I've been using my Sony 7509's with my EX1 and I love them. However, they are fairly bulky and I'm looking for a pair of closed-back 'phones that will fold up compactly but still maintain as much fidelity as possible. I've been tempted to use my Etymotics but they can get a bit uncomfortable after an hour or two so I'm looking for suggestions.

Dave

I use the same thing (well, not really, actually the 7506's). Admittedly bulky, but I've not come across a smaller substitute that is as comfortable and sounds as good.

Dave, are the Etymonics the in-ear phones that I've heard about?

I'm in the same boat as you sort of. I love my 7506s but they are big and conspicuous, particularly when shooting out on the street and trying to "blend in." For some reason the camera doesn't spook people it's the bald guy with the headphones! They take up a fair amount of space in the bag too.

What are your complaints with the Etymotics? Are you happy with the sound but not the fit?

Thanks
Bob

I'll throw my 2 cents in, even though these probably aren't the ones you are looking for. Other people might find these useful. I primarily shoot doc style and handheld, and now really love my bluetooth headphones. It's amazing how often the danged headphone cable gets caught and snagged, and I love just being able to set the camera down without having to put the headphones on and off. The only drawback is there is a delay, but I have grown used to it, and really like it, because I know that I am really hearing the recorded sound, but can still hear enough around me to hear the director and such. It's almost impossible to ask questions of the subject when you hear your own delayed voice, however.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/headphones/devices/212&cl=US,EN

Hi Bob,
Yes, they are the ER-4's:
Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER-4 - Which ER?4 is Right for You (http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-wrfy.aspx)
and they are very accurate IF you plunge them into your brain! Seriously, they are very good but you will note a markedly different sound once you insert them fully into your ear canal. That's where it starts to bug me after a while as they start to get uncomfortable being that far into my brain.

I'm trying to condense my kit quite a bit so that's why I'm looking for something with the fidelity and isolation of my 7509HD's but will fold into a very small space. If I could stand to have the ER4's in my ears for extended periods, I'd be good to go already. So, I'm still looking for suggestions.

dave

Dave, are the Etymonics the in-ear phones that I've heard about?

I'm in the same boat as you sort of. I love my 7506s but they are big and conspicuous, particularly when shooting out on the street and trying to "blend in." For some reason the camera doesn't spook people it's the bald guy with the headphones! They take up a fair amount of space in the bag too.

What are your complaints with the Etymotics? Are you happy with the sound but not the fit?

Thanks
Bob

Look no further than here

Sennheiser Worldwide: HD 25-1 II - HD 25-1 II (http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/icm.nsf/root/502188)

They are excellent

Vincent, I couldn't tell from the product photo or description if these can be folded or collapsed. Can you clarify?

No they can't be folded or collapsed, but they are superb in sound quality. They are used by most professional audio people - and better still they are not that expensive.

Hi Bob,
Yes, they are the ER-4's:
Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER-4 - Which ER?4 is Right for You (http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-wrfy.aspx)
and they are very accurate IF you plunge them into your brain!

dave

Are you using the ER4 S or P variant?

Are you using the ER4 S or P variant?

Oh you HAD to ask me a tough question, didn't you? ;-) I think it's the "P" variant because I have the little adapter to change it to the "S" freq response curve, but there's no marking on these things apart from serial numbers on each barrel. I have almost all the original packaging but it doesn't tell me what I have. I sent an email to etymotic to have them help me ID these things.

Re: MD25s
They are excellent

And I can confirm that they're indestructible to a point, though I have since had the plug-end replaced with a right-angle. Less leverage when the inevitable tug happens.

But they're also quite tight between the ears for some and I find them uncomfortable.

Would love to find the equivalent in-ear buds...

Re: MD25s

But they're also quite tight between the ears for some and I find them uncomfortable.

Would love to find the equivalent in-ear buds...

Ughh. Well, that leaves out the MD25's for me as I have a fairly large melonhead. I gave away a nice pair of Sennheisers to a friend of mine because they were SOOO tight on my head. I used to produce hour-long podcasts and by the end of the show, I had a headache from the inward pressure.

Dave,

I have all of the above (HD25's, Etymotics and the Sony's) - as well as the Sennheiser PX200 and the Sennheiser CX 300 ear buds.

I now use the CX300's most of the time because they are light and portable, comfortable and have reasonable sound. They are a trade off I am willing to make for much of my work. If I know that the sound will be highly critical - I use the Senn HD25's, but this is less thatn 5% of the time. The etymotics are great - but as you said get uncomfortable. For me the Senn ear buds are the best compromise of sound for comfort and portability. The Senn CX200 portable phones are an alternative that I use some times. These are in between the buds and the HD 25's for both sound and comfort (and portability).

Ymmv.

My two cents:

I have the ER-6 and used them for about a year. Good audio quality. One side went bad, could be due to a wiring failure somewhere. I got a replacement pair but noticed that with all my moving around, and with them occasionally getting wet, the sound wouldn't pass through the earpieces properly all the time.

They do provide a lot of isolation which is what I wanted them for. But they can start irritating the ear canal when worn for extended periods.

I since started using the Sennheiser CX380 Sport II. It provides good isolation and is supposed to be water resistant. The earphones sometimes ends up falling to the wet deck of a boat so the water resistance is a good idea.

It's also more comfortable than the ER-6. What I don't like about it is the asymmetrical wires to the earphones. The way I normally wear them creates slack on one side. They're supposed to be worn behind the head but that's troublesome when the camera, which is on my shoulder, snags the cord.

I use the Sony MDR410LP folding headphones. They sound fine, except for the fact they don't have any bass response. I just like how they fold up and you can just wrap the cable around them. Amazon has them for $18 right now. I bought a pair at Circuit City when it was going out of business.

Yes, there are better headphones out there, but I love the portability and compactness when folded.

My two cents:

I have the ER-6 and...One side went bad, could be due to a wiring failure somewhere.

Etymotics are prone to getting gummed up with ear wax. Inside the stem where the condenser speaker is there is a little capsule on top of it that has a little screen embedded in it. There is an area about a 2 mm in length for ear junk to get compressed into. The only way to get it out is with a needle or paper clip and SLOWLY remove the stuff in stages.

I agree the Etymotics are painful after an hour or so. I often wear them for 3 to 4 hours. Needless to say I have another set of isolated headphones on my list. Probably get both the Sony 7506 and the Sennheiser HD-25 mk IIs. Sony's are around a 100 bucks and the Senn's are around $200 (USD). There is a cheaper version of the HD-25s that are aimed at the DJ market which have a similar sound the difference being the pads are MORE comfortable but the capsules do not swing up for one ear listening. B & H sells them.

Both the Sony and the Senn's have a high degree of isolation from ambient noise which is essential for monitoring audio.

There is an area about a 2 mm in length for ear junk to get compressed into. The only way to get it out is with a needle or paper clip and SLOWLY remove the stuff in stages.

The other way is to wash your ears :-)

Etymotics are prone to getting gummed up with ear wax. Inside the stem where the condenser speaker is there is a little capsule on top of it that has a little screen embedded in it. There is an area about a 2 mm in length for ear junk to get compressed into. The only way to get it out is with a needle or paper clip and SLOWLY remove the stuff in stages.

This particular earpiece went bad where no audio was coming through at all.

As for the gunk, sometimes you have to change the entire filter, and although they come with additional filters, getting more of them can get to be a bit costly.

So I got the Sennheisers. The sound aperature is larger and less prone to clogging. And they're designed for adverse conditions which is a plus for me.

The other way is to wash your ears :-)

I'm on it. Thanks for the tip...

But seriously, I am pretty much at the end of it with the in-ear phones. I may try the Sennheiser buds but the level of discomfort I experience with my Etymotics is just too much. I have the high end ones so the sound is remarkable but on a long shoots the feeling of having these things expanding your entire ear canal and pretty much pressed right up against the ear drum is beginning to wear thin. I'm going to get both the Sony 7506 and the Sennheiser HD-25 mkII's. Sony's are dirt cheap and collapsible. The Sennheiser's have flip away cans & good sound. Both have good isolation from ambient sound/noise.

I use both the Sony MDR-7506 and 7509HD. Both of these models are rugged seem to have additional bass response due to the tighter clamping of the head. The bass response is useful for monitoring low frequency wind noise. I actually prefer the smaller size of the 7506, and they seem to stay on better on the run.

Gints, I love my 7509HD's and the Etymotics are wonderful too. But, in the Florida heat, the 7509's become very uncomfortable in the Summer and the Etymotics feel like they're boring into my brain.

Thanks to all for your suggestions, too. Great selection and a few new models for me to consider.

As I mentioned in a post above, I have been a long time Etymotic user. I have their high end "in ear" phones and just purchased a set of Sony MDR-7506 and am BLOWN AWAY by the sonics of these relatively inexpensive headphones. From a video or sound operator's perspective this is a no-brainer. The only caveat is you may wish to shorten the cord or swap it out all together with a non coiled thin audio cable if you are working audio as a camera operator.

The isolation is good but not as good as the Eytmotics but still well within the range of acceptability to get a good sense of tone and mix even in an environment with a high noise floor. The sonics are very much oriented towards a mixer/engineer's perspective allowing you to easily hear things in the mix much the way studio "near field monitors" do like Adam A7's, Genelecs and so on. But, but and this is the great part: they sound great with music. I listened to a bunch of stuff from ensemble jazz to orchestral to choral to chamber to rock and electronic stuff on them for a 6 hour stretch and the sound was not fatiguing or clinical: a common failure with "mixing" oriented headphones or speakers.

I spend a fair amount of time working with synths, a piano (real and sampled) and again these phones stood up well with this kind of material. Generally I use a set of "open air" Sennheiser's, the HD600s which are considered by many to be the headphones to get for under $1000 if you want the best for music. Well the 7506 do stand up against these as well. Not saying they are a replacement but when you A/B them the 7506s are still respectable.

The design and build quality will take you aback when you first take them out of the package. The hinges and swivel mounts on the phones are engineered well and make sense from a usability perspective. There are "hatch" marks on the metal bands coming down from the headband allowing you to visually know where to adjust your phones if someone else wears them and adjusts them. The ergonomics in general are really good. The earcups have a neutral feel on the head. What more could you ask?

They will obviously take up a lot more room in the camera bag than a set of earbud style phones but the comfort level and quality of sound to me will be well worth it. I now know why these phones are considered the "de facto" standard set of cans for sound mixers. Wish I would have got these years ago.

A friend, who is an audio engineer and a recording artist, recommended the Audio Technica AT-M50 headphones. More accurate than the Sony MDR V6 (which I understand is similar to the 7506 Sony MDR-V6 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6)).

Dean, I will have to check them out. I like the fact that they are a full headphone with a padded band and have the hinging to make them collapsible like the 7506's. The price point is pretty much in line with the 7506's as well. Much could be said as well about the Sennheiser HD-25 mkII's which are considered to be sonically better and more suited to music than the 7506's.

I think it is really important to emphasize that a major like of the 7506's is the way they single things out in the mix the way that some near field monitors do, like Adams for example. As anyone in the video world knows accuracy is not necessarily what you want as the reference point on the viewers TV is so varied. Hence why a lot of people doing audio work for television will have a set of POS tin can speakers to use during the mixing process to make sure things sound good on garden variety TV's.

It's also worth considering that I was able to move from luxurious sound of the Sennheiser HD600s to the Sony's and not be completely grossed out. It really is a testament to how decent the 7506's are.

BTW, the 7506 is an evolved version of the MDR-V6 that you mention. The sonics are different.

Ughh. Well, that leaves out the MD25's for me as I have a fairly large melonhead.

Me too.

And BTW folks, having heard the rave about Sony 7506's, I bought a pair.

They're comfortable, and the groovy way they pack away is neat.

But they're not a patch on the HD25s.

I will use the Sony 7506 for the iPod whilst I'm mowing the lawn or washing the car or even just enjoying music, because the isolation is good and the sound is great, but they're tinted ... Monitoring cans are to hear what's there. I've rigged up so I can swap the same signal from FCP and my UA25 and listen to what I've got. The Sony sounds nice with nice material, but they're rose tinted. The MD25 is uncomfortable but I hear so much more with them.

FWIW I talked to an ex-BBC chum who recommended Bayer DT150s but they're too quiet for field use.

Sigh. I think I'll have to stick with the discomfort of the HD25s. They're telling me what's there in a way that the others don't, which is reflected when I get to hear on good equipment afterwards.