Best mixing headphones, budget max ~1600 $

[Alamo300]

Any sennheiser hd650 or better

[canadian_moose]

DT880 Pro and sonarworks correction works great for me. Didn’t break the bank either.

[MadAnthony81]

I impressed with my 100 dollar MAckie 250's. Real Flat, real detailed, real clear.

[MadAnthony81]

oh they also make others in the MC series, I saw the mc 450 for 300 dollars.

[himalaya]

At this budget, from the headphones I’ve owned and used: Audeze LCD-X. Simply supreme. Perfect sound.

Just stay away from HD650. These are not good for mixing. They are great for enjoing listening to music, watching movies loud. Great. But that high end frequency dip just hides so much information that it renders them useless for critical audio use.

[Milkman]

Do you guys have any suggestions?

I was looking at the Focal Clear Professional but I cant find a lot of info on people actually using them for mixing.
I tried the Audeze LCD-X at my local store and was not impressed, everything sounded super unnatural compared to my Beyerdynamic 1990 Pros.

How are the Beyerdynamic DT 1990s? I am looing at those right now, and may buy tomorrow. I have a pair of Shure SRH1540 phones that have been replaced 2x because of defects, and this time I am going to just send them back and get something new in the $500-1000ish range.

I am struggling... right now, to find the best pair for me. Im looking to produce, mix, master, as well as listen to music on them, and the Shure SRH1540s were very good although quite flat for my taste. I had to buy a headphone amp and really EQ my sounds to showcase bass the way I like to, and so I am hoping to replace the defective Shure with something warmer.

[Milkman]

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.

[lucid_iii]

I use the sennheiser hd 800 S with sonarworks eq, they're phenomenal.

[BlueOysterCult]

This won't answer the main question but I've been extremely happy with my Audio Technica R70x open back headphones. I paid $400 for them and I would buy them again. They are extremely flat sound profile wise though. People compare them to Sennheisers HD600 I think, just in a slightly different way. Great headphones for the money.

[sigmundklaus]

The holy trinity of "flat/linear/natural sounding" headphones is:
-Sennheiser 6XX serries
-Shure SRH 1840
-Audio Technica R70X
With your budget you can buy all three

But there is a lot more to headphones than just the frequency response... and how they sound which all could be dealbreakers:
1.- comfort:
you'll have to try them - you'll not find out how they sit on your head based on reviews. And this is extremely important. Can you imagine working for hours with headphones that irritate you or press on some sensitive point on your skull/jawbone/etc --- and they make you sweat in the summer
2.- reliability:
also important - just like with studio monitors what will make ANY headphone a good reference tool is the time you spend listening to audio with them and you get to know them... There are some brands out there that are known to be reliable and there are some that have had their QC issues. I would trust everything made in Japan or Germany ... To sum up...if you spend years with a pair learning their sound they better last for a decade or two
3.- other tehcnical aspects
-how microphonic are the cable connections? how sensitive they are to placement? how easy they are to drive with what you have available (audio interface headphone out? HP amp?)

.............

Buy one that is
-well known to last a long time
-that you tried fits your head comfortably
-spend a lot of time with it ...
...and it will become a good reference tool...with time

[sigmundklaus]

and about Focal Clear vs Audeze ...

I've got a pair of Clears (also another Focal pair, the Elegias) ... also have an Audeze LCD MX4

... I am in love with the Audeze sound...sadly they need to be repaired ...

Focal? The Clears are the 5th disapointment with Focal for me... I thought that in this price range Focal will not disapoint but it does.
Clears are extremely sensitive to placement... the Frequency response in the highs changes a lot when you move the earcup a bit. In terms of how microfonic their cables and cable connections are: the worst I've ever seen. And I don't trust Focal quality...the Elegias I had to send for repair after about 30 hours of use.

I guess I should practice what I preach and stick with something Japanese or German.
though the Audeze may be a fluke...my previous pairs I sold in perfect working condition after three years of almost daily use (LCD2 Classic)

[FriskyRingo]

Anyone have the Sennheiser HD820's? The closed back is more apartment friendly but surely they're more compromised than the marketing suggests. What headphone amps are people using at this price point?

[midi_transmission]

The holy trinity of "flat/linear/natural sounding" headphones is:
-Sennheiser 6XX serries
-Shure SRH 1840
-Audio Technica R70X
With your budget you can buy all three

But there is a lot more to headphones than just the frequency response... and how they sound which all could be dealbreakers:
1.- comfort:
you'll have to try them - you'll not find out how they sit on your head based on reviews. And this is extremely important. Can you imagine working for hours with headphones that irritate you or press on some sensitive point on your skull/jawbone/etc --- and they make you sweat in the summer
2.- reliability:
also important - just like with studio monitors what will make ANY headphone a good reference tool is the time you spend listening to audio with them and you get to know them... There are some brands out there that are known to be reliable and there are some that have had their QC issues. I would trust everything made in Japan or Germany ... To sum up...if you spend years with a pair learning their sound they better last for a decade or two
3.- other tehcnical aspects
-how microphonic are the cable connections? how sensitive they are to placement? how easy they are to drive with what you have available (audio interface headphone out? HP amp?)

.............

Buy one that is
-well known to last a long time
-that you tried fits your head comfortably
-spend a lot of time with it ...
...and it will become a good reference tool...with time

I agree with everything you wrote, but want to add: it's not only frequency. Impulse response, imaging and distortion is also very important. The hd6xx are not working so well in the bass and the Shure has a rather high distortion in the bass according to sonarworks.

I'm still amazed that there is nothing really almost flawless or very balanced on a high level. Most highend headphones are very good at one aspect, but fail in others.

I'm also searching in the 500+ range but so far every model has at least one big disadvantage it seems.
I was about to test the slate one, but like as some Focals, they use Beryllium and personally I just don't feel comfortable to have this material in my headphone.

[3ee]

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..

[3ee]

Focal? The Clears are the 5th disapointment with Focal for me... I thought that in this price range Focal will not disapoint but it does.
Clears are extremely sensitive to placement... the Frequency response in the highs changes a lot when you move the earcup a bit. In terms of how microfonic their cables and cable connections are: the worst I've ever seen. And I don't trust Focal quality...the Elegias I had to send for repair after about 30 hours of use.

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

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..