New headphones that suprised the living hell out of me.

recordingwhiz

recordingwhiz

Well-known member
Hey guys, just thought I might throw this out to you as I feel I have stumbled upon a possibly great discovery. now lets begin by saying I have zero interest in this other than to share what i have found.

If you are anywhere near a Best buy, do yourself a favor and go audition the Phillips "stretch" headphones.

I was at a BB just shopping for a washing machine with my girl friend when we were walking around and ran into the headphone audition station. I was surprised that they even had this available, anyways tried on everything even those beats headphnes (what a gimic) anyways.. when I tried these things on i was surprized at what I heard, the clarity, the very even and level frequency response. well I found them on fleabay for about half of what BB was asking for them and I ordered them figuring I wouldnt be out much and they did sound suprisingly good.

well I have had to dig out all previous reference material I have used in the last 25 yrs in my previous recording studio career, and just constantly blown away hearing minute details I never heard before.

any ways , sorry for the rant but I had to share, BTW my 7506s and the HD280 are pure back up now , they sound like crap compared to these no to mention great isolation as well.

your mileage may vary , but deff worth a check out.

Good luck

GG
 
I googled them and found different models (and prizes from 80 to 130 Euros) - some have anumber, some are called O`Niel (WTF?) - which one do you have?
 
I got the tr55lx in white, they are also available in black. the deal i found happened to be on a white set.

oh yeah O'neil is a part of their branding I think Oneil makes neoprene products I guess.

Good luck
 
tr55lx is the material, not the model... I think Frank is asking what model you got. I'm curious what the differences are between them all, since the prices vary hugely.... the 9560 and 9561 look the same, and I guess the 9567 adds the volume / track control.
 
£50-£90 here in the UK and will check them out as there are also white and black versions, just got some sennheiser HD25-11-1's and they are far better to record and mix with than my normal sony 7506 cans.
 
Watch newegg and slickdeals for these, they go on extreme sales every so often. I've seen them for $20 brand new on occasion. I like them a lot, they're comfortable but they pick up and amplify sound from any movement... If you touch the headphones anywhere (even the top very gently) you hear it amplfied, which is pretty annoying.
 
Looking through info I could find nothing in the way of real specs. They are definitely aimed at the consumer market, not bad necessarily but makes me worry about accuracy.

The statement that you thought the sounded really good and clear makes me worry. Home stereo speakers sound "better" than most studio monitors to most people because they hype the feel good low and high end. The same as the "loudness" switch on many home stereo systems.

So they may be great for entertainment listening and not so good for the working professional.

Or they may gust be a great find. I would love to find something that makes me thing professionals would be happy with these. The closest I found to a review by a professional was by someone who used the name BoseGuru so that didn't instill confidence.
 
Well after studying the box I for the life of me cannot find any other part number resembling a model number other than the one i put out there early. but they are Phillips/Oneil "the Stretch" they fit around the ear (for the most part with me, I have huge head (wear 4xl helmet) ) anyways. I think the fact that they are aimed at the consumer market is why they have been over looked. the isolation is so that yes you do hear mechanical transmision in them.

In response to Noiz2 comment, yes you are correct that is very often a "hyped" sounding speaker or headphone that an untrained ear will tend to lean towards. The reason why these guys supprized me so much is because I have spent most of the last 25 years in recording studios listening to top of the line "real" studio monitors and I do consider myself to be a fairly good ear, if not to a fault. this is why Im blown away by their accuracy, I have owned Genelec 1031, KRK 7000, Meyer HD1, B&W matrix 802. so im quite familiar with accurate sound or as close as it gets. this is what has insipred me to recommend that you give them a listen, at first the untrained ear will think they dont sound as good as 7506 or hd280 (both of which I own as well) that is until you tell a listener how to change focus or point out a certain little nuance in a piece of sound. then have them listen for that sound in the others, and boom its not even discernable in other headphones. and its not because of what is hyped its because of what ISNT hyped, not to mention the low end is very natural adn extends quite low as well.

For the first time in my life I heard very clearly some parts in Led Zep song I have been listening to for over 30 years and never heard before, back when there was no cut and paste available other than razors and scotch tape.

Dont believe my words, just give them a listen and make your own mind up, If you dont dig them, oh well, I just think these guys have been flying under the radar because they are marketed towards the consumer market in a very youngster type way.

OH yeah, they dont fold up so more care might need to be taken to not break them but I find that to be a trade off I dont mind making.

after first night of bugging my girfriend to listen and compare she went to bed confirmed that I am insane but the next day she had made up her own play list and now she is waiting for a set of the on ear version called the Snugg I believe (because they come in purple...lol) but specs seem fairly close other than efficiency which I believe is due to the rotatable ear pieces but they sit on the ear instead of around making them more for the portable ipod market.

good luck. Hope you dig them
 
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Thanks for the follow up. OK so now there is a review by a pro ;~)

I will put these on my check out list. I do occasionally use headphones in the studio and have been looking to get a pair so I can leave the Sony's with the field rig.
 
I will have to check these out as I am curious to hear how they sound.

I gotta say, I have NEVER been impressed with the HD280s and I own a pair of them. I see them referenced all the time by people and I've often wondered why people use them. The bottom end is not natural and the clarity in the bass just isn't there. They sound nice, don't get me wrong, but for a studio situation, I've found them to not be very useful. I started using them for my VJing gigs and they work much better there.

For the past 6 or so years I've been using the Ultrasone HFI-700s and just bought a pair of Ultrasone Pro 750s. It's very interesting going from consumer headphones to pro studio headphones. They sound SO different (but then again, so do my studio monitors).

Given how inexpensive these are they are totally worth trying out. Mainly for me to suggest to other people who want sub $100 headphones.
 
No actually it was "All of my love" I could hear the acoustic guitar kinda noodling in the first few bars like warming up to start playing, and its so subtle that I just never heard it enough to pay attention to it before, and I have used that song as a reference for decades now literally when I go and mix in a room with JBL Urei monitors, but I listen in odd ways than most. what realy struck me is how easy it was to change your focus from instrument to instrument and still hear each instrument very clearly without smearing all over the place, which leads to a fabulous sound stage, to the point that my arrogant self could swear I could hear the difference between an SPX990 and a PCM80 (which I usually can) in the studio. after a couple of weeks with these guys I had to re-affirm my worship of guys like Bruce Sweiden, and guys of his caliber. ok I better shut up before they send me a check or something.
 
recordingwhiz said:
Well after studying the box I for the life of me cannot find any other part number resembling a model number other than the one i put out there early. but they are Phillips/Oneil "the Stretch" they fit around the ear (for the most part with me, I have huge head (wear 4xl helmet) ) anyways. I think the fact that they are aimed at the consumer market is why they have been over looked. the isolation is so that yes you do hear mechanical transmision in them.
Click to expand...

A photo of the box and/or headphones might help people to pick them out in a headphone lineup, so to speak. Would you mind posting a couple pics? Thanks!

Or, uh.... Are they these as shown on Amazon?
 
Yes sir those would be the ones, I believe I have seen them in 3 different colors the white ones I have a black smoke and those. but YES those are the ones.

Cheers
 
Rick Burnett said:
I will have to check these out as I am curious to hear how they sound.

I gotta say, I have NEVER been impressed with the HD280s and I own a pair of them. I see them referenced all the time by people and I've often wondered why people use them. The bottom end is not natural and the clarity in the bass just isn't there. They sound nice, don't get me wrong, but for a studio situation, I've found them to not be very useful. I started using them for my VJing gigs and they work much better there.


For the past 6 or so years I've been using the Ultrasone HFI-700s and just bought a pair of Ultrasone Pro 750s. It's very interesting going from consumer headphones to pro studio headphones. They sound SO different (but then again, so do my studio monitors).




Given how inexpensive these are they are totally worth trying out. Mainly for me to suggest to other people who want sub $100 headphones.
Click to expand...


Rick,

I have recommended the Senn 280s for field use, not studio work. I think they are equivalent in sound quality to the 7506 and are more comfortable (bigger cans) and attenuate more sound. I don't think any headphone selling for $100 is going to be great for critical work, we are talking field recording yes?

Grant
 
This has been a most entertaining thread: shopping for washer with girl friend, Led Zeppelin and someone who calls himself BoseGuru. Yeah, I would trust that person's opinions on sound about as far as I could throw them.

Thanks for the heads up (no pun intended) on these - I will check them out.

Craig
 
Thanks for the recommendation, I was looking for some sub $100 cans to do some mobile video editing with. Nothing critical, but something that would let me hear subtleties in the cuts and background levels, for dailies or less demanding small projects.
 
If you like them after checking them out, let us know what you think, Id like to know Im not crazy...lol..

Yeah I love the "Boseguru" thing too, with my call name I had to throw in some humor, I used whiz instead of wiz...lol hope u guys caught that one...lol
 
ggrantly said:
Rick,

I have recommended the Senn 280s for field use, not studio work. I think they are equivalent in sound quality to the 7506 and are more comfortable (bigger cans) and attenuate more sound. I don't think any headphone selling for $100 is going to be great for critical work, we are talking field recording yes?

Grant
Click to expand...

I've seen people recommending 280s for critical work for a long time, not just here either, that's how I ended up with a pair to begin with. I really tried to like them for critical work, but, I'd constantly find they just really didn't perform well where I'd find other cheaper headphones that were more accurate.

I did use the 280s for field work till recently, as maybe my head is just too big, but they really hurt my ears from the pressure of them on. When wearing for long periods of time, it gets to the point I just cannot stand them being on anymore. I switched to the first pair of Ultrasone's I ordered. But, I am willing to check these out too as I want a cheaper set of headphones for when I am out recording.

With my VJing, I don't leave the headphones on so the 280s are not bad. The 280s have a lot more bass response to me than what is really there so they work good for loud environments. I've just been baffled to their praise because If they broke, I would not replace them.
 
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