What Headphones Shoul I buy?

[jens]

when it comes to mixing my personal opinion might be an unpopular one:

Personally I could neither really mix on over-ear nor on on-ear headphones (not to mention that especially the latter ones are uncomfortable as f**k) - everything sounds weird and weirdly distant to me somehow and the lower frequencies tend to sound really weak (I have a hunch that the latter point is the main cause for the former) - in-ear headphones however are a great solution for me. I have the Sennheiser CX Plus and find them great - rather neutral and with a greally good bass-distribution (not hyped, but seemingly tangible).

They are bluetooth ones (i.e. really comfy for me and I can freely move around (to dance, etc.) while mixing*, which is kinda important for me) so for mixing I simply switch from ASIO to DX or MME (depending on which DAW I'm working in) - but of course there's more great in-ear solutions to chose from if you don't mind needing cables.




*for me it's not really strictly just mixing - sometimes I need to find out e.g. whether the bass-guitar needs some comping/timing-correction (or even re-recording) or if maybe gating and/or compression (etc.) will do - dancing helps a lot here - also to improve transitions and so forth, so Bluetooth is a god-send for me.

[BrianInfante]

The best recommendation I can give: Go visit a real shop that sells headphones of the brands AKG, Sennheiser, BeyerDynamic and such. Try them all out. Bring a CD with some reference tunes, and bring your current earbuds.

Have you made up your mind over whether you want a (half) open or closed model?

Apart from fidelity you also want comfort. Both are personal things. No headphone is perfect in all aspects, so you'll have to find the compromise that best fits you. A trip to the shop can save you a bunch of ordering and returning and never really being satisfied.

NB, if you ask me, the Samsung Galaxy earbuds (even the white model) are actually pretty decent. Especially for the price: they last much longer than the phones they come with, so I have two or three of them.

i Thaught the earbuds only work with blootooth, it work in pc?
and not sure about whats the pros/downs on open an closer earphones. how that works?

[BertKoor]

I only use wired earbuds. Duuuhhh...

Closed headphones provide isolation, but as mentioned before these are better for recording than for mixing. The closed cup is acoustically a disadvantage and usually sounds less flat.

Not knowing is all the more an argument to get out and try some out.

[BertKoor]

Oh, there is one actual recommendation I have: Superlux makes cans which are very good bang for the buck: 30-40 £/€/$ price range. I don't own any, but these often come up in threads like this.

[EfreetiSultan]

Just stay clear of the vastly enormously overrated dt770 pro.

Had them for few weeks, the 250ohms version. They are harsh and feel cheap.
Funny thing, one can get HD6xx from Massdrop approximately for the same price, and they are on another level.

The hd6xx cannot even be put in the same sentence as 770 pro..
The 770 are closed, cheap, built like a tank.
The HD6xx are open, expensive (sort of), and not for studio use. It's like comparing an apple to an orange

lol
what you are talking about? of course they are for studio!
dt cost $170, hd6xx cost $200, not that much of a difference.
dt has the open back version which is the same crap

No they're really not, their aimed for the budget audiophile or prosumer. Visit 20 studios and I'd be surprised if you find the hd6xx in there in more than perhaps one. They're great cans though.

[EfreetiSultan]

I wouldn't suggest running after the most flat response, few dbs here and there can be fixed during mastering.
Instead, search for a comfortable headphones that don't sound harsh so you could enjoy the process.
Headphones comfort is different between every person.
I can suggest headphones I use, HD 6xx from Massdrop.

No, it cannot be "fixed during mastering". Wtf does that even mean? How can a headphone frequency response be "fixed" in mastering?

dude what you are smoking
fixing frequencies on the master, not on headphones.

Uhm.. Fixing frequencies? Again I'm not sure what you're on about buddy. Are you talking about eq? Mixing?

[EfreetiSultan]

Just stay clear of the vastly enormously overrated dt770 pro. .

The DT770 are fully closed over-ear headphones - never heard anyone recommending these for mixing - do you perhaps confuse the with the 990?

...they are however great headphones for recording - one of the best if you ask me.

Really. You've never seen the dt770 recommended for mixing (and production, which was the op) before? Yeah sure.

Good, so we agree that they're great for tracking as they can be thrown about, put on and off dozens of times per session and still won't break

[jens]

They're also great because they sound great - for closed headphones that is - and are quite comfy...

closed headphones in general aren't good for mixing - no matter the specific model.

[EfreetiSultan]

No they do not. Shure940 sound great for a closed pair, to name one of the top of my head.

Disagree, closed pairs can absolutely be used for mixing? Yes, the specific model matters??
Anyway let's end the discussion here I don't think we will get anywhere

[yoursoul]

i am selling my dt-770 atm... they are definitely not comfy for me, but as this is highly subjective, i suggest to go to some store and try different headphones out. and spend a good amount of time for a week or two with them, so you can return them in case you find out later something is not right for you.

[billcarroll]

Slate VSX

Slate Audio currently has a Black Friday sale running.

[roman.i]

No they're really not, their aimed for the budget audiophile or prosumer. Visit 20 studios and I'd be surprised if you find the hd6xx in there in more than perhaps one. They're great cans though.

No one cares what mixing headphones they have in the studio since no one uses headphones for mixing! Any decent pair of headphones will be an upgrade from Galaxy Buds, so if I don't complain about my HD6XX, he won't either. That said, he needs to go to the store and check for himself. It's not one-size-fits-all.

[roman.i]

Uhm.. Fixing frequencies? Again I'm not sure what you're on about buddy. Are you talking about eq? Mixing?

Mixing on a system with a slightly off frequency response is not a problem. Many professional home studios are not fully treated and do not have a flat frequency response. However, this is usually not an issue, as it can mostly be addressed during mastering.

[EfreetiSultan]

Uhm.. Fixing frequencies? Again I'm not sure what you're on about buddy. Are you talking about eq? Mixing?

Mixing on a system with a slightly off frequency response is not a problem. Many professional home studios are not fully treated and do not have a flat frequency response. However, this is usually not an issue, as it can mostly be addressed during mastering.

Well you were talking about headphones frequency response, not a treated room/studio.
You sound like a professional with 20 years experience

No they're really not, their aimed for the budget audiophile or prosumer. Visit 20 studios and I'd be surprised if you find the hd6xx in there in more than perhaps one. They're great cans though.

No one cares what mixing headphones they have in the studio since no one uses headphones for mixing! Any decent pair of headphones will be an upgrade from Galaxy Buds, so if I don't complain about my HD6XX, he won't either. That said, he needs to go to the store and check for himself. It's not one-size-fits-all.

Hmm.. You're the one who said they're meant for the studio
I will leave this conversation as it will not go anywhere, have a good evening!

[bmanic]

The only thing I know about the subject is that the most "flat" sound possible is sought so that it respects the fidelity of the audio both when listening to tracks from other artists and when creating your own.

The first thing to realize about headphones is that there is no such thing as "flat". Due to the close proximity of the speaker to the ear (or ear canal / ear drum in the case of IEM headphones) the term "flat" is 100% subjective, meaning only you yourself can know what "flat" is.. and the only way to figure that out is to spend a lot of time A/B testing and listening to mixes that have been verified to be "good" (which in terms of frequency response is almost all modern high profile artists mixes).

Thus, in my opinion, the absolute number 1 feature of a headphone that you should consider first is how comfortable the headphones are to wear.

As soon as you go past the 150 to 300$ price point, almost all headphones will be "good enough" to make good mixes on as long as you get used to them and understand the strengths and weaknesses of headphones in general. Some of the weaknesses can be counteracted.. for instance you can use EQ to re-voice a headphone with weak bass or highs, though at the cost of added distortion.

Thus the 2nd feature I always recommend to base your purchasing options on is the amount of distortion produced by the headphone + amplifier combination. If you manage to minimize the amount of distortion, you'll have an easier time equalizing the headphones successfully to suite your optimal "flat" representation.

I also highly recommend using some form of cross feed plugin (for instance Goodhertz CanOpener) or some kind of virtual room emulation (for instance Slate VSX or Realphones). This may help in mix translation as the virtual room will be reactive to the various phase differences of your audio sources, in a way that is very difficult to detect if you use only the headphones themselves. This same phenomenon also makes it much easier to hear EQ and especially dynamics changes (compression, transient processing, gating etc).

Finally.. and most importantly: Just like any monitoring solution, be it headphones or speakers, learning your own monitoring chain takes time and effort! You can't just slap on a pair of headphones and think that you can immediately create a mix that sounds good and translates everywhere. It takes some effort to train your brain to recognize all the clues and limits of the mix.

The quickest way to get good results is to do at least 1 or 2 hours of active listening to professional tracks every single day for at least a few weeks.. and while doing it, keep tweaking your own personal Headphone EQ curve until you are 100% satisfied with the results, meaning that all the hundreds of different professional mixes that you listen to through your headphones, all sound "perfect" at all times. None of them should lack bass. None of them should be too shrill. None of them should be too honky or too hollow. Once you've done that, you have established a baseline for your own productions. Now stick to that baseline and start mixing and don't forget to frequently do A/B tests with professional mixes!

.. if you do this method rigorously for a few months you should be able to get results that rival pretty much any "pro studio" out there (provided that you know how to mix/produce in the first place, but that's a completely other skill).