studio grade headphones.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: studio grade headphones.

(Realizing this is an old thread)

NegativeEase, have you tried Shure headphones? I find them, for my ears, to have the best headphone-to-real-world tonal and loudness characteristics. Been using ATs lately and I find them to be be a bit hyped in the high freqs but the upper mids are quite clear.

[NegativeEase]

Re: studio grade headphones.

(Realizing this is an old thread)

NegativeEase, have you tried Shure headphones? I find them, for my ears, to have the best headphone-to-real-world tonal and loudness characteristics. Been using ATs lately and I find them to be be a bit hyped in the high freqs but the upper mids are quite clear.

I have a few Shures -mainly in-ears/IFB style stage buds -but do not own the 840s recording headphones or any other Shure over the ear studio headphones. That said, I have used the 840s and they are really really good -but haven't A/B'd them against the others.

[halwio]

Re: studio grade headphones.

I used a pair of HD 280's for a couple of years before upgrading to SRH 840's. I will say they are very good headphones, especially for the price. You don't really need anything better, as they take you most of the way in terms of studio headphones (arguably monitors are more important for referencing anyways). A couple things to note, some users say the headphones are overly tight and can cause fatigue on your head, though I didn't find that to be the case with mine. They are very flat, but I find the bass to be slightly more distant than my 840's. I don't think you can go wrong the the HD 280's, though I can't personally speak for the M40X. Hope that helps!

I've used HD 280s but had difficulties in terms of frequency.

[NecroPolo]

Re: studio grade headphones.

In my experience Sennheisers are the weakest mechanically. All of them. If you a single user taking care of your equipment it should not be a problem but if you work with bands - it won't survive its first 2 years on the battlefield without breaking. When I worked for the biggest rec facility in my country I did tech jobs as well and failed Sennheisers tended to pile up. I fixed them - they broke again 2 weeks later somewhere else. They sound really good but after they start to pile up - you will not care about the sound anymore.

The aforementioned Sony is built to last. It is a great monitor for tracking, give it to drummers who otherwise destroy anything else. Maybe because of the age of the units I worked with (they were at least a decade old) these started to develop phase issues so they drove singers consistent flat or sharp. Despite the awesome build soundwise I'm not too convinced, still, I admit that they were awesome tracking workhorses.

Considering Audio-Technicas, even the cheap M20s are indestructible. If you aim higher the M40 is honest enough so it is absolutely capable of switching between main monitor speakers and this one to exclude room reflections, check stereo field and spectrum, error detection and so on that a decent set can reveal. These last for approx. a decade.

The first AKG coming to my mind is the K1000. As it is a set of super accurate micro studio monitors strapped to your head I'd gladly mix/master an album with it alone, without using any external monitors. It is unrealistically expensive and sort of fragile. I sold it and said goodbye to expensive maintenance, too. After some time spent with it I think it is a bad idea to have/use units with sky-high price. I'd have a Toyota over a Ferrari for daily use any time, so to say. These are just tools after all that can break and between $100-200 you can find pretty functional, stress-free tools.

So, the winner for me is the K240. It has the best price-value ratio by far I've seen. It is strong enough by design for tracking and honest enough for mixing duties. The facelift kits are cheap too so when a K240 wears out (I'd say they start to show wear after 6-8 years on average) you can re-build it completely.

[NegativeEase]

Re: studio grade headphones.

so I'm looking to build a "beginner" studio, so to speak. i want to get some decent quality headphones. I'm looking to spend around $100. the major differences I'm seeing in the $100 range is the impedance. from a headphone standpoint whats the difference between 64 ohms and 44 ohms. I'm debating between the sennheiser HD280 and the audio-technica ATH-M40X. there both $99.99. the Sennheiser is a 64 ohm and the audio-technica is a 44 ohm. the audio's come with a detachable straight and coiled cable as well as a 1/4" to headphone adapter. where as the sennheiser is a fixed cable. the detachable cable intrigues me but i don't want lower quality headphones just because the cable comes off. the way i always understood impedance was the higher the ohms the tighter the sounds was gonna be. but that's coming more from a big speaker standpoint. ive never dealt with a driver higher than 16 ohms.

Both of those headphones are good TS. The Audio Technicas and Sony 7506's are industry standard for live/ control room production, whereas Sennheiser 280s and AKG Ks are more the recording studio standard, although AT and Sennheiser are certainly used in both.

Overall, the Sennheisers are going to be more accurate and faithful -they have a much better sensitivity rating -they are more of a true reference headphone -better for recording and mixing, they also have higher acoustic isolation from the environment.

ATs, probably sound better for day to day use, as they are not going to have the pronounced accurate mid range of Sennheisers -which is what you want for reference monitors but not for enjoyment. also the Audio Technicas are lower impedance so you can drive them from a consumer and portable device with less battery consumption and more volume -although the impedance difference between the 2 is not that great.

SO for recording studio/home recording only -it's the Sennheisers or AKGs for me, for a lot of listening for enjoyment, walking around/on the train and long durations of listening -I'd go ATs or Sonys.

but don't be afraid to use any for either application, as at 99.00 you are creeping up into the "good" category for most any analog large diapragm wired headphone from a reputable mfg.