The ATH-SJ5. That makes #4.
4th in the hunt of finding the perfect workspace headphones. And you know, I think it may be the one. I wore them for about 4 hours today, and they didnt hurt my ears. They didn’t hurt my ears! This is great news. Let me walk you through the contestants, so you’ll see why.
First, Sennheiser PX100. These were awful. Sure they sounded fine, but in terms of ear hurting, these were just awful. And you know what really pissed me off, the overwhelming majority of the folks on head-fi said these were COMFORTABLE.
Second, Audio-Technica ATH-AD300. I saw the ATH-A500 mentioned a lot on head-fi. The ATH-A500 are more expensive and they’re a closed set. See the perfect workspace headphones is closed so you don’t disturb others, yet open enough to let you know when someone is talking to you/about you. I decided to try the cheaper, open model, since the PX100 was an open set and satisfied the semi-openess requirement well enough. Well, the ATH-AD300 was too open. But it sounded amazing. I never knew sound could sound so good. The one negative, it hurt my cheeks. I had to “play through the pain” and then my healing factor kicked in and now it fits perfectly. So they stay at home. They’re the reason why I ended up buying a receiver. See, I got tired of plugging and unplugging them when I wanted to switch between speakers and headphones.
Third, Beyerdynamic DT231 Pro. Frustrating. These headphones were frustrating. Headroom went on and on about how great these were, sound quality wise and comfort. But, they’re liars. These phones didnt sound particularly great, and these bastards became unbearable an hour in. Not to mention, they’re pretty ugly.
Fourth, Audio-Technica ATH-SJ5. This is where we are today. These are great. I think I can finally be happy. They sound wonderful and fit just great. They have a light touch that doesn’t hurt – clamping force is the term they use on head-fi. And after a while, you forget about them.
You know what this proves, the Germans have oddly shaped heads. See, Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic are both German companies. Audio-Technica is a Japanese company. The ATH-SJ5 isn’t even sold in the states. So there you go. If you have a normal head like mine, try the ATH-SJ5.
…You’ll probably be disappointed, because you listened to someone on the internet for advice on headphones. That’s the real lesson to take away from this.