So what does everyone like to use?
I see a critical component that is entirely overlooked by a lot of serious MDers... the playback equipment. No matter how big and bad your machine is if the headphones can't reproduce the subtle differences in tone clearly, it's all for nothing! I've spent too much time involved in loudspeaker design to know most of whats out there is garbage, especially for this purpose!
You want a headphone that is designed specifically to reproduce the mids to low-highs with pristine clarity. You don't want headphones capable of producing bass. You don't want headphones that reproduce 14k+. Why? Because to have a well rounded full range speaker you end up sacrificing clarity in certain band ranges due to the nature of the cone's material... inherent resonances / cone break up / air propagation / weight to power / thermal inductance changes in the VC, then you can get into analyzing the motor assembly and even the frame of the speaker itself plays a big role! Equipment used in voice recording playback is ideal for MDing purposes given the frequency ranged they are designed for and many of them will operate in mono.
Any headphones I look up for this purpose, the manufacturers say nothing about the specifications of the drivers themselves... which generally means they are marketing to people who aren't concerned with the specs so they know they can get away with using sub-par building materials and a lax approach to engineering them. You have no need for a 40mm driver in this case, ever. Its big and heavy and sloppy unless you pay a small fortune for the motor assembly... but then kiss your battery life goodbye. Generally speaking... higher impedance results in a cleaner signal but requires more power for a given volume / loudness.
Ultimately everyone's hearing is different, and will prefer different headphones based on which frequency ranges their particular ears are good at picking up and which they struggle with. Again based on the cone material used, they all propagate different frequencies at different speeds.. during testing both pairs might produce a 1khz frequency... but one of them does it easier, more efficiently, and with less distortion resulting in easier / cleaner listening. The audio playback circuit in the machine itself, and how much thought the engineers gave it, will also play a crucial role in tone differentiation. Good headphones + distorted input source = crystal clear distorted signal!
Easy way to tell if they are worth looking into further... follow the gold! Plating... good engineers will mandate gold plating at the connection points. Also make sure to get semi-open circumaural for max sound isolation without sweaty ears (if heat is a concern I'd go with supra-aural)!! Hope this helps, sorry if it kinda bounces around I'm a bit behind on sleep. Maybe I'll sit down and give a seriously detailed report on this for ya guys sometime.
***LINKS***
Budget Friendly $69 USD AKG K240 - Doesn't swivel / Open Back (breathes)
Budget Friendly Sennheiser HD280 $76 USD Swivels / Closed Back
Broadcast Grade Beyerdynamic DT102 $155 USD Single Ear Cup / Uncoiled Cable / Ideal sound quality if your machine can run 400ohm headphones (takes a good bit of power) if it can't then check this out Portable Headphone Amp $60 USD acts as a "line driver" I'm sure you creative folks can jury rig a solar charger for extended field use
I see a critical component that is entirely overlooked by a lot of serious MDers... the playback equipment. No matter how big and bad your machine is if the headphones can't reproduce the subtle differences in tone clearly, it's all for nothing! I've spent too much time involved in loudspeaker design to know most of whats out there is garbage, especially for this purpose!
You want a headphone that is designed specifically to reproduce the mids to low-highs with pristine clarity. You don't want headphones capable of producing bass. You don't want headphones that reproduce 14k+. Why? Because to have a well rounded full range speaker you end up sacrificing clarity in certain band ranges due to the nature of the cone's material... inherent resonances / cone break up / air propagation / weight to power / thermal inductance changes in the VC, then you can get into analyzing the motor assembly and even the frame of the speaker itself plays a big role! Equipment used in voice recording playback is ideal for MDing purposes given the frequency ranged they are designed for and many of them will operate in mono.
Any headphones I look up for this purpose, the manufacturers say nothing about the specifications of the drivers themselves... which generally means they are marketing to people who aren't concerned with the specs so they know they can get away with using sub-par building materials and a lax approach to engineering them. You have no need for a 40mm driver in this case, ever. Its big and heavy and sloppy unless you pay a small fortune for the motor assembly... but then kiss your battery life goodbye. Generally speaking... higher impedance results in a cleaner signal but requires more power for a given volume / loudness.
Ultimately everyone's hearing is different, and will prefer different headphones based on which frequency ranges their particular ears are good at picking up and which they struggle with. Again based on the cone material used, they all propagate different frequencies at different speeds.. during testing both pairs might produce a 1khz frequency... but one of them does it easier, more efficiently, and with less distortion resulting in easier / cleaner listening. The audio playback circuit in the machine itself, and how much thought the engineers gave it, will also play a crucial role in tone differentiation. Good headphones + distorted input source = crystal clear distorted signal!
Easy way to tell if they are worth looking into further... follow the gold! Plating... good engineers will mandate gold plating at the connection points. Also make sure to get semi-open circumaural for max sound isolation without sweaty ears (if heat is a concern I'd go with supra-aural)!! Hope this helps, sorry if it kinda bounces around I'm a bit behind on sleep. Maybe I'll sit down and give a seriously detailed report on this for ya guys sometime.
***LINKS***
Budget Friendly $69 USD AKG K240 - Doesn't swivel / Open Back (breathes)
Budget Friendly Sennheiser HD280 $76 USD Swivels / Closed Back
Broadcast Grade Beyerdynamic DT102 $155 USD Single Ear Cup / Uncoiled Cable / Ideal sound quality if your machine can run 400ohm headphones (takes a good bit of power) if it can't then check this out Portable Headphone Amp $60 USD acts as a "line driver" I'm sure you creative folks can jury rig a solar charger for extended field use
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