Headphones vs Monitors

Waffleness

Waffleness

New member
Yo,

Ive been looking around at monitoring systems (not planning to buy anything... yet :)). Would you say its better to spend 250 on a set of monitors and 50 on basic room treatment, or 300 straight off on high end headphones and a headphone amp?

Im simply wondering what gets you the best mix monitoring for your money? At a guess I would say headphones would be more accurate, as you dont have to treat the room.

Thanks.

W
 
IMHO, I'd say that the best monitoring comes from (1) the room and (2) the monitors.

I'd treat the room (see Ethan Winers or Glen Kuras sites) and then get the best quality monitors you can afford.

Makes a huge difference when your room is dialed in.

my 2 pesos...:cool:
 
Yeah, you need SOME type of monitors.. There's 100 other threads on this topic already, but I will say I initially tried to pull it off with headphones, and the translation sucked bigtime. I'd get the mix into my car, home theater, pc speakers, etc. and it there were always a LOT of problems I had to go back and fix basically blindly, cuz the headphones weren't telling me.

I bought a cheap set of behringer B2031A's, new for $350. They're good enough for a hobbyist. You can prolly find a deal somewhere and get em for $300, then spend a little on a small amount of room treatment, and you'll be miles ahead of anything the world's greatest headphones would give you. I'd highly recommend you increase your budget a little bit, it'll go a long way.

For <$300, you can get some cheap 5-6" active monitors, KRK Rokit 5's, M-Audio BX5's. But the low end will be nowhere to be heard.. My 2031's are 8", and they're even a little lacking in the bass dept.

Would you frame a house with a hammer if you could get a nail gun for an extra $100? How much is your time worth?
 
I own monitors already, I was just wondering whether a set of headphones would be better? If not then thats cool, just wondered about peoples opinions.

So why dont headphones translate very well? Does the lack of a cab affect the way they replicate the audio?
 
Waffleness said:
I own monitors already, I was just wondering whether a set of headphones would be better? If not then thats cool, just wondered about peoples opinions.

So why dont headphones translate very well? Does the lack of a cab affect the way they replicate the audio?
Click to expand...

If you already own monitors, get some good headphones too, it's good to check mixes on em. My monitors are low end, my headphones are mid-grade, AKG-240's (which I like a lot). Using both gets me way better results than one or the other.
 
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