There are only two kinds. There's the gay kind and the Ronnie James Dio kind. Getting the two mixed up may lead to awkward circumstances. Unless you're dealing with LGBT Dio fans.




So, the right side of my Grado SR80s is cutting out intermittently. Especially with loud bass frequencies. It appears to be a loose wire, but I need to go back to the audiophool store (thankfully I have my receipt and packaging) and inquire re: warranty service. In the interim, needing something cheap-and-decent (and not-broken like all my "nice" headphones) I have joined the ranks of Sennheiser HD201 owners.

Yarr, i still like the 201s for hearing what is wrong with the top ends of things i recorded. Actually, i have mostly been using only them these days when i go headphone. My Sony MDRs are not seeing much use at all.

My only wish for the Sennheisers would be a slight bit more low end extension. Which is probably why at some point i need to just acquire some 280s or something.

Getting ready for a big night out tonight. We're dressing up as chavs and going to a rock/metal club It could turn out horribly but I think we've been over the top enough to make it obvious we're not real chavs £1.50 bright white Donnay cap, bargain

I dunno, can't say that i have seen too many chavs (or their US equivalent whatever we'd call that) for whom the word "subtlety" would be very high up the list in searching for descriptors.

Try not to get beat up.

I'm just upset I couldn't find anywhere selling cheap gold sovereign rings

You and your friends should come to a bar in The States dressed as chavs. Very few people would get it, but that's mostly the point of my suggesting it.



I have acquired two books of historical weirdness pertaining to the American Civil War and a collection of essays by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. I am pleased.

The theme from Ride Of The Valkyries is just a minor pentatonic box lick. This is good to know, and will be busted out for comedic effect/soundcheck.

Very odd, been writing parts that attach to old things i have half-written in the past. This, i understand, is How People Do These Sorts Of Things, but for me, it is quite a novelty.

Initial reporting thusly: 280s definitely have deeper bottom end- no surprise there- and are clearer in the mids- again, no surprise there. The 280s being kinda scooped in the low-mids/midbass/mudrange by their nature. 280s also have more isolation than anything. The 201s do, I feel, have a wider, more "open" soundstage. Perhaps due to their not having the 280's insane isolation. 201s are definitely Sennheisers, no doubt about it, sonically. I do like the separation they have. Reverb tails and delay repeats sound great on these.

Yes, the Grados are better, as are the 280s. But that's a "no shit"- they'd better be, considering they cost several times as much.

Listening through a few things, I'm actually quite surprised at the width and clarity of the soundstage here. What I can hear, and where. Some of the stupid stereo shit on my own recordings comes across very well on these. They do definitely punch well above their weight class.

Chris, have you heard the 280s? They are different, but there's definitely a family resemblance here. God knows I'm used to the 280s enough to tell. They are a weird sounding 'phone, though. They don't sound like the bass monsters the response chart makes them out to be 'cause of the low-mid thing- or lack thereof, but the low end is definitely there- clean, clear and deep. They have a fairly tight fit, enough isolation to make it seem strange wearing them (like 32 dB IIRC- which makes them great tracking 'phones, or just ear protection behind a kit) and depending on your perception could very well sound like a bad stereotype of monitor speakers- clinical and strange, the sort of piece that's more useful than pleasant. I like them. I also don't mind listening to NS10s.

Insert tab A into slot B. We are talking about attaching songparts here.

By contrast, I think I've only sat down and written something the whole way through like, twice ever.

Both of which I should really get around to finishing the re-recording of, because they were pretty good songs.

Welp, my German Rottie has developed bone cancer at the age of 5, only options are to amputate the limb or put him down. Amputation generally only gives 3-5 months more when coupled with chemo.... so depression is looming.

Bast dog


In other news I ate wayyy too much soup and feel bloated.

I havena, but from what i know of them they are just the ticket. Really, i am pretty happy with the Senn Sound. If i am going to be listening on headphones, it is more likely to be listening for mistakes than for mixing. So i am less concerned with accuracy or monitor-like qualities than i am with clarity. They are ear microscopes for me. Essentially, i mostly just want an HD201 with more low end range to it. I have learned to hear what the low end is doing from what little the 201s show, but they still have a pretty solid limit for proper lows, under which, things simply do not exist at the earpiece.

Are the 280s also a quieter(meaning a headphone amp is a good idea) headphone, like the 201s? The impedance seems to indicate they would be a little louder at least?

Oooh, the 280s are Hurt Yourself Loud. Even with the headphone out on my laptop, which doesn't have that much juice (or even sound very good) compared to the middling amps I have. I noticed the 201s don't get that loud, even with the volume + the volume in iTunes up all the way. The 280s, this was never an issue; there was headroom to spare. I even ran them comfortably off my iPod before it got nicked. The 'phones themselves can take a beating, too; I'm not sure I ever managed to get them to break up. You'll overdrive the amp first, and rattle the housing of the earpieces without any special gear. The Grados can't take near the abuse, though they are not a quieter 'phone. I am not surprised at all Sennheiser markets the 280s in part for DJ use.

I haven't tried the 201s on my real setup with an amp yet; I'm curious to see how they sound there. I have the Presonus HP4 running off two outs on my interface, and even for general listening porpoises, the gain staging's really silly- everything's down very low.

Sennheiser really does have a house sound for their 'phones, much as Marshall amps have a similar thing going on, etc. I've listened to a few of their stupid expensive offerings at the audiophool store, and it's pretty apparent these are variations on a theme. The 280s are perhaps the most utilitarian of the lot given their feature set. They will serve as ear microscopes, definitely; the low end extension on these things is no joke, and it's not "car stereo bass" either. I suppose they're voiced the way they are re: the low/low mids relationship on purpose for clarity. Also, why they're as loud as they are and with as much isolation as they have (contributing to the perception of volume). Those really low lows need a lot of juice, and they're a headphone- there's no space at all for those waves to go anywhere. A speaker voiced like that would probably sound pretty fucked-up, like you were listening through a kick drum mic or something. As a headphone, just don't expect warm low mids. They are very clear, and do amplify badnesses in a really unflattering way. Clipping, aliasing noise, etc. get ugly. On the plus side, you can actually sorta hear the bass lines on metal records.

Didn't get beat up but we didn't get let into the club in chav attire so we had to go back and change Apparently I looked like Mike Skinner, so I won at chav pics incoming.

Ah, sounds like the dood at the door did you a favor.

Yeah no, I am not taking the pickup cover off the neck pickup on the silverburst Tele. Too much fuckery. I do have a pickup out of an American Standard Strat kicking around that I may throw in there though...

Also: Future Of The Left is playing a dive bar downtown I frequent/play at next month.

Yarr, to take the coveroff needs a decently powerful soldering iron and a steady hand. Alternately i have taken them off with a properly sharp exacto knife and no iron, but then you need to be extra extra careful not to involve any of the windings in the severance.

A strat pickup is a little different flavour. But chances are, if you are looking to pull the cover off a tele neck pickup, you might be inclined to be looking for that particular angle. Worth noting, the pickguard hole will usually need embiggening for a strat pickup to fit.

hahah. "I'll spark you out bruv"



tell you what though. Them chavs know how to dress comfortably. And at a bargain price

Also: you should go to that show. A dive bar seems precisely the right sort of place for them.