Are vintage headphones better?

[pennstac]

I’ve been holding my tongue so long here that I had to get a clothespin so I could move my hand. “Vintage Headphones”? Y’all mean the OLD headphones that we used to buy in the '60s and 70’s? Most were absolute crap. Radio Shack. I wrote about them before so I won’t repeat, just point:

The FIRST HEADPHONES I Remember

[image] The first real headphones I had and used like headphones - not an earphone - was this awful pair. The brand was VERITAS. I thought they were good - for a while. Mmmmm plastic ear pads with foam inside. An equally bad pleather and foam head pad. Each side had a volume control (BAD IDEA), and there was a switch - I think it was mono/stereo . I recall them having a lot of bass, but not too much else about the sound. I do recall that it wasn’t too long before the volume control pots got …

Finally about 1973 or so I got some Ortho something or other (proto - planars) that I still have, Audio Technica ATH-1. Talked about in this thread that ought to be revived:

What was the first pair of headphones that made you say HOLY CRAP?

Sansui in the late 60’s to mid 70’s really was at it’s peak period. I still have a nearly pristine AU-919 integrated amp (100w RMS per channel, very low distortion) that I keep as a backup. Back in those days, I had awful “Veritas” headphones followed by Audio Technica’s that were pretty good. Still have em. Proto-Planar-Magnetic. The speakers were driven by various things, from a Lafayette integrated when I had nothing else, to Dynaco PAS-2 (and later PAS-3) driving 125 watt customized TigerSa…

The “Good” headphones of the day were frickin’ uncomfortable. Koss Pro 4AA, for example, or even worse the heavy and hurty Koss ESP-6, which sounded gorgeous. The first estats I ever heard that put the holy in holy crap.

My current Hive Nectar are better in absolutely every way.

I still have the Audio Technicas, and they don’t get much eartime. Too bassy. Maybe some pad rolling would help, but can’t find anything that’s right for them. Yes, I still have my Sennheiser HD-580s which were a heck of a lot better than the headphones that came with a Sony Walkman. Now that’s REAL vintage.