Headphone question

S

Saloje

New member
Hi !
I curently use my Presonus hd7 headphones and want to purchase upgrade to new one that I will us mostly for tracking and some mixing.
I searched and watched reviews and decided to go with one of these

-Sennheiser HD 280 PRO
-BeyerDynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm
-AKG K-240 MkII

I can also get used one AKG K-701
for the about same price as first three.

Any tips or experience you can share with me ?
Thx
 
I would guess most people will pick the 770's out of the group listed. I use the 280's, but they are actually tracking headphones. Still, I know many here use them for mixing. They are the only phones I've used and only device I've mixed with.
 
andrushkiwt said:
I would guess most people will pick the 770's out of the group listed. I use the 280's, but they are actually tracking headphones. Still, I know many here use them for mixing. They are the only phones I've used and only device I've mixed with.
Click to expand...

And what version would that bee : 80, or 250 Ohm version ?
 
Hey Saloje,

I'd highly recommend the K-701s. They have a very balanced sound, and I even use them for mixing in a pinch. Out of the listed headphones, they are the highest quality for sure.

Hope that helps!
 
I don't like open back headphones for tracking because of the potential for bleed, at least on vocals with a LDC mic. Maybe not an issue for you depending on the material, but if you've got a click or scratch track going, it's got a fair chance of ending up in your vocal track at least a tiny bit. Those K-701s would be lovely to listen to some equisitely played/recorded/mixed music, but they're a bit rich for my blood, and I don't know anyone who's going to listen to my mixes on anything that expensive, so no point validating on them :).

I use my 770s for tracking almost exclusively, but I think the 280s would work fine for most things. They're not my favorite for the kinds of music I listen to, but they're pretty good - I keep them plugged into my laptop for general listening.

You know they're relatively inexpensive but I think the Sony 7506 is a great workhorse set for tracking and mixing. I have an ancient MDR-V6 (MIJ) set I use for mobile recording.
 
Thx for all your toughts.

As much I like and watched great reviews on k701 I still need a tracking ones an those are fully open and they would leak allot on my opinion. Those sony you mentioned are hard to find here so i' m stuck with 770 or 280. As much I tried I cant find a professional review on 280 and get a clear picture on them. All those reviews looks like sponzored to me.
On the other hands the 770 would be like bass present flat mids and slightly cut highs so not so bright but for 280 I dont have a tonal image. Anyone can describe 280 maybe ?
I forget to mention that i need it mostly for vocal and acoustic guitar tracking and for late mixing. I own a pair of decent studio monitors for mixing.

I forget to mention that i got deal for 280 and 770 that now cost the same price for me in this godforsaken land.

Thx
 
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"And what version would that bee : 80, or 250 Ohm version ? " Tried in the past to get some solid data about this Saloje. Didn't!

Since top grade "studio" phones were always high impedance (for cans) at 600 Ohms my thinking was that HZ was better than low but I could find no expert agreement about this. My INSTINCT would be for higher Z cans because the load on the amplifier is less and almost universally, drawing less current from an amplifier gives lower distortion but, today's kit is often voltage limited, low supply rails and I doubt even some high end interfaces would adequately drive 600R phones?

On balance and certainly if you want to plug them into a laptop sometimes, go for 80 Ohms. Then of course, many people say you really need a good headphone amplifier as well!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Since top grade "studio" phones were
On balance and certainly if you want to plug them into a laptop sometimes, go for 80 Ohms. Then of course, many people say you really need a good headphone amplifier as well!

Dave.
Click to expand...

Yes I was thinking about 80 ohm version since my interface is 32 ohms, and I think 250 ohms would be quieter but more detailed, but in other hands not 3x detailed than 80 ohm version.
I planning to get amplifier as well since I need more headphone outputs.
Amplifier is second on my purchase list.
 
Saloje said:
Yes I was thinking about 80 ohm version since my interface is 32 ohms, and I think 250 ohms would be quieter but more detailed, but in other hands not 3x detailed than 80 ohm version.
I planning to get amplifier as well since I need more headphone outputs.
Amplifier is second on my purchase list.
Click to expand...

My research failed to find any admission that audio quality and impedance were related in any way but the 'engineer' in me suspects there must be an 'optimum' impedance!

Dave.
 
Well i ordered Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm for 146 US dolars. It's seem like a nice price here and they even gave me a extended waranty of 3 years - sweet. Gonna get back with opinion on them when i try them.

Thank you all for help :)
 
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Of the three, I'm a big fan of the HD280. However, I have to say that headphone choice is as much about fit and comfort as it is about the sound. My main objection to the DT770 is that after a minute or two they hurt my head and ears--but as everyone is different you best bet would be to try them on.

Never listened to the AKG 'phones so can't comment there.
 
A pair of Sony 7506's and HD280's here. I had a set of AKG's years ago that were 600 ohm and most of my gear couldn't drive them properly due to the high ohmmage and resulted in low volume.

I had found this back when I had the 600 ohm headphones and trying to reason out why high ohm cans existed....

"High-impedance headphones are designed for studio-like applications where there may be multiple phones wired in parallel receiving an input signal from one source. Low-impedance headphones are designed to be plugged directly into a single source, and can more effeciently generate sound from the lower level input signal.

High-impedance headphones are a little more durable (electronically), but require higher signal levels to produce the same output level of low-impedance headphones."
 
Well guys i hope Beyerdynamic is not my last headphone. Next one for tracking is Sennheiser HD 280 PRO , but after i get me a nice headphone amplyfier.

Thank you all for you time :)
 
my 2 cents..

I had the 7506 for many years and now HD280 . They work for Microphone tracking stuff to prevent leakage and feedback squeels for tracking.
For mixing they are not used and total hobby opinion, they kind of suck compared to openbacks for mixing.

Openbacks I compared the Beyer 880 and Takstar 671 ($60 openbacks) and the open backs are really a wow tool for that listening mix thing because the bass isnt all exaggerated as with the closed backs. Just try it and see for yourself.

then like most headphone gearheads the path leads to audiophile stuff and ohms and amps.
32,54,250,600 etc... this includes the headphone amp obviously, if going down that hole of technology and terms.

as for headphone amps, I think its like everything else. can you hear the upgrade? etc..
I got a original rev 1 Grace Design, a lot of over engineering for the pro's and interesting story of Bob Ludwig and the Grace team.
of course this cost is a lot to me and nothing to someone with that kind of cash.

in comparing numerous headphone amps on interfaces and such, my Line 6 UX8 happened to have a well designed amp section and they recommend 250ohm and it was the flagship higher end unit to compete with ProTools, professional use that didnt materialize for the UX8....anyway its within 90% of the Grace imo. But both of these are better than the UX2 headphone interface amp and many others I tried.(which are all made for 32ohm for the most part- generic standard design).

The biggest difference in the better amp was handling the bass which Garrw mentioned and was true, the main difference in the extra horsepower of an amp seems to be the low end as they all seemed to do high freqs and mids well. Im not sure why...but they do have a bass with more clarity.

None of the amps sound horrific, the 32 ohm sound fine and all that too, but comparing there is some small % of difference. YMMV...


Then reading the articles on mixing with headphones debates, headphone mixing has its few success stories, and the other thing is the "crossfeed" .
The ears hear both speakers in a car and with active studio monitors in a room so theres a cross-mono-mix thing both ears hear both speakers and so headphones can ruin that.

So the crossfeed button on a headphone amp is great for a HR recording, or adding the crossfeed plugin on the DAW master buss is a very noticeable simulation to mimic your monitor-room soundfield which is kind of a stereo / mono mix soundfield.
 
I would opt for a refurbished pair of DT100, you still pick them up quiet cheap nowadays. Being reference headphones they won't add anything or take it away, just give an accurate sound of whats on your recorder. Long and excellent pedigree, have a mainstay for recording studios (and still are, by all accounts) for donkeys years.
 
Well thank you for all your thoughts. I ordered DT770 PRO already so there's no turning back now. I'll just see what can those headphones do for me in matter of monitoring and partialy mixing, and I'l think they'l do the job better than Presonus HD7 that i got with my Presonus Studio One set. As for amplifier i already decided to go with ART Headamp 4 because that's in my budget range and i'l think it's gonna do fine job of spliting signal at normal quality so i can record more than one artist. Dunno, i'm just starting here with gear and don't have much money so i gotta make compromises.
Hope i'm moving in a right direction :)
 
Hi there !

I recieved my BeyerDynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm and was shocked with crystal clear sound nice bass great mids and the way those headphones sound. I'm very happy with my decision and thank you all for helping me make the right decision.

Gonna love those headphones :)
 
I have the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO phones...
MONSTROUS!!! Finally, my mixes started to sound right across ALL players!

Freq response is the key;
Human hearing ranges (with bell curve exceptions) 20Hz - 20KHz.
The Sennheiser HD 280 PRO phones do 10Hz - 25KHz, and are NOT
skewed to be "BASS BOOMERS" like cheap phones. Add to that a ~$100
price tag (very affordable considering alternatives) and I snapped them up!
btw, did I SAY I love them?
;P
 
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