Finally Headphones designed for Guitar players?

[Lev]

Looks like Marshall are launching their own branded headphones next month. I've been really struggling trying to find headphones that I can have an enjoyable guitar experience with at a decent price point. The problem I have with headphones is that you really need a week to bond with them before you know if know if they are going to work for you, so it can become a costly exercise of trial and error.

I'm hoping Marshall's experience making guitar products will mean that these headphones are tailored for guitar players and I might finally find a set of headphones that I can bond with.

http://www.marshallheadphones.com/

[Ch0jin]

I'm no headphone expert, but I've had a wonderful experience with the two sets of Sennheiser's I use. I have some HD201's I use for guitar and general music and some older ones with a boom mic that I use on my pc.

I couldn't think of anything I'd change about the 201's so I'm curious as to what your looking for in cans that you can't find?

Me personally I'm a little skeptical. I mean if I want great amps I think Marshall, if I want great headphones, well, I'm not looking in the same direction....

Wait....

I suppose there is one thing.

A good set of cans carries a very different set of specs to a good guitar amp. In my book at least, a good set of monitors or headphones are supposed to reproduce -precisely- what they are fed, whereas a good guitar amp does anything but.

Maybe Marshall are going to tailor the frequency response characteristics of the headphones to be more suitable for rock?

Lets wait and see

[R_of_G]

I've had a set of AKG K240 headphones for years and can't think of a single problem with them. They're comfortable. The sound is perfect. The cord is long enough that I can move around reasonably when I play. Not sure what could be done to improve upon them.

[Eric***]

That would be cool if these headphones were a quality option. In my opinion, whether I give them a second look is really cost-dependent.

I have two pairs of headphones -- Sennheiser HD201 and Behringer HPS3000. Both seemed really good, and I had no complaints whatsoever. However, when I A/B'ed them with Hearbuds while using a personal monitor, it was like night and day. Using the Behringer and Sennheiser was like listening underwater after trying out those Hearbuds.

I cannot get over how much of a difference there was when I compared the different models, so I'm now a believer in decent headphones.

[ZMAN]

Years ago there was a unit called a Rockman Unit. It was a headphone amplifier. You could get a good set of Senheisers back then to go with it.
It was an amazing little unit. It had fabulous tone and you could actually wear it on your belt. It could also be put through an amp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockman_(amplifier)

[Eric***]

Years ago there was a unit called a Rockman Unit. It was a headphone amplifier. You could get a good set of Senheisers back then to go with it.
It was an amazing little unit. It had fabulous tone and you could actually wear it on your belt. It could also be put through an amp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockman_(amplifier)

Oh, maybe I misunderstood -- is this Marshall thing a headphone amp? The description on the site kind of makes it look that way, now that I look at it again.

[Lev]

I think they're just headphones, I don't think there's any amp modelling built in.

I have a pair of Sennheiser's HD201's also but I really don't like them. I think my issues may be with headphones in general (rather than in-ear phones). They seem to me to add too much bass and the sound of the guitar is somewhat unnatural.

At the moment I'm using a set of Sennheiser in ear headphones (just basic one's that you use with an ipod). These seem to produce a more natural sound than the HD201's to me. I've always tended towards brighter sounding amps so maybe my ears are expecting a brighter sound through headphones but I feel I get a somewhat muffled sound. Maybe in-ears are the way to go for me but I'd be interested in trying the Marshalls, assuming they're at an affordable price point.

[ZMAN]

Sorry guys I didnt' want to confuse things. If they are true guitar headphones they msut have a power input. The thing about the rock man was that you could get a wall of marhalls in tone through headphones, A lot of guys realized that they could get the same effect through an amp.

[deeaa*]

I've had a set of AKG K240 headphones for years and can't think of a single problem with them. They're comfortable. The sound is perfect. The cord is long enough that I can move around reasonably when I play. Not sure what could be done to improve upon them.

I also use K240's, I have two pairs, a 600 ohmer and a 250. Very good cans...I think in every single pro studio I ever visited they mostly always had K240's. They're like the monitor standard headphones it seems. Sorta like the Yamaha NS-120 or whatever it was nearfields and such.

[syo***]

Hmmm...
Looks dubious to me. Whenever I see a company put out an entirely new product that is not from their core line I am doubtful up front. More often than not it is the result of non-development heads in a room spouting words like "new revenue streams" and "leveraging our brand".

Who knows, maybe they have a winner with this but I'm inclined to go to the established names for this kind of product. Rather hard to tell at this point as there are no spec sheets or any info save for a picture. I guess we'll see in "18 days" (and counting... )

[deeaa*]

Hmmm...
Looks dubious to me. Whenever I see a company put out an entirely new product that is not from their core line I am doubtful up front. More often than not it is the result of non-development heads in a room spouting words like "new revenue streams" and "leveraging our brand".

Who knows, maybe they have a winner with this but I'm inclined to go to the established names for this kind of product. Rather hard to tell at this point as there are no spec sheets or any info save for a picture. I guess we'll see in "18 days" (and counting... )

Well said...my feeling is these will probably not be geared towards the HiFi market, or even studio/recording use, but more like mid-range headphones for music consumers who want to alleviate their rock appearance, and I'd expect these to be 'good sounding' in a way a boombox is 'good sounding', not HiFi.

But, we'll see. (hear, har har)

[Lev]

To close out on my headphone problems. In the end I bought a set of AKG K240's and they are excellent. Very happy with the sound plugged into my new Fender Mustang 1. A great setup for night time practice.