Which Studio Headphones Should I Get For Mixing & Mastering & Why?

[Aceaudio]

I just spent over $200+ USD on the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80ohms! I hooked them up to my laptop and apparently the 80ohm is too much to be powered directly from the laptop which now it seems I'll need an audio interface to power these cans. However, I'm still considering between the Audio Technica ATH-M50X, Sony MDR7506, or keeping only the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80ohm. Which ones do you guys use or recommend I keep, what is your setup, and which is best for trap music production?

[cryophonik]

Yeah, 80 ohms is pretty high for a laptop headphone output. I use and external USB-powered headphone amp myself (Apogee Groove) and it works great for all of my headphones, including my 600-ohm DT880s. So, your options are to return the 80-ohm DT770s and get the 32-ohm version (or another model with a similar impedance), or get an external headphone amp or audio interface with a good headphone amp, which would be my recommendation for anyone using a laptop.

As for trap music, I don't recommend basing your mixing/mastering headphone selection on any genre - you simply want them to have as flat a frequency response as possible with minimal coloration and as accurate as possible to ensure that your mixes and masters translate to other systems. You'll want to use existing trap songs as references for your mixes and masters, so you want your headphones to be as uncolored as possible to match your reference tracks.

[MFXxx]

Keep the headphones you have buy a topping jeadphone preamp. Will serve you well.

[Aceaudio]

Very informative! Thank you for your response as this is what I was already suspecting my issues to be. Which Apogee Groove amp are you using exactly (exact model) and as a beginner/rookie in mixing and mastering, what exactly do I need to do in steps as far as using existing trap music tracks as a reference? Sure I could drag and drop the .mp3 into my tracks, but eq-wise, what exactly am I look at or which plugins would I use to analyze the tracks? Once I have good headphone setup (assuming my volume levels are nicely balanced) how exactly do I match the frequencies in the mixer and eq? How would you start? Thanks again!

Yeah, 80 ohms is pretty high for a laptop headphone output. I use and external USB-powered headphone amp myself (Apogee Groove) and it works great for all of my headphones, including my 600-ohm DT880s. So, your options are to return the 80-ohm DT770s and get the 32-ohm version (or another model with a similar impedance), or get an external headphone amp or audio interface with a good headphone amp, which would be my recommendation for anyone using a laptop.

As for trap music, I don't recommend basing your mixing/mastering headphone selection on any genre - you simply want them to have as flat a frequency response as possible with minimal coloration and as accurate as possible to ensure that your mixes and masters translate to other systems. You'll want to use existing trap songs as references for your mixes and masters, so you want your headphones to be as uncolored as possible to match your reference tracks.

[Aceaudio]

Thanks for the share! Which "topping jeadphone preamp" model are you using? I'll take a look at it.

Keep the headphones you have buy a topping jeadphone preamp. Will serve you well.

[MFXxx]

I'm using a AudioLabs Mentor driving a pair of Audeze LCXs.
The topping l50 would be suffice.
Ie
https://www.av.com/Headphones/Topping-L ... 88d0ca385b

[Opaque]

Whatever you do, don't overspend on a headphone amp imo. Unless you are looking for some intentional coloration, there are clean USB-c to 3.5mm dongles today that are cheap have almost perfect measurements (low distortion,etc.) - check out something like the Jcally JM20 or JM20 max.

This is a good site to research that kind of stuff: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... iew.62260/

In my opinion, it makes zero sense to spend more on the amp than the headphones. Past the apple dongle (around $10), if power were of no concern, one is already getting diminishing returns, whereas in terms of headphones, a hundred euro up or down can make a huge difference, especially with open back models.
Btw, I own the ath-m50, and all three that you listed are fine models, but in terms of neutrality for mixing, etc. I'd say it's 7506/dt770/m50 - in that order.

[Opaque]

Also, I think this is a good review site when it comes to headphones testing and comparisons, showing frequency graphs, distortion tests, etc:
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/

[MFXxx]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... st-2398611

This is a great honest and keep it real forum

[cryophonik]

Which Apogee Groove amp are you using exactly (exact model)...

I'm using this model, but you don't need to spend anywhere near this much for a good headphone amp:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... dphone-amp

what exactly do I need to do in steps as far as using existing trap music tracks as a reference? Sure I could drag and drop the .mp3 into my tracks,

Yeah, that's the easiest way. There are also plugins like Metric AB (and some cheaper alternatives) that are designed for using reference tracks and have easy switching between your mix and reference tracks, metering, etc. to make it a little easier.

but eq-wise, what exactly am I look at or which plugins would I use to analyze the tracks?

A spectrum analyzer and your ears are the two best tools

[kritikon]

I guess laptops are all different, but it sounds like yours is particularly underpowered. Or...you're cranking your headphones up way too much. I use the DT990 250 ohm version and I can get reasonable volume on my cans. Plenty enough for any use scenario apart from louderizing it so high that my ears bleed. I often hear this idea that you can't get enough juice out of high impedance headphones and I automatically think people are damaging their hearing. You simply don't need mega volume for mastering. My laptop is a midrange HP jobby, nothing special, so it's unlikely it's got any kind of special phones output. I generally only need volume at 40-50 or so on 250 ohm cans. Yeah, sometimes loud is nice, but at 75 or so it's already getting uncomfortably loud. I question why anyone needs to blast their headphones for mastering? 80 ohms should be able to give you pretty loud unless your laptop is spectacularly cheap and nasty. If that's the case, then I apologize. Most laptops will be pretty similar in jack outputs though...

...and the louder you have your cans the worse those DTs are for mastering. They're emphasized in the bass already. I like them and they're so comfortable but you HAVE TO adjust your mixes for the Eq balance that is actual reality. They're great cans, but really not flat. Getting a headphone amp won't make them any flatter, it'll just damage your hearing quicker.

[jamcat]

Sennheiser HD 650s are still overwhelmingly the industry standard.

I have a pair and I've never had a problem with them being powered directly by my laptop (MacBook Pro) or any audio interface.

[Aceaudio]

What about the Focusrite Solo Gen 3? Would this cut it?
https://www.amazon.com/Focusrite-Scarle ... B07QR6Z1JB

Which Apogee Groove amp are you using exactly (exact model)...

I'm using this model, but you don't need to spend anywhere near this much for a good headphone amp:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... dphone-amp

what exactly do I need to do in steps as far as using existing trap music tracks as a reference? Sure I could drag and drop the .mp3 into my tracks,

Yeah, that's the easiest way. There are also plugins like Metric AB (and some cheaper alternatives) that are designed for using reference tracks and have easy switching between your mix and reference tracks, metering, etc. to make it a little easier.

but eq-wise, what exactly am I look at or which plugins would I use to analyze the tracks?

A spectrum analyzer and your ears are the two best tools

[_leras]

Sennheiser HD 650s are still overwhelmingly the industry standard.

I have a pair and I've never had a problem with them being powered directly by my laptop (MacBook Pro) or any audio interface.

Where do you get that from? I think people usually preferred the hd 600.
I have the HD 650 but couldn't ever get them to translate very well.

These days I highly recommend the beyerdynamic dt1990, with an oratory EQ correction curve.

The dt1990 are very dynamic and capture all transients very well and are very detailed. They are also built extremely well and feel like they'll last for years.

They do have a bump at around 8k, but it's easily removed and with a correction curve translate very well.

(I'd recommend a correction curve if mixing with any headphones

https://reddit.com/r/oratory1990/w/inde ... of_presets

[fatprice]

HD490 tried all the ones you are asking about tried Gradoes, Focals, etc. All rubbish. HD490 Pros or go home.