best headphones for production and mixing

I use:

1. Beyerdynamic T90 Tesla
2. AKG K812 Pro, K701, Q701, K7XX
3. Sony MDR-V6 with Beyerdynamic DT250 pads, Sony MDR-7506

 

u might have a point the different degrees of close back and open back may play into it but I went into est end DJ they have a rack with all the headphone hanging up and I was playing the same track and plugging different headphones into my phone; lo and behold most of they £200 to £300 headphone sounded only very marginally better than my px100 sennhieser over ears.

so dat let me know lotta this headphone monitoring is hype; but yes Im thinking the main differences are in build quality, comfort and sound isolation.

rather than the actual sound it selft, but I will say yes there are slight tonal difference between how certain hi's, lo's and mids sound but it aint night and day like how peeps make it seem.

 

I'm a huge fan of Grado Labs. So much so that I own two pairs of their prestige series (SR80e & SR125e). They are extremely comfortable and light weight, but they do feel a touch delicate.

They are very neutral sounding and really don't tend to sound like headphones (which is a massive compliment).

http://www.gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series

 

the difference between de Sennheiser HD25-1 and the Beyerdynamic DT 880 is very big. It is a very different headphone.

On stage, it is nice to have the hd25-1 on-ear and very loud headphones. No sound leaking, sound goes straight into your ears...
Sennheiser is comfortable at home, nice on my head, much better and less loud sound. just pleasant to make music with. Playing for long times with th DT is very comfortable, the sound is amazing...

 

Senns in my opinion are under rated and the Bose rep is seriously over rated. Wife had some Bose and I bought the kids some senns, when comparing them I honestly thought the Senna were every bit as good. 30$ vs 150$ I was not happy at that realization! I wish we had places here to try all kinds of different headphones! And speakers!

 

hd25-1: the cable connection to the headphones really sucks. Never seen someone using this headphones without problems with the connection.

 

I was looking into the k8400 myself as well, but since the akg k550 dropped in price significantly I think they're an all around better buy

 

maybe there is a very big price difference but for sound not really; but u may find that for different applications like studio vs stage one might be better; i dont know I was just referring to listening to music on both headphones u can hardly tell the difference

 

The fact that many producers can’t justify the expense of multiple pairs of headphones complicates matters further. In an ideal world we’d all have separate headphones for different tasks – mixing, sound design, recording, DJing, listening for pleasure – but in reality, budgets often necessitate finding a compromise. If you really want the best headphones for you check this article.

 

Headphones are the same as monitors, once you get to know them you can adjust to get the mix to translate well to other systems, best bang for the buck I would say are Audio Technica ATH-M50, they do lack somewhat in the bass range but I use a subpac to help, Whatever you go for it will take a few months to understand them. Best thing is to try and listen to a few and find what sounds best to your ears, After all it's you that's going to spend hours with them on your ears.

 

Nothing beats monitors imho. Headphones are very tiring and you lose track of how loud it is. IMHO if you record/mix perhaps even master on headphones you will lose your hearing pretty quick. Headphones have their uses (mainly to check the mix), or you need to isolate for mic recording purposes, but that is about it. Of course if you are DJing that is a different matter

 

I produced beats using headphones for about a year and half, and recently was able to go back to monitors . I've gone back and listened to some of those beats on monitors and realize they are not good. Its dangerous mixing and mastering on headphones because you don't have a good reference mix, and low frequencies are muddy. So while that mix may sound good on your headphones, it will probably end up sounding like ass on monitors or another sound system.

 

Why do these discussions always turn into either/or? Ideally, both monitors and headphones will be used and have their place. Ultimately, though, there's no problem with mixing with headphones if you learn those headphones and check/reference other headphones, earphones, monitors, speakers etc.

Just as a headphone mix can sound awful on monitors or hi-fi speakers, mixing on monitors can sound awful on headphones and even worse on the earphones that many people actually use to listen to music, which is an important point: very few will listen to your music through high quality systems. This isn't to say high quality systems should be ignored or that mixing should aim for the lower quality sources, just that it is a significant factor that sometimes seems to get lost in the noise of sounding and mixing the best in the studio.

 

Don't see anybody saying either/or here. I certainly said headphones have their uses.

You have another point here... the whole point of monitors is not to sound that great, just neutral...at least it was that ways a few decades ago. If you have great sounding monitors (or headphones) then it's less likely it will sound good on a poor system. However if it's more likely to sound good on other systems if you mix on monitors that are pretty average. The worst thing out of all of this is loud always sounds better (everybody falls for that at some stage), and of course if you have headphones you tend to lose track of what loud is, esp when most headphones are geared toward treble...And as I said you are far more likely to get ear fatigue and lose track of where you are (lose your reference) when mixing with headphones...and indeed far more likely to lose your hearing.

 

I get serious ear fatigue listening on my KRK rp5. I do not get that with the DT-880 pros. I also don't slowly creep the volume up. I generally listen at relatively low volumes. I used to always mix so my tape sounded good in my car '75 Chevy Monza, and my Sony walkman, yea it was awhile ago. i found if it sounded good on both of those it would sound good every where.

 

I swear by beyerdynamics although ScottK is on point. Sony NS 10s were the **** at one point.

 

Yamaha NS-10 you mean? Well I swear by them and there have been damn good sounding records made by them since forever..Also like the HS's.

 

Most definitely. They started out as "home" speakers. They are so horrible that if you can get a decent sound out of them it will sound amazing on anything else.

 

Another vote for the AKG K702's. It's an open headphone, so only something to use at home/in the studio.
They are very comfortable and also very neutral at a lower volume.

 

I like my ath-m50's they translate fairly well,
also give this a try http://www.sonarworks.com/headphones