New listening challenge - Headphones or monitors..?

[Boray]

From the instruction manual of my brand new Sennheiser HD280pro headphones:
Accurate, linear sound reproduction for critical monitoring applications.
-
Frequency response: 8Hz to 25kHz. (-10dB referred to 1kHz)


From the manual of my Alesis M1 active Mk2 monitors:
Tonally, every effort has been made to create a powered monitor that is as linear as possible, representing a flat frequency response from 50Hz to 20kHz +-2dB.
-
Free-Field Frequency response: +-2dB, 50Hz to 20kHz
Lower Cutoff Frequency: 40 Hz -10dB
Upper Cutoff Frequency: 23.5kHz -10dB

But they sound VERY different, so one of them must be lying. Who do you think tells the truth? Alesis or Sennheiser?

Now, here is two short mp3s:

(261kb)

(263kb)

It's the same short sample, but one of them is mixed on the monitors and one on the headphones. Now, what I'd like you to say is

1) Which one do you think sounds best?

2) Which one is the monitors and which is the headphones?

... I know it's not recommended to mix on headphones, but consider that monitors are quite hard to place. Headphones are easy to place - just put them on your head. Monitors are much more complex with crossover sections etc. while headphones doesn't need much electronics at all... Monitors are affected by room acoustics while headphones only are affected by your own ears... Well, I must have very strange ears or extremely badly placed monitors... or, as I was saying, someone must be lying...

Now it's your decision! Have fun!

/Anders

 

[chessrock]

I have no idea how in the hell I'm supposed to be able to tell which one was mixed with monitors and which with headphones.

Kind of like asking: Which one was mixed while I was wearing a red shirt and which was mixed while wearing a green shirt?


Just off the top of my head, I think A is just a tad more listenable for me, as B seems to have just a hair more high end / high-midrange than I normally like, but they're close. B definitely seems to have some more clarity to it, and I might like it better, if it weren't for that vocal sibilance. Ouch. At least on A, I'm not going treble deaf from that passage:

Now . . . it is your De - si - [size=large]SSSHHH [/SIZE] ion.

You need to use a de-esser, dude.

But this is all irrelevant, since there are so many more factors involved; the questionable quality in your choice of monitors being one of them. Then there's the relative flatness of your monitoring room accoustics, which is just as big of a factor, etc. etc. and the list goes on.

Not to mention the order in which these were mixed. I mean, if you already did a mix on the monitors before you did it on the headphones, then you already had a basic idea of where everything was going to be panned, etc. etc. etc. and vice versa.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Mix A is muddier overall and the bass/kick sits strangely in the mix, so if I had to guess I'd say A was a headphone mix....

Headphone mixes typically result in skewed bass levels and unbalanced sonics overall since it is tough to judge the relative level of EQ on the cans. What sounds bright/clear enough on headphones is actually much darker and muddier on monitors....

BTW - I didn't care for either mix - both were overly dry and had zero depth/space around any of the tracks.

 

[charger]

I think A is the headphone mix, because it's darker. B is definitely brighter. I don't think the Alesis monitors represent the high end all that well, so maybe it accounts for a little more high end there.

 

[malcolm123]

Mix A is muddier overall and the bass/kick sits strangely in the mix, so if I had to guess I'd say A was a headphone mix....

Headphone mixes typically result in skewed bass levels and unbalanced sonics overall since it is tough to judge the relative level of EQ on the cans. What sounds bright/clear enough on headphones is actually much darker and muddier on monitors....

BTW - I didn't care for either mix - both were overly dry and had zero depth/space around any of the tracks.

LOL

I think I done started something,,, maybe ??

Malcolm
"Headphones are not an option" , oh we are tracking now, Sorry !

 

[TexRoadkill]

You don't have an option so we can guess what color shirt you were wearing.

 

[Boray]

Thanks for the replies and comments so far! When you say which mix you prefer, please also say what you listened through!

I'm not trying to show anything with this. I'm not trying to show that it's better to mix with headphones or anything like that... This is just a very interesting test for myself. If for example it shows that people actually prefer the mix I don't prefer myself, then I really should question my abilities to mix at all... And the trust I put in my monitors...

TexRoadkill,
You don't have an option so we can guess what color shirt you were wearing.

Not much point, because I used the same shirt on both mixes.

/Anders

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

When you say which mix you prefer, please also say what you listened through!

I listened in the control room on B&W 601s.......

 

[malcolm123]

I listened in the control room on B&W 601s.......

Are those headphones BB ? LOL

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

heh-heh.... no Bowers & Wilkens speakers!

 

[malcolm123]

heh-heh.... no Bowers & Wilkens speakers!

LOL

Just fuckin witcha !!

 

[Boray]

Ok, thanks everyone for the response! It's time to put the cards on the table:

A - Headphone mix.

B - Monitor mix.

C - New monitor mix.

C? Well I made it today and here it is:

You are very welcome to comment on it as well - in this thread:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&postid=954243#post954243

/Anders

 

[DonF]

From the manual of my Alesis M1 active Mk2 monitors: Tonally, every effort has been made to create a powered monitor that is as linear as possible...

This is quite obviously an exaggeration, because if literally every effort had been made, the price would be considerably higher. At best, they can say that every effort has been made consistent with the price point we've selected in order to reach our target market; but such is the nature of marketing hype.