Headphones (1 Viewer)

I do some voice recording from time to time, using my smartphone, usually in combination with a MicW IShotgun microphone. The app I'm using is Hartmut Pfitzinger's "Field Recorder", a great app once you begin to understand how it works. Took me a while though, and there's still much I need to learn. For processing I use Audacity. Or at least I'm trying to ...

So far I've been using in-ears to monitor the recording in the field. That worked OK for a while, however, I feel I need something better. One of the problems with in-ears is that they don't cut out the sound from the "outside" completely, and that makes things difficult at times.

So I'm looking for over-ear headphones that are reasonably light and small AND fairly neutral. I tried a few in town, and they were so heavy on the bass it just wasn't funny.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Hermann

BTW: Is there a dedicated forum on bird or mammal recording anywhere? I couldn't find one.

Hi,

as for in-ears you might want to try some from Etymotic... they will remove external sound very well (they're actually sold without speakers as earplugs) and are quite neutral...

Joachim

I was just talking to Marc on the same subject. Studio/DJ monitoring closed-back headphones like the Sony MDR 7056, and related competition from Sennheiser, Audio Technica and Breyer Dynamic appear to be designed to reproduce the recoded sounds very accurately, while “filtering out” the background. I am reading more about them.

Suprisingly, unlike the insane $$$ rates on photography and digiscoping accessories, these seem to be around $100 or can be had for far less.

Sony MDR 7506 and many of the older (and since they are still around- good) studio headphones have very long fixed cables, for the simple reason that you need to move around when working. These are far too long for much mobile field work.

More modern closed back phones like the popular Audio-Technica ATH-M50X have removable cables and usually have a short cable supplied as an option from new. Again they are around £100 in the UK.
Like many folks who spend time wearing these for various purposes, I have a variety of headphones including these and 7506s (headphones are like binoculars - they breed in the dark of my equipment store).

Personally for field trips in exposed locations I use an even cheaper set of over ear Sonys - because they have the shorter cable length, they do the job and I wont be too upset if a cow stands on them. (Actually I might be because they were discontinued years ago - but you get the point?)

As two users of headphones rarely agree on anything when it comes to recommending them, I will merely say that I agree with the over ear approach, stress the need for getting a sensible cable length, (short for hand- helds - longer if need it for other approaches) and for lurking outdoors wearing them for extended periods make sure they are comfortable. Read reviews.

Your price suggested is a sensible top end for most outside work.

Finally remember that if you shut off all external sounds you won't hear anyone warning you that you are about to fall off a cliff!

iveljay said:

Personally for field trips in exposed locations I use an even cheaper set of over ear Sonys - because they have the shorter cable length, they do the job and I wont be too upset if a cow stands on them.

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Good points. So there are three criteria headphones for field trips have to meet: cheapish, short cable and cow-proof ...

iveljay said:

As two users of headphones rarely agree on anything when it comes to recommending them, I will merely say that I agree with the over ear approach, stress the need for getting a sensible cable length, (short for hand- helds - longer if need it for other approaches) and for lurking outdoors wearing them for extended periods make sure they are comfortable. Read reviews.

Click to expand...

Thanks again. These are valuable hints, especially the point about headphones having to be comfortable for extended use. That'll limit me to a few models, I'm afraid, my head is a somewhat bigger than average. Actually, I switched to in-ears for listening to music years ago because I couldn't find comfortable headphones at an acceptable price that were large enough, not too heavy on bass and not looking like they came straight from the Star Wars movies.

Hermann

I can highly recommend the Byerdynamic DT 100 over ear closed back headphones, I have used these for years and were also standard issue at a local BBC radio station I worked at many years ago. The sound is perfectly flat with no enhanced base level. They are available in 16 and 400 ohm (this is important depending upon what recorder you are using, select 400 ohm version for professional mixer/recorder with more powerful headphone out). the phones come with a straight lead which I personally prefer as they tend to be quieter and less likely to snag/tangle. All parts of these phones are replaceable and you can also replace the ear cushions with a very comfortable felt type cushion that allows to all day listening with out any ear pain.