Vic Firth SIH2

Looking for affordable monitoring headphones ("cans") for studio tracking, I compared Superlux HD660, Superlux HD665, t.bone HD 990D, Vic Firth SiH2 and Beyerdynamic DT-770M to each other and to my DT-770 pro 80. I know, not a really fair reference, but my idea was to seek for a series of cans that would not cost more, preferably less than my DT-770 and still would have proper, useful sound quality. From the models selected, you can guess that acoustic isolation was also a desirable feature, to prevent the sound from the cans bleeding into e.g. a singer's mic and thus saving me time cleaning up tracks from this bleed. That is why I also searched among headphones dedicated to drummers. I will review all of the models mentioned, each in their own product page. Here we go for the Vic Firth SiH2.

Before I could even listen to it's sound, I had trouble unfolding it open and adjust it to fit to my head. The relatively thin metal wire that connects the ear shells to the head strap to me has a tendency to get worn out and over bent soon. Having succeeded to put the cans on my head, the shells felt a little small to be "over ear", they rather tended to be "on ear", and the padding was so thin that I felt the foam on the driver touch the skin of my ear. Acoustic isolation t.m.o. was not better than my DT-770 pro or good old Sennheiser HD 250 linear II. And then it's sound: very dull in all ranges of the spectrum, as if I was lying on my bed and listening to a speaker under my pillow! Definitely not my choice!

I've been using them for about a year for practicing both with acoustic and electronic drums.

- On the acoustic drums, they protect my hearing way more than any earplugs I have (even custom-made ones with a theoretically similar attenuation). Of course what I play doesn't sound amazing through all that noise isolation, but I don't really care.
- With electronic drums, I'm very satisfied with how much they isolate the sounds of the pads.
- Sound quality isn't amazing but again, not something I care about.
- They fit my (big) head pretty well and they only start to get uncomfortable after more than an hour, and probably only because I don't have any hair that could offer some padding.

Overall I'm satisfied, as I value my hearing way more than perceiving every detail of how my drums sound.

Like the previous model, it puts a lot of pressure on the head. If you wear glasses like me, it can cause some inconvenience. But it's bearable! Quite a good sound and, most importantly, noise reduction. I also use a Yamaha HPH - MT 8. They have an amazing sound, but it is difficult to work in them due to the fact that the ear pads are very sound-permeable. But they do not put pressure on the head and have better drivers than SIH2 (but also cost Yamaha twice as much). Of course, these are inherently different headphones, but it seems to me that if you solve the problem with strong pressure, cable length (make a twisted and long cable, as it once was) and make drivers a little better, then these will be the coolest headphones for drummers!

The main reason I bought SIH2 is an earprotection plus monitoring and it was the best choice for me. Once it came to me I immediately tried them in a drum practice session and I no longer needed to play softer in order to hear backing track or metronome like I had to do with my previous headphones... I was playing full power at last!!:)
Once I took them on rehearsal (used as "earplugs") it got even better. Despite the fact that SIH2 are extremely closed I was in total balance with others.
Also I tried them in mixing and well it's not a great studio headphones yet extremely useful for bass check.
One real disadvantage for me is that these headphones are really tight on my head and after an hour of use they get a bit annoying.
Overall I am satisfied with SIH2 and would advise them to all musicians (especially drummers) since its the most closed headphones I've ever tried. However, you should try them on before buying to see how tight they are on your head.

I was a bit sceptical about these headphones, they were quite cheap so thought that they would be rubbish to hook up to a Jobeky kit with a TD-11 drum module. How wrong was I.
These have to be the best for the buck headphones going for a Roland drum module. The noise cancellation works a treat, you can only hear the pad/cymbal, not the actual hitting of the cymbals etc. it does a really good job.
I was worried that the phones would not fit my head, they fit perfect, they are tight but covers the ears well and you don't get any discomfort from wearing them when you have a bash on the kit. Truly a must buy for any electronic drummer. The service from Thomann was excellent as usual.