This seems like a good place to ask

mhardy6647

My son is looking for a comfortable pair of over-the-ear headphones that sound good and are comfortable. He has a fairly big head and also wears glasses with rather thick earpieces.

He's home for Thanksgiving and we did some experiments with the motley collection of headphones here. He quite liked the fit of the "friends and family" Polks I have (EDIT: Just looked, they're the "UltraFocus" models) but preferred the sound, and the fit, of my very vintage Yamaha HP-1s. These date to ca. 1977 and are kind of physically showing their age at this late date (i.e, not that physically robust).

So -- any recommendations/suggestions for a comfortable, good sounding and reasonably priced pair of headphones for a biggish headed fellow? :- )


DSC_5143 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

voltz

well I not sure how much $$ is reasonably priced, but the Sennheiser HD598 I give as a good choice as it expands easly for bigger heads and is super comfortable and sounds excellent until I heard the HD650's

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-598-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B0042A8CW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448585440&sr=8-1&keywords=sennheiser+hd+598+case

mhardy6647

I quite like Sennheisers; the only pair around here are pretty cheap ones (HD497s, which in fact he's listening to as I type this) -- I think they're very light and comfortable (my head is likewise not so small, tho' my glasses' frames are less chunky) but he finds them somewhat squeezy.

BTW, his current pair of headphones is a pair of (don't laugh) Koss Pro 4AAT. Head-vises of the Uncle Fester kind :-P

I will look at prices for the HD598 since my thoughts are, predictably, Christmas-present-related.

A priori, though, I am thinking sub-$200 would be nice; sub-$150 would be even better ;-)

Thanks.

voltz

There are many Polkies who use the 598's I still use mine but not as much as I do the 650's. Look around for best prices especially this time of year.

Nightfall

@AsSiMiLaTeD

cnh

Nightfall wrote: »

@AsSiMiLaTeD

He has the most experience in this area so I would defer to him. I also have a decent sized head and as far as comfort, Sennheiser HD600s (a bit above the price range) and AKG cans can do a big head with not a lot of clamping force. Beyerdynamics also don't clamp a lot.

The question is, what kind of sound signature do those ancient Yamahas have? I haven't the faintest! 600 and above Senns are fairly neutral to bright excepting the 650s. The lower series are "warmer" phones to me!

AKGs are fairly neutral, good detail up high, but more bass in the following models. Closed back or open? 55x series closed, Q701s open (could find either on discount if they're still available).

Beyer DT-880s somewhere between the AKGs and the Senn HD-600s.

Should wait for Assimilatedl, though. He's heard almost everything. And there are a lot of new cans out, now!

Bought my son a pair of Beats Solo 2.0 last year for X-mas, wanted a pair to use with his iphone at work? The new Beats are actually passable, but then again, he has no real ear for music. I've never heard him sing in tune, but, somehow he's still good at math? (His head is NOT as big!) lol

MrBuhl

+3 on the 598's - great sounding and super comfy. Alternatively, I picked up a pair of these Sennheiser Momentums for my wife and they are shockingly good sounding as well with a little different look... I got the on-ear as a gift for my wife, but they also make the over-ear and are within your $$ constraints.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Momentum-Headphone-Brown/dp/B009QV15DU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448629183&sr=1-1&keywords=sennheiser+momentum+over+ear+headphones

EndersShadow

If he wants closed headphones I'd suggest the beyer DT-770s. I have a somewhat large head, wear glasses and can easily have these on for 8+ hours w no fatigue, ear sweat or pain from too much clamp force in my head.

I've used the with about 7 different headphone amps and at ALL volumes never felt like they were getting painful to listen to.

Are they the most accurate out there? Hell no, but music sounds fun through them as they have your normal V shaped sound signature.

Open back options are out of my league.

mhardy6647

You know, I never think about Beyer headphones -- don't know why, though.

Thanks for the suggestions/info so far!

EndersShadow

mhardy6647 wrote: »

You know, I never think about Beyer headphones -- don't know why, though.

Thanks for the suggestions/info so far!

No problem. I should mention I know a guy who is THE MAN at a large syndicated radio station and also worked with the announcers at NFL games, and the professional announcers used the DT770's due to their comfort level.

vcwatkins

Amazon Deal on 598's $95
Love my HD600, but this looks hard to beat.

mhardy6647

I -- ahem -- pulled the metaphorical trigger on a pair of HD598s at that price.
I figure even if my son doesn't like them for comfort, Amazon is said to have excellent customer service (or, heck, maybe I'll just adopt them myself).

voltz

vcwatkins wrote: »

Amazon Deal on 598's $95
Love my HD600, but this looks hard to beat.

WOW! that was $199 yesterday! better grab them soon.

Jaybeez

The 598's are nice and today's deal on Amazon is terrific.
I've owned several pair of Sennheiser HD280s and they are very good as well.
My son keeps stealing my Sony MD 7506's which are quite nice and very light, and perfect for his marathon Organic Chem study sessions. They are a bit more delicate, with exposed wires which may not hold up with heavy use.
The 770's mentioned above are excellent phones, and I see them and the 880's on deal on Amazon fairly often.

cnh

598s at that price! A no-brainer! They should do the job.

RamZet

Look no further, Bose AE2 ( they were called Tri-Ports for a decade).
Best part too is that PC Richard, BestBuy, BJs, Bose and Costco will have them in store.

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Around-Ear-Audio-Headphones-Black/dp/B00478O0JI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450980622&sr=8-1&keywords=bose+ae2

$99 bucks, super light, feel good to have on, and sound great.
They also have a Bluetooth version of these, I have them as well.

RamZet

the Sennheiser Momentum Headphones are nice too if you're will to spend more.