Part 2!
Hello,
Sorry for the delay - My daughter is in her terrible-two phase and my pregnant wife should have given birth of our 2nd child this past Thursday. Now that I have a couple of minutes of free time...
First, thanks for your replies. I appreciate! In the meantime I continued my reflexion on the topic and I did some tests. So, here are the answers to the questions:
1. Tracking, error-finding (closed back)
For tracking, I use
the HD280 Pro from Sennheiser - a 64-Ohm, closed-back set of headphones. It has 200 hours of burn-in. During a test with
my Oktava MK-319 microphone, I had to crank the output of
my UA-25EX audio interface to get a decent sound on my headphones.
Now, I just did a test with music on iTunes -> iMac -> USB -> UA-25EX Audio interface -> HD 280 Pro... and I got plenty of gain. At 5/10 (12 o?clock) the sound was loud enough, but the sound wasn't as full as I expected. I've read that this set of headphones could need more 500 hours of burn-in... Or maybe an more powerful, "detail" amp?
Part of the problem encountered during my voice recording test could be too-weak preamps on my interface. I plan to get a mic preamp that would provide more gain than the 40-ish dB gain of my interface. I looked at the double channel M-Audio DMP3 with a 67dB max gain, but now
the Golden Age Project Pre-73, a single-channel with a 80dB max gain, seems more promising.
...But still, the headphone output sound of my interface doesn?t seem to be optimal. I just did a test with music on
my HD 570 «*non-monitor*» headphones, and I had to crank up to 9/10, even to max (4:00, 5:00), to get a decent level of sound.
2. Mixing, mastering* (Semi-open or open back)
For the other steps after recording, I?m tempted by
the DT-880 Pro, a 250-Ohm, semi-open back set of headphones. In various forums, users unanimously recommend the involvement of an amp. 600 Ohm headphones seem to be hard to get in Canada.
In the open-back category,
the Beyer DT-990 and
the AKG K 701 seem interesting.
3. Headphone amp - Tube
My first idea was to get a Presonus HP4 (150$US). It?s powerful and it has balanced inputs/thru, but it?s more on the entry-level side. Also, paying for 4 outputs when I would use only one could be a bad thing. So, I looked at the options available for a dedicated one-channel headphone amp.
For tube amps, a lot of Little Dot units are affordable and have great reviews:
MK1+ (139$US)
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=821
MKII (140$US)
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=816
MKIII (194$US)
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=815
MKIV (289$US)
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=820
4. Headphone amp - Solid state
For a solid state headphone amp, it would be one of these:
Little Dot MKV (279$US)
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=817
Corda Swing (295$US)
http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/swing.htm
Matrix M-Stage (270$US)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Matrix-m-stage-Headphone-Amplifier-Amp-/350369229247?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
5. Thoughts
Since my first post, I thought about all of this, and here are some reflexions:
- I looked at all the threads thar refer to tube rolling or swapping, and honestly I don?t know if I would have time/money/patience to do all of this.
- First I thought I could get a tube amp to enjoy its sound when I'd listen to every-day music, but if I lose accuracy on my recording projects because of that, it wouldn't be a wise choise... I think I should stick to solid state.
- I considered DAC/Amp combos available thru eBay, but I've read about quality differences between the reviews of the 1st gen. of a product and recent units. I should stick to single-function, consistent-quality products (i.e recent comments from new happy users)
- I decided that my budget for each component is 300$ max before taxes and shipping. I guess I can get reasonable products for that price.
Sorry for the lengthy response, and thanks for reading!
* I know, mastering shouldn't be done on headphones. But I have no cash and room for monitors and a treated room. My projects are to make audioguides, not to make "Dark Side of the Mars Planet"
My intention is to use the 112dB Redline Monitor plugin to emulate speaker placement.
