Headphones?

[bouncingfish]

he told you their high end is hyped, that should be enough to tell you they're not what you're looking for. when i tried them i thought their sub range was too pronounced. not as much as beats, but close.

pushing again for you to get the akg 240s

I guess you're right... What do you like about the 240s then!

[SunkLo]

For reference. Looks like the bass bump is just shifted up on the AKGs. Pretty nasty 7dB spike at 9k but less of a dip at 5.5k. I imagine the AKGs will sound equally, if not more, hyped. A lot of AKG cans have cranked high end to give the appearance of detail. Some people like that, but it doesn't mean they're actually more accurate. Something like a 701 is more flat in the high end but quite a bit more expensive, and really requires an amp to get spectacular performance.

Pitting these two against each other, I'd be troubled about the jacked high end turning out dull mixes. And that big bass bump that extends high into the low mids is a problem. The frequency response from 100 to 5k is just a downward sloping line. The ATs flatten out through the mids, and the bass hump is more isolated. You actually want a bit of a bass bump in that -150hz range to compensate for the fact that you're listening on headphones, not big speakers. These are both cheap cans compared to the real standard mixing and audiophile headphones, so there's gonna be imperfection. Just comes down to the lesser of two evils. Again, I haven't heard the AKGs but I read a lot about them when I was shopping for my ATs and my interpretation of the frequency graph lines up with a lot of reviews I read about them.

Graphs aren't everything of course, but they can tell you a lot going in blind. Ideally you'd be able to hear them both at the same time with music you know well and some of your past mixes. If that's not an option then read, read, read. Make the best choice you can, given the information you have. You'll end up getting a nice set for your money regardless, and once you learn the sound of them I imagine your mixes will improve. Anything will be a step up from your current situation.

[Mad_EP]

Personally - I use the Sony V6 (not the so-called "pro" version V7506).

I think I am one of the few (if only) people on here that use em regularly, so I might as well give em a salute. They were industry standard for broadcast / engineers for ages, blah blah blah. However, you'll also find mixing engineers who still use the same pair they have had for 20+ years - not many headphones can boast that. I've had my pair for only 5 years, but they still sound amazing. I switched out the ear pads after 4 years.

The frequency response is 5 - 30k... of course, it is impossible for anyone to tell whether or not it truly goes down to 5 hz, but I can say the bass response is excellent and full. Not just for electronic music, mind you - but also symphonic music... which I find pushes the limits of speakers/headphones more than EDM.

The price is right too - I think I paid £70 for mine.


Anyway - no matter what you get, it will be most important to properly "learn" your headphones so you know what everything you own sounds like on em... so that when you are working on them, you have a proper reference.



Have fun.

[bouncingfish]

For reference. Looks like the bass bump is just shifted up on the AKGs. Pretty nasty 7dB spike at 9k but less of a dip at 5.5k. I imagine the AKGs will sound equally, if not more, hyped. A lot of AKG cans have cranked high end to give the appearance of detail. Some people like that, but it doesn't mean they're actually more accurate. Something like a 701 is more flat in the high end but quite a bit more expensive, and really requires an amp to get spectacular performance.

Pitting these two against each other, I'd be troubled about the jacked high end turning out dull mixes. And that big bass bump that extends high into the low mids is a problem. The frequency response from 100 to 5k is just a downward sloping line. The ATs flatten out through the mids, and the bass hump is more isolated. You actually want a bit of a bass bump in that -150hz range to compensate for the fact that you're listening on headphones, not big speakers. These are both cheap cans compared to the real standard mixing and audiophile headphones, so there's gonna be imperfection. Just comes down to the lesser of two evils. Again, I haven't heard the AKGs but I read a lot about them when I was shopping for my ATs and my interpretation of the frequency graph lines up with a lot of reviews I read about them.

Graphs aren't everything of course, but they can tell you a lot going in blind. Ideally you'd be able to hear them both at the same time with music you know well and some of your past mixes. If that's not an option then read, read, read. Make the best choice you can, given the information you have. You'll end up getting a nice set for your money regardless, and once you learn the sound of them I imagine your mixes will improve. Anything will be a step up from your current situation.

Thanks again sunklo! Yeah my mixes will def improve no matter what I pick.
Your tips really means alot, thanks. That dip right before 100 on the m50s looks a bit scary...
And sorry for writing so short, I'm not at home atm so I'm sriting from my iPhone which is annoying as hell.

Personally - I use the Sony V6 (not the so-called "pro" version V7506).

I think I am one of the few (if only) people on here that use em regularly, so I might as well give em a salute. They were industry standard for broadcast / engineers for ages, blah blah blah. However, you'll also find mixing engineers who still use the same pair they have had for 20+ years - not many headphones can boast that. I've had my pair for only 5 years, but they still sound amazing. I switched out the ear pads after 4 years.

The frequency response is 5 - 30k... of course, it is impossible for anyone to tell whether or not it truly goes down to 5 hz, but I can say the bass response is excellent and full. Not just for electronic music, mind you - but also symphonic music... which I find pushes the limits of speakers/headphones more than EDM.

The price is right too - I think I paid £70 for mine.


Anyway - no matter what you get, it will be most important to properly "learn" your headphones so you know what everything you own sounds like on em... so that when you are working on them, you have a proper reference.



Have fun.

Thanks!
Those sonys sounds like they could be something, and they're so cheap as well.. I'll check them out.
Anyone else know anything about them?

[Reversed]

Well this thread is highly relevant to my interests right now.
I am going to have up to ~250-300€ budget for new headphones in october so i want to get proper cans. I don't think open / closed matters much, even though I haven't ever owned open headphones (thoughts on this?)
Am i going to need an amp even though I have a saffire 6? I'm not sure where to look up how much impedance it can handle in terms of headphone output.
And these are my candidates after reading this thread / looking through reviews / etc.
Beyerdynamics DT-990 Pro
- seems to not have that much of a neutral sound according to some reviews
AKG K701
- apparently isn't that comfortable
AKG K702
- expensive even though same as K701 in terms of sound(?)
AKG Q701
- expensive, seems solid otherwise though
Thoughts / Additional suggestions?
Of course main aspects are neutral sound > comfort when wearing them and how much / easily they wear / break

[Electric_Head]

Regarding Dt990, this notion of them not being neutral is a bit BS imo.
They translate their sound very well to other systems.
Nothing seems overly hyped to me in anyway.
Certainly not in comparison to other high end headphones.

Comfort imo, you can't beat the beyers.

[Reversed]

Regarding Dt990, this notion of them not being neutral is a bit BS imo.
They translate their sound very well to other systems.
Nothing seems overly hyped to me in anyway.
Certainly not in comparison to other high end headphones.

Comfort imo, you can't beat the beyers.

Thanks for your input, just found this frequency response chart:

Seems like the K702 / K701 / Q701 are sound more flat than the DT990 after all. The difference is approximately 5-6dB. The difference is usually noticable at +-6dB right?

[1stfiest]

KRK KNS 8400 have strong lows all the way down to 30hz, where most other headphones begin to slope off alot earlier at around the 80hz mark, KRK's are strong throughout. They have rather flat mids, comparable to that of m50's, and unexaggerated highs compared to beyers. The m50's are very similar but the bass response of the KRK's tops it for me. Also they are really comfortable and have a detachable cable, which is handy because it is always the cable that breaks first on me on any sort of ear/headphone. You can get a pair for only £120ish of Thomann, so what are you waiting for!

Source: I have tried Beyer 770's, ath m50s, akg k550 (i thought these were shit down to personal pref.), and KRK back to back. Also i have studied frequency response graphs for weeks before finally purchasing my KRK headphones. Also might i note, i can understand why people would want to buy beyers, it's nearly impossible to over do the highs on them and they are fantastic for critical listening, working de-essers and picking out anything going wrong in the highs, but for producing bass orientated music, they just don't cut it for me. However, if i was to purchase a 2nd pair of headphones, i would definitely have use for the Beyers, however, a brand called Superlux produce very similar headphones, fantastic for working with highs, for a fraction of the price (£15-£25).

[Electric_Head]

Go to head-fi and get a comparitive review of them.
You'll see what I'm saying.

Dt990 are quite different to dt770.

[Reversed]

Alright thanks for the input guys, I'll take all that into consideration

[SunkLo]

Sony MDR 7520s or Senn HD 600s

[claudedefaren]

how are you guys making those charts?

[1stfiest]

http://www.headphone.com/learning-cente ... -graph.php

[Reversed]

Sony MDR 7520s or Senn HD 600s

Well damn, those 7520s sure sound interesting. They're ~350€+ around here though, gonna have to see if I can find them cheaper anywhere else.

Don't like the Y-cable on the HD600 too much, and I read that the cable breaks easily and is hard to replace.

[SunkLo]

Nah it's super easy to replace, you just yank the old connectors out and slot the new ones in, no soldering.

[John_Dope]

I use beyerdynamic dt990s

[mromgwtf]

I use these and I must say they are pretty much incredible for their price. Sony MDR-ZX600.