Headphones questions....

[Silver Surfer]

My cheapy Eagle headphones are about kaput... I have been looking into the DetectorPro's, and they seem to get really good reviews. My question is, are the higher end (more expensive) really worth the extra dollars? Would it really make a difference between say the Jolly Rogers, Grey Ghost, and Black Widow? If so, what are the better attributes that make them worth quite a bit more change?
Thanks for all opinions..
For what its worth, I do have a pretty good hearing loss, but it is the high frequency range. My low range is still pretty good.

 

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[Iron Patch]

I would imagine all the higher brands are pretty good. I find the better phones like my GGs NDTs give a much more true tone for the targets. I ran out of cords late this Fall and had to use a Koss set the last few hunts, and yes there is a difference in quality over cheaper phones.

The higher end detecting phones are much better at blocking outside noise which will be a great help with your hearing loss. That said, if you really have to crank the volume you might not want the built in limiter that is standard on some of these more expensive sets. The limiter saves a person from getting blasted too bad on the loud more shallow signals.

 

[Donut]

Cheep -V - Quality
If you are serious about detecting, yes there is a difference. Yea you will see someone that says that the cheep ones are just the same -- Nope! Why spend good money for a nice detector and defeat it's purpose on the other end.
Cheap's are for back up.
I have a set of Grey Ghost Black Widows and love them. I have 5 sets of headphones and I only use my GGBY.
They do fit tight on the head but you get use to them, however if they don't fit snug around the ears you will get a lot of ambient noise from your surroundings. I can use mine on the beach with the waves and wind and can hear the faint signals.
Yes i did Grinch when i bought mine because of the cost but now I am glad i have them.

Doug,
Coloma, Mi.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Yes.

I burned through a couple pairs of $15 Radio Shack/Koss phones for detecting. They did not hold up well. I have good Koss headphones for my home stereo that are 30 years old and still fine but the recent versions were cheap in price and results.

I got a pair of DetectorPro Black Widows and never looked back. Later I added a Rattler single-ear headphone which I now use most often as it allows me to keep an ear open to the environment. Thye better phones are designed for detecting and give MUCH better returns on faint targets.

It can also depend on whether your detector has a proportional signal or just an alarm tone. Nothing much will help a detector that just has an alarm tone vs. a true target return.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Headphones questions.... (Updated)

My wife bought me a pair of Black Widows for our anniversary and I used them for the first time today. I have to say, I dont know if it is me or the phones, but I was disappointed.... The sound "tinny" to me, and I have to crank them all the way up to hear with them. I have to use the limiter switch since they do give a pretty loud noise if I find a top or very shallow (1-2") target... I was expecting the same kind of thing we experienced (us old cogers) when we heard stereo vs mono radios, but didnt find that to be the case. Like I said, I may just be expecting them to be like a great pair of Stereo music headphones vs a kiddy pair, you guys tell me?
They are probably the nicest, sturdy, quality feeling, and comfortable phones I have ever put on, but sound is more important..
Again, I may just be such a beginner that I am wanting a range of sound that I dont need with MD'ing, I hope you guys can help. I would hate for my wife to dish out $126 for a pair of phones that are faulty.

SS

 

[Arid-Zone-A-seeker]

This sunday, I got to set in on a detecting seminar, at the Gold Show in Phoenix AZ. The seminar was put on by Les Berg, owner of Jobe Wholesale,LLC. the guess speaker was David Johnson.The discussion turned to head phones, although no brands where mentioned, the gist of the conversion was ,,,You need to be using headphones, The lower the impedance or Ohms the better for tiny targets, deep targets, especially when using single tone detectors. The general consensus was the more comfortable, for extended wear, the better. You are not listening to digital music, (altough its' music to my ears when the machine goes zip,zip.) just listening for targets. I have read a couple of times at T-net where the guys with a lot of time under their belt detecting, can tell one kind of target from another. And usually how deep it might be.
The answer for the question. Do I really need headpnones? Was, If you are not presantly using phones, you may be missing 30% of your targets.
You have to buy what fits your machine,,,,Some will take stereo phones, some will take mono phones only. Stereo phones may be better, cause one of your ears may pick up different ranges than than the other one. You may try wearing the phones opposite what is marked on them.
Get the best you can afford.
If you have big ears,,, try using insertable phones. I wear glasses and have been thinking of these.

My favorite head phones are my Koss QZ-99's. Noise reduction,volume controled, switchable from mono to stereo,life time warrantry, a good long cord, and only about 65-70 bucks.
I know one thing. There were a lot of people walking around the show with boxes of head phones after that seminar!

 

[Silver Surfer]

I went out again today for a couple hours, and I feel a lot more confident that it was me, not the headphones. I think I had them cranked too high, and also had my threshold too high. I turned down the volume down one notch, and decreased the threshold to where I could only faintly hear the buzz, and it seemed much better. I was still only hearing a mono tone, but what I really found was that I was needing to have things really cranked up on my cheap eagles to hear everything, and with these I dont need to do that. I easily found a lo of really tiny aluminum shards, and small pieces of foil that were down to 7"...That is good enough for me. It seemed, although it is a little too soon to tell, that had a much more reliable tone on targets. And the comfort of these phones is incredible. After 3 hours, my ears did not hurt a bit, and I was wearing sunglasses. They also cut down on outside noise incredibly.
I am looking forward to becoming even more used to and confident in these phones..

 

[Iron Patch]

I went out again today for a couple hours, and I feel a lot more confident that it was me, not the headphones. I think I had them cranked too high, and also had my threshold too high. I turned down the volume down one notch, and decreased the threshold to where I could only faintly hear the buzz, and it seemed much better. I was still only hearing a mono tone, but what I really found was that I was needing to have things really cranked up on my cheap eagles to hear everything, and with these I dont need to do that. I easily found a lo of really tiny aluminum shards, and small pieces of foil that were down to 7"...That is good enough for me. It seemed, although it is a little too soon to tell, that had a much more reliable tone on targets. And the comfort of these phones is incredible. After 3 hours, my ears did not hurt a bit, and I was wearing sunglasses. They also cut down on outside noise incredibly.
I am looking forward to becoming even more used to and confident in these phones..

Yep... much better to max the detector volume than the headphones if that's an option.

 

[luvsdux]

In response to Arid Zone A Seeker's post - this is the FIRST and ONLY time (so far, anyway) that I have ever seen a reference to LOW impedance being preferable. All the high end phones are manufactured with a High impedance and for the last 8 years or so that's all I've seen recommended for the best sound. In my own experience, the low impedance phones that were give aways with several of my detector purchases don't offer near the sound quality of my Gray Ghost phones. That very well may be to other factors besides the impedance such as speaker construction etc. Not wanting or intentionally meaning to knock that post, but as mentiioned I've never heard that explanation before.
HH
luvsdux

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

My Minelab manual recommends "Low Impedence" headphones.

 

[mtntrekr2]

Charlie you said your minelab recommends low impedance phones. I tried a set of low impedance phones on my Xterra and they would not work.
Is it just the xterra that need the high end?

Joe

 

[Silver Surfer]

The Black widows have a switch for different MD machines.. Is this regarding the impedance? What does the MXT like? In one position, no sound.. In the other position, they work..

 

[Iron Patch]

The Black widows have a switch for different MD machines.. Is this regarding the impedance? What does the MXT like? In one position, no sound.. In the other position, they work..

That sounds like a Stereo/Mono switch.

 

[Silver Surfer]

If it is a stereo/mono switch, why wouldnt it work on both settings? I have that option with my cheap phones and it just changes the sound, but they still work. I know the DetectorPro site said something like "works with any make or model with the flip of a switch"... I assumed that some detectors transmit a specific range and others another.. I will have to look it up again...

 

[Silver Surfer]

Well, this is what the site says......

"The Black Widow contains a dual mini-toggle switching system like our famous Gray Ghost Ultimate. One switch provides greater compatibility with detector audio systems and the other switch allows signal limitation when extreme volume is not required."

That doesnt tell me whether it is due to frequency (low impedance vs high) or stereo vs mono... But again, if you have stereo output, you should still hear it in mono if your phones are only mono phones, shouldnt you? And I would think if you had mono output, you would still hear mono in stereo phones?
I remember back in my teens, we would put big speakers in our car, connected to our stock mono radios.. The sound seemed better, but it was still mono.. Maybe we thought it sounded better just because it was louder...

 

[Iron Patch]

Well, this is what the site says......

"The Black Widow contains a dual mini-toggle switching system like our famous Gray Ghost Ultimate. One switch provides greater compatibility with detector audio systems and the other switch allows signal limitation when extreme volume is not required."

That doesnt tell me whether it is due to frequency (low impedance vs high) or stereo vs mono... But again, if you have stereo output, you should still hear it in mono if your phones are only mono phones, shouldnt you? And I would think if you had mono output, you would still hear mono in stereo phones?
I remember back in my teens, we would put big speakers in our car, connected to our stock mono radios.. The sound seemed better, but it was still mono.. Maybe we thought it sounded better just because it was louder...

My GG NDTs also go silent when the switch is hit. I think it can be all of nothing because the Nautilus I had would not not give any sound unless the phones were Stereo. At least that's what I recall.

 

[mtntrekr2]

I have a set of sunrays and they have a switch to change from low to high impedance.
when set to high they work fine on the xterra but in low they are dead. Otherwise they are stereo with a noise limiter switch. I had to get a better set of headphones because the low impedance set I was using with the XLT would not work on the Xterra.
Joe

 

[niffler]

Check out the Koss QZ99 model...noise reduction and built like a tank. I use them with my XLT, and someone can be talking right next to me when i'm using them and I have to read their lips. Can't even hear the cars going by. These are the best headphones for around $50! Just my 2 cents....foiledagain

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Charlie you said your minelab recommends low impedance phones. I tried a set of low impedance phones on my Xterra and they would not work.
Is it just the xterra that need the high end?

Joe

Don't know from Xterra. Mine is an older Musketeer Advantage.

The Black Widows have two switches. One is the limiter circuit (prevents an eardrum rupture by blocking large blasts) and the other may-or-may nob be stereo/mono or high/low impedence. Manual doesn't say. Just says to select the position that "use the right switch for use with your detector".