Looking for a pair of monitor headphones

[Mornats]

Hi Basschatters.

I'm looking to buy a set of monitor headphones so that I can plug them into my (15 Watt Laney RB1) bass combo and practice without annoying the neighbours. I also want to use them to listen to tracks I've recorded on Garageband/Cubase. I use Guitar Rig Studio so they're going to be plugged directly into that. I currently use my Sennheiser headset but it really can't cope with the bass and I'm in danger of blowing them up.

So, I'm in the market for a set of monitor headphones. I'm budgeting around £100 or so but I'm willing to look outside this price if really needed (i.e. I don't want to waste money on a halfway-house solution).

The set I've got in mind are the M-Audio Q40 ones ([url="http://maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/StudiophileQ40.html"]http://maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/StudiophileQ40.html[/url]).

I'm open to recommendations and hearing about anyone's experience of putting a bass through these or any other monitor headphones.

Cheers!

[fonzoooroo]

For that sort of money, you're in the realms of Beyer DT100s... (or the variations thereof) perhaps not the most inspired choice, but a studio standard for a reason! (and you can get all the parts!)

[Mornats]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've just been looking at the range and the DT150 has an extended bass response (and doesn't cost much more than the DT100) which I'm guessing will help a lot as I'm mainly putting basses through these.

[tomb]

i would either go with [url="http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hps-extra-bass-and-dj/mdr-xb700"]http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hps-extra-ba...nd-dj/mdr-xb700[/url] or [url="http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/professional_headphones-headsets_headphones_502717"]http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_...adphones_502717[/url]

[Noisyjon]

[quote name='fonzoooroo' post='1162922' date='Mar 15 2011, 11:39 AM']For that sort of money, you're in the realms of Beyer DT100s... (or the variations thereof) perhaps not the most inspired choice, but a studio standard for a reason! (and you can get all the parts!)[/quote]

Another +1 from me on these or the DT150s.

[Jamesrt2004]

Honestly for a proper decent pair of headphone monitors I'd always get [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/280-0064548-7239972?a=B000AJIF4E"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=r...72?a=B000AJIF4E[/url]

Brilliant headphones, used widely at studio's and radio stations. Come in around £80 and kill off any of my other headphones up to £200~ ish..


Also claims of better bass responce etc.. You do NOT want. It just means they will be EQ'd to have more bass. Which you don't want! You want a good pair of studio monitor headphones with a very flat response. The lack of the headphones being unable to handle the bass is due to the phones' not being good enough.

Edited March 16, 2011 by Jamesrt2004

[Mornats]

You're absolutely right in clarifying that. I'm after headphones that will give me a flat EQ (apologies for skipping that in my original post) and can handle a bass guitar being pumped into them directly from a bass amp and a Guitar Rig Studio audio interface. My current headphones are actually a gaming headset (albeit superb quality ones) but are not designed as monitor headphones and the bass sound is cracking up in them.

At the moment I'm assuming that headphones classed as studio monitoring headphones will be able to handle a bass guitar going through them but it's an assumption...

I'll take all your good suggestions and will see if I can try them all out in the shop with a bass guitar going into them via an amp.

[s1ater]

Akg 271mkii's are what I use they're good cans and you can get them for around £100
I use them for studio work as well as plugging into the headphone out of my shuttle 6, they seem to cope absolutely fine

Edited March 16, 2011 by s1ater

[ahpook]

[quote name='s1ater' post='1164930' date='Mar 16 2011, 08:22 PM']Akg 271mkii's are what I use they're good cans and you can get them for around £100
I use them for studio work as well as plugging into the headphone out of my shuttle 6, they seem to cope absolutely fine[/quote]

plus the one.

i use them, as does the british sound archive iirc.

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='Jamesrt2004' post='1164627' date='Mar 16 2011, 04:48 PM']Honestly for a proper decent pair of headphone monitors I'd always get [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/280-0064548-7239972?a=B000AJIF4E"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=r...72?a=B000AJIF4E[/url]

Brilliant headphones, used widely at studio's and radio stations. Come in around £80 and kill off any of my other headphones up to £200~ ish..


Also claims of better bass responce etc.. You do NOT want. It just means they will be EQ'd to have more bass. Which you don't want! You want a good pair of studio monitor headphones with a very flat response. The lack of the headphones being unable to handle the bass is due to the phones' not being good enough.[/quote]

Beware of cheap cans, there's lots of very convincing fakes around sold by sellers on eBay and Amazon. I bought a pair of those Sonys a couple of years ago and sold them because they sounded crap - it never occurred to me that they could have been fakes until much later when I read about them. The counterfeiters are able to copy everything including the packaging down to the finest detail - but of course the sound will not be up to scratch! Same deal with popular mics.

[Mornats]

I popped into Digital Village in Bristol yesterday and had a go of the AKG 271 Mk II, Sennheiser 280 and another one whose name I can't remember. I had them plugged into a Laney RB2 30watt bass amp and all of them failed to cope with the bass at decent volume levels (I didn't have them excessively loud, I was aiming for punchy-loud). None of them performed better than my current Sennheiser gaming headset. Anything played on the D and G strings sounded great but A and especially the E strings distorted badly.

After a chat with the guys in the shop about it we figured that the frequency response of the headphones possibly wasn't good enough so they've ordered in a pair of Beyerdynamics DT150s as they quote a frequency response from 5 hz. Hopefully they'll be better...

[voxpop]

[quote name='Mornats' post='1169355' date='Mar 20 2011, 12:54 PM']I popped into Digital Village in Bristol yesterday and had a go of the AKG 271 Mk II, Sennheiser 280 and another one whose name I can't remember. I had them plugged into a Laney RB2 30watt bass amp and all of them failed to cope with the bass at decent volume levels (I didn't have them excessively loud, I was aiming for punchy-loud). None of them performed better than my current Sennheiser gaming headset. Anything played on the D and G strings sounded great but A and especially the E strings distorted badly.

After a chat with the guys in the shop about it we figured that the frequency response of the headphones possibly wasn't good enough so they've ordered in a pair of Beyerdynamics DT150s as they quote a frequency response from 5 hz. Hopefully they'll be better...[/quote]

How did you get on with the dt150's? Are they good for bass?

[Mornats]

Yes, they were better, a much nicer handling of the bass frequencies but I still found that they distorted at the low end when put through a 30 watt Laney RB2 (the amp they had in the shop). My sennheiser gaming headset seems to cope with my 15 watt Laney RB1 so I decided to hold off. I think perhaps that it's asking a bit much to get them to handle bass straight from an amp.

I'm falling back on using my Tannoy E11 speakers that I've had for around 20 years as monitors (put through a Rotel RA-930AX amp via my PC).

[Monckyman]

[quote name='Mornats' post='1224145' date='May 8 2011, 02:42 PM']Yes, they were better, a much nicer handling of the bass frequencies but I still found that they distorted at the low end when put through a 30 watt Laney RB2 (the amp they had in the shop). My sennheiser gaming headset seems to cope with my 15 watt Laney RB1 so I decided to hold off. I think perhaps that it's asking a bit much to get them to handle bass straight from an amp.

I'm falling back on using my Tannoy E11 speakers that I've had for around 20 years as monitors (put through a Rotel RA-930AX amp via my PC).[/quote]
I`m happy with the Sennheiser 280s, great accoustic seperation.
You might want to check what Ohmage your headphone output is rated at, most of the Beyer/Sennheisers have quite high impedance.(the 280s are 64Ohm) which may limit the available overall level.

[Bankai]

[quote name='fonzoooroo' post='1162922' date='Mar 15 2011, 12:39 PM']For that sort of money, you're in the realms of Beyer DT100s... (or the variations thereof) perhaps not the most inspired choice, but a studio standard for a reason! (and you can get all the parts!)[/quote]
DT100 and 150s are good but uncomfortable after a while. Try some on before you buy! Same goes for any headset I think.

[niceguyhomer]

I was on this boat two weeks ago, looking to spend £100-120 on some nice cans. I tried loads around that price and the best to my ears in terms of sound and comfort were Bose AE2s which after 10% discount cost me £108. They're so comfortable I can wear them for hours.

I accept there may be better ones around that price but I wasn't going to buy anything blind off the net and they brought the biggest smile to my face. I'm really chuffed with them.

[Soliloquy]

[quote name='Jamesrt2004' post='1164627' date='Mar 16 2011, 05:48 PM']Honestly for a proper decent pair of headphone monitors I'd always get [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/280-0064548-7239972?a=B000AJIF4E"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=r...72?a=B000AJIF4E[/url]

Brilliant headphones, used widely at studio's and radio stations. Come in around £80 and kill off any of my other headphones up to £200~ ish..


Also claims of better bass responce etc.. You do NOT want. It just means they will be EQ'd to have more bass. Which you don't want! You want a good pair of studio monitor headphones with a very flat response. The lack of the headphones being unable to handle the bass is due to the phones' not being good enough.[/quote]

You know, I've spent the last two hours researching headphones. These Sony's get some great recommendations, they're a studio standard.

The consensus of opinion seems to be that for studio monitoring don't go for Bose or Grado, both are too unaccurate.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Soliloquy

[xilddx]

[quote name='Soliloquy' post='1225201' date='May 9 2011, 03:33 PM']You know, I've spent the last two hours researching headphones. These Sony's get some great recommendations, they're a studio standard.

The consensus of opinion seems to be that for studio monitoring don't go for Bose or Grado, both are too unaccurate.[/quote]
I just got recommended these KRKs from Digital Village, so I bought them.

They seem very good. £129

[url="http://www.dv247.com/headphones/krk-kns-8400-professional-headphones--80557"]http://www.dv247.com/headphones/krk-kns-84...adphones--80557[/url]

[Soliloquy]

[quote name='silddx' post='1225258' date='May 9 2011, 04:29 PM']I just got recommended these KRKs from Digital Village, so I bought them.

They seem very good. £129

[url="http://www.dv247.com/headphones/krk-kns-8400-professional-headphones--80557"]http://www.dv247.com/headphones/krk-kns-84...adphones--80557[/url][/quote]

The KRK's are now joint top of my list, with the Sony MDR7605's.

I like the look of the KRK's.

[spacecowboy]

I have used the now discontinued AKG K141 pro's for the last 3 years in my studio, if you can pick up a second hand pair i'd highly recommend them very flat EQ and brilliant sound, i use a pair of Beats Studio HD's and a pair of Sony MDRV500's as well but both of those headphones are very bass heavy so they're not suitable for studio, i love my AKG's definitely get a thumbs up from me.