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best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:57 pm
by Tanka18
Allright,
Me and my mate want to buy some headphones that will be able to support all the frequencies well.
I am thinking of buying sennheisser HD 25's as I also dj and have used them before and they wre perfect, but they. Also have a stronger low end response so my mixes In production tended to be too bassy!
I've also reccomended just any high spec AKG headphones ... What do you think?


Safe!
Frank -t-

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:29 pm
by EDN

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:29 pm
by abZ
EDN wrote:For the 15th time, read this.
http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/archives/ ... art-7.html
What does that prove? He hasn't tested a single pair of high end headphones.

You really aren't going to be able to answer this question because it's all subjective. I would lean towards high end open backed sennhieser or akg.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:54 pm
by JBE
I've read a lot of different things on headphones. The one thing that really does escape me is the actual difference between open and closed back. I understand closed blocks out more outside sound, while open allows you to hear sound outside of the source. Is the reason for using an open back set of headphones simply to recreate a "speaker" type sound without actually having the speakers? I always thought the purpose of using reference headphones for production was specifically for the purpose of having the source sound more personal to give a better overall image of the audio to the producer, which would be better without the outside interference of other sounds.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:57 pm
by stompzi
Surely if they had a strong bass response your tracks would end up not bassy enough? :6:

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:01 pm
by deadly_habit

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:08 pm
by Tanka18
EDN wrote:For the 15th time, read this.
http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/archives/ ... art-7.html
allright man, thanks for replying, but still dont get anoyed, doesnt come across nice...

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:10 pm
by Tanka18
stompzi wrote:Surely if they had a strong bass response your tracks would end up not bassy enough? :6:
yo man, yeh haha that is what i meant! haha

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:12 pm
by abZ
Good article. One thing that makes the k702 a no-brainer is that you can easily find them on the web for about 270. Almost half off list price. The other cans you probably won't find a deal.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:05 pm
by EDN
Tanka18 wrote:allright man, thanks for replying, but still dont get anoyed, doesnt come across nice...
Yeah sorry dude didn't mean to come off like a dick, it just gets posted up ALL the time.

And if you read the whole article, (I think some of it links off of that page) he has tested pretty much ALL of the high end headphones , in a number of different technical tests. Thus trumping most peoples "buy these cause I have them" ethos with this kind of thing.

The point is that its normally difficult to go into a shop and try out many different pairs of headphones/speakers/hookers and be objective about it, you are under pressure to spend money from the shop staff and don't wanna seem like your taking the piss by trying on every pair in the shop. So the best thing you can do really is look at objective reviews by professionals who do that kind of stuff all the time ie. soundonsound stuff, dave rats website, scratchworx etc. as well as looking through user reviews to gain a general idea of the whole picture. Then try and fit their advice into your price bracket.

Sorry once again for coming off as a weiner, I think it was my e-penis talking.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:38 pm
by macc
JBE wrote:I've read a lot of different things on headphones. The one thing that really does escape me is the actual difference between open and closed back. I understand closed blocks out more outside sound, while open allows you to hear sound outside of the source. Is the reason for using an open back set of headphones simply to recreate a "speaker" type sound without actually having the speakers? I always thought the purpose of using reference headphones for production was specifically for the purpose of having the source sound more personal to give a better overall image of the audio to the producer, which would be better without the outside interference of other sounds.
There's a lot of differences, but one of the main ones so far as quality of reproduction goes is the absence of recoil from the back of the enclosure. Think about it - on one side of the driver (the front) there's your ear. With an open back there's nothing behind, whereas with a closed back there is a sealed volume of air. The driver has to work against that on its way forward and back, increasing the effective mass. ie slower transient response (more correctly; worse impulse response). There's also capsule resonance to consider in that closed volume. Both of those problems go away when you remove the obstruction behind the driver :)

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:02 pm
by JBE
macc wrote: There's a lot of differences, but one of the main ones so far as quality of reproduction goes is the absence of recoil from the back of the enclosure. Think about it - on one side of the driver (the front) there's your ear. With an open back there's nothing behind, whereas with a closed back there is a sealed volume of air. The driver has to work against that on its way forward and back, increasing the effective mass. ie slower transient response (more correctly; worse impulse response). There's also capsule resonance to consider in that closed volume. Both of those problems go away when you remove the obstruction behind the driver :)
That makes a lot of sense, thanks. I guess I'm going to have to invest in a new pair of headphones.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 10:23 am
by Tanka18
EDN wrote:
Tanka18 wrote:allright man, thanks for replying, but still dont get anoyed, doesnt come across nice...
Yeah sorry dude didn't mean to come off like a dick, it just gets posted up ALL the time.

And if you read the whole article, (I think some of it links off of that page) he has tested pretty much ALL of the high end headphones , in a number of different technical tests. Thus trumping most peoples "buy these cause I have them" ethos with this kind of thing.

The point is that its normally difficult to go into a shop and try out many different pairs of headphones/speakers/hookers and be objective about it, you are under pressure to spend money from the shop staff and don't wanna seem like your taking the piss by trying on every pair in the shop. So the best thing you can do really is look at objective reviews by professionals who do that kind of stuff all the time ie. soundonsound stuff, dave rats website, scratchworx etc. as well as looking through user reviews to gain a general idea of the whole picture. Then try and fit their advice into your price bracket.

Sorry once again for coming off as a weiner, I think it was my e-penis talking.
No worrys dude! :)

yeh i had a look. bit out of my price range also tho, i found some AKG K271's that have really good reviews, im trusting AKG to be generally sick with the frequencies.
there abut £110 so its better than £270 for the K702's , after that im gunna save and get the sennheiser HD-25's just majinly for Djing purpose and walking around listening!


SAAAAAAFE

Frank
-t- -t- -t- -t- -t-

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:23 pm
by abZ
Umm I was saying 270 usd for the 702 and even cheaper than that for 701 look around.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:21 pm
by ASURA
i picked up some akg240 studios for around 115; super accurate for production imo. you can really hear the color/texture of reverbs and delay, and there have been occasions when i'm really baked that i forget i have them on and think i'm hearing crazy shit b.c. they're super accurate lol.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:26 pm
by Tanka18
ASURA wrote:i picked up some akg240 studios for around 115; super accurate for production imo. you can really hear the color/texture of reverbs and delay, and there have been occasions when i'm really baked that i forget i have them on and think i'm hearing crazy shit b.c. they're super accurate lol.
haha, safe man, i think im going to for the K271's cheers dudes!


Safe

Frank
-t- -t- -t- -e- -t- -t- -t- -e- -t- -t- -t-

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:51 pm
by therook
Don't forget to burn them in

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:31 pm
by abZ
therook wrote:Don't forget to burn them in
It doesn't do a god damn thing IMO. Just start using them right away.

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:19 pm
by Tanka18
therook wrote:Don't forget to burn them in
what you mean burn them? haha

Re: best headphones for production? DESCUSS!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:01 pm
by therook
Some audio professionals recommend "burning in" is
Headfi.org wrote:When speaking of headphones, ‘burn in’ is the term used for the settling oft he design parameters of the diaphragms into their intended state. The physical process is that the diaphragms loosen up through use and eventually reach a point that could be considered final. A similar situation is breaking in a new pair of shoes.
This is done through listening to music for hours on end (not a problem if you use them all the time) or just playing pink noise or filter sweeps through them. I just started burning in my hd280's even though I've had them for over 6 months and I have noticed a bit of a difference of how they sound. I used pink noise btw with a sound generator.

Some people may disagree but to each his own. Head-fi.org recommends it.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyones got one.

Take with a grain of salt.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/567 ... urn-in-faq