HEADPHONES

[Nickledigger]

ANY HEADPHONES THAT WORK ANY BETTER THAN OTHERS ON THE F5 ?

 

[D&P-OR]

Sunray Pro Golds work very well.

 

[crusher28]

I'm using SENNHEISER HD 212PRO

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

n/t

 

[Neita SC]

I actually use ear-buds. I bought a plug adapter at Radio Shack. I used to use headphones, but they move around on my tiny head, and bother my little ears. The ear-buds still give me good sound and I can still hear people around me. I can still hear the small whispers and small tones of deep targets. Just a thought.

 

[Occupant]

I recently discovered some great headphones for not much money. First, let me say that I have never used any of the high-end detector phones. Never could justify $100 plus for them, but they must be worth it, since so many folks use them. When searching for phones, I look at the sensitivity numbers in the specs. Higher is better. That is, for a given output from a detector, higher sensitivity means more volume, everything else being equal. But more importantly, it also means that the phones will let you hear those faint signals from deep low conductors. With less sensitive phones, a faint signal may not be enough to 'drive' the transducers (speakers) to produce sound. For me, Sensitivity is much more important than the other numbers such as Frequency Response (doesn't matter for our application) and the often discussed -Impedance- given in Ohms, like 100 Ohms, 300 Ohms, etc. High impedance certainly helps battery life, but high impedance phones with a low sensitivity number may not let you hear those faint signals. The only real problem with very sensitive phones is the very loud signals from large or near surface targets, so many of the high-end phones incorporate a 'clipper' or 'limiter' circuit to protect your ears from the too loud signals. "Nugget Busters" is one model of phones that don't incorporate a 'clipper', since they are meant to be used in areas clear of junk while searching for gold nuggets. (A clipper circuit is very simple to make and add to phones if needed.) And while you can just turn the volume down on some phones, that defeats the whole purpose of high sensitivity, because the first signals to disappear at lowered volume are the faintest ones.

I have an F5 and have tried a number of phones from my old and odd collection. Most of them are older and cheap, and some are nicer that I use with my amateur radio gear. I like full ear muff style phones in cold weather, but go for light weight open styles in warm weather. Recently I picked up a set of Koss KTX Pro1 phones for my wife to use, but she never got them. They are 60 Ohm phones with a sensitivity of 103 dB. (103 is good! Few of the sellers of metal detector headphones publish sensitivity data, but seeing the transducers that are in my old Vanco phones, they are probably somewhere around the 80 dB number.) I can hear signals with the KTX Pro1 phones that are just not there in the Vancos or another set of Koss 60 Ohm stereo phones from 20 years ago. If the detecting site is junky, I have to turn the volume down, as the Pro1's can be very loud at full volume. But if the site is fairly clear, they are great for hearing the faint whispers with the volume on full. The Pro1's are not as rugged as the more expensive detector phones. You can't pull tree stumps with the cord. They do have a lifetime warranty so if the cord does give out, sending them back to Koss with $6.50 should get them fixed or replaced.
The Pro1's retail for $20 but I found them for a bit less with shipping included on a famous auction site. I bought a second set to take apart and put these transducers in the Vanco housings for cold weather use. I'll be adding clippers to both sets. Best $18 I've spent on detecting equipment.

I didn't intend for this post to get so long, but I hope some of the info is helpful.
HH

 

[marcomo]

That info is helpful and interesting, thanks for sharing Occupant!

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

n/t

 

[sqwaby]

Great post Occupant, I use radio shack behind the neck style. Too hot here in Texas for full cup type, and I like to hear whats going on around me. The model is not avail. anymore unfortunately, wish I had bought two. Try different phones and see what works best for you.

 

[shooter]

Got the SunRay PRO Gold, the tone is so much clearer and undistorted, his the limiter and the cord is longer then the standard headphones with a right angle stereo plug and works with stereo and mono detectors. Totally different and better sound then the ones I've been using from KellyCo. Couldn't believe the difference. Awesome glad I switched.

 

[Barney II]

First of all--great post----Question----Is a low ohm headphone better than a high ohm because it takes less power to get the max out of that low ohm headphone. Not so much power drain wise but signal wise???

 

[Terry(Mi)]

great info ....I just ordered 2 pr

 

[grouser]

just today I hooked up three different sets to my headphones and they all had a different "sound" to them. One stood out to me by really sounding, well, "fuzzier" on the beeps then the others and I really liked them over the other two. My suggestion is take you MD to Best buy or someplace and plug a bunch of them in and see the difference,

 

[Occupant]

Well Barney, I wouldn't say 'better', just different. All else being equal (same sensitivity, same efficiency, etc.) a low Ohm headphone will be louder than a high Ohm phone because it will allow more power transfer from the audio output section of the detector circuits. But remember, sensitivity is much more important to us than impedance. It's not fair to make the generalization that high Ohm phones will always have a lower volume, since the transducers in the high Ohm phones (with higher price, too) are probably more efficient with a diaphragm that is more responsive. There is another factor to consider, that being the Impedance of the output circuit. Ideally, the impedance of the phones should match the impedance of the output circuits. A matched impedance will also allow a more efficient power transfer from amplifier to phones. That can be important to a rock band wanting max volume to loud speakers, but our main concern is being able to hear those whispers from deep targets. I don't recall seeing any detector mfg. mention the output impedance of their audio section, and it's probably not worth the trouble to try and match impedance for our application. (Example: amplifier with 100 Ohm output impedance would like to see 100 Ohm phones connected to it) Should a detector not have enough volume in the phones, it could be because of high Ohm phones or just that they are inefficient in converting the amplifier power into sound.

If you have an Ohm Meter you can measure the Ohmic resistance of your phones at the plug. Touch one test lead on the sleeve of the plug and touch the other lead to the tip (and/or ring if it is a stereo plug). If the phones have a volume control, lower the volume a bit, then recheck the resistance. Higher resistance = lower volume. This is an over-simplification of the true situation since the target signal is an AC voltage but the Ohm meter uses DC. The frequency of the signal factors into it as well since impedance usually changes with frequency.

Both 'squaby' and 'grouser' have good suggestions. If at all possible, try a few different phones. Some are 'softer', others 'brighter' or 'lush' or 'warm'. I really don't like the raspy signals in the new digital detectors. Much prefer the 'sweet' sounds of the analog machines, but I'll put up with it as long as I keep finding stuff.

'shooter', I'd like to try the Pro Gold's someday. The soft leather ear pads sound nice. Maybe... when I find that cache.....
HH

 

[Barney II]

Thanks Occupant---I do alot of nugget shooting and I do need to hear the "whispers". The other thing is I'm just more than a tad bit hard of hearing---deaf my wife says---lol lol Thank you for your reply it helped a lot. Barney

 

[Barney II]

Hello Occupant---Thanks again for the come back---I will tell a little story. Read your post---gtreat, read your comeback great. Time to go look at those "cheapies" ha ha Looked for the Por 1 as you suggested at wal mart. They didn't have that model----"well what do you have"? The lady hands me a 28.95 pair ---this is what we have in Koss. Check em out----a full padded ear pc., 100 ohms, 103 sensitvity, 8 ft cord--not coiled , 1/8 and 1/4 plugs, in line volume-where you can see it, limited lifetime warranty, they fold up really small, seem to be fairly substantially made. Bought them---Hooked them up to the Gold Bug--1/4 plug, put a penny on the ground--hey pretty good can hear pretty far over the penny, tried the Sun Rays heh not as far, Koss 9000 from Whites--not as far. Well the Black widows will beat this cheary--nope, tried all the others that I have and not one could match this pair for hearing a faint signal. This was at full volume--for all the phones. This pair is the model UR 29 Koss. I can't believe this and I have been doing this a long time. This is with my impaired hearing you have to understand. They are just as comfortable as any of the others. Sorry for the drawn out story---lol lol Thanks again Occupant--saved me some gold---------------------Barney

 

[Mike Hillis]

I have a set of Koss UR-30's that I use sometimes but I don't know the specs. I'm so attached to my Uniprobes (I don't know the specs for those yet either), that I'd need to get a silent handheld pinpointer before I could usanother headphone. Time to go find the fine print.

Great thread!
HH
Mike

 

[Occupant]

Hey Barney, Glad they worked so well for you. That has been my experience as well. I have searched around the internet looking at many metal detector headphone advertisements, and most seem reluctant to post any 'sensitivity' numbers. Those that do all seem to be 72 dB, which is surprising since that is a fairly low number as headphones go. To be fair, some of the detector phones are hand assembled in smaller quantities that a company like Koss, and they may not be able to test for sensitivity, but they should have access to the specs from whoever makes the transducers they use.

I did notice that the ones that do list 'sensitivity' sometimes add '@ 1 kHz' or '@ 1 mW'. Both are correct, but not quite complete. The industry standard (if there really is such a thing) is to test the phones at a frequency of 1 kHz and a power input of 1 mW. That way it's 'apples to apples'. And while I'm getting picky, I'll add that the 1 mW (milliwatt or 1/1000 of a watt) rating is really a measure of 'efficiency' or how well the transducer changes the signal into sound, since watts are really a measure of power. While true 'sensitivity' would be tested at 1 mV (millivolt or 1/1000 of a volt), or how much does the diaphragm deflect with a signal of 1 mV.

I see that Radio Shack advertises the KXT Pro1 phones available for order online for $16. I'm still going to put together the 'clipper' circuit as soon as I get some time. Will post the details here.

Don't let the wife know that you can hear now with the Koss phones, she will have you plugging them into a hearing aid.
HH
Roger

 

[Barney II]

Hey Occupant----Again I thank you it is going to make a difference while detecting. I am going to Ganes Creek this year and this is where they will really shine. I just bought the wife a megaphone lol lol Scares heck out the dog----ha haha Thanks again. Barney

 

[Occupant]

Thanks Barney, I needed that laugh!! After 40 years of marriage (wife says it's more like 140 years) I have become good at 'selective deafness'. Very handy.

Mike, I have collected and printed many of your posts on the F5. It is my 'Field Manual' for the F5.

Roger