Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards what justifies a good headphone for DP

Hi guys,

I'm currently using a Sennheisser ear canal head phone, there's so many different models I can't even tell but it was around 85USD when I first bought it 6 months ago.

Is it normal to get an annoying buzzing/distortion sound with headphones from a Roland 307 in the middle ranges when you sustain the notes? The distortion increases more if more notes were played and sustained together and it's really hard to practice like this. It appears even more with reverb and resonance settings are increased.

Hi,

No, it is not. You should get a clear sound on your headphones at any time, regardless of how many notes you are sustaining.

Try lowering the volume a litte. If that makes the distortion disappear, then you should consider to amplify the sound signal that comes from your keyboard as you are overdriving it. If you hear distortion not only with the keyboard, but also when listening to other things on your headphones, then get a new headphones, but being only 6 months old, they should perform well.

Regards,
Kurt.-

You might also try scrounging up another pair of headphones from somewhere just to see what they do with your DP.

Talking about this subject:

I want to get GOOD headphones for my DP, what is a good price/quality relation ?, recommendations ?

Hi,

I recently purchased a Beyerdynamic DT860. They are not cheap (around 170EUR). But IMHO are worth every penny they cost as there is a very (VERY) noticeable difference from other cheaper headphones I've tried. I am really happy with this purchase.

Sound is amazingly detailed, specially in the middles. Basses are good, but these are not the kind of headphones to get the most powerful and fatter subbasses, as are more leaned to detail in the middles, which makes them a good headphones to listening to pianos. If you only want them for listening to the DP, maybe won't need so much detail. Middles are gorgeous! These are the kind of headphones that allow you to really appreciate a good sound engineering work, to hear all the details and nuances in the mix of a song... and also to mix a song in a studio if you wish. Don't use them for listening to bad compressed MP3s as these headphones are not going to hide compression defects and you will hear how crippled MP3s can be. Also are very good to use with a DVD or Blue Ray: I bet that your speakers don't sound nearly so good (except if you have invested some thousands in them). Mine don't. I know, is not fair to compare speakers against headphones.

My DP definitely sounds better with these headphones. But I didn't buy them only for the DP. You also have the DT990 Pro, which are older and not so expensive (around 130EUR) but they offer a similar performance, and I don't know if they offer a better price/quality relation, but overall quality of 990 is also quite good (I tested them some time ago). And if you want to spend more, the DT880 rocks... but they cost around 270EUR (yes, that hurts).

And of course, there are other brands (no, I don't work for Beyer ), but unfortunately I don't know them quite well. I had a Sennheiser of around 90EUR, but they cannot stand against the Beyerdynamic at all. Poorer basses and trebles, and the middles, were just several stairs below. Of course, Sennheiser make much better headphones that can stand against the Beyer... but not the ones I had.

If you are an audiophile... you won't regret spending a bit more on a good pair of headphones. Not only for the DP, but for anything else.

Regards,
Kurt.-

I second kurtie's recommendation of trying beyerdynamic, having the DT990 Pro myself. Sound aside, in my personal opinion the open design is much more comfortable to closed models when havin longer practise sessions.