My Yamaha CM500 headset finally died last year, so I tried the cheaper Koss SB-45. I hated the Koss. Sent it back and bought a new Yamaha CM500 headset.

The Yamaha headset sits around my ears, the Koss on top of them. The Yamaha grabs my (big) head fairly lightly, but the Koss was a head clamp. The Koss headset was immediately uncomfortable, then I gave it another try and it was still uncomfortable. It smashed my ears painfully against my head.

Here is a photo of the ear cups on the two headsets, face to face (ear to ear?), with the Yamaha on the right. You can see that the Yamaha is clearly bigger.

Here are the two ear cups side by side, with the Yamaha again on the right.

If you have a small head or don’t mind returning items, you can try the Koss ($31) instead of the Yamaha ($60). Your head is different than mine, but I recommend just getting the Yamaha CM500.

Also, my CM500 would have lasted longer than seven years, but I tried to replace the ear pads and broke a wire inside the ear cup. I tried to fix that, but I soldered it three times and broke it four times, then there wasn’t enough wire left to solder.