Pain + ears

TrabanT · 2015-04-13T20:28:00.000Z

""MichalHo"":

Hs8 are harsh.
Try having their sonic focus to the sides of your head, rather than pointing their tweeters directly at your face (parallel, not converging). I.e. Place them horizontally, tweeters on outside. You can also use lateral treble absorbers on the walls between you and speakers.
I had the hs80m, and while they yielded good mix results, they are painful around 7khz.
I suffer much less ear fatigue on the adam a77x.

Place them horizontally, tweeters on outside.

I did that immediately after reading that! …

my room is rather medium … left to right probably 2 times my body length …the other 2 dimensions… probably 4 times my body length … i am 1,80 meters, which is about 6 foot … my speakers are 1 arms length away from my ears … maybe 1 arm plus half an arm …

earlier in the day after posting my thread I turned the high trim all the way down!

nice idea with the lateral absorbers … but I am too lazy for that usually … will check with ableton about the 7 khz thing… thanks!

MichalHo · 2015-04-13T20:37:35.000Z

I eventually placed the hs80m quite far from me. (Close to the front wall resulted in better resolved bass, counterintuitively)
Tweeters ca. 2 m from my ears.
And as i mentioned, having the tweeters not aimed at your ears (triangle), but rather towards the back wall (rectangle) helps a bit.

Of course this depends on the room.

TrabanT · 2015-04-13T20:38:17.000Z

""nirun"":

how big is your room? How far are the speakers from your ears? They should be pretty far away considering the size of the drivers. The HS5s I have are about an arms length away and never hurt my ears.

they are probably too close … 1 arms length, max 1,5 arms length away… when I get off of my chair and walk steps into my room behing my chair, I usually notice an extreme increase in bass response and overall thickness of sound … never really addressed this issue to be honest! …

lazybedrommproducerswithawesomeelektronmachines

MichalHo · 2015-04-13T20:42:58.000Z

Don’t worry too much about overall room neutrality unless you have clients. Instead, optimize your sweet spot.

TrabanT · 2015-12-18T23:32:48.000Z

HS8s gone. Cheap sony speakers (5 Euro second hand), less ear fatigue , only usually on beyerdynamics dt770 pro… new squishy memory foam on my shure215 … my ears dont hurt anymore…but it really took quite a while! … also saw another doctor, couldnt find shit (exept sand from surfing few month back)

blakelacey · 2020-12-30T11:55:42.344Z

Hello! its been a while, hope your fine.
I am in exactly the same situation as you were and feel so confused, also have the same headphones as you… My ears have been hammered by these hs8’s for all the time ive had them, a couple weeks, and doctors suggest inner ear damage but nothing else… have to wait a couple months there too see if they still hurt to confirm that…
My ears are just F#$%KD, rooms 4x4m no treatmant, and i dont ever want to treat it, Naked studio monitors shouldnt be hammering my ears for this long,
preassure balls in each ear, ringing, throbbing, I feel like im going insane

DanJamesAUS · 2020-12-30T13:53:58.425Z

Get rid of the 8s they are too powerful for listening all the time, only good for very large room
I had the same problem with tinnitus until I got smaller speakers. Hardly ever get sore ears now…

I went to genelec 8010As small but excellent quality, moved to 5 inch now and they have enough bass, but not too ear damaging loud

Menez · 2020-12-30T14:13:52.603Z

How big is your room? I’m looking at some monitors when I move into my new place but it’s hard to judge room size and monitor size.

christianlukegates · 2020-12-30T14:19:04.620Z

do you smoke/vape by any chance?

DanJamesAUS · 2020-12-30T14:24:40.660Z

It’s only a small room,
I wouldn’t recommend 8s unless very large room, or ever really
you get reflections off the walls, ear fatigue and end up with tinnitus…

Airyck · 2020-12-30T16:37:16.583Z

How loud are you monitoring? 80-85dB should be your target listening level, which is relatively quiet. Anything above that for extended periods will cause temporary (and possibly permanent) hearing loss.

Try a free or cheap APP for your phone to get a ball park idea of how loud you’re listening.

They also sell cheap decibel meters for car stereo enthusiasts who “need” it. Even though the bass has made the doors fall off the car.

You can turn it up once in a while but always bring it back down after a bit.

+1 to smallish Genelecs (a little pricy for some though).

PekeDorty · 2020-12-30T17:58:00.879Z

Funny - I own those speakers as well and I will be switching to Genelcs as well with my next pay check and or good offer 2nd hand.

I totally know what you mean - I had pain in my ears as well with the HS7.

I never got warm with the Yamaha monitors anyways. Also they are not shielded and the 4G antenna in front of my house is resonating pretty well into the speakers producing HF noise… annoying af on top of the harsh sound they already have. Switch to something else! Or maybe use something like Sonarworks?

blakelacey · 2020-12-31T13:27:19.030Z

its been 50 hours since last use and the preassure, throbbing ball like pain is still there, looks like im looking at a couple months break at this rate permenant ear damage would send me off a bridge, thanks all for suggestions, will definitely look at selling them, theyre f*&ing massive, been nothing but a waiste of time, space, money and ear cells, im glad though i have learnt from this , i was allways cocky about my ear health in the studio before this, allways blasting tunes with no consequences, but have the hs8s have humbled me to be extra caytios of potential ear damage.

blakelacey · 2020-12-31T13:33:00.857Z

mate it seriosuly wasnt loud at all, i had 70$ logitech speakers with sub bass, (great value) and cld blast them all day every day for a whole year , didnt have a worry in me, but i have these f ing 8’s on for what seems like normal volume and bang ear fatigue in mins, i guess they are a more precise soundwave?
it makes me sad when some of my favorite artists use them and i have to search cracks into the internet to find similair people with the same problem.

christianlukegates · 2020-12-31T13:37:26.366Z

i wouldnt necessarily attribute this just to the monitors that youve been using (tho obvs i dont know much about how you use them, at what levels, proximity etc)- there could be other causes here that would be best looked at by an ENT specialist. i asked before if you smoke/vape- this is because i had/have issues with one ear that sound very similar to the ones you describe, and the conclusion i came to in my circs was that it was possibly a reaction to a particular principle ingredient in e-liquid. so that for example is one avenue worth considering if its applicable, and there may be many more

DanJamesAUS · 2020-12-31T13:43:20.737Z

I did some damage cranking my 8s too loud definitely have a bit of hearing loss in left ear,
Ditch the 8s ASAP in my opinion and have a solid break and it should hopefully slowly get better.

blakelacey · 2020-12-31T13:46:04.963Z

christianlukegates:

looked at by an ENT specialist.

sorry i thought you were talking to someone else, no i never smoke or vape. Sometimes when drunk. But the issue is certainly felt as soon as hs8’s are in use

blakelacey · 2020-12-31T13:46:53.348Z

Man that sucks, whos gonna tell you when you go and buy it huh

DanJamesAUS · 2020-12-31T13:52:59.314Z

Yeah you think when buying them that bigger is better
It’s only slight hearing loss in left ear not noticeable most the time.
Not had any problems since downsizing my speakers

christianlukegates · 2020-12-31T13:54:47.298Z

ah ok cool, then i guess check that one off the list. but i’d still advise looking into any other causes and not just the monitors- the fact that its felt when the monitors are in use could be indicative that loud sound in general is provoking/exacerbating something thats already there, but caused by something else, if that makes sense? idk, i only chimed in as it sounds similar to my experience- you describe a throbbing pressure like sensation, which i get (its similar to the pressure on ascent/descent when flying, and really frikking annoying), and that would likely be a eustachian tube/inner ear thing, rather than being caused by a reaction to loud sound (which would be more hearing loss/tinnitus type stuff). im by no means a doctor, but i urge you to see one- i kow from experience that this type of stuff is no laughing matter. hope you find a solution, keep us posted