Open-air headphones

I would not recommend using open back headphones when using the phones to hear what is being reproduced by them, especially with percussion equipment. There will be positively too much leakage both into and out of the phones. You definitely need closed back phones so you won't go deaf too prematurely. Open back phones do well when just listening to music in a semi controlled environment.

Dennis
 
I was planning on using earplugs with the phones. With musician's earplugs, the music isn't distorted. With closed headphones, the treble will be diminished and the sound will be bass-heavy, making the plugs redundant. In other terms, I'm looking to turn the volume down without distorting the sound that comes in.

I can go with a closed headphone if it will isolate equally across the spectrum, or if isolation is minimal. I am looking at audio technica M30. Are those on-ear or over-ear phones? I tried M40 and they were good, although a bit heavy. I didn't like the AKG 240 and 271; they were too silent with too little bass. The 240 did not leak much, which was a pleasant surprise! The Sennheiser 280 was quite the opposite: a lot louder with plenty of bass and a very coloured image.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the phones must be loud to cut through the drums, so maybe I'm better off with a cheap headphone with low impedance of 32ohm than with an expensive headset. I know the M50 has low impedance and is high-quality, but it's also quite heavy. If I have to wear them for hours, comfort is of course important.

If you have other suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. However, I think open phones are the way to go because I do not want to block exterior sounds out. They just have to be loud enough and have good bass-response.
 
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check out grado headphones. best open ear headphones I've ever heard. I got the cheaper model i think the sr-60.

I don't really know about your plan to use open ear headphones for recording or even practicing drums. They leak sound alot and they don't block out any external sounds, they do sound great however.
 
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