Headphones to watch movies and listen to music.

[Dan Madden]

My experience with headsets is that many of them color the bass response (I've listened to many of them)at the expense of detail and transparency. All I can say about Grado headsets are that they neutral and transparent. They basically sound like a good sound system properly set up and adjusted. The bass is there but not exaggerated. I've used mine for movies and they sound great. Get open back headphones if you can as they typically perform better. They bleed sound out of their sides however so if there are people around you, they can hear them.

 

[andyj]

I would like to have your opinion about three headphones. Sennheiser HD630VB, Yamaha HPH-MT220 Studio Monitor Premium and Sony MDR-XB700. I am looking for very comfortable phones with full sound. Bass is important but can't dominate. I like sound of Bowers & Wilkins P7 and V-Moda Crossfire but they were as not comfortable as other ones I tried.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I would like to have your opinion about three headphones. Sennheiser HD630VB, Yamaha HPH-MT220 Studio Monitor Premium and Sony MDR-XB700. I am looking for very comfortable phones with full sound. Bass is important but can't dominate. I like sound of Bowers & Wilkins P7 and V-Moda Crossfire but they were as not comfortable as other ones I tried.

May I ask why you have narrowed your options to these specific models? Haven't heard any of those so can't say much, just by experience with these brands I would pick Sennheiser. How ever I would pick different headphones that are more well known for their performance to start with.

edit: If you want to save some money perhaps you should consider these cans, they have got some good reviews: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-hifiman-he-350?referer=4568TG&mode=guest_open

 

[fishhawk]

Andji you may want to have a look at this review:

He reviews dozens of headphones from all price levels.

 

[cel4145]

Andji you may want to have a look at this review:

He reviews dozens of headphones from all price levels.

And he also makes recordings of headphones (and speakers) and provides them as demos for people to listen to. Anyone who does that loses all credibility as a reviewer in my book because either (a) he doesn't realize how useless and misleading those recordings are, which reflects a severe lack of basic knowledge about audio, or (b) even worse, he does know, but does it anyway to build an audience among newbies who don't know better.

Gotta love this home hack headphone recording setup he built:

What a joke.

 

[andyj]

I would like to come back to my dilemma about the headphones. I purchased headphones but they are very uncomfortable after wearing them for more than 1 hr. I am going to narrow my requirements and any help would be appreciate. I need headphones mostly to watch movies. I don't want bother my wife when I watch movies loudly. The headphones I checked had too short cord. I need at least 12" long cord. Do you think having wireless headphones with transmitter would solve the problem. Am I going to have any problems with wireless headphones? So please advise me with most comfortable headphones. I think my head an my ears are not common size. How about 32 ohm or 250 ohm? I will mostly use a receiver but sometimes a laptop. Thank you for you help.
Andy J.

 

[killdozzer]

I would like to come back to my dilemma about the headphones. I purchased headphones but they are very uncomfortable after wearing them for more than 1 hr. I am going to narrow my requirements and any help would be appreciate. I need headphones mostly to watch movies. I don't want bother my wife when I watch movies loudly. The headphones I checked had too short cord. I need at least 12" long cord. Do you think having wireless headphones with transmitter would solve the problem. Am I going to have any problems with wireless headphones? So please advise me with most comfortable headphones. I think my head an my ears are not common size. How about 32 ohm or 250 ohm? I will mostly use a receiver but sometimes a laptop. Thank you for you help.
Andy J.

I find over-the-ear to be the most comfortable. Wife and others will be the least bothered with closed design, but those sometimes "boil" your ear during warm summers. Personally, I'd check over-the-ear Sennheisers. I had some experience with them. They are comfortable and IMO have sufficient bass for watching movies. I own Grado and I love them, (lower model) they ever so slightly lack bass for some movies. I use them only for music and my ears do start to hurt after 1,5 - 2 hours from ear lobes being squashed.

 

[andyj]

I find over-the-ear to be the most comfortable. Wife and others will be the least bothered with closed design, but those sometimes "boil" your ear during warm summers. Personally, I'd check over-the-ear Sennheisers. I had some experience with them. They are comfortable and IMO have sufficient bass for watching movies. I own Grado and I love them, (lower model) they ever so slightly lack bass for some movies. I use them only for music and my ears do start to hurt after 1,5 - 2 hours from ear lobes being squashed.

Thank you for your opinion. Would you please tell me any particular models? I understand that Sennheiser is a very comfortable model. Do you mean HD600 or other model? Grado is not for me because they start to hurt the ears.

 

[killdozzer]

Thank you for your opinion. Would you please tell me any particular models? I understand that Sennheiser is a very comfortable model. Do you mean HD600 or other model? Grado is not for me because they start to hurt the ears.

You're welcome. Sennheiser is a pretty reliable company, not really hit-n-miss. Meaning they rarely, if ever, come out with a bad model of headphones. Mr. Sennheiser was a respectable engineer. It comes down to your budget. You were mentioning 300-400$, which is substantial and does indeed put you in Sennheiser HD630VB range. From what I understand, these can turn up the volume on bass, which would come handy for movies.

Quote:
The side of the right ear cup is a rotary dial, which operates like a volume knob: twist clockwise for more bass, anti-clockwise for less. Sennheiser says this gives you a difference of +/- 5dB at 50Hz.

They are also closed as I mentioned. My GF says that the leaking of the sound from the back of my headphones does disturb her in the quiet of the night. It gets lost during daytime.

I see them on amazon.com going for 330$ now. I think these would give you some thunder for the movies and some finesse for the music.

The model I heard was much cheaper HD471 model. I was playing PC video games with it and watched some movies. I found them good enough and would expect the Sennheiser HD630VB only to be better.

 

[andyj]

I bought Sennheiser HD600 and returned them immediately. They were very uncomfortable for me and completely lack of bass. I was very disappointed. I like warm sound and a little bass. Your review about HD630 is very positive. You did not mention about how comfortable they are. I was going to buy Sony MDR1A because they are very comfortable. Is HD630 or MDR1A better choice?
Thank you again for helping me making a good choice. I really appreciate it.

 

[everettT]

I bought Sennheiser HD600 and returned them immediately. They were very uncomfortable for me and completely lack of bass. I was very disappointed. I like warm sound and a little bass. Your review about HD630 is very positive. You did not mention about how comfortable they are. I was going to buy Sony MDR1A because they are very comfortable. Is HD630 or MDR1A better choice?
Thank you again for helping me making a good choice. I really appreciate it.

Haven't heard the HD600s really lacking bass. As for warm sounding I'd start with treble adjustments. Since they were not comfortable, the bass issue is moot.
These look interesting in their price range

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16050

 

[killdozzer]

I bought Sennheiser HD600 and returned them immediately. They were very uncomfortable for me and completely lack of bass. I was very disappointed. I like warm sound and a little bass. Your review about HD630 is very positive. You did not mention about how comfortable they are. I was going to buy Sony MDR1A because they are very comfortable. Is HD630 or MDR1A better choice?
Thank you again for helping me making a good choice. I really appreciate it.

I'm really sorry for your bad experience. I avoid saying anything about Sony because I never heard them or wore them on my head. FWIW, I wouldn't recommend something I have no experience with.

However, saying that HD600 lack bass is a bit strange to me. I went on to read a bit about them and found these specs:
Frequency response: 16Hz-30kHz, ±1dB. THD: <0.1%.
Nominal impedance: 300 ohms.
Sensitivity at 1kHz: 97dB.
Headphone caliper pressure: approximately 2.5N.

Now, if they extend anywhere near 16Hz, and Sennheiser doesn't really cook their books, you should have bass-galore. Some reviewers say that the bass is not pronounced and that HD600 is a neutral and good resolving model. perhaps it's that.

But to lack bass, I would be quick to blame the impedance, but I leave that to bigger experts.

I recommended the HD630VB model because they are suppose to go down to 10Hz according to Sennheiser site. And they have Bass Boost +/− 5dB at 50 Hz.

Having said that, I've noticed that most of the over-the-ear models from Sennheiser have a similar shape of cans. If this is somehow uncomfortable to you, it's possible other models will be uncomfortable as well.

Of course, regardless of any advice, you should always test them before buying.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I bought Sennheiser HD600 and returned them immediately. They were very uncomfortable for me and completely lack of bass. I was very disappointed. I like warm sound and a little bass. Your review about HD630 is very positive. You did not mention about how comfortable they are. I was going to buy Sony MDR1A because they are very comfortable. Is HD630 or MDR1A better choice?
Thank you again for helping me making a good choice. I really appreciate it.

Could you tell how HD600 was uncomfortable, as I haven't heard people having issue with comfort on these cans, only thing some people have said that the clamp force have been strong on new pair. Also hard to believe these are lacking bass, what source you used? Perhaps you are after boosted bass curve?

 

[slippedclipboard]

IMO these work great for both, especially Movie/TV dialog. It also has a long A$$ cord: http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIONEER-SE-A1000-OVER-EAR-TOP-OF-LINE-STEREO-HEADPHONES-WITH-6-3MM-ADAPTER-/191565130640?hash=item2c9a2beb90:g:hCwAAOSwTA9X6bCw

Great find!!