Headphones

[main_stem]

I agree about not tuning out the room as you prepare the next song, but using only one side of the headphones requires you to blast the headphones so you can hear the headphone ear over the room music. Most professional DJ mixing boards (even the cheap ones) have a cross-fader on the headphones so you can check what is being played against what you are cueing up while you are cueing it up. (It applies just to the headphones; seperate from the cross-fader that goes to the amplifier). They are used mostly by beat-matching techno DJs, and thus are on almost all mixing boards.

I've never had a problem of blasting out one of my ears, but that could be just me.

The way a song sounds in a room is drastically different than the mixing board. Things that sound fine on the board might need a little more finess when it's live. If you cut yourself out of the live room you have no way of telling when something is hot or needs a little more gain. That's why I never cut my self off from the live room.

-Kevin

[kitkat]

Found em!

At least, Olivier's ("Brother Swing") headphones I tried out.
Philips HS810.


I couldn't find them philips.com or magnavox.com, so I guess they must be discontinued? I did find one site on a Google search that will sell them, but they charge an arm and a leg for shipping. ($8.30 on a $14.70 pair of headphones).

I'm surprised they sounded so good - I figured they must be closer to 50 or something. I just wish I could find them for less than $23...

I wonder if I should buy them, or if I should go ahead and spend $20 more on some of the ones mentioned earlier. Instinct tells me experience is a beter indicator than price, so I'm tempted to just shell out the $23 bucks on the pair I've already heard.

Hrmm.

[kennly]

I have two pairs that I absolutely LOVE...one is Aiwa Noise Cancelling Headphones, HP-CN5, and these are Supra Aural, meaning that they sit over your ear...the other pair I like is Philips SBC HP170, these are Circumaural and hug your ear, blocking out the sound. I got the Philips one at Target, they also sell it at Circuit City for $20. The Aiwa ones are easier to pack, since they fold and fit into my CD player case quite nicely. The Philips ones don't fold down, and are quite bulky. But they are more comfortable after a night of DJing.

Both are pretty good at blocking out sound, the Aiwa one is better at it than the Philips model, but like I said, the Aiwa one hurts a little after 3 hours of listening.

Check out dealnews for daily cheap prices on all kinds of things. That is where I found out about the Aiwa headphones, which I bought for $20 on Overstock.com when they had them for that price. Now the headphones sell for $34.50-$50. Anyway, check out dealnews periodically to see what kinds of offers they have.

Oh! Almost forgot, if you buy the Philips one at Target or Circuit City, you can try them out for yourself for a few days, then if you don't like them, you can just return them for your money back. That might be worth looking into if you want to have a chance to hear what they are like before making your final decision. Just a thought.

[kennly]

Check this one out This is from dealnews, it's a Sennheiser PMX 60.

Details:
The neckband headphones cost $19.99 at eCOST.com. A $10 mail-in rebate knocks the net price to $9.99, the best we've seen by $8. Add $5.01 to your cart to qualify for free shipping or be hit with a $7.99 shipping charge. (Either way, a $3.95 handling fee applies.) Rebate ends December 31, 2003.

There's also a 2 year warranty on parts and labor.

[Platypus]

Just bumping this back up. Went to "Big Lots" in Houston a few days ago and found some Philips headphones with a frequency range of 10,000-28,000 Hz for $10.

[Drew]

I have two pairs that I absolutely LOVE...one is Aiwa Noise Cancelling Headphones, HP-CN5, and these are Supra Aural, meaning that they sit over your ear...the other pair I like is Philips SBC HP170, these are Circumaural and hug your ear, blocking out the sound. I got the Philips one at Target, they also sell it at Circuit City for $20. The Aiwa ones are easier to pack, since they fold and fit into my CD player case quite nicely. The Philips ones don't fold down, and are quite bulky. But they are more comfortable after a night of DJing.

Both are pretty good at blocking out sound, the Aiwa one is better at it than the Philips model, but like I said, the Aiwa one hurts a little after 3 hours of listening.

Check out dealnews for daily cheap prices on all kinds of things. That is where I found out about the Aiwa headphones, which I bought for $20 on Overstock.com when they had them for that price. Now the headphones sell for $34.50-$50. Anyway, check out dealnews periodically to see what kinds of offers they have.

Oh! Almost forgot, if you buy the Philips one at Target or Circuit City, you can try them out for yourself for a few days, then if you don't like them, you can just return them for your money back. That might be worth looking into if you want to have a chance to hear what they are like before making your final decision. Just a thought.

Sean has a pair of Grado headphones are kick ass and from what I remember about $65 and have not been able to find them on the internet.

I have a pair of Sony Studio Monitor headphones that aren't great but definitely good enough, and one of the swivels just busted about two days ago, but they were under $30. I've had two pair of these in the last six years, my second pair has lasted at least three years.

Seriously though, what Lawrence said. Go for the big, cushy sound-cancelling headphones otherwise the tunes you are trying to preview could be unintelligible from semantic noise.

[Greg Avakian]

My sony MDR V-700 headphones are awesome!
They sound great, they collapse to fit in a coat pocket and they block sound pretty well.

Added bonus: the padding is really nice so when you fall asleep on the airplane, your ear doesn't hurt for 2 days.

Seriously, the benefits to anyone's work as a DJ make it worthwhile to get good headphones. Plus, it's amazing what you will hear (that you've missed for years) on your favorite CDs!

[Dj G]

I've been using Stanton Dj PRO 101 SR headphones for 10 years, they are road worthy.
The 101 SR is a single side shoulder rest version headphone that allows quick on/off access with hands-free operation. The 101 SR is supplied with a removable, adjustable, padded shoulder rest. 50mm drivers too.

I just found out they are discontinued! good thing they last so long!

[davidguetta402]

I've been using Stanton Dj PRO 101 SR headphones for 10 years, they are road worthy.
The 101 SR is a single side shoulder rest version headphone that allows quick on/off access with hands-free operation. The 101 SR is supplied with a removable, adjustable, padded shoulder rest. 50mm drivers too.

I just found out they are discontinued! good thing they last so long!

Honestly I am unable to digest it that you're using the headphone from last 10 years