Q1: What kind of headphones do you need?
A1: First of all you need to decide if the phones may leak a lot of sound, some sound or very little sound.
There are 3 basic priniples on how to construct a headphone, open, semi-sealed or sealed.
It is easiest to make an open headphone with good sound quality, so all top-of-the-line headphones are open.
If you want to use the phones while using public transportation or in a shared office space etc you probably want to have sealed/closed phones.
If you use phones late at night and don't want to disturb others that are sleeping you could be fine with semi-sealed.
If you don't have problems with disturbing others you should probably look for open headphones.

Q2: What does the resistance/impedance tell you?
A2: Not much is guaranteed, but in general phones with an impedance of 30-60 ohm is easy to drive, so you can use them with a portable and still play loud.
Beware that some might be just what the portable can handle and might not perform their best.

Q3: What good sealed phones are there (in price order)?
Koss SportaPro $29.95 value:3.5 Impedance 60ohm. Actually listed as an open phone, but in reallity leaks little sound.
Made with athletics in mind. Stays on druing most physical activities and can handle sweating ok.
Bass is a bit murky and blurred.
BeyerDynamics DT231 $59 value:5 A great sealed phone in its pricerange.
Sennheiser HD280 Pro $99 value:5 A really good headphone if you look for a sealed phone.
BeyerDynamics DT250-80 $179 value:4 Impedance 80ohm. Good sound.
Ultrasone HFI-550 $189 value:4 DJ-type phone can survive a bit of rought handling and one-ear listening.
For HiFi this might not be the ideal choise.
AKG K271S $199 value:4 Impedance 55ohm. A very good sealed phone for its pricerange.

Q4: What good semi-sealed phones are there (in price order)?
Koss KSC75 $19.95 value:4 Impedance 60ohm. Clip-on-ear style. Actually an open design, but does not leak too badly.
Don't expect great sound, but expect great sound compared to other phones in the sub $20 class.
AKG K141S $99 value:2.5 Impedance 55ohm. Probably best sub $100 semi-sealed phones, but a better choise is to save up for the K240S.
Don't get the K141M that is the 600ohm version that is pretty hard to drive.
AKG K240S $129 value:3.5 Impedance ~55ohm. Good sound.
AKG K240DF $199 value:4 Impedance 600ohm. Hard to drive, but good sound.

Q5: What good open phones are there (in price order)?
Koss Porta Pro $49.95 value:4.5 Impedance 60ohm. Very easy to drive. Small and foldable. A great choise to use with a portable player.
This Koss phone has been around for a very long time without any changes.
Sennheiser PX100 $49.99 value:5 A true competitor to the Porta Pro. Preference is more a matter of personal taste than how good they are objectively.
Both of the phones are great for portable use.
Sennhieser HD497 $59.99 value:5 A full sized phone with low price and decent sound.
Grado SR60 $69 value:4.5 Great sound with lots of bass. Typically liked for rock music. Folds flat for some portability.
Strange old looks that some like. Depending on your ears you might find all Grado phones uncomfortable.
BeyerDynamics DT931 $179 value:4 Impedance 250ohm. For some time this phone was available for much less...
AKG K501 $199 value:4.5 Impedance 120ohm. Perhaps the best midrange that exists. Loved by many that listen to classical music.
Bass is very accurate, but also very weak in the lower regions. In all other aspects a great phone at a great price.
Grado SR225 $200 value:3.5 Better sound that SR60, but at a considerably higher price still makes this a good phone for its price.
BeyerDynamics DT880 $259 value:5 A top-of-the-line phone with no major weakness. Worth every penny!
Grado RS2 $495 value:3.5 The top phone from Grado. Actually RS1 is the top phone, but with little difference in sound and a lot in price this phone give you a lot more for the money.
AKG K1000 $849 value:5 Great sound, even considering the high cost. Looks really strange, not at all what you expect a headphone to look like.
It is more like a pair of mini-speakers hovering a small distance from your ears. Hard to drive is not the right word...
These headphones does not need a headphone amp, they need a real amplifier to power them. At least 7W is recomended.

while open headphones tend to let sound in and out, and the opposite case for closed... those are not the defining characteristics.

leaks little sound != closed.
leaks a lot of sound != open.

good overview. why no mention of senn's 600/650?

I have left out many headphones. The only ones listed is the ones considered to be very good compared to the price and preferably also be better than other phones in the same cathegory (open/semi/sealed) of lower price. The Sennheiser HD600/HD650 was a though call, but I decided to leave them out. If they would have a lower price they would defenatly have been on the list.
It was a though call between making a huge list or a more limited list. I choosed to make a limited list to start with and tried to be objective and not favour any brand.

I would appreciate anyone to write posts with recommendations for more phones, preferably write a line similar to to original post and if you want add other information that you feel appropriate after that line.
Specifically more information about Alessandro, Sony and Philps would be great.

I have been reading about headphones for the last several months through the forums for medical transcriptionists. I am a student learning to transcribe (type) recorded physician dictation. Generally the digital sound files are .wav, .dss, and .mp3.

Once I begin working, I am considering purchasing the Sennheiser HD650. Additionally (and because sound cards are rarely discussed among medical transcriptionists), I am wondering whether or not a sound card such as the M-AUDIO Audiophile 192 is something I should also purchase. Presently my PC has Realtek AC'97 Audio. The only thing I have is the Bose Companion 3 Multimedia Speaker System; however, it is still in the box because I am uncertain as to whether or not these speakers will be helpful.

For the purposes of listening to recorded physician digital dictation, does anybody have any opinions about which headphones and/or sound card would best fit my situation? Should I be concerned with getting an amplifier?

Thank you in advance for your time and input.

It is funny how I can read reviews, especially on a place like Amazon, and read someone say, \"these stink\", \"these are the best\" on the same set of headphones.

I have noticed that some people really like the distored, over-amplified bass sound, or a distored sound in general. That is what they are used to.

I personally dislike that sound and like a crisp, CLEAN sound, without that over-amplified bass sound. I really like to hear the subtlties of music, listen to the production, be able to easly pick out the instruments and arrangements.

I tend to be biased to Sennheiser and really love the fact that they have gotten into the \"low end\" portable market. I use my Palm Tungsten T3, listen to .oog files with this great software for PDAs. It plays MP3, WMA, PCM WAV, and Ogg Vorbis files. It was recently upgraded to allow for direct streaming from Napster, Real Rhapsody, Yahoo! Music Engine.
I am a big supporter of open source software, so I will not listen to any audio format that starts with a \"W\".

I also have used Koss headphones for many years, and my prefer their \"bassier\" sound, you can get that amplified bass thing on them, while the Sennheiser gives more of a straight clean sound.

I find Sony over-priced, over-rated, limited in formats and have historically not followed industry standards in their quest to control whatever marketplace they are in with propriatary audio formats, flash ram, etc.

I have four sets of headphones for different purposes. For, when I am listening with my portable, or when I am listening at home, usually through my PC.

Another item I find important with any portable headphones is having a volumne control on the chord. It always amazes me when higher level \"street\" or \"portable\" headphones do not have this feature.

What I am saying is that while it is important to look at the specs, I feel the most important thing is to get what fits YOUR PERSONAL TASTES.

I have a Sennheiser HD497, a 100, a mx-400, and others at home. I have some Koss as well.

I do not think that there is a BEST, but the certainly are catagories of better and worse.

On listening on my PC. I listen to original CDs without having any media in my PC.
I will back up a purchased CD to my hard drive with Nero and create a Image file.
Then I use free software called Daemon Tools that I can point to the image file and have it create a "virtual" CD drive. Then I can play that image file or files with any PC audio software and it plays as if I had the original media in my CD or DVD drive.

jolo: you don't like listening to files with extensions beginning with "W"? what about *.wav files?

I decided to purchase Sennheiser 497 and was able to find them new for $39.95. I received them today and they are much clearer than the headphones I had been using.

Presently my PC has Realtek AC'97 Audio. Should I consider getting a different sound card as well? My goal is to hear recorded physician dictation as clearly as possible. Of note, I still have the Bose Companion 3 Multimedia Speaker System in the box and have not decided whether or not to keep them.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Edited by tripledbt on 07-30-2005 at 00:29 AM.]

Do you transcribe regularly? I purchased Sennheiser 497 and maybe should have bought the 280s instead. I appreciate your recommendation for getting sealed phones.

Thanks again.

[Edited by tripledbt on 07-30-2005 at 00:30 AM.]

I appreciate your helpful reply, considering that I have next to no knowledge with regards to sound cards, headphones, et al. I realize how frustrating newbie questions can be.

My PC is well kept and runs efficiently. I am not running any applications that utilize an unusually heavy load, nor am I running games or such things as videos. The work I do is relatively black and white and requires a great deal of mental concentration. (I know, boring stuff that requires a library-type atmosphere.)

I finally connected the Bose Companion 3 speakers because the speakers that came with my PC crackled when I manually adjusted the volume knob, and they sounded terrible in general. Between the Sennheiser 497 headphones and the Bose speakers, there has been considerable improvement in sound quality. I undoubtedly wasted some money on the Bose speakers, but I am thankful knowing that it is not necessary to purchase a new sound card and/or the Sennheiser 650s. I am probably also going to need an amplifier for difficult-to-hear dictation, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Again, thanks to all for the helpful advice.

[Edited by tripledbt on 08-03-2005 at 11:19 PM.]

For transcribe use I would suggest phones with a clear midrange that fits very comfortably and are light.
Closed/sealed phones would be good since they create isolation, but also beware that there is some ventialtion for your ears, or it will be awfully hot inside the phones after a while.
You are likely to sit in an office type chair in front of a keyboard and use these for extended period of time, so comfort and low weight is a lot more important than for music listening.
Depending on the environment you use the phones in it might not be important to have sealed phones.

Amplification will generally not make the sound clearer, it will make it louder. The exception is if your computer output is stressed. If you need to turn the volume control near maximum then you are likely stressing the computer audio output.

http://www.headp...all-headphones/

Here’s my list so far in the given price range. And I’m only really interested in conventional/traditional headphones, not in-ear “phones” like Etymotic.

$050: Koss Porta Pro; Sennheiser PX 100
$100: Grado SR60; Sennheiser HD 497
...
$695: Grado SR 1

What phones not needing an amp are in the ranges: $200, $300, $400? And how much improvement can I expect?

Thanks

I like the SR60, but there seems to be a little bit something missing. I have the Sennheiser 497, and they are about the same as the SR60, but maybe a bit better [but I can’t wear the 497 very long as the pads press my ears in a bad way]. Still, I want to know if I’m missing something big. The SR60 and 497 were a lot better than what I had before. [I can’t even remember what they were.] I listen to everything from the rock to classical, opera to country, and just about anything. The Grado SR 325i have pads that look uncomfortable. I like the SR60 pads with the soft closed pad. I tried the “donut” pad, the densely pored foam earpad that does not cover the driver—it’s horrible! And that “donut” pad comes with the SR80 upwards [at least that’s what Headroom seems to say.] it also seems that the Grado’s come with a 1 / 4” plug. But the main thing is that the SR60 seems to be the only line that doesn’t come with the caveat that a headphone amp is recommended.

I’m leaning towards the Sennheiser HD 580 because headroom says it’s basically the same as the HD600 and HD650. but does it really need an amp? [And does the ear pad lay on the ear or does the ear fit inside the donut?]

Thanks

Yes, it does need an amp. You can plug the HD580 into any portable, but the sound will not be at its best.

The earpads fit around the ears. The HD580 is an open headphone, however, so don't expect much noise reduction.

Unfortunately the specs of the portable player is often not printed, so to be really sure you need to measure the output into different loads.
To get an idea you can do some backward calculation for the specified output power in watts and assume it was measured with 32 ohm headphones. (beware that many uses 16ohm headphones, so try to check up what was used).
If you can reach 110dB SPL you will do okey (with basicly no margin at all). If you can only reach 105dB SPL it will not be enough IMHO.

Here is an exampe count:
Portable player 2*40mW into 32ohm. P=V^2/R
Backwards calculating voltage. V=SQRT(P*R)=SQRT(0.040*32)=1.28V
Now lets calculate what SPL we get into Senn HD280 Pro.
They have 64ohm impedance and 102dB SPL/1mW.
P=V^2/R=1.28^2/64=0.0256 = 25mW.
Now count the doublings from 1mW.
1mW -> 2mW -> 4mW -> 8mW -> 16mW -> 32mW. Little more than 4 doublings, lets say 4.33 doublings, so we get 4.33*3=13dB over SPL value.
So this portable can play 102+13=115dB in Senn HD280 Pro before severe clipping. This should be fine with some margin.
Now you can just look up the specs and do the same calculation for any headphone and portable you like. If you don't really trust the written specification of the portable I suggest that you try it out with a headphone that should give max 110dB SPL and see how loud it really can play with that phone.

[Edited by Silvervarg on 08-29-2005 at 01:53 AM.]

First we must realize that there is a big difference between portable players and their capacity to drive headphones, so simply asking the question without telling what player we have and the specification of that players drive capabillity will not provide enough information to answer the question with accuracy.
Next problem is that manufacturers normally don't provide the information needed in the published specification.

To drive a headphone properly the device need to provide enough voltage, current and be able to sustain the voltage and current under load. If a player has problem to sustain the voltage during load we say that the output sags under load.
An amplifier solves all these problems by gain (increasing the voltage), providing more current and don't sag much.

If a player can't provide high voltage it can NOT drive high impedance phones to loud levels.
If a player can't provide lots of current it can NOT drive low impedance phones to loud levels.
If a player sags under load there is lots of distorsion. Note that this can be totally different from the distorsion in the specification since that distorsion was measured with a light load.

To drive properly you need a high voltage high capacity battery. Such batteries cost lots of money, weight a lot and is bulky, so the drawbacks are obvious.
To put less strain on the battery we can use capacitors. These reduce the sag during transients in music so it sounds better. Busy music with lots of bass can drain the capacitors and cause some sag to happen even with fairly large capacitors.
Ofcourse capacitors cost money, add a little weight, but most of all they occupy space, so in a portable you don't want to have too much of them.

Checking an old portable CD it contains 4*1.5V AA batteries, creating a rather good power source.
A small mp3 player typically have a tiny rechargable battery. Often the voltage and constant current the battery can provide is not specified. Playing time just tells you the capacity of the battery, and not how much peak current it can provide.

In the previous post I explained a rough way to calculate if a certain phone can be used with a certian player.
Lets look at same figures with a typical tiny mp3 player.

Portable tiny mp3 player 2*20mW into 16ohm. P=V^2/R
Backwards calculating voltage. V=SQRT(P*R)=SQRT(0.020*16)=0.56V
Now lets calculate what SPL we get into Senn HD280 Pro.
They have 64ohm impedance and 102dB SPL/1mW.
P=V^2/R=0.56^2/64=0.0049 = 4.9mW.
This is about 2.33 doublings, so we get 2.33*3=7dB over SPL value.
So this portable can play 102+7=109dB in Senn HD280 Pro before severe clipping. This is defenatly borderline at best. Assuming that we we play at the maximum level of the players ability quite often it is important to know if the player sags.
We can measure this or just use a pair of headphones and do some tests and listen to how distorted the signal gets.

Bill Machrone resently did some nice measurements and published them on his site:
http://home.com.../playertest.htm
He tests with a square wave that is fairly equal to a 50Hz tone (low disco beat), and it clearly shows how much some players sag.

A player with lots of sag need an easy load to do well.
So, for instance the iPod mini is pretty bad at driving headphones, so it needs very easy to drive stuff, like earbuds.
While the iPod suffle seems to be able to drive a much higher variety of headphones.
Ofcourse you can add a big headphone amp, but then it is quite pointless to use a tiny mp3 player.
Also note that the bigger iPod 15GB (harddisc based player) provides excellent sound when unloaded (e.g. with amp) but deteriorates a lot when loaded. So even with a larger player there is no guarantee that you can do fine without an amp.

[Edited by silvervarg on 09-30-2005 at 05:07 AM.]

Basicly you want something perfect, absolutely top of the line and preferably cheap too.
If there was such a perfect headphone no higher priced headphone would be left for long on the market. So, obviously this super product does not exist.
I still havn't heard a single headphone without flaws (including real expensive onces).

So, the best thing you can do when asking what to buy is to tell what drawbacks you think will be easiest for you to live with.
Here is a list of typical drawbacks:
Bass: too little bass, too much bass, bloated bass
Mids:too much mid, too little mid, not perfectly detailed mids
Highs: too little highs, uneven high spectrum, spikes in the high spectrum, too little details in the high spectrum
Other: poor stereo perspective, uncomfortable, heavy, ugly, poor build quality

In general the higher you go in price the fewer drawbacks exist and the drawbacks are less pronounced.

So no earbuds of any kind will be on the list in this FAQ.
I believe it is better to write a separate FAQ for earbuds, but I am not that found of earbuds, so I lack enough knowledge to write a good FAQ about them. I hope someone with more knowledge about earbuds will write such an FAQ.