Korg Forums

khol · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:06 pm Post subject:

Went to the store today. Thought i might get myself a new pair och headphones.

What a disappointment.

I have two old pairs at home, but they are old and starts to fall apart. But when i plug them into my M3 they sound great and i can rarelly use more than 50% of the volume knob.

Today i tried a pair of Beyerdynamic - DT250 and a pair of AKG K-240 STUDIO.

The Beyerdynamic have 80ohm impedance and the AKG have 55 ohms.

I tried them on a Korg X50... and im telling you. I had to crank up the volume to MAX !!!

And still, on some sounds that wasnt enough.

So... no new headphones for me. Dont want to use "full throttle" because then i dont have any margins to play with.

Any ideas? Feedback?

khol · Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject:

Anyone tried a pair of Grado SR80 directly on the headphone out on a synth?

Impressions?

cotler · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 4:28 am Post subject:

I gave my kids all of my AKG headphones, with the exception of my little k26p set. I love those for the price and size!

For normal use, Sennheiser HD280Pro. Outstanding isolation, comfortable, and very good frequency response.

For critical listening or where isolation isn't needed, Sennheiser HD650. The sound is beyond description.

All of the above work great with the M3.

As for AKGs, I have to find time to perform surgery on my Triton Studio since the AKG 1/4 inch adapter tip broke off in the headphone jack. The jack is unusable until I find time to pull the workstation apart and extricate the tip. That was AKG's loss and my gain, since I'm happier with Sennheiser headphones and R0DE microphones.

khol · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:31 am Post subject:

The HD280Pro is 64 ohm
and HD650 is 300 ohm

Is the M3 really capable to drive those headphones?

Or do you use a receiver/mixer/amplifier?

I tried a pair och 80 ohm and a pair of 55 ohm, and i had to crank the volume to max, and on some instruments that wasnt enough.

xmlguy · Platinum Member Joined: 26 Nov 2007 Posts: 3605

khol, you cannot judge the loudness of a headphone by its impedance alone (which is actually a curve, not a single value: the rating is a guide). You can have two headphones with the same impedance rating in which one is significantly louder than the other for the same level of amplification. The headphone sensitivity rating is also important, particularly if the headphone amp isn't powerful enough to drive a low efficiency driver to high sound pressure levels. Also important is choosing the headphone design to match the listening and recording conditions.

http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/headphones.html

It seems that the headphone amp of the M3 isn't very powerful. You can solve this one way if you buy a more powerful headphone amp, particularly if you're using it in your studio/home. That will allow you to use different headphones for a wider range of listening and recording conditions, including the Sonys that Sina suggested. It also helps to have some EQ on the amp to help flatten the FR curve a bit. Or get RF wireless studio headphones like the Sennheiser RS 140 with a built-in amp.

When you need to stick to the M3 built-in phone jack, then choose headphones with high sensitivity and an impedence as close to 33 ohms as you can find (to match the impedence of the M3 phones amp).

Try the Sennheiser HD205, for example.

I own and enjoy the HD 280 Pro, but it may not be a good match for you. That's the key, matching the headphones to the situation. There is no one right set of headphones for everything, it all depends.

GregC · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject:

[quote="Sina172"]

RobertPlatinum · Full Member Joined: 29 Nov 2007 Posts: 146

My vote is for the Akg k701 you can hear sub bass notes easily, mids clear, hi's clear. Plus they are the most comfortable and light headphones I have ever had. Oh yeah the bass, the bass is so responsive that people 7 ft away could hear the bass notes while I had them on and without bass being boosted at all.