CAD Audio DH100 Drummer Isolation Headphones

Customer Ratings:
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $33.41
Today's Bonus:

• High output Neodymium drivers
• Foam cushions for maximum comfort and sound isolation
• Cut ambient noise levels by19dB

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These headphones are old school CooooooL retro style which is what i like about them. VERY, VERY good external sound isolation, not sound cancelation! You can't hear shit with these things on which means you have to lift the no-lead side ear cup to converse with anyone. But thats fine. i don't want to talk much any way while doing music.

Very comfortable, especially if you have large ears or sensitive ears that get sore from direct pressure contact against them, like mine. I HATE things pushing against my ears and bending the shit out of them! Your ear sits completely inside the cups so you can wear them for hours no worries.

I play bass guitar using these headies and they have REALLY good bottom end audio frequency ranges and top ends are very solid also. The input jack has a neat wind on wind off set-up, with the 3.5 mini jack inside the main jack for ipods or tablets, or what ever. The Single sided lead is way better than those left and right Y shaped leads that get in the f.....g way for everything and anything!

Downsides? The only one i could think of was the curly spring jack lead, while VERY stretchy, it's too short for walking ALL around a room playing guitar, but its perfect for MOST uses because it doesn't tangle around your feet trying to trip you over at only 18-24 inches long unstretched. They'd probably work perfectly for an ipod while walking, running or riding a bike but you wont hear shit from outside of these things so don't get run over.

Quality? Yep! Way better construction than my mid level Sennheisers, which were made of 100% cheapo crapy plastic but still sounded good. These are quality WELL beyond the measley price asked for them and represent great value for people who aren't suckers for similar high performance headphones from trendy Corporate branded marketing hype products at 7-10 times the price. Get'em!

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My Sennheiser HD-280 headphones finally blew after 2 years of abuse so I went looking for some replacement headphones for drumming practice. I bought these after reading about all of the other competitors, and my short advice is to stick with the Sennheisers.

On the plus side, these headphones stay on your head (better than the Sennheisers, actually), are more comfortable, block out just the right amount of room noise, are almost loud enough (not quite as loud as the Sennheisers), and are dirt cheap for what they are.

On the negative side, they don't sound very good (overly loud midrange to my ears, and weak treble), and aren't really loud enough IMHO. Also, because of these issues, they really are a one-trick pony (where the Sennheisers can do double-duty as tracking cans).

If I had to do it over again, I'd just shell out the extra $50 for the 280s.

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For the money these are fine headphones,good sound and great isolation.My kit is in a very small space & these offer good isolation.Well made and fit my larger than average head well.Good fit around the ears.

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*Physical Features*

These are over the ear, closed headphones with foam cushions, not particularly stylish, but not offensive either. I have an average size head, and these aren't particularly uncomfortable until wearing them for a while, which is going to be the case with ANY sound isolating headphone, and these are way more comfortable than most (although they also block sound less that others, more on that later). The cord is permanently attached, coiled, and is about 3 1/2 foot long at rest, maybe 12 feet long if really stretched out. At first glance it seems to have a 1/4 inch phono jack, but the tip screws off to reveal an alternative standard stereo mini jack that will fit into most portable players or your computer. The ear pieces are hard plastic along with a plastic and wire headband. It's very possible if you dropped these that the earpiece connection would be permanently broken. Where it rests on top of your head is really just a thin piece of cloth over plastic, but they get away with this because it's pretty light and really it's held in place by clamping to the sides of your head.

*Sound quality*

When I first put them on, I was shocked at how inadequate the sound was. Spending more time with it, I discovered that it does a very good job on the low end of the spectrum, clear enough mids, and the high end is pretty seriously absent. You won't get exciting cymbals, for instance, or any of the other ear candy that tends to lie in that part of the spectrum. Overall, though, there is reasonable frequency isolation, it's not a particularly muddy sound.

*Sound isolation*

This is adequate, but somewhat meager as far as sound isolating headphones go, rated at only 19db. Still, when playing drums, my snare is usually tightened up like a pistol shot and these do take the edge off to a comfortable level. I don't know what other reviewers are talking about when they say you can't hear anything with these on. I'm guessing they mean if you have them on and music playing, which is the case with most closed ear headphones. These are nothing special, when I'm (for instance) playing drums with a metronome I can hear the drums loud and clear over the click, but they're attenuated to a safe enough volume level so they do the trick for their intended purpose. It's obviously muffled, but you can talk to people with them on, as well as hear other sounds in the room. For example, I have a loud computer fan and I could still hear it faintly up to about 10 or 15 feet away. I have very good hearing, though. And a loud fan.

These do a fine job of keeping the sound IN. That's pretty typical with closed ear headphones, though.

*Price*

Well, yah, you wouldn't really be reading this review if the price didn't catch your attention, would you! There's really no point comparing them to more expensive headphones, it just wouldn't be fair to compete in the same league. These are about as inexpensive as they get, so you do get a surprisingly lot of bang for your buck if your use for them is drumming.

*Recommendation*

If you're on a budget, these do a fine enough job if you're the target audience (a drummer practicing). They'll capture the bass guitar fine, which is what you're usually playing with, do an ok job with the rest of the mix, and they'll cut the drum volume to a safe level that you can play a long time at. I wouldn't be excited about these as a studio headset, where you might be singing or soloing over the playback. The audio is just not inspiring because of the weakness in the high end. Nor is it useful for mixing for the same reason, nor for listening to quality music for enjoyment.

The muffs do not have a secure slide on the left. So they're constantly cockeyed and require adjustment to the point of madness. The quality of the audio is good... But the lopsided feeling takes away from the recording experience in a large way. I will definitely not purchase from CAD again, but I will wear these out just the same. And they have a constant humming in them.... Definitely going to buy Vic Firth's from now on.