best study (tutorial learning) headphones

What's the best for speed watching tutorials?


We should get a sense of price and value. If you recommend >1, rank them best to worst and give them points and ideally a price.




example: 10 model a $100, 8 model b $1



headphones:

1. ventilating: They keep skin dry and healthy, and provide relief from non-ventilated headphones.
2. noise cancellation: If your room is soundproofed, this might be unnecessary. Reduce sound sent to and received from the environment.
   1. ANC (active noise cancellation)
   2. PNC (passive noise cancellation)

What I've heard about ANC

1. It cancels white noise, but not irregular noise.
2. It sounds worse.

I have

1. Koss KSC75: Its better than ATH-M50X, worse than 280 PRO. It's open back and vents.
2. Sennheiser HD 280 PRO: Ignoring the closed back sound, it sounds the same as Stax SR-5 and better than KSC75, ATH-M50X, and Skull Candy IEMs.

 

I think Sku;; cand PROS are the waay to go for hering the best for BTS Kpop is lyfe
BTS BTS

 

I'm going to attempt a serious reply in case the OP is legitimately seeking "faster" headphones to keep up with...whatever it is they're listening to. Because sometimes we're all weird as f**k.

Is this a matter of whatever headphones you're using not being accurate enough at the speed you're listening to? So you *could* listen at a fast speed but your cans make the sound unintelligible?

 

Based on your intro post which I'll copy here for posterity...

Ok, for this very specific application you will primarily be interested in the vocal frequency range from 200-2000 (one could argue for 100-4000, but I digress) which is roughly the range that your ears are most sensitive.

For headphones, you really don't care about bass extension. In fact, if they have a bass rolloff it might even be for the better. Likewise, you won't care too much about the treble end either.

Let's skip all the blather about noise cancelling for now.

A potential wrench in the plans is if you will pitch shift or not. I'd recommend modulating it so tempo increases but pitch remains the same so it keeps those frequencies in the primary band (in other words the frequencies aren't shifted up even though the time is sped up).

So keeping all that in mind, mid-centric headphones will be ideal. Isolation depends on how critical you listening situation is and if you need the isolation. Personally I'd veer towards open as closed tends to emphasize the lows and highs which can interfere with what you want.

Something like the AKG K612pro would actually be pretty decent, or perhaps an Audio Technica ATH-AD### series.

If closed, the very old school Beyerdynamic DT48 is an interesting one if you also like the vintage/historical route, but the ugly Beyer DT150/250 would also work. I'm surprised you like the Senn HD280 as it has a rather large hump in the midbass which I find muddies vocals, but it depends on the particular voice, and maybe the isolation is really helpful for you. A step up from the HD280 might be the Shure 940/1540, though they don't isolate as well (and there's the Shure 1840 which is open).

It seems you've already tried some Stax. That would have been a quick recommendation as well and one of the old budget models would probably be my main choice, or maybe the L series if you're willing to spend a bit more money.

There's also b-stock Audeze LCD-2 being promoted on headfi right now.

 

Yes. Thanks everyone

 

Keep in mind that with some headphones you really need an amplifier (mainly planars like the Audeze suggested above).

 

Also, you may be able to get by (with whatever you currently have) with a simple EQ setting. Just turn down everything above and below the vocal range. There's probably EQ software on your device(s) already.

 

How I chose my current gear:

I bought the M50X because of good reviews and ratings. The excessive treble was irritating, so I switched to my ~$10 IEM. I searched for a negative M50X review and found Zeos (Z Reviews). He earned my trust by not liking the treble. Because of him, I gradually bought the KSC75, DAC-X6, and HD 280 PRO. I bought the HD 280 PRO because he liked the PNC and sound. I got much better PNC with KSC75 inside 3M Pro-Grade Earmuffs.

I'm going to get vented headphones. KSC75 isn't durable enough where the clip snaps on. Mine are broken. They could vent through permeable pads (like velor). Sound will pass through the pads, so they won't block noise. I think they will be open back.

I'm guessing that's Harman based frequency response. Otherwise, your recommendations are treble heavy.

 

Have you tried a bit of EQ to remove the treble from whatever you're listening to?

Also, you could literally try stuffing some felt into the cups or even in front of the driver. I'm not kidding, even some toilet paper between your ears and the drivers would work. Anything to remove the frequencies which interfere with your listening.

 

At what he says is 3.5x normal speed. LOL.

 

I knew a blind guy who had his text messages sped up for him... I want to say it was something like 5x. He said he could go faster, but the artificial voice was too garbled.

I can do 3x with some focus, but at 4x I can only "cheat" by picking up the occasional keyword but my comprehension is mud. So I don't consider 3.5x really that far outside the realm of possibility. *shrug*

 

If the OP can really learn from tutorials played at 3.5x their recorded speed, he has a much quicker mind than me

 

I didn't try fixing the M50X. Maybe I should have. Its too late. I remember a crackle. I've tried at least 9 headphones/IEMs. I've only heard the treble problem on the M50X. Zeos said M70X is worse.

Sennheiser HD58X or HD 660S might be options.

 

How important is the passive isolation to you? Most closed cups are going to have some type of cup resonance that will make the treble ragged. Maybe consider one of the more popular T50rp mods?

 

I saw reviews and raw frequency response graphs of Armaegis's suggestions. Should I get the Sennheiser 58x, 660s, 660, or something that sounds similar? Breathability is most important. I don't have working headphones for that. If I put breathable pads on my 280 pro, it wouldn't noise cancel.

 

You can't have breatheability and noise canceling at the same time. They are polar opposites. For breathability you need open headphones, for noise *blocking* you need closed headphones. For noise *canceling*, you need noise canceling canceling headphones.

 

You can get *some* breatheability and passive noise cancellation with supra-aural (on-ear) headphones. Something like the HD25 is very well known, though it's rather opposite from the mid-centric sound that you will want for your application. Hmm it's been along time since I've really heard many on-ears. Maybe a Beyerdynamic DT1350 if they still make them?

Or look into IEMs, but I'm no help there.

 

Beyerdynamic DT1350s were the pro model, while DT50/51 were consumer line. Both lines have been replaced by the Aventho which is available in wired or bluetooth options. All can be found easily second hand.

 

I have to choose between SHP9500 and HD 58X. I might have to eq to reduce the highs on the 9500 if it sounds like M50X.

Everyone says the 58x sounds better, but there are 2 categories from rtings.com I'm concerned about. SHP9500 got a better score for breathability (7.8 to 7) and comfort (8.5 to 7).

 

I should have got the SHP9500/00 or SHP9600/00. They have the same sound specifications. The arguments for the Sennheiser 58X didn't make sense. They say it has better bass, and doesn't have the treble problem. For speech, I thought below 80 Hz is useless. For the treble problem, Zeos didn't think it's as bad as M50X, and I could EQ it down. Of the many reasons I thought SHP9500 would be better, breathability was #1. rtings.com rated them almost the same, but they list "Avg.Temp.Difference" as 2.5 °C vs 4.1 °C.

I bought the SHP9500S/27. It was a mistake. I can't find frequency response data for it. It was $53. I'm looking for the best, so price doesn't matter.

Before I bought the wrong model, I planned to use these settings to help decide on EQ.

I'm mainly going to lower treble. I'll have to find EQ software for Pop!_OS Linux.