What Headphones Do I Use?

What headphones do I use eh? Lets go low to high

Grado 60i – $50 on eBay
Plugged straight into my phone while lying in bed. Great for Netflix, Youtube videos, then tossing them on the floor before I go to sleep.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/GradoSR60i.pdf

Byerdynamic DT 770 80ohm – $150
Used to be my main pair, now I just use them for front of house sound mixing duties. Very good isolation from the outside world. Very tough construction. Lots of bass. A bit too much mid bass for me. Tends to get out of control without a good amp, low end gets muddy. Large size, a little hard to carry. If they broke I’d buy another pair in a heartbeat, best headphones for working concerts I’ve found.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT770.pdf

Hifiman HE-500 45ohm – $600 on massdrop.com
I only use these at home, at my desk, plugged into my Schiit stack. They are in a whole nother world. No frequency rage is exaggerated, no range is repressed. Just total sound, total flat. They are also faster, meaning sound is more detailed, note decays are more real, reverb and ambiance more nuanced. Reviewers keep comparing them to $2000 headphones. Downsidewise they are heavy, have absolutely no isolation from the outside world, and are hard to transport.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE500.pdf

Westone ES-2 22ohm – $775 custom molded IEM from an audiologist.
Inserts all the way into my ears. I use them while travelling and while mixing monitors for a band. Extreme isolation from the outside world. I mean you can be listening to solo piano music on a plane next to a crying baby and not notice anything but the music. One of the best sound purchases I have ever made. Loud music destroys your ears. Turning your music up loud to hear it over background noise destroys your ears even faster. Listening to quiet music in loud environments is invaluable to me. Sound is very very good, just a little lacking in the extreme highs and sub-bass. Responds well to eq to get those ranges back. Very detailed. Very sensitive to what’s driving them. Iphone is fine, headphone amps are good, but straight into a computer soundcard or ipod will give me hiss, not a lot, just annoying. Also they get very loud very fast, 20% on an ipod/iphone volume knob is as loud as I can stand.

I cheaped out here and I’ve always regretted it. One step higher would have been $900, and I’d gladly pay the difference now. I bought these a long time ago and I’ve learned a lot since. If I could do it again I would buy from Sensaphonics or JH audio instead, Westone has lost my future business.

The downside to these are if you’re walking around you are acoustically blind. People have been hit by cars, bikes, trains because they didn’t hear them coming. The fit requires an air tight seal, so they cant be worn while sudden changes of pressure occur (such as a plane taking off). The fitting process requires an audiologist who squirts goo in your ears, not comfortable (however I’ve had this done to me 4-5 times, you’ll survive). They take 5-7 seconds to insert per ear, so I cant use them at front of house to cue things mid show.

If I lost all my sound gear a new set of custom IEMs are what I would buy first. This class of gear blows the socks off any of the universal fit IEMs, even the $400 Shures. It’s not even close.

Ok! That’s all for headphones. File formats come next!