Headphones . . .?

  • Thread starter Thread starter foo
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You can mix with the 580s or 600s. That's the whole reason I bought them. But you also have to have a good headphone amp. I have a Headroom amp. It's audiophile quality with a circuit in it that makes the headphones sound more like listening to speakers instead of that 'blob in your head' sound you usually get with headphones.

I guarantee you that the 580s or 600s are flatter than any of the monitors most of us use. But most headphone outs in our board and stereo are cheap op-amps that were an afterthought. The thinking is along the lines of "Hey, it's just headphones." And most of the little home studio headphone amps I see are equally horrible. I was turned onto the 580s and the Headroom line of amp from reading Stereophile and as out of control as they can get with their $700 speaker cables.....they do have 'golden ears' and when they recommend something....it usually sounds very good; just usually unaffordable. But you can get the 580s cheap and Headroom had headphone amps from $100 to around $4500.
They have a very cool and informative website that you can learn a lot about headphones at. I don't have a link but Headroom should be easy to find. In fact I'll go get it and come back.
 
Here it is
http://www.headphone.com/layout.php
It's a very cool site with lots of info and their picks for best sounding headphones from cheap to big bucks. They don't make headphones, just the amps so they have fairly unbiased opinions on the cans. And basically all they do is listen to the things so they have a good ear for it and listen to almost everything whereas we rarely hear more than a couple.
 
I agree Bob, the 580's are fabulous. I use them for checking mix details all the time. But doing a whole mix on them? Especially when it comes to applying reverb and panning? You must be far more skilled than me.
 
More like my wife goes to bed about the time I can get free to do anything so I have no choice. I certainly check the mixes out on my monitors but one of the things the Headroom processor does is make the headphones sound like speakers. So it's the combination of the 'phones and that amp. With the processor engaged my monitors and my 'phones sound extremely close. It's actually hard to tell the difference when you listen to the phones and then switch to the speakers. So when they're that close....what's the difference?
 
I hate to post this after the fact but the input jack on my first pair of 240's has been resoldered twice now. I didn't know about the silver solder (I also was not the one doing the soldering :)) but I'm sure I will be learning about it soon if it keeps happening.

I've had the first pair for about two years and bought a second pair for continuity sake. I also think the 7506's are too tight on this noggin.
 
wireless

anyone using wireless headphones?

I don't plan on mixing with headphones just tracking and a sealed pair of wireless headphones is a very tempting purchase.

Any issues to watch out for with wireless?
 
foo said:
Went to my local store and tried out what they had, including the AKG 240 and the Sony 7506.

Bought the AKG's.
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You may find the AKG's won't work at all for part of your originally stated needs: tracking a vocalist.

They bleed something fierce (they're not a closed design) and they require a prodigious headphone amp to pump them up loud enough to be heard over a live drum kit.
 
Not that it matters, but to correct you Green, the term "Foo Fighters" was first used during the end of WWII, when B-29 bombers were trashing Japan. They used to pick up radar contacts high up in the atmosphere moving at high speeds, dubed "Foo Fighters". I'm sure the term carried over to Korea, since so many WWII pilots served in Korea as well.

OK history lession over.... So what is the agreed on BEST VALUE set of fully enclosed headphones that absolutely do NOT leak?
 
Sennheiser 280's on E-bay for $70 bucks, "Buy it Now" NIB.

I ought to get those, but I have a Roland R-5 drum machine on the way I bought the day before my headphones went tits up.
 
RWhite said:
... OK history lession over.... So what is the agreed on BEST VALUE set of fully enclosed headphones that absolutely do NOT leak?
Click to expand...

History lesion?

Absolutely do NOT leak? I suspect that's a tough order to fill. Probably one of those in-ear things. Or maybe:
http://www.gk-music.com/index.htm

Or, if the user is bald, you might try duct-tape wrapped around the phones and his head (per Mixerman).
 
Might try some David Clark aviation 'phones.

Hey, the boom mic is a bonus you can use for talk-back.
 
Yo Neighbor in Michigan: RWHITE:

You're right WHITE! I guess I was pretty young when that phrase came out and, at the same time, so did a great deal of UFO stuff.

Thus, I probably put them in the Cuisinart of my mind and blended the whole thing.

But, were not some references made to UFO's associated with the term "FOO FIGHTERS?"

I guess that's why I was an English Major.

Green Hornet:D :p :p :p :p :cool:
 
Re: wireless

erichenryus said:
anyone using wireless headphones?

I don't plan on mixing with headphones just tracking and a sealed pair of wireless headphones is a very tempting purchase.

Any issues to watch out for with wireless?
Click to expand...

I've got some JVC 900 mhz wireless. They're pretty good for watching TV or listening to the radio but I can't use them for tracking. They seem to need a really strong signal to work correctly. When listening to one track they make a funky "crackle" noise that's unbearable - kind of like they can't quite catch the right frequency or somthing. May just be a defective set. I had high hopes when I bought them. I wanted to get away from the stupid cord but...... I've heard of others having success with them though. Guess you just have to try it out with your system.
 
more specifically, anyone using the sennheiser wireless hp's in a recording environment?
 
Yo Green -

Well literally yes the "Foo Fighter" name could be applied to any UFO, that's what these B-29's were picking up. It's just that in those cases the "UFOs" were almost certainly atmospheric reflections or interferance with the primitive radars they carried.

By the time Vietnam rolled arround the bugs had been pretty well worked out of airbourne radar, and by some stange co-incidence the number of UFOs reported by military planes dropped way off :D


Everyone else -

Some cool phones, but perhaps a bit extreme. In my particular case I use a Rode NT-1 for doing vocal overdubs, and it picks up every $#&^%$! sound for miles arround. I realize there are no perfect solutions, but without wrapping my vocalist's head in tape (a tempting idea I must admit) what would be the best "standard" headphones for limiting bleed?
 
Yo Right of WHITE:

Thanks for the clarification about the old FOO fighters. When I was in the Navy and passing through Seattle, I had a chat with a Radar Chief and I asked him if he "ever" clocked anything on a scope that was moving really fast. He looked at me in a strange way, we were alone in the room, and he said, "I've clocked things moving at speeds that I could not believe...."

As for the cans. I have no bleedover problems with the Beyer 750 or 770's [can't remember the numbers] but the cans are closed. I'm sure there are another dozen that would make most of happy too.

Frikon and Ramu: Where are you?

Green Hornet:D :p :p :p
 
Already run into the volume problem - and I'm only using them in my bedroom with a sequenced rhythm track.

I'll give it a shot with a vocalist once I have something ready to go and see how we do.

Watch this space.

foo
 
Lt. Bob said:
For the very best, flattest sound...........Sennheiser 600s and the 580s are almost the same exact 'phones and you can get them for about $150. If you have to have sealed-back 'phones.........the 280s are awfully good.
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I have the HD600 and the MVR7506 ( 2pr) The HD600 are wonderful cans, for hi fi listening. They are open air and do not go anywhere near as loud as the 7506.

The 600's are practically unuseable for tracking, could work for mixing, if you mix with cans.

The 7506 are the all around studio winners AFAIAC

Wild Phil Harmonica
 
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