Looking for 130 decibels using headphones

FestYboy wrote: »

The Sony MDR-7506 will get you at least 124dB at ear to driver distance. They're rated at 106 at 1 meter! Apply the inverse square law here and at just over 1cm, I got 124dB. I also have experience with them in the field, they are LOUD, and will hold more than their rated 1000mW power handling. Plus you can easily rebuild them if you blow a driver.

You were not kidding at all. I got two sets off of eBay. One set looks like crap, rotting ear pads, cord had been tangled and untangled for so long (I HATE COILED CORDS) that it was just repulsive looking. The other set looks better, MUCH better, nice cord and good earpads.

Guess which one sounds better.

The newer-looking ones that I paid more for, if I turn them up too high I get some static and ...you guys know the right terms so I hope you understand what I'm going to describe: A rumbly feeling to the bass that I couldn't EQ out, very unpleasant.

The older, ratty-looking ones sound perfect. I can turn my amp up ALL THE WAY, (and both boosters that I have hooked into the output line are always up all the way anyway and they put out over 100 dB each) but that amp pushes 13 watts per "speaker" (it's for a PA system, you might remember and I rigged a headphone jack to the speaker outputs) and I can turn it up until the knob will go no further, and I get no distortion that I can detect as I watch a streaming movie.

I've already purchased replacement drivers for them, they haven't arrived yet but once I burn them out I hope that replacing the drivers won't make them sound as bad as the newer set.

I have read about how you guys talk about "breaking in" a set of headphones, and I'm led to think that the older-looking ratty ones are more broken in than the newer looking, obviously less-used ones. I am hoping that eventually that pair of "cans" will also sound as good as these ratty ones.

In the meantime I am going to search for replacement earpads and enjoy the ratty looking set for as long as it lasts.

Thanks, man. This is exactly what I was looking for, they're working and they aren't giving me any indications that they're going to stop working. At least not so far. Sometimes I'm not given any warning though and they just stop working, go from on to off and that's that, dead headphones. Sometimes though I can tell, after burning through over a dozen sets at this point, sometimes I can tell when they're about to blow out on me. These have been working all day so far with no problems whatsoever.

And I've discovered that there are YouTube videos on how to change out these drivers so when the time comes, I'll be able to do that. I hope it's as easy as you say . I know I'll be finding out.

Anyway, thank you.

As an aside, if you're interested, I was talking about all of this to my audiologist and he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse, and I gave him my hearing aids to modify.
He's fitted me for ear molds that will contain speakers that he guarantees me will boost my old hearing aids up to 145 decibels. It isn't going to cost but a pittance, and I had had no idea that things like this could be done. Imagine a vw beetle being fitted with a Ferrari suitcase engine. That's basically what he's going to do, what he's doing. It will burn more fuel, just like the volkswagen analogy but I don't mind having to change out the batteries once a week instead of twice a month if it means that I'll be able to hear better. I get them in about a week and am anticipating them greatly.

So, happy endings all round. Thanks to this Forum.

You guys are great. Thanks again.