What Headphones Do You Use With Your DAW?

[Jac459]

Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, most transparant and honest sound together with 112dB monitor vst in the master. Makes me make music for ever. I have worn out 2 sets at the moment and soon get my 3 rd set.

I do not like closed headphones. So that little bleed i don not care. I make noisy shit anyway.

I am living in Singapore... Never fully silent... AirCon, constructions... Closed back is useful there...
But I heard the DT990 are great indeed...

[fwsuperhero]

Austrian audio hi-x65.
I was using Akg k-701 before.

[sQeetz]

AKG is an Austrian company (not Australian)
They do nice stuff
Although I live in Germany, I was born in Austria.
AKG still know their stuff.
I have a pair of K712 as main monitors, 141 Studio for stuff.... and K450 for commuting.

[Milkman]

Ive owned a few, but have settled on the Beyerdynamic DT1990 as my main mixing/mastering phones. Along with near field monitors of course.

DT1990 are very clear, some say a bit sharp on the mid/highs. At first, I found the "neutrality" of the DT1990 to be something I wanted to EQ, but over time I have learned to trust them very much to let me hear honest frequencies during production.

Before these, I tried the Shure SRH1540 but returned them because of undesirable mid/low thinness, unacceptable sibilance, etc.

Before these, the good old Audio Technica ATH m50x. I LOVED these headphones, and used them for 10+ years. Rebuilt and repaired them once. These are great, affordable, full range headphones, but when you compare these to something like DT1990, you hear the more full sound dynamics of the 1990.

Before those, I used the old Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones, also for like 10 years. These were very good, warm, clear, but in hindsight, the image on them was "nice" but not "great" when compared to more purpose-built "recording/mixing" headphones.

I've used a few IEMs, as well, including a nice custom set from china (MiM audio Dark Magician) as well as the legendary Thieaudio Monarch mk2. These sound good, very intimate, very clear, but I dont really recommend mixing/mastering on IEMs. Even with a great soundstage and dynamic range, IEMs do something weird to the sound when in production.

I still go with the DT1990, for now, until I find something that can do this better.

[Milkman]

AKG is an Austrian company (not Australian)
They do nice stuff
Although I live in Germany, I was born in Austria.
AKG still know their stuff.
I have a pair of K712 as main monitors, 141 Studio for stuff.... and K450 for commuting.

AKG makes good stuff! Ive read a lot about it, and Ive had one pair of AKG earbuds which sounded great. Havent gotten around to trying any of their headphones though, and maybe I will some day.

[Logga]

Any headphone can be improved with EQ.
Check out oratory1990 and AutoEq.

[legendCNCD]

Improved to some extent yes, but for example bad bass reproduction cannot if the driver simply can not.

[bmanic]

Nor can you hide distortion, which is quite prevalent in low-end headphones. It's also worth noting that due to the boundary effect and how close the headphone sits to a users ear, the actual anatomy of the user becomes a real acoustic element. This can't be compensated for by the manufacturer nor an external plugin or EQ preset. The user needs to do it themselves.

[questionaire]

Nor can you hide distortion, which is quite prevalent in low-end headphones. It's also worth noting that due to the boundary effect and how close the headphone sits to a users ear, the actual anatomy of the user becomes a real acoustic element. This can't be compensated for by the manufacturer nor an external plugin or EQ preset. The user needs to do it themselves.

I found 112dB monitor vst to work really well with headphones, i do not know how its being called but with real monitors but somehow the monitors cross over to each ear. I mean left monitor will reach a bit the right ear and the right monitor the left ear. 112dB simulates that really well to my ears. Its less fatiguing. With headphones you get a real seperated sound pure left and pure right.

[bmanic]

Yes that is called crossfeed. There are many solutions out there. To my ears Goodhertz CanOpener is the best at doing crossfeed. There are also many free alternatives and it's not difficult to create your own solution in a modular environment like Reaktor.

The old school combo, before Slate VSX took over (for me at least), was running CanOpener into TB Morphit for EQ calibration with some custom modified curves for my ears. I used that combination for years. Now I'm 100% Slate VSX user, even in the studio.

[MadDogE134]

mostly Ultrasone 900pro if i am having to mix in cans (think i have had them about 8 yrs now maybe) they are the best that i have found with a half assed decent soundstage but i am really liking and getting used to my Red planars (Avantone) but they are openback so not always best when you want to keep quiet. the reds are a lot lighter on the head than the 900s lol

i also always use VSX to reference all mixes along with listening in the car and on my phone/pods

[Michael L]

I use Audio Technica ATH-AD900. They are the ones with the wings that float on your head. Quite light and comfy, with good midrange and excellent highs, which is where I need to hear detail.

I also have ATH-M50x for mobile use, which are quite the opposite in every way.

[Synthman2000]

I use these but put them in front of me so the stereo image can develop acoustically in the air first then my mixes are silky like Dave Gilmour's sound.. all achievable for free with these headphones on a stand in front of me. I load up my favourite looking JPEGs and
go warm, airy, silky, 3D, perfect sub balances and high end with the sound.

[legendCNCD]

[BurningMagma]

I use Soundcore's Life Q30. It's really nice to wear, and has noise cancelling on its Bluetooth mode! Not only does it work on Bluetooth, but it also works wired.