gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
QED 16/4 works well as a replacement.
Oldest headphones around here
- Thread starter Tumeni Notes
- Start date
cubastreet
Espresso Fiend
I have a pair of AKG K340s from around 1980? I bought them about ten years ago then built an OTL valve Amp to drive them.
They use a normal driver for bass and an electret for treble.
The highs are great but I find the overall sound unsatisfying. I can't put a finger on what, but they don't quite work.
They use a normal driver for bass and an electret for treble.
The highs are great but I find the overall sound unsatisfying. I can't put a finger on what, but they don't quite work.
I've heard Chris' pair of these when I rehomed the mini sandwich speakers. They were very impressive indeed.
At the time I'd just moved on a set of Sennheiser IE800S in-ears (£800rrp flagship in ears). Although a brief listen, these were better. Very good indeed.
martin clark
pinko bodger
I still have, use, enjoy the pair of Senn HD565 Ovations I bought about ..1998; £149 was a lot to spend, then, esp. against our young-family budget.
An enduring -joy though; same drivers as the HD600 then ( I know because I blew one a couple of yrs later with daft diy headphone amp expts, & so replaced both - about 80 quid for the pair, then.)
- and so, now: these old HD565 Ovations remain my enduring sense-check, even against the things I have/I enjoy now:
Headband & earpads replaced, yes - but a constant companion, and a thing done .. just-right.
An enduring -joy though; same drivers as the HD600 then ( I know because I blew one a couple of yrs later with daft diy headphone amp expts, & so replaced both - about 80 quid for the pair, then.)
- and so, now: these old HD565 Ovations remain my enduring sense-check, even against the things I have/I enjoy now:
Headband & earpads replaced, yes - but a constant companion, and a thing done .. just-right.
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
I know that somewhere, buried in a closet, I still possess a pair of Sennheiser HD 410s, with totally rotten earpads. I haven't seen them since some time in the 1990s, but I know they're there. They're from sometime in the mid-late 1970s. I seem to recall that Angus McKenzie's HiFi Choice book rated them very highly.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
Not sure of age, but I got these HD 450s when I was i/c of stores of a uni. film studies dep't in the 80s (for a short while while it wound down). Think they were cheap 'n' cheerful. Still fine but no pads; just use them for occasional computer use. Note to self; they'd be more comfy with pads if I can get them nowadays.
Mark Packer
All Rev'd up!
Sennheiser HD540s (Ref(?)) from the mid 1980's
kasperhauser
pfm Member
I have a pair of these old orthodynamic headphones (this isn't my picture) - Audio Technica ATH-2 "from the '70s" or so the internet tells me. I've thought about selling them but I just like the look of them so much, I keep them around as a design object.
Darmok
pfm Member
I have a pair of these old orthodynamic headphones (this isn't my picture) - Audio Technica ATH-2 "from the '70s" or so the internet tells me. I've thought about selling them but I just like the look of them so much, I keep them around as a design object.
They are an excellent Planar Headphone.
I have 2 pairs of em, one pair is boxed, like new.
There was a pair boxed listed on ePrey last week, asking price = £45:00.
per-Sony-fied
Me in another jacket
I fished a pair of Sennheiser HD424X headphones out of the garage in their original box. Yellow pads intact. However since they have been in garage so long (20+ years) the pads have really deteriorated. Small touches caused them to crush & fall apart. Also, unless its gone somewhere for some reason after I pulled out the connecting cable (no idea where, I've looked), the left speaker is missing! I did this because when I plugged them in they did not work 
Ah well...... nice box
Ah well...... nice box 
Chris
pfm Member
Beyer DT-531. so so comfy to wear and to listen through. Someone christened them “the groovalisers”. Great bass, quantity wise and reasonable quality, wonderful mids and slightly rolled off treble so as not to intrude. I use them witha Creek OCH 21se phones amp. 25-30 years old maybe. Can’t remember.
Craig B
Re:trophile
I have the HD480 version here, Mike, and still enjoy listening to them on occasion. I was able to order in replacement pads from Sennheiser Canada some years back; haven't looked into this since. Your HD 450 were the replacement for the aforementioned HD 410, whereas, HD 480 replaced HD 414/414X. Nice thing about these models is that they introduced 70 Ohm impedance to the Sennheiser on-ear open-back home models, so plugging these into an iPod or Walkman is no problem for 'garden listening'. I especially like to load up some podcasts, interspersed with music selections, for my summer patio moments. The cable can be a bit microphonic, and too long for true portable use, but I've yet to seek out a shorter, softer insulation alternative.
martin clark
pinko bodger
Oh - much love for this view!
I had a pair - bought for about £55 iirc from Richer Sounds in Nottingham, second week of Sept 1995 - to take with me on an adventure to N Borneo (that lasted much longer than expected / altered the course of my life)
I took my Philips discman as a source, and a handful of favourite CDs*; once out there, I ended-up 3 months later with the new hotness , a Marantz CD63SE, driving the 531s directly & that was a solid companionable pairing for > a couple of years +. I shipped the 531s (and cd63) home - can't remember what happened to the Beyers but they were displaced autumn c.1998 with Senn HD565 Ovations - which I still have, use, and love.
tl;dr: Beyer 531s brought me just so much pleasure as a young sprog - and I think your description of the 'sound' is spot-on. I'd have another pair in heartbeat.
* they made it home, and I still enjoy the very same : )
Craig B
Re:trophile
I have a pair of the original Sennheiser HD 400 headphones 600 ohm bought new I can't remember when, still working very well, no longer yellow ear pads bought black ones off the bay.
That last bit about HD 400 being suitable for playback of dummy head stereo recordings reminds me that I still have the single of Sennheiser's dummy head stereo demo recording that came in the box with some models back then. When the announcer finishes strolling round the room describing the nature of binaural recording and where he is located relative to you, the listener, at different points along the way (and shilling the headphones), he introduces his daughter who is sitting right next to the dummy head mics. To say that one might actually jump in their seat, would be an understatement; more of an acid flashback kind of thing in the pre-Dolby Surround is everywhere days.
Another thing that comes to mind is that my favourite sounding Sennheiser homage to HD 400 through 414 was MS 100, the best pair of portable use headphones one could have back in '83, and billed as "Inside-Out
", a reference to these giving home audio 'Inside' headphone quality of sound when 'Out' and about. Not cheap at $US 85. back then (HD 414 was $84), however, I couldn't get enough of these 1.4oz wonders, and took to wearing the shop demo pair all day long. Very few folk who listened to these didn't buy a pair. A sensible 42 Ohms too, so could be driven by anything portable that was available.