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Hello...I have the Roland RD300 stage piano and I want to buy good headphones, but , as I cannot try them out, I don't know the criteria that I have to take into consideration in order to make a good choice..Any help or reccomendation would be appreciated! Thanks!

I personally like the sound of open-style studio headphones. For the same money you get really great detail and soundstage and I find them less tiring. Stuff like AGK 240 (and relatives), Sennheiser HD598 (which I have), etc.

However, if your environment is loud you may want closed headphones. I know less about them because I don't typically use them.

Grados are a very beloved semi-open brand, but they have a reputation for being great for pop, which may mean they tweak with the equalizer curve, which is not desirable for DP's.

I also hear people talking about Denon headphones. And I think Sony makes some good ones, but they make a lot of cheap ones too, so you will need to do a little research. Maybe check out head-fi, though they are mostly music listeners, as opposed to music players.

Whatever you get, I'd recommend big over-the-ear models if you can.

My Denon AH-D1100 phones are plenty expensive, and fine when listening to music. But when using them for my Roland RD-700NX digital piano, or the Galaxy Vintage D software piano, I have to use EQ to reduce the bass. And that's a baaad thing.

I wish headphone manifacturers would start publishing frequency response graphs, but for now they seem to be wedded to their marketing babble. Well, Denon does.

I have the RD300NX and I bought a used pair of Dr. Dre Beats. My piano actually sounds really nice with them on. I don't know any of the tech stuff (learning as I read) but what I do like is that they block out all outside noise.

There are a number of recent threads on this subject, it is worth searching them out.

I also own the Sennheiser HD598 headphones and really like them. They seem to be a popular model along with the AKG 240's (in all their incarnations). I also own a set of 240 MKII's. (After having to throw away a handful of headphones that could not be easily and cheaply repaired, I now only buy headphones where the cables can be easily replaced.)

The Beyer 770's were recommended to me by two different studio engineers. I haven't tried them but trust those studio engineer's recommendations.

I have a pair of Beyer 770 that I love for listening and mixing but for playing, I already prefer are my Shure SRH940. Spent a little more than I wanted, but its the happiest I've been with my Roland.

My next pair will be open back, but for my variety of uses, closed back were more practical.

I also spent some time over at head-fi.org. It's harder to apply their reviews directly to keyboard playing but they do get very detailed.

I also have a pair of enhanced DJ phones that I like and are comfortable...I briefly tried them on my Roland. Yuck.

Yeah, I actually have a hard time at head-fi. They are very detailed but they are detailed almost exclusively about subjective things, and as you say, they are not always coming with the same objective as we are.

I guess you can do what it seems like everyone does around here and get a Sennheiser HD595, HD598, or HD650 despite the fact that they are wickedly overpriced (i.e., cost much more than they did a couple of years ago...like almost twice).

You might try negotiating for a better price. If the HD598 could be sold for $175 previously, it can be again. Minimum Advertised Pricing is not to help buyers.

I've recently observed that inexpensive phones have a decent margin so that e-tailers can build in "free" shipping over a micro-thin profit. Getting just a little higher, the mark gets thinner because shipping is virtually the same + the micro profit. I looked at a couple of higher priced phones and the "expensive" stores worked on a gross of about 20% - 24% and the most aggressive worked on a gross margin of less than 10%. And remember that they are offering free shipping that comes out of that total. I found a couple at 5.3%. Products like that are now untouchable in a B&M store.

If manufacturers want reputable stores to inventory, display and actually help customers, MAP pays for the rent, the lights, the employees. It's not like music store owners are fat cats...the remaining ones, that is.

I don't want to start a MAP thread, just add a little knowledge. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I was in a store comparing at a HiFi device, not at a digital piano, the Sennheiser HD 558 and HD 595 and could not figure out any difference in there sound characteristics. Are my ears already getting low-grade? Somebody around who has bad experience with the HD 558?

I would like to recommend the AKG K240 MkII, since they are semi open studio headphones rather uncoloured with a good Fq range (15-25000 Hz). If you however want closed back headphones, I would suggest the AKG K271 MkII (16-28000 Hz). Both models are really high quality HP that comes with both leather like ear pads and velvet ear pads. You also get two detachable headphone cables with the headphones.

I wouldn't spend more than $150 on a pair of headphones as I bought the Sennheiser HD518's for $130, at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349423462&sr=8-1

They sound great and are very comfortable over the ears.

Marco M, I use HD 558 at my piano and am happy with it.
HD 558 and HD 598 reportedly use the same drivers and differ mostly in appearance and a piece of rubber tape that HD558 has stuck behind the outer grille - it's easy to reversibly remove it (there are many guides for that on the internet).

I've been testing many headphones recently for using with my yamaha NU1

testing with nu1 sounds as well as vintage II / emotionnal piano virtual instruments.

here are all of them in order of preference

1.sennheiser hd280 pro
2.sennheiser hd380
3.sennheiser hd25
4.shure SHR 840
5.beyerdynamic DT770 pro
6.sennheiser hd600
7.akg K701
8.akg k242


1.the good old ugly sennhseiser HD280 is WAY above the rest in my opinion.
it is nearly ideal for piano use. the reason I like it so much is because the sound is extremely clear. I would actually hate to listen to music through it as the sound is kind of thin, it clearly accentuates treble instead of bass... But plugged in the piano this is a different story. notes are clear through the whole keyboard range and harmonics are not muted like other headphones. with just a litle more bass it would be better though, it lacks a little punch in the lowend. also for closed headphones the isolation is not very good which is a concern with a NU1/avantgrand or silent piano where you will hear hammers while playing piano/pianissimo, especially with higher notes.

choosing between the other headphones is more a matter of opinion, the difference is more subtle. despite being for most of them considered very neutral headphones (some being excellent for studio mixing) they all accentuate bass much more than senn280. you wouldn't tell by listening to music but it is just obvious plugged in a digital piano. I wouldn't buy any of them as sound clarity is my priority.

2.I ranked sennheiser HD380 second because it is the closest sounding to 280 with more bass, but it doesn't have its clarity. isolation is much better. less confortable.

3. HD25 is very neutral sounding which is excellent for piano, but a step lower in terms of clarity.isolation is excellent but it is very uncofortable to me. the one I found it to be the most versatile, it is very good for music listening and decent for piano playing.

4. shure 840
too much low-end. best isolation still confortable (feels much better than hd 380). If I could put the sennheiser280 electronics in this headset it would be near perfection. couldn't find how to disassemble it properly though ..

5. beyerdynamic DT770pro
the most confortable with AKGs and HD600, a closed headphones that sounds very open. very good sound actually but not appropriate for piano in my opinion.

6.7.8. akg 242/akg k701/sennheiser HD600.
these are my favorite for music listening and least favorite for piano playing.
Being open headphones they are not suitable to my piano. I guess open headphones should be avoided for stage use as well.
also these are the least neutral sounding ones, doesn't work at all with DP in my opinion. night & day compared to my first choice despite being more expensive.

I think headphones for digital piano should be tried with a digital piano and never through any hifi setup even listening to piano music. the difference is huge.
for this very specific use, paying more won't give best results, it seemed to me hifi headphones are inapropriate, neutral studio ones are the only one to consider.
just like your piano would sound way better through studio monitors than any expensive hifi setup

hope this helped despite my approximative english

Why do you think open headphones are not suitable for a digital piano?

It's interesting that tastes can be so varied. After buying a piano four years ago, I went on a quest for headphones. THe HD-280 Pro was, for me, the worst of all the phones that I tried.

It was the only closed-phone design I tried. After trying a number of open phones (including the HD-555) I bought the Beyerdynamic DTX-900.

I currently own three pairs of headphones and a pair of earphones. The best ones I've found for my hi-fi system are also the best ones to use with my DP, but I probably listen to different music from most people here: all classical (plus a few jazz solo piano) including orchestral, choral, song and instrumental. What I look for is natural sound and natural balance, and I can compare the sound from my headphones with what I hear in concert halls (as I attend concerts regularly) as well as when playing acoustic pianos myself. In case anyone doesn't know, all live classical music is performed unamplified and unmiked (including song recitals, solo violin and solo piano, operas etc) except in unusual open-air venues and solo guitar/guitar concertos, where the guitarist is often given a discreet amplification if he's playing in a big venue.

My Bose QC2 noise-reduction headphones were bought mainly for travel and they give a mid-range coloration to the sound, and the noise-reduction system causes a faint background hum. The closed AKG K271 Mk II that came free with my V-Piano are better, but sound slightly muffled when compared to the (open) Grado SR 325is which I bought last year, and which I mainly use now with my DP as well as with my hi-fi.

as I mentioned I don't think open headphones are not god for DP, but for certain DPs, avantgrand/NU1 and silent pianos.
because the noise of hammers is an issue with bad isolation when playing pianissimo or even piano parts


I'm really stating an opinion so I speak no truth, 280 have a very specific sound so I am not surprised others don't like it at all.
I actually owned these for years as music listening headphones and didn't like them at all so I was sure I would find something much better for my piano easily. then I completely changed my mind when testing all headphones side by side.
HD280 are clearly not in your face kind of headphones and sound agressive for hifi, but I found the clarity you get in counterpart precious for the piano.

When you play pp on a DP using open headphones, you shouldn't hear the action noise, even from AG/NU1 - unless you're using the volume control to get the pp but thumping the keys like you're playing ff....