I use the Sennheiser HD 25-SP. Reasonably cheap (125 at B&H) and great rejection of ambient noise. Used them in theatres with reasonably noisy audiences and amplified audio/music. Probably not isolated enough for a rock concert, but apart from that, great in every circumstance I've tried. Lightweight and comfortable too. I haven't tried much else to compare them to though.

My Sennheiser HD-280's should arrive tomorrow. $60 after rebate from Amazon. I'm looking forward to using them - they are supposed to have a -30db passive attenuation. Not sure how they'll work with my glasses, but I'll submit a report once I have some time with them.

Mark,

You will not be disappointed, I have the HD280 and wear glasses too.

Used them at weddings, school concerts (very noisy) and at music gigs at pubs (in the UK).

Won't go anywhere without them now.

Although I'd love to have a pair of 7506s, I will sorely miss my employer's ATH-M40s when I move out. They sound great and are very comfortable. I believe they are larger and heavier than the Sonys, though. See http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...u=97718&is=REG

Yeah, the AT's look pretty big, and if they don't fold down like the 7506, they'd never fit in my Porta Brace with all my other "junque"...but it's cool that they have field-replaceable cables, drivers, who knows what can happen out there! I wonder if there is someplace you can go to compare them, a pro audio shop or music store, when it comes time to get your own.

Thanks Alan.

The headphones did show up on Friday, and I've been very pleased with them so far. They've been a boon to editing as I am able to pinpoint audio much quicker than with speakers, and the passive ambient noise attenuation is great - I wore them on the bus into work this morning and I could actually hear the music. All but the loudest noises were effectively attenuated.

So far I am very happy with my purchase.

Mark,

They are Excellent, I cannot edit without them now for the reason you mentioned "I am able to pinpoint audio much quicker than with speakers".
Don't know how I managed without them.

The other cool feature is the way they fold up into the smaller size, ideal if you are going on a shoot, easier to pack.

That's a good feature...the Sonys have them too and it's much easier to cram in my camera bag than my old cans.

Another reason I went with these (Sennheiser HD 280 Pros) - though I know it's a feature that is available on other brands and models. For me the combination of features and price was right. They had good reviews from a variety of sources, professional and anecdotal. I think I made a good choice.

I've used them for several hours at a time on a couple of editing sessions, and they have remained comfortable - not too heavy or tight. I anticipate that I will continue to be happy with them.

more headphones....Sennheiser!
 

I have a friend who talked for over half an hour on how good his sony headphones were, but i never heard them, and get sick of sony this sony that!
Anyway, i must recomend the sennheiser HD 25 sp. I bought them as a DJ. Because they are loud, and you can hear them in a noisy environment, being closed cupped. The advantage is, they are lightweight, and comfortable to wear for long periods. Its easy to flip one ear round if you need to hear something live. Each part is replacable, and they are a simple design. And finally they just keep working. And in stereo too. (not like one ear on, the other one 'off and on' as you play with the wire!!!) Mine have been end up trampled on and pulled to bits. But they just stick back together, and continue to work. Thats what i call cool. And a 2 yr manufacturers guarantee backs you up should my word not be enough!!!

OK, I got a stupid question...why did you not listen to the Sonys if he bragged on them so much? Were you just so annoyed with him that you went and did the opposite? :-)

Actually I merely bought the MDR-7506 because so many studios and other audio pros use them, so I concluded they must be pretty reliable cuz I have never heard complaints about them breaking down.

I don't really know much about the Senn closed back cans, I used to sell a lot of the open-air Senns when I was a wee lad in the audio retail business, and I do like their mics.

As a DJ, I have used many different headphones, from the Discwasher HP50 which I loved (but they finally crumbled cuz they were only consumer grade), to Koss and others. My most recent try was a Gemini with a single ear (fed by both channels) so you can hear ambient, and a boom mic. Too bad they were unreliable. I never did have a very high opinion of Gemini brand DJ equipment anyway. The most important factor to me as a DJ is that the cable must be from a single ear, not one cable from each ear merging below your chin, so if you quickly pull them off the back of your head the cables aren't stuck around your neck.

yea! well he never had the headphones with him, and i already had the sennheisers. These are fantastic as a DJ as the cups simply swivel round when you need a ear free. As for sennheiser mics, maplin have a fantastic offer on the e818sII mic. They were apparently 30 or 40 quid but was alerted by a shop selling them at 25. Then maplin had them for £20. I went to buy one and found them reduced to £15, so promptly bought 2! They come in a lovely case, xlr on one wnd and small mono jack on other (with adaptor). So they plug straight into the XM2, though im making up a wire so i can use the 2 of them as boundary mics,one onleft one on right channel (when ive got cam on a tripod or using a minidisk for sound source). Got to be better than the inbuilt.

Wow! That's an awesome price for a name-brand mic, even one that they call an "economy vocalist" model, it should be fine for picking up dialogue. And in my experience, anything you can do to get away from using the onboard camera mic will help, due to the fact that your mic can be closer to the talent to eliminate reverberation and won't be picking up camera mechanical noise.

At around $22 USD each, that's less than 1/4 the price of a Shure SM58 (the commonly accepted vocal mic). I wonder how much they would nick me to send them to the USA.

Anyone know how audio technica's ATH-M40fs would compare to the the sony 7506's?

Sorry anth, no idea,not come across 'technica' unless its 'technics, i had a pair of technics headphones, sounded good, but cable at plug was dodgy, and they became mono.
Re Mike above, yea, sm58s cost more in this country. senneiser mics very good for vocals, but the other day i tried to use one with my xm2 filming a coal fire burning. I wanted to capture the crackling of the fire, and also the howling of the wind from outside. The mic picked up part of the fire crackle noise. But the xm2's own mike actually fared better, and captured everything, which sounded great. Need to recheck on a good soundsystem, but hopefully there was no internal noise as i didnt need to zoom. Unfortunatley a mate decided to break wind and it picked up that is well, so work needed there!