Hi I want to replace hubby's headphones.  They are Form 1 and about 15 years old.  He uses them with the Ouverture and 9000.  Can any one recommend a new one or should I leave alone. H

Have you considered the Form 2? They don't sound as good apparently, but still lovely headphones

Depending on how much you are looking to spend you may find the Sennheiser HD600 or HD650 to be a better option than B&O headphones, as they are arguably the best headphones on the market. Sennheiser also have numerous other alternatives lower down the range starting with the HD201 for about £15 (UK) and working up from there.

Simon

HD600's or 650's are significantly better than the Form 1's but are quite expensive (I have seen then as low as £139 in the past but a quick search at the moment shows them to be considerably more).

I don't think Form 2's are a serious option for "real" listening, I agree with Simon - look at Sennheiser or Grado.

A mid-price alternative would be these:

Sennheiser HD595

Simon

Dave:

Have you considered the Form 2? They don't sound as good apparently, but still lovely headphones

Form 2 sound better IMO, better bass. Form 1's are more comfortable to wear though.

Craig

I am very happy with my grado sr80 headphones and they are very well priced.

Hope that helps

Cheers Nick

Thanks for the Sennheiser link.  Still undecided will look at some Grado(never heard of these). H

Jammy61:

Thanks for the Sennheiser link.  Still undecided will look at some Grado(never heard of these). H

Push the boat out and get the HD600's - he'll love you forever

The Grado's are good but (arguably no better and) he'll spend the rest of his life looking like "Phones" from Stingray!

If you want to make the ultimate style statement it can only be these

The legendary Jeclklin Floats

Simon

I have an Ouverture that connects to my Senn model no  HD212 PRO

http://www.techstore.co.uk/browse.php?a=p&prodLineID=111327

fony only 30 quid, they work superbly well with the Ouverture, I have tried over 20 other different cans with my Ouverture in the past, including all the expensive Senn models, both the B&O Form 1 and 2, most of the Bose, Sony and Grado cans, I can honestly say the HD212 are the best value for money and just provide a good sound with the Ouverture for not a lot of money. The bass on these are so impressive, so if he likes classical music, or listening to FM Stereo radio, then he will not be disappointed.

I have all the B&O headphones - Form 1s are the best sounding IMHO - and also the Sennheiser HD600 and Grado RS1s. I now no longer use any B&O headphones except A8s ( I have a few pairs for mobile use) and use my RS1s downstairs - very open and detailed sound and comfortable for longterm use, and the HD600s in bed - (you can lie against a pillow with them !)

The HD600s IMHO are the better and can be purchased for relatively little money. They are ear enclosing though so can get a little hot! The Grados are the ones designed to impress the most ! Wooden sound chambers!

I also am very interested in buying new Sennheiser headphones, but I need a pair in which the left/right balance can be changed (I'm very deaf in my right ear and need the volume increased).  Does anyone know of a good Sennheiser which has this feature?  I've been through Amazon's 650 odd entries, but it is not clear if any of these have this feature, other than the cordless headphones. 

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

villarsch

I have never heard of balance controls on anything other than entry-level  headphones. Back in the 1980's a lot of cheaper headphones had volume controls on each ear but they sounded lousy.

If you are fairly handy electrically (or know someone who is) your best bet would be to make a little box with a 3.5mm input and ouput and a couple of potentiometers inside so you can adjust the volume of each channel sperately by plugging a lead with with two 3.5mm make connectors at either end (the sort you get on eBbay for connecting headphone amps to iPods) into the headphone socket of your source at one end and the box at the other and plugging the headphines into the box. That would then give you a comletely ufettered choice of headphone and source.

 UPDATE:  It has already been done, buy one of these from the RNID!

http://www.rnid.org.uk/shop/products/portableentertainmentdevicesaccessories/headphone_in_line_balance_controller.htm

Simon

To wirralsimon, many thanks for the details.  I have a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones which do feature balance control, but these are now being used by my wife.  I have found a simmilar balance control to the RNID device.  It is made by Sennheiser (at about the same price) so I have orderd these.  If they work with my B&O headphones I will get Sennheiser's HD600-650, which I understand are very good.

Again, thanks for your helpful advice.

If you look closely at the RNID site will see that the device is a similar size and price because it's made by Sennheiser so is probably identical to the one you ordered.

Simon

As an aside, has anyone here had any experience of electrostatic headphones? I had a lovely pair of AudioTechnicas that were deliciously open.