two of us, with
the best of intentions, we can't tell which one of us it is.

For what it may be worth, I use the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO as my primary
headphones nowadays, but not because they sound wonderful--they don't.
It's more because they offer better isolation from room sound than any
other serious headphones that I've found so far. And they're accurate
enough that with some practice, I've learned to make certain judgments
(but not others) about mike placement for live recordings based on what
I hear in them.

That's the main thing I happen to need from a set of headphones. For
sheer listening pleasure I would certainly choose something quite
different, but I don't want to undo the "training" I've done with the
280s, so they're what I almost always use whether I enjoy them or not.

Also, hard plastic parts keep breaking off of the headbands of the HD
280s and they aren't among the field-replaceable parts for that
model--grumble, grumble.

--best regards

"David Satz" wrote in message
ups.com

Hi, Robert. Headphone recommendations are always a fundamental
problem
for a forum like this. Not only do people's opinions rarely agree,
but
even when we try to figure out why our opinions don't agree, the
reasons don't seem to add up! So I think the most you can really get
here is some suggestions for some phones to try yourself.

See for example David Morgan's post of March 20th in this
thread--I'd
certainly trust his judgment on many subjects, and I'm sure he
really
hears things as he describes them. But I can truly find no way to
reconcile what I hear from those Sony headphones (I used them on a
daily basis for well over a year) with what he hears. It's as if
suddenly, one of us is speaking Martian and between the two of us,
with the best of intentions, we can't tell which one of us it is.

One reason is that the perceived frequency response of headphones,
and earphones to an even greater degree, is profoundly affected by the
structure of the ear(s) they are providing sound to.

You bought them for tracking, right? Why worry if they're a bit boxy
or not. I mean, the selling point on them is that they're comfortable
and cut about 28db of external noise. That's why they're great for
tracking. If you want hifi sound for tracking vox or similar, use the
others.
later,
m

wrote:
You bought them for tracking, right? Why worry if they're a bit boxy
or not. I mean, the selling point on them is that they're comfortable
and cut about 28db of external noise. That's why they're great for
tracking. If you want hifi sound for tracking vox or similar, use the
others.
later,

Yeah I suppose. I will also use them for playback on remotes, so I need
to get more used to them. Not sure I agree on the comfortable. Maybe
it's my big head. The 580's are the most comfortable that I have owned.

Thanks for all the replies,
Robert A. Ober

David Satz wrote:

For what it may be worth, I use the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO as my primary
headphones nowadays, but not because they sound wonderful--they don't.
It's more because they offer better isolation from room sound than any
other serious headphones that I've found so far. And they're accurate
enough that with some practice, I've learned to make certain judgments
(but not others) about mike placement for live recordings based on what
I hear in them.

That's the main thing I happen to need from a set of headphones.

What he said, to which I'll add one more requirement I have:

The phones need to be common enough that I can easily rent or buy a
replacement pair when I'm on the road. Once I get used to a particular
model, suddenly having to work on an unfamiliar pair can reduce my
ability to make EQ & mike placement decisions in a pressure situation.