i saw someone answer this with Wikipedia the other day... thought it was better said than i could put it.

quote:

Open Open headphones (sometimes marketed as "open air" headphones) have an open grille on the back of the driver, exposing the driver to the outside, and allowing the soundwaves to propagate away from the ear freely. This backing type does not isolate the listener from outside sounds; in addition, sound through open headphones can be easily heard by others in the vicinity of the user (not always a desirable quality). They, however, usually have less sound distortion (due to the lack of resonance) and tighter controlled sound reproduction. Most audiophile-quality headphones, such as the AKG K-501, Grado GS1000, Sennheiser HD 650, Koss UR-5, are open headphones. Closed headphones have a sealed backing, which attenuates soundwaves propagating in the direction away from the ear. As a result, listeners away from the headphones cannot hear the produced sound easily. In addition, sound from outside is attenuated by the sealed backing, providing a level of isolation to the listener (typically a 10 dB decrease in outside sounds). A sealed chamber generally has the added negative effect of distorting sound in certain instances and providing "boomier", less controlled bass, making them lower in price and high-end quality than open headphones.

open

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I've got the AKG K271S and they are superb. They're closed.

Open is best.

However, are you sitting right next to a noisy computer/sibling? :P
You need to take environment into account too.

quote:

Originally posted by cocaine white -Anyone have input on the AKG 270s? I haven't been able to find much critique on them.

The AKG k271s are closed. The AKG k240s are more suitable for monitoring since they're semi-open. I can't recommend them enough. They're simply amazing.

Well based on what I'd read and you recommendations I just ordered a pair of k240s's for $99. thanks a lot guys

Ditto on the AKGs. They're semi-open and are quite good for that purpose. There's no comparison at all to the HD280 or Sony MDR - those are both fine, but they're DJ headphones, not production cans.

P.S. Where on earth did you find them for $99?

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They're sold by some third-party vendor via amazon, i don't remember who, and by zzounds for i think 110.

I say open.

I love how people say "HD-25 are great hp's for mixing" and then you tell them that they are sealed and not suitable so they show you that on the box it says "studio headphones" or something like that... hahaha... I always laugh at them...

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It says "For Professional Monitoring", and being that their sound isolation is fantastic I think that's spot on. The HD25s are quite obviously designed for DJ monitoring though, and not flat sound reproduction.

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100% geek. i'm lovin' it.

9 times out of 10 theres at least one person on the bus in to College Green Dublin who is listening to their iPod using open backed headphones.

You can here the sound of Coldplay - Clocks from the other end of the bus.