Which headphones have the least leakage tracking?

[Chris]

Which brand and model of headphones have the least leakage while tracking? I am refering to the music from the headphones leaking into the vocalist's microphone. It would be nice if they could also be the best sounding and most comfortable. Other things I might like are a coil cord coming from only one side and an easy comfortable way for the vocalist to "remove" one ear piece for helping to obtain better pitch. Price is not a major factor. Impressing clients and getting less bleed into the mic is most important. I currently have about 10 different kinds. I am also familiar with the many different engineering considerations in designing headphones. Thank you in advance for any help.
Christopher Kimball

C.K.'s Musical Workshop
4090 West Eaglerock Drive
Wenatchee, WA 98801

509-667-0648
[email protected]

[thenewnoise]

Hands down I think Sennheiser HD 280's. I think they sound really good and are very isolating. You can get those extreme isolation headphones but those are mainly made for drummers and don't really sound that great.

[minister]

his hands may be down, but i would raise my hand in voting for the AKG K271's. imo, better sound and more comfortable. i sold my 280's years ago.

[Lee Blaske]

If maximum isolation is your goal, these are the phones you should check out...

http://www.gk-music.com/ultraphones.htm

They use the Sony 7506 drivers, so they sound fine. They don't have one ear capability, but I don't think you're going to find that in a maximum isolation set of phones. You kind of need earphones on both sides to really clamp your head enough to get a tight seal.

Actually, if you have the budget, having several options is probably the best way to go. Different people prefer different things. Some people like the mellowness of AKG phones, some like the somewhat hyped quality of Sony, etc.

Also, keep in mind that some vocalists will thwart your best intentions. You could have the ultimate in isolation phones, but the talent will figure out a way to position them so they're not fully on, and the isolation won't work the way it's supposed to.

Lee Blaske

[mgoorevich]

I use for years Sennheiser HD 25-1.
On my opinion those closeback headphones have the reachest and the most nutral sound while providing almost absolute isolation from the invironment.
Very reliable. You can also change every single part on this model - just buy spares.
As a minus (not for me cause I really got use to it) not comfortable if wearing more than for 1-3 hour/s. Relativelly expensive.
But after all, once you've got it - you love it.

[ProTooler]

Vic Firth makes a pair that isolate real well. They're not the cans you want to mix with, but for your application, I think they'd be gret. I'd check them out if I were you. They're very affordable.

[EGS]

i would raise my hand in voting for the AKG K271's.

I second this. Actually, I've got 6 pairs of AKG 171'S. Same as the 271's, except no automatic muting of the headphones when removed from head (that is a cool feature, though). I also have a pair of those Extreme Isolation headphones, and the sound quality is sub-par. The Sony's are too bright for music, okay for voiceover work. Try those 171's. My 2 cents.

[25ghosts]

Beyer Dynamic DT-100

Those are the best if you wanna keep leakage out. They are very close but not great if you wanna have a vague idea of what is going on outside you head.

http://www.beyerdynamic.com/cms/Head...93.0.html?&L=1

[Chris]

I followed up on all the replies...thank you so much....Lee Blaske suggested UltraPhones, which cost about $220...I found these: Remote Audio Part #: HN7506 Price: $285 on another web page. Does anybody know the difference other than price? Why are these companies both using Sony 7506 parts? On these High Noise Environment headphones web pages are references to remote sound engineers at car races and working with heliocopters, etc. I worked with the Blue Angels about 5 or 6 times. Once my job was to keep a boat in an exact GPS location for the pilots to visually line up on. They passed right over my head sometimes inverted. I had foam earplugs as well as industrial ear muff type headset on. It's still loud....I was also surprised to find lots of unburned fuel from the engine exhaust immediately coats you and of course all your equipment.
These headphones seem to be right on the track of what I am looking for. Does anybody know what Barbra Streisand prefers? Or any of the best singers?

[EGS]

I followed up on all the replies...thank you so much...Does anybody know the difference other than price? ... Does anybody know what Barbra Streisand prefers?

In the end, you must let YOUR ears decide. We are all expressing opinions. That's what you get from a forum...opinions.