Isolation headphones. Need opinions please!

gibeachhead said:
I cannot tolerate in ear monitors.
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I never liked them either, but it only takes a couple weeks to get use to them then you will never go back to headphones or a speaker monitor, sound quality is much better, isolation is better, they stay in place and dont move around and their not hot and sweaty or heavy like headphones and you dont need to eq for feedback like a speaker monitor so the sound is much crisper and they look much more professional live, nothing looks worse live than a drummer wearing a set of headphones.
 
bermuda said:
Ultraphones by GK-music.com have been my choice for several years.

Re the seal around your ears, keep in mind that if you have bushy/long hair, no cup will seal well.

Bermuda
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I went with Bermuda's suggestion and I haven't look back.

Amazing isolation, extremely comfortable, they don't move/tight snug fit, excellent audio quality (highs and lows).

It really is amazing how I can play tracks at half the volume through this headset and be able to hear the music just fine along with my playing. These are exactly what I envisioned in my head as the perfect pair of isolation headphones for drummers.

My ears are very grateful for these headphones.
 
marko138 said:
Just want to update this in case any of you are interested...

I used the S4 while riding my motorcycle today. They work great. Block out plenty of wind noise at highway speeds.

Still haven't played drums with them...but I will.
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Finally got to play my drums with these S4 headphones. They work well for playing along to music. Seal out plenty of noise. I like them.
 
I use the M audio IE10 they ran like 100 tax. M audio makes some great in ear monitors. they are very good quality.

They have more expensive ones if your budget allows but you really don't need them. I've gigged and practiced with these for 4 years and the sound quality is the same as the day I bought them, Clear bass mids and highs. Just a suggestion good luck.
 
Those GK-Music UltraPhones are clearly a popular choice; they seem to pop up everywhere with top musicians. I have a pair of Sennheiser hd280s and a pair of Shure srh840s, both of which are great, but in my case, I'm practicing with the drums unmiced, and I find that I can't hear a lot of the sound, especially the higher pitches, coming from the drums. The isolation is just too much. I'm guessing that the UltraPhones would have the same issue. I recently read the review in Drum! Magazine and learned that GK-Music also has SuperPhones with the same high quality audio but with less isolation. Based on the review, it sounds like those are perfect for practicing with unmiced drums. Anyone have any experience with the SuperPhones?
 
Beyerdynamic D770M cancel all the frequency range very well so you can still hear your cymbals shimmering and the snare ringing while you play, but at a lower level.
The audio quality is very good (its brother the D770 Pro is widely used in recording studios), so you hear all the music clearly while you play and don't need to put the volume too loud. All these makes it a perfect pair of headphones for the drums.
 
No clear winners here, seems to be a combination of drummer specific headphones and a broader selection of studio headphones.

I have the Firths, and don't really feel they give that much isolation, although I have not any direct comparisons, I used to have a pretty low end pair of in ears, and I felt they blocked more, especially compared to how low the ipod volume was set for these compared to the Firths, plus the Firths, for me any way, get really sweaty.

I switched as I felt an well sealing over ear isolation headphone would be better for my hearing, but now I am not so sure.
 
Just a note to the people saying "use in-ears": I went with this solution, combined with the Vic Firth over-ear nose reduction cans, for ages. I encountered problems: wired ear-buds cause a slight lift in the seal letting drum noise leak through (plus the hassle of pulling the wire while playing and my phone falling to the floor). So I switched to wireless (Bluetooth) earbuds, but unfortunately the drivers on the buds themselves are so big that my over-ear muffs were pushing them into my ear canal, resulting in a disgusting blood blister in my left ear I'm still trying to clear up.

I just plunked down $50 for the Vic Firth headphones, and immediately noticed that the cable is too short and the earphones pretty bulky. So I'm looking for an alternative over-ear solution, but there's something I don't get: why does the noise reduction go so crazy high on the more expensive pairs? With the combination of earbuds and 22db dead cans I had trouble practicing soft playing just because I couldn't hear myself. Can you even hear yourself drumming with 32db+ of reduction?
 
Since posting my last reply I switched from Vic Firth earphones to the Senheiser HD 280, and have been very happy, they are lighter, and for me give a better seal. If you can, try and find an audio store close to you and see if they have a pair in stock to try. They have good isolation, but I can still hear my drumming.

Good luck
 
It's funny how everyone here has different perspectives on what works and how well. I bought those same Sennheisers several years ago, and they don't isolate enough for me. Or, maybe it is that they don't isolate the right frequencies. I had the Direct Sound phones years ago, and except for durability, they were perfect. They took out the right amount of volume and left the drums with pretty much the same sound as with no cans at all. Vic Firths do a good job of cutting down volume, but I hate the way they make the drums sound; everything gets muddled and a bit boomy. Now that I think about it, the Sennheiser 280s are much like the VFs with the result that the drum sound is concentrated in the mids where the VFs are mostly low mids and lows. It all feels out of balance to me.



Maybe the answer is a room mic, but that opens up a whole can of worms I am not sure I would be able to deal with. These days, I wouldn't even have a clue how to start.
 
I use the Direct Sound EX29's myself. Long cable and red fabric on the right speaker make it very nice for gigs. Great sound and isolation for the price. Durability is just a matter of how well you take care of it. And there is a decent factory warranty. Now they may not be the best at any one thing, but put it all together for the price, they are a great choice to go with.
 
I don't think these were abused or mistreated in any way. There was a period there where folks were having issues with the headbands. But, who knows. One of my kids might have gotten rough with them when I wasn't around.

I won't speak to the sound of the phones as far as fidelity is concerned. I only use them with a metronome, and a click is a click is a click. But they are perfect as far as reducing ambient sound in a nice way that doesn't--at least to my ears--over-emphasize certain frequencies over others. With the Sennheisers, the hi-hat gets lost, and with the Vic Firths, the toms and kick all blend together in a rumbling mush. I end up trying to compensate forr those deficiencies and excesses.
 
I'm just curious what you (and anyone else for that matter) use the phones for? Stage? Rehearsal? Practicing? I have a set or Beyerdynamic phones i use for practice when i need to hears very specific parts. (and for recording)
 
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