Headphones for mixing.

[MiltyG565]

Ok, for certain reasons, I've decided to get headphones for mixing on. But, here's the tricky part, what do you lot reckon is the best I can get for the least amount of money? I don't want to throw loads of money in to it at this stage, but I reckon somewhere in the £100-£150 mark would be fine (wouldn't it?).

Anyway, let me know your ideas. The first set my eyes were drawn to when I went on to Thomann was a set of AKG K-271 MkII. Any good?

[BenTunnicliffe]

Hi mate,

I'd vouch for a pair of Sennheiser HD 25 's if you can get the budget together.
I own a pair and they've taken a bit of a beating but still work fine and also have the benefit of being able to replace all the parts individually (far as I know, certainly the wiring, earpieces etc).
They sound excellent with a surprisingly good low end response for a pair of cans that price and also give a fairly flat response which is great for revealing things in a mix (or even in practising!).

I'd back them no-end as the way forward in the price range.

Don't get the 'sp' versions or whatever they are they're not spec'd quite the same and are slightly cheaper for reasons I can't remember right now, sorry!

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='BenTunnicliffe' timestamp='1373850887' post='2142307']
Hi mate,

I'd vouch for a pair of Sennheiser HD 25 's if you can get the budget together.
I own a pair and they've taken a bit of a beating but still work fine and also have the benefit of being able to replace all the parts individually (far as I know, certainly the wiring, earpieces etc).
They sound excellent with a surprisingly good low end response for a pair of cans that price and also give a fairly flat response which is great for revealing things in a mix (or even in practising!).

I'd back them no-end as the way forward in the price range.

Don't get the 'sp' versions or whatever they are they're not spec'd quite the same and are slightly cheaper for reasons I can't remember right now, sorry!
[/quote]

I currently have a set of Senheisser hd 205 II, which are just not the thing for mixing at all (in fact they can be a bit pants when even just listening to certain types of music.).

Any Sennheisers that I have tried so far I haven't been that happy with. They were fairly budget, and not at all for this task, but how do I know that it won't be the same old story?

[lowdown]

I should imagine you are going to get a varied response here, regarding the headphones.
Just a case of picking through the bones.
I am also on the look out for some new headphones, more for composing later at night.
A useful chat about various vendors going on here.
[url="http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30991"]http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30991[/url]


Garry

[paul_5]

Grado's. [/thread]

for that sort of budget you could pick up some SR80s or SR125is.

[MisterFingers]

Sennhesier HD650's, Beyer DT770's or Audio Technica ATH-M50's. I use the HD650's for critical mixing and even some mastering. I've heard good things about the Grado PS1000's.

[51m0n]

Grado's are nice very detailed not entirely flat but no cans (or speakers) are.

On a tight budget a pair of Studiospares H1000 are a very decent pair of cans IME.

[Dood]

I'm subscribing to this one too as I may be in the market for an upgrade. I'm using Roland RH-200 which are really good clarity but I think after many years of heavy use one of the cones has developed a rattle. Or.... it's my ear bones finally shredding! lol!

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1373885528' post='2142550']
Or.... it's my ear bones finally shredding! lol!
[/quote]

You really need to worry when it's your arms and legs that develop rattles

Thanks guys for your input (hehe, puns) so far! I'll give them all a look later in the week. I think I'm going to spend a long time deliberating over what to get!

[Skol303]

Some great advice here already.

Ultimately, it all boils down to choosing a pair of cans that give a 'flat' response (relatively speaking) and then getting to know those cans [i]very[/i] well over time.

I use a pair of [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-K240-MKII-Circumaural-Headphones/dp/B0016MNBAM/ref=sr_1_1/280-1120197-4734337?ie=UTF8&qid=1373886567&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+k-240+mkii"]AKG K240 MkII[/url] which you can now pick up for around £100, so they're quite cheap all things considered (they were £150 when I bought them originally). I've had the same pair for nearly three years, so I'm very accustomed to them

Edited July 15, 2013 by Skol303

[Valhalalf]

Doing a lot of mixing and mastering at both home and work I have spent countless hours reading up on headphones to find a pair that will give me the best uncoloured 'flat' response and a nice detailed stereo sound stage, within my budget of course.

For critical listening I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250ohm closed headphones. Nice frequency response and detail, great for picking out issues pre mixing/mastering.

For the actual mixing and mastering I use a pair of Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro 250ohm semi open headphones. These for me had the best flat frequency response of the headphones within my budget and a lovely stereo soundstage. The semi open design allows for a nice airy sound, to the point where it doe's feel like you're almost listening to speakers in the room. Definitely recommened semi open/open headphones for mixing and mastering.

[url="http://www.headphone.com/headphones/beyerdynamic-dt-880.php"]http://www.headphone...amic-dt-880.php[/url]

If you click on the frequency chart you can compare up to 4 different pairs of headphones , this was very useful when selecting the Beyers.

[url="http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=963&graphID[]=2611&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=353&scale=30"]Like This Graph[/url]

Edited July 15, 2013 by Valhalalf

[Mornats]

Check this out: [url="http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/"]http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/[/url]

Thomann do them for around £25.

I've got the Superlux HD662F studio headphones and they actually match my M-audio BX5As very well. The M-audios are budget monitors of course but that review of the 668Bs is convincing me to grab a pair. Either that, or I'm gonna look a the Studiospares that 51m0n uses. (Or maybe I should just use mine a lot more and get used to them...)

[urb]

I use Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80ohm headphones and love them to bits - so comfortable too and the sound is totally transparent but with a great response across all frequencies - well worth whatever they cost now - I think I paid £129 for mine

[tedmanzie]

i agree, i'd stick to the tried and tested engineers headphones - [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beyerdynamic DT770, Audio Technica ATH M50. They're in your price range too. [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Search on gearslutz.com if you need more opinions, but the same few always get the thumbs up.[/font][/color]

[Valhalalf]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beyerdynamic DT770 are great headphones for studio use, tracking, critical listening etc however I would strongly advise looking for semi open headphones like the [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beyerdynamic DT880 [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]to mix on[/font][/color].

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/articles/mixingheadphones.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/mixingheadphones.htm

[WHUFC BASS]

[quote name='Valhalalf' timestamp='1373971644' post='2143655']
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beyerdynamic DT770 are great headphones for studio use, tracking, critical listening etc however I would strongly advise looking for semi open headphones like the [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beyerdynamic DT880 [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]to mix on[/font][/color].

[url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/articles/mixingheadphones.htm"]http://www.soundonso...gheadphones.htm[/url]

[url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/mixingheadphones.htm"]http://www.soundonso...gheadphones.htm[/url]
[/quote]

YES! I use DT880s for mixing and can only say good things about them. However, I would strongly advise against just mixing on headphones alone. You should at least use some sort of reference monitors to check your mixes.

[51m0n]

[quote name='WHUFC BASS' timestamp='1374136886' post='2145591']
YES! I use DT880s for mixing and can only say good things about them. However, I would strongly advise against just mixing on headphones alone. You should at least use some sort of reference monitors to check your mixes.
[/quote]

Big plus one, you can do some things really well on cans (compressor settings esp multi band and around transient control, surgical eqing - if they are excellent cans) but some parts of a mix sound totally different on cans, panning, reverb/ambience levels etc.

A mix on cans alone will feel very dry on speakers IME, and tend towards less overt panning, which is not a good thing for seperation.

[plumbob]

Haven't got one myself , but looks interestingly useful !

http://uk.focusrite.com/vrm

[Mornats]

I've just been playing around with the demos of that VRM box and I'm just watching a video or two. Sounds convincing but is it truly useful or just a toy/marketing ploy?

[plumbob]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1374260021' post='2147036']
I've just been playing around with the demos of that VRM box and I'm just watching a video or two. Sounds convincing but is it truly useful or just a toy/marketing ploy?
[/quote]

Well not sure about a marketing ploy / toy !

I think they have probably seen a gap in the market , and I would imagine you would need to study any headphone graphs to find one with the most flat response , but from there on I would imagine it could become invaluable in finding holes in your mix.

The only thing i can see is whether many people would know how some of the speakers genuinely sound , and adjust accordingly , NS 10's yes maybe , but then perhaps thats the point !

[51m0n]

They are by no means the first to produce a plugin to do this, and it's not the best one either IMO....

[superclive]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]+1 for Audio Technica ATH M50. Pick them up for around £65 pounds if you look around too.[/font][/color]

[s1ater]

I have the akg k271 mkii's and sennheiser hd 25's and love both of them for critical listening although the akg's have the switch that mutes them when they're off your head which can be quite useful. I would go for a set of open backed cans if I was going to mix solely on them as they tend to be more accurate for mixing. As for the vrm box Its pretty good for checking mixes on but I wouldnt have it on all the time as I dont like the idea of all the extra psychoacoustic processing in the mix chain.

[ambient]

A definite no to anything like Grado. They're designed to sound good, which isn't something you want in a pair of headphones when you're trying to mix on them.

I've got a pair of Sony MDR-7506's, which are or were pretty much [i]the[/i] headphones for monitoring while tracking in studios. They're supposed to be relatively 'flat' sounding, and are good for picking up details while mixing, but I would not trust them to mix on alone.

[JamesFlashG]

I have KRK 8400 headphones they sound great and are so comfy I can use them for hours at a time with no issues. However i do think they are a little bass heavy so maybe not ideal for mixing (so sorry if it kind of defeats purpose of this thread) but for listening and composing I love them they sound great, very wide freq response and can really pick out minute details within a record. check them out if you get a chance