Yeah, the SM7b is a gain hog for sure. I also used to wear headphones when I record VO, but now I hardly ever do because of the same reasons you mentioned, but the main reason for me is so my head doesn't get fatigued when voicing for long periods of time. Even the most plush headphone pads will get uncomfortable after a few hours of being continuously on your head. So I usually just use headphones for when I am mixing and producing audio like a radio commercial or a podcast intro and go between my near field monitors and my cans. I usually have my cans hanging on a hook in my booth with the ear cups folded open and if I turn the headphone volume up, I can hear the playback enough to get my VO recorded and edited and it doesn't get picked up at all by my 416. Yeah, the SM7b is a gain hog for sure, but its quite a versatile mic!