Best headphones for an SE Pro?

[treasurefiend]

I broke my Koss ones that came with my SE and I want to get a very good set so I can hear the very faint deep signals. What brand and model do you recommend?

 

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[FredCobol]

I have a question to you other Explorer people:

Do the headphones really matter much, other than having ones of decent quality?
Doesn't all the processing that the Explorer has make it so if there is anything it detects you will hear (Crank the gain to 10 and everything sounds loud)?

 

[hollowpointred]

I broke my Koss ones that came with my SE and I want to get a very good set so I can hear the very faint deep signals. What brand and model do you recommend?

i believe you can replace those Koss Phones if you want. i like mine. if not, a good pair of Black Widows or Grey Ghosts would probably do you real good.

I have a question to you other Explorer people:

Do the headphones really matter much, other than having ones of decent quality?
Doesn't all the processing that the Explorer has make it so if there is anything it detects you will hear (Crank the gain to 10 and everything sounds loud)?

you can set up your explorer with the gain on 10 if you like, but i dont run mine that way. think of it this way,in order for the machine to take a signal and amplify it ,that signal needs to be above a certain threshold. if a faint signal falls below that set threshold the machine wont sound off. with a lower gain setting,and no amplified (or a low amplified) signal, that same faint signal will sound..well,faint! in order to hear that whisper you will need good phones.

 

[mastereagle22]

I use Black Widows and before that it was Sunray Golds. The Golds got broken and the wife and kids bought me the Widows for Father's day. These are EXCELLENT. Better than the Koss in my opinion.

 

[Captn SE]

in order to hear that whisper you will need good phones. Smiley

Keith(HollowPointered) is right. You need a good pair of headphones to hear the really deep ones with consistency.

Why would you want to use a $20 pair of headphones with a $1500 detector? It doesn't make any sense. You need to match your high end electronic equipment with equal performing equipment/accessories. You're only as good as your weakest piece of equipment, no matter how good your best piece of equipment is.

I currently use Grey Ghost Ultimates. I had a pair of Sunray Pro Golds, but like Larry(MasterEagle), mine also broke. Sonically, they were just what I wanted.

Good Luck!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Brett]

I will weigh in with what I've heard. From a master hunter, I was told, "dump the Koss headphones and get a good pair of stereo headphones, some killer bee's or gray ghosts." Personally I think the Ratphones Max are right up there with them both, maybe even better... but I don't have an individual breakdown of all of the internal components.

I have heard sound limiting circuitry is not necessary with the Explorer because it doesn't have a much higher tone than the faint tones that would cause the limiter to trip. Basically it's more compressed over the entire range of sounds, but there is still a need to have decent headphones when listening for the faint tones. Ratphones excel here because their limiting circuitry is always on, no switches to break or get in the way (one model of the Gray Ghosts has these switches inside the ear cup for pretection). From what I've read it sounds like the volume potentiometer in the Ratphones will last longer than the Gray Ghosts due to the design implementation.

It looks like the Gray Ghost Ultimate and some other models are naturally wider and would not press on your head as much as the Ratphones Max or Black Widows. However, it sounds like the Ratphones Max headband is adjustable, as in you can bend it open a bit more. I really can't stand headphones that press on my ears hard though so I think I'd like to physically try both of these units.

Gray Ghost series specs a more narrow bandwidth for their speakers... and I can only assume that's because that's what the speakers are tuned for... or not tuned for. I doubt they added circuitry to roll off frequencies below 200Hz and above 3200Hz... that would just seem like a waste of money to not let the detector "tickle" the speaker however it pleases.

Right now I'm leaning toward the Ratphones Max.

 

[Iron Patch]

I broke my Koss ones that came with my SE and I want to get a very good set so I can hear the very faint deep signals. What brand and model do you recommend?

i believe you can replace those Koss Phones if you want. i like mine. if not, a good pair of Black Widows or Grey Ghosts would probably do you real good.

I have a question to you other Explorer people:

Do the headphones really matter much, other than having ones of decent quality?
Doesn't all the processing that the Explorer has make it so if there is anything it detects you will hear (Crank the gain to 10 and everything sounds loud)?

you can set up your explorer with the gain on 10 if you like, but i dont run mine that way. think of it this way,in order for the machine to take a signal and amplify it ,that signal needs to be above a certain threshold. if a faint signal falls below that set threshold the machine wont sound off. with a lower gain setting,and no amplified (or a low amplified) signal, that same faint signal will sound..well,faint! in order to hear that whisper you will need good phones.

So what do you set your gain at?

I'll have to disagree with that theory not believing going from the gain factory setting to 10 is missing targets because the detector processor is not reacting to the faint ones. If you use your gain very low than I would probably disagree even more of it being a way to hit the deep stuff better. Please tell me more because to me your post seems contradictary... and I'm a bit bias having use my gain at 10 from day and for 8 years now. The explorer is a far different detector than something like a GTI where the target boost is all or nothing.

 

[Brett]

I would agree with IronPatch, and say that the detector always sounds off if it sees a target... no matter where the threshold or gain or volume is set. You MAY not be able to hear it though... that is the difference. From the manual, it seems an audio response is always added to the threshold level, so the faint deep targets ride on the threshold. Whether you will hear the "difference" in audio level and PITCH is a different story. If you have your threshold set to a high pitch, you will be less likely to notice the difference in amplitude and pitch response (assuming you have sounds set to CONDUCT and are listening for high tones, the opposite would be true if you are looking for ferrous targets - high threshold pitch and sounds set to ferrous). In that light, it would be best to set the threshold as low of a pitch as you can hear, and as low of a level as is clearly audible to you. Headphones over both ears will significantly increase your chances of hearing these differences as well.

Gain will just take those low audio responses a louder response. If you set gain to 1, it's still sounding off... but your headphones may allow you to hear it. Although surface items will ring out at the volume's MAX LIMIT. Sitting here reading all of this again has got me thinking that a lower gain setting (7 maybe) with good headphones and reducing the MAX LIMIT by one or so would potentially allow me to hear the deep signals better without always blasting my ears with the surface stuff. Max limit basically clips the tops off of the loudest signals, it does not compress everything into a lower range. A term comes to mind, "surface discrimination". Heh... gotta try this out tonight.

Setting your gain to 10 though would basically make everything sound the same loudness, and you would have to look at the depth meter constantly to know what's deep and what's not. That would probably be a good choice if you didn't have very good headphones or hearing. Effectively turning the explorer into a "beep, beep" detector. There is still a little tiny variance in the audio for deepies, but would be harder to notice IMO.

 

[Iron Patch]

Setting your gain to 10 though would basically make everything sound the same loudness, and you would have to look at the depth meter constantly to know what's deep and what's not. That would probably be a good choice if you didn't have very good headphones or hearing. Effectively turning the explorer into a "beep, beep" detector. There is still a little tiny variance in the audio for deepies, but would be harder to notice IMO.

With a lot of hours in at a gain of 10 you actually can see hear a difference in the deep stuff. It's the shallow to med. depth that are pretty close.

 

[hollowpointred]

I broke my Koss ones that came with my SE and I want to get a very good set so I can hear the very faint deep signals. What brand and model do you recommend?

i believe you can replace those Koss Phones if you want. i like mine. if not, a good pair of Black Widows or Grey Ghosts would probably do you real good.

I have a question to you other Explorer people:

Do the headphones really matter much, other than having ones of decent quality?
Doesn't all the processing that the Explorer has make it so if there is anything it detects you will hear (Crank the gain to 10 and everything sounds loud)?

you can set up your explorer with the gain on 10 if you like, but i dont run mine that way. think of it this way,in order for the machine to take a signal and amplify it ,that signal needs to be above a certain threshold. if a faint signal falls below that set threshold the machine wont sound off. with a lower gain setting,and no amplified (or a low amplified) signal, that same faint signal will sound..well,faint! in order to hear that whisper you will need good phones.

So what do you set your gain at?

I'll have to disagree with that theory not believing going from the gain factory setting to 10 is missing targets because the detector processor is not reacting to the faint ones. If you use your gain very low than I would probably disagree even more of it being a way to hit the deep stuff better. Please tell me more because to me your post seems contradictary... and I'm a bit bias having use my gain at 10 from day and for 8 years now. The explorer is a far different detector than something like a GTI where the target boost is all or nothing.

Hey Iron, i run my gain at about 7 sometimes 6. i have always been led to believe and have always believed myself that if i ran the gain so high that the machine was amplifying the signal, there was a set threshold or a set signal level that had to be crossed in order for the machine to boost (or amplify) the signal. almost like a "ceiling"in a way, and anything below that "ceiling" would not be amplified (and heard). perhaps i am wrong in my understanding of this? i guess it is possible that those faint "whispers" that i hear with a lower gain setting would still be heard at a setting of 10 (just heard as loudly as the other depth targets). in order to find out i would have to find one of those faint targets and sweep over it again at a higher gain setting and see what happens....hmmm interesting....... a question....if the same faint signals heard with the machine set a a low gain setting can still be heard even louder at a high gain setting, why would you even want to use a lower gain setting? just so that you could determine depth by ear? seems like an almost useless feature if that's the case.

 

[Iron Patch]

I broke my Koss ones that came with my SE and I want to get a very good set so I can hear the very faint deep signals. What brand and model do you recommend?

i believe you can replace those Koss Phones if you want. i like mine. if not, a good pair of Black Widows or Grey Ghosts would probably do you real good.

I have a question to you other Explorer people:

Do the headphones really matter much, other than having ones of decent quality?
Doesn't all the processing that the Explorer has make it so if there is anything it detects you will hear (Crank the gain to 10 and everything sounds loud)?

you can set up your explorer with the gain on 10 if you like, but i dont run mine that way. think of it this way,in order for the machine to take a signal and amplify it ,that signal needs to be above a certain threshold. if a faint signal falls below that set threshold the machine wont sound off. with a lower gain setting,and no amplified (or a low amplified) signal, that same faint signal will sound..well,faint! in order to hear that whisper you will need good phones.

So what do you set your gain at?

I'll have to disagree with that theory not believing going from the gain factory setting to 10 is missing targets because the detector processor is not reacting to the faint ones. If you use your gain very low than I would probably disagree even more of it being a way to hit the deep stuff better. Please tell me more because to me your post seems contradictary... and I'm a bit bias having use my gain at 10 from day and for 8 years now. The explorer is a far different detector than something like a GTI where the target boost is all or nothing.

Hey Iron, i run my gain at about 7 sometimes 6. i have always been led to believe and have always believed myself that if i ran the gain so high that the machine was amplifying the signal, there was a set threshold or a set signal level that had to be crossed in order for the machine to boost (or amplify) the signal. almost like a "ceiling"in a way, and anything below that "ceiling" would not be amplified (and heard). perhaps i am wrong in my understanding of this? i guess it is possible that those faint "whispers" that i hear with a lower gain setting would still be heard at a setting of 10 (just heard as loudly as the other depth targets). in order to find out i would have to find one of those faint targets and sweep over it again at a higher gain setting and see what happens....hmmm interesting....... a question....if the same faint signals heard with the machine set a a low gain setting can still be heard even louder at a high gain setting, why would you even want to use a lower gain setting? just so that you could determine depth by ear? seems like an almost useless feature if that's the case.

I know what you are saying but still think it doesn't work that way. I don't think it matters whether your gain is 1 or 10 when it comes to your detector deciding to boost the signal. The only difference in the numbers is how loud the end result will be, therefore there is definitely an advantage to a max gain in places that you just want to dig deep and not have to determine depth.

Ever remember a plug-in gizmo that was sold for the non electric toy car race tracks. You would push the car in and the thing would spit it out the other end. Well that's how I see the gain work on an explorer, the signal/car just has to make it in, then the speed/volume of sound, is determined by the setting.

 

[hollowpointred]

that's an interesting thought. ill have to experiment a bit the next time out. ill let you know what happens.

 

[Iron Patch]

that's an interesting thought. ill have to experiment a bit the next time out. ill let you know what happens.

Never know you might decide you like it. If you hunt fields definitely keep it cranked.

 

[Goio]

Grey Ghost Ultimates or RatPhones Max, either one or both will do. Good luck!

 

[RONC(OR)]

I use gray ghost ndt and if you set the gain on 10 it would be very unstable and you would not hear the deep ones I set mine at 7 on my SE 21 on my E-Trac HH

 

[Iron Patch]

I use gray ghost ndt and if you set the gain on 10 it would be very unstable and you would not hear the deep ones I set mine at 7 on my SE 21 on my E-Trac HH

No, that's absolutely not true because stability has a lot more to do with other factors than the gain setting. My detector is definitely very noisey but that's called running it hot! (and again is not just because of the gain)

 

[RONC(OR)]

I use gray ghost ndt and if you set the gain on 10 it would be very unstable and you would not hear the deep ones I set mine at 7 on my SE 21 on my E-Trac HH

No, that's absolutely not true because stability has a lot more to do with other factors than the gain setting. My detector is definitely very noisey but that's called running it hot! (and again is not just because of the gain)

you are partly right sens can make it unstable too or hot also keeping it in a null longer and missing targets all I am saying is I like to hear the deep ones with the gain at 10 6" coins sound like surface coins But that is the way I like it. I also dont set my varibilty to max 8 on the se 25 on the ET but I set my threshold tone a little higher HH

 

[Iron Patch]

I use gray ghost ndt and if you set the gain on 10 it would be very unstable and you would not hear the deep ones I set mine at 7 on my SE 21 on my E-Trac HH

No, that's absolutely not true because stability has a lot more to do with other factors than the gain setting. My detector is definitely very noisey but that's called running it hot! (and again is not just because of the gain)

you are partly right sens can make it unstable too or hot also keeping it in a null longer and missing targets all I am saying is I like to hear the deep ones with the gain at 10 6" coins sound like surface coins But that is the way I like it. I also dont set my varibilty to max 8 on the se 25 on the ET but I set my threshold tone a little higher HH

I've had my gain at 10 since day one and wouldn't ever consider dropping it. Louder is better because it's generally smaller targets like buttons I'm looking for.... because the easy ones like coin signals go quick and some of my sites very rarely give up a coin anymore.

There are many points of view and we're probably all right because it has to do with our own hunting. For a few years I experimented with settings but the last 5 or so have kept the same. I much prefer it this way because now all my focus goes into what really counts for success... the sites!

 

[Brett]

I was told you should always be adjusting your sensitivity and threshold level based on your site, and even different parts of the site. And I completely agree with this because I've always notices the variations in soil conditions and power line effects. High trash vs. Low trash, etc.

If you always go back to the same site you might know what settings work well for that site though. But if the ground there is dry or moist depending on the day, you still mght wanna adjust the sensitivity.

 

[Brett]

I think we are getting carried away with the debate though. All TreasureFiend wanted to know about was headphones.

What headphones have you been using for the last 10 years IronPatch?