No, I don't have Alfred E. Neuman ears but my phones, where the speaker pads are, touch the edge of my ears and after a while they begin to bother me. I have AKG K240s and I bought a pair of M-40s when they were on sale a couple of months age.
I have other phones that I use for other things. I can wear them all day. One pair are Sun Ray Pros, and a pair of Grey Ghost phones.
Do you know of any phones that have slightly deeper cups? I do have some adhesive "sweat bands". They are a felt sort of oval that sticks to the cups for when it is hot out and sweat is a problem, I've thought about adding (stacking) a couple to each cup on the M-40s, they are an oval cup and would fit but I don't really want to do that. I replaced the foam and rubber cup covers on the AKGs, I thought maybe the new ones would be more firm and keep them off my ear, but no. Maybe I will develop calluses on my ears.
 
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.
 
J

If AKG K240's hurt your ears then I don't have any ideas.

I use off ear headphones when I'm not tracking and want to be quiet (family asleep or something).
 
When I'm tracking off-ear headphones send the sound back into the mic from the previous tracks, so that's no good.
 
When I'm mixing the sound from the headphones doesn't matter. It's nice to let air get to your ears. These were $20 USD at radio shack headphones from which all the padding and stuff has been removed. They don't hold the air in. They don't touch my ears at all.
 
I use a good bit of EQ when I'm mixing using these headphones to boost the low end etc.
 
They aren't great, but they are perfectly comfy and I've not tried anything I like more.
 

gswitz
I use off ear headphones when I'm not tracking and want to be quiet (family asleep or something).
 
When I'm tracking off-ear headphones send the sound back into the mic from the previous tracks, so that's no good.
 
When I'm mixing the sound from the headphones doesn't matter. It's nice to let air get to your ears. These were $20 USD at radio shack headphones from which all the padding and stuff has been removed. They don't hold the air in. They don't touch my ears at all.
 
I use a good bit of EQ when I'm mixing using these headphones to boost the low end etc.
 
They aren't great, but they are perfectly comfy and I've not tried anything I like more.
 

Thanks! I may even try my SunRay phones, they are stereo/mono (switchable). They may sound just fine, I've never thought about using them. They also have separate volume controls for each ear. It's funny, I've used the cheap 10 dollar phones with the foam (when it's REALLT hot outside), that sit right on the ear and they never bothered me. I think it is the really light touch, maybe with a little movement that irritates the tips of my ears. I used to do a LOT of Civil War relic hunting, found a LOT of it too! Those other phones are designed for that.
 
Thanks for the help!
 
Julien

The sole most comfortable headphones I've ever used are Audio Technica's ATH series of consumer phones. They make them open and closed, at many different price points. They are in the form of ATH-AD###(X) Air for the open ones and ATH-A###(X) Art for the closed ones. The 700 and 900s are pretty reasonably priced and sound quite good, the 1000 and 2000 are quite high end with sound and price to match. The ones with an X suffix are the current generation, the ones without it are the previous generation.
 
Amazon sells most of them, Audiocubes (who I've bought from before) sells all of them.
 
They aren't my favourite sounding headphones, those would be the Denon AHD2000/5000 phones, but they sound very good and just have a level of comfort I've found unmatched in any other headphone.

I like my beyerdynamics when my ears are feeling sore from long headphone sessions.

Thanks Obi. I'll check them out. I noticed today that my AKGs have a lot lower volume level with everything else set the same than the M-40s. I wonder if it is because I have to use an adapter 1/8 to 1/4 with the K-240s while the M-40s came with a 1/4" jack. Maybe I'll try another, a new, adapter to see.
I'm going to a few music stores on Wednesday and I'll check them out, thanks again!
 
Hey, a different subject but... get on someone's back about getting an update done for IOS 8 !
 
Julien

Make sure you use the same type of headphone amp. That can skew how they sound. That or use your reference headphones before testing new ones on the same source amp. As for any iOS updates, Check the signature. 

AKG K240's need more power to produce the same level as ATH-M50's.  
The K240's are very comfortable but do not reproduce the very low end like the ATH's so I use the K240's for tracking but for critical listening, I use the ATH's.
The ATH's to put some pressure on your ears because they are enclosed.  The K240's surround your ear and feel much lighter on your head.
 

I find the Shure 940's to be comfortable and suitable for mixing once you get used to them. Highly recommend.