Best mixing headphones, budget max ~1600 $

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3ee wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:08 pm

Sorry to hear you don't think Focal Clear are high quality... I think they are even though I also feel they are 'a bit' far from perfect..

..but yes, they are sensitive to placement, that's why when checking something more precisely I align them on my head using pink noise :D

About the microphonic cable... do you have the silver colored one? I hear that the cables that come with that are different and aren't good at all in terms of what you are describing... I have the red-ish colored one and use it with the coiled cable, absolutely no problem with it being microphonic or something..

Sorry to hear about your experience with the Elegia.. I also was a bit nervous about investing on a pair of Clears due to many comments about driver clipping and what not..
I may have been too harsh on the Clears .... There is no headphone on the market that is not a compromise in some way. And Clears do sound great ... but I thought that I should talk about the "bad" points as those are not mentioned as often in reviews.

Yeah, really great sounding headphones, in terms of sound signature probably the best compromise in the 500 to 1500 price range. Do they have a "$ 1500 sound" ...mmm, I don't think so... But I bought them for about € 900 and that is kind of OK...

The other thing is that I'll always be nervous about them lasting a long time... and they are not servicable ...like a Sennheiser is in that you can basicaly get any spare parts should anything go wrong.

And that brings me to another point. What makes the HD6XX (and Sony MDR 6507, Beyer DT DTxx0 line...maybe AKG K702?) headphoens a great reference tools is that they have been around for a long time and I will trust Sennheiser/Sony/Beyer that they will be awailable for some more time. Without long term consistancy and availability nothing deserves the "reference" title. Focal already came out with a new version for the Clear line... who knows how long the Clear ("Classics"?) will be around for? What Focal does to me seems a very Hi Fi market strategy but in the studio world we need reference tools which means long term consistancy and reliability

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just curious... has anyone tried the new planars from Avantone?

http://www.avantonepro.com/planar-red.php
"There is no strength in numbers... have no such misconception... but when you need me be assured I won't be far away."

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sigmundklaus wrote:
The other thing is that I'll always be nervous about them lasting a long time... and they are not servicable ...like a Sennheiser is in that you can basicaly get any spare parts should anything go wrong.

And that brings me to another point. What makes the HD6XX (and Sony MDR 6507, Beyer DT DTxx0 line...maybe AKG K702?) headphoens a great reference tools is that they have been around for a long time and I will trust Sennheiser/Sony/Beyer that they will be awailable for some more time. Without long term consistancy and availability nothing deserves the "reference" title. Focal already came out with a new version for the Clear line... who knows how long the Clear ("Classics"?) will be around for? What Focal does to me seems a very Hi Fi market strategy but in the studio world we need reference tools which means long term consistancy and reliability
so true!
Last edited by midi_transmission on Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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MadDogE134 wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:16 am just curious... has anyone tried the new planars from Avantone?

http://www.avantonepro.com/planar-red.php
Not tried, but there are some very good reviews, very fast impulse response, very neutral frequency response, but a bit lack of sub bass. And I've read about some QA problems, but maybe it was just the first batch.

My concern is mainly how long do they produce them and will there be spare parts. And also how comfortable are they. Audeeze are too heavy for me.

I have not tested Ollo audio so far, but I really really like their approach and what they are doing, because they seem to really get the important points, like spare parts and all this, and they are very transparent and professional about everything. I should order a pair and check, but I feel that I would like to wait another revision. Some measurements I saw had some narrow dips in the high end, while the overall response was even. But I'm afraid of these dips, that being said, no idea if you can hear them.

You can check them here compared to other headphones, you will see also the dip with the s4x. The curve is smoothed of course (which is fine! they also explain at the page why they've used that kind of smoothing and resolution). What's funny, the Clear has almost the same response - with this curve smoothing at least.
https://olloaudio.com/de/pages/measurements

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i got a set not long ago and they are surprisingly comfortable imo... being metal and thick leather that is. imo no matter the line graphs on any set... all this is STILL subjective to each individual. we ALL hear differently no matter WHAT the driver puts out. those graphs are just guidelines imo. :) i think the Avantones have very good freq separation, the transients ARE fast and distinct. they seem quite flat and although they only go down to 30hz i think it is (lack of sub bass) nothing be it speakers or cans should be relied upon for 100% of the work. one should always cross reference on other systems. if the cans can do say 80-90% of the work i find they are a plus. over time you can learn the set and know what you are missing then compensate.

the only bad i can say about mine at least... the cable was horrid. you could hear it move... not sure if you would call it microphonic but they were right noisy. but that could be the polymer used for sheathing... it is webbed and some polymers do build up static charge. also i could grip the cable in my hand and hear a slight drop in audio almost like thin shielding and the drop was from interference. they use 3.5mm jacks so cables can be easily replaced. i was about to send mine back but decided to try new cables. the new cables work a charm... no noise... no drop... no interference. of all the comments and reviews i have read on them... there were only about three others that even complained about the same so maybe it was just a bad batch of cables? one bloke even thought the sheathed webbing may even be kevlar lol... the original ones ARE pretty stiff.

all in all i am quite happy thus far with mine. they should last imo... they are built like a russian tank lol. i know i shouldn't have to replace the cables right off... BUT for the price being planar and with their performance it was of little consequence and easily remedied. i have yet to write Avantone about it but i am going to just been rather busy. cheers
"There is no strength in numbers... have no such misconception... but when you need me be assured I won't be far away."

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Another vote for the Beyerdynamic dt1990, these are super dynamic, built like a tank and just sound amazing. I think past this price point you just get diminishing returns.

I do think they need some fairly minor EQ correction to counter an 8-10k peak,

You can find EQ correction here (for many headphones):
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wi ... of_presets

I was recommended and use this Crave EQ to do the correction, it's great value and totally transparent:
https://cravedsp.com/crave-eq

Add to this something like Waves Abbey Road Studios (can be picked up cheap), and you can also get a great 'room' vibe to help further check mixing decisions.

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.... or get dSONIQ Realphones instead, which will do the both, correct and give you virtual mixing environment, developer recommend using it with DT1990 to get amazing results out of it.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/product ... lugin.html

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3ee wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:57 pm
Milkman wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:52 am
3ee wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 4:55 pm forgot to mention: I also have the DT-1990 and although they can be great with eq (still not @ the level of the Clear and LCD-X if you ask me) , I absolutely won't recommend them without eq correction... they seem too bright and some high-mid peaks/dips combination really mask the freq response.

here's the eq correction I had for my particular unit, A-pads: https://app.box.com/s/k8y0ob80su2dffywz449jle4sqs586ij
Can I pick your brain about this a bit?

As I commented earlier, I am about to swap a defective Shure SRH 1540 for something else, and I am leaning heavily in the direction of the DT 1990 Pro. Can you describe more about the EQing you felt like you needed to do to make them less bright? Were the high freqs painful at first at your regular listening volumes?

My Shure 1540s were also a bit bright, I had to amp them up and EQ (in cubase) a little, and my streaming audio sounded really flat. Im looking for something that is well balanced, and a slight bit warmer than these. I produce 99% various electronic music with typically plenty of bass, and I use Klipsch speakers + amp much of the time. The Klipsch speakers are fed directly by my focusrite 8i6, and they are much warmer without any EQ than the Shure.

That said, I am also willing to work for my best sound environment. Meaning if the DT 1990s need EQing, and after that they sound wonderful, I am willing to do that for my best environment.
It's not like the EQ I 'felt' needed... I wanted to achieve pure freq neutrality first (maximum objectivity) , then I compensated a tiny bit from there for my work 'feel' habit (i.e. 1-2 dB more or less bass, treble etc)

Here's a picture of my eq correction for my specific 'unit' ... I'm sure other units differ a bit progressively more towards the high freqs .. and that's why headphone correction software don't work that well... they either do an average from multiple units and they aren't exact enough (at least IMO) or it's not exact from one to the other if they don't average as much..

DT-1990 Pro (A pads) eq correction
https://app.box.com/s/k8y0ob80su2dffywz449jle4sqs586ij

After EQ, the DT-1990 sound pretty damn good ... but without, they have some pretty serious issues if you want it for 'reference' QC-ing... you either learn to work around those problems or EQ using relatively slow sine-sweeps both ascending and descending.. If you ask me for example... they are clearly a step up from an HD-600 in just about every aspect with exception of freq response..
Thank you. It took me FOREVER to get this solved, as Sweetwater made some major errors with the shipping of my replacements, and I wound up just buying the Beyerdynamic DT1990s directly from the manufacturer.

I've had the DT1990s for about a month now, and I am very impressed. I wound up also buying a new headphone amp, and at some point may even buy a higher end dac/amp to pair up with it, but for now its great for everything I do. I have a mackie hm-4 amp, which cost me $40, and it drives them well via my focusrite interface.

I do find myself using light EQ for some things, such as lossless audio playback, but inside cubase Im able to EQ and manage my sounds in such a way that the DT1990s frequency response doesnt become too bright or miss anything that I can detect. I even use them in gaming and movie watching!

Love them! Love them so much, I just bought the DT 770s for my wife, who has just taken her first step down pro-audio lane. =P

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Milkman wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 12:58 am
Love them! Love them so much, I just bought the DT 770s for my wife, who has just taken her first step down pro-audio lane. =P
If you love them so much, why didn't you buy the same for your wife ? :phones:

+1 for the DT1990 here too

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christian f. wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 1:09 am
Milkman wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 12:58 am
Love them! Love them so much, I just bought the DT 770s for my wife, who has just taken her first step down pro-audio lane. =P
If you love them so much, why didn't you buy the same for your wife ? :phones:

+1 for the DT1990 here too
Because she did not want those. It was hard to convince her to get the DT 770s, and we got the 30ohm version so she would be able to use them on all her devices. The DT 1990s dont have a 30ohm version, and are a much more serious investment. She doesnt produce or even listen to music as much as I do, so the 770s were perfect for her.

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$1600 for a pair of headphones? Are you mad? 😳
I’d rather spend it on acoustic treatment and getting your room right. It seems like a lot of people suggest you can get a top quality pair for around $350 and less 🤷‍♂️
I wonder what happens if I press this button...

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