Headphones

[Putts]

That would have been my #2 dream job (but a distant second)I didn't even know it existed when I hit the road so long ago.

It doesn't hardly exist at all. The equipment reviewer world needs about three of them.

There was so little high end reproduction tech back then ( on stage or at FOH ) and my Koss Pro 4AA's were the best we had back in the days of a pile of gtr amps or a glorified head and a column cab.
The fact that I still have a set is all I have to say about how much many of us "golden ears" thought 'bout Pro4's.

The original ones were far better than the Pro4AA they sell today. (You'll hear it.) The original was the first headphone I ever had. I remember laying in bed listening to Pink Floyd as a teen and having to wipe the sweat out of the ear cups every half hour. Damned liquid filled plastic earpads.

Because of the high volume environment I found myself immersed in . The sealed over ears were usually desired and required . Yup Yup !
(I know there's some fine stuff in more open formats so include them in your comments too just to know how they stack up............)

It's a tough call: Open acoustic earphones have less resonant problems behind the driver, so they're cleaner and more refined sounding---if they're good ones. Sealed cans can get you much better bass extension, but it comes at the cost of a bit rougher response curves, so they're not as nuanced.

Flat response is my most valued trait period,

Oh man, don't get me started.  The problem is: Nobody knows what flat is on headphones yet. Sean Olive at Harman International is working hard on it; even I am working on a proper compensation curve for my measurement head. Bottom line, it's a wicked complex problem. If you want to read about it I have articles here, here, here, here, and here....for a start.

(all those "bass boost" models are crap IMO. Dr. Dre and Beats can go bite my ass!!! Over priced bass player rigs , nuff said ......almost....

You'll love this...wait for it!



Fortunately, Beats has made so much money (they sell about 40% of all headphones over $100!) that they vastly exceeded Dre and entourage's need for hookers and blow, so about four years ago they hired about 12 top notch headphone engineers and their new line-up introduced about a year ago is actually above average. Their Solo 3 is pretty damned good...the rest is well built but only mediocre.  

BTW speaking of pre-amps..."Gateway Mastering's  Bob Ludwig" lives just down the road from me.

Bob Katz writes a blog for me.  And there you go...we've just name dropped the two most famous mastering engineers.

And I just have to say Sennheiser was my absolute all time fave best ever

Yup.  Mics or headphones, they're the best maker out there...though they still produce lemons sometimes.

Neumann !!! Ohhhh Yeaaaaaahhhhh !   
Did they ever come out with a set of HPs????

Don't think so...they're owned by Sennheiser.

I have had good impressions of the Shure brand as well ,again ,their high end condenser tech is top notch (re:87's),
and their industry standard 57 and 58 have always been around since the dawn of sound , the beta versions are a huge jump up and now my #2 after Sennheiser.
So ding ding ding to them for #2 brand !

They kind of avoid consumer audio distribution for headphones, but their cans are pretty good. Tend to be a tad bright, though. Still, a top notch outfit. Privately owned and I think the founders wife is still the board chairwoman.

There were always esoteric "super" brands around but nobody wanted to risk the big bucks to try 'em...
So your thoughts on those might be very interesting........

I've tested numerous multi-thousand dollar cans...mostly they're all purdy on the outside but sound no better than good $500 headphones. There was even a recent study showing that headphone price has NOTHING to do with sound quality. Sad.