Good headphones for home recording?

[cardell]

Beyer Dynamic DT 990 Pro headphones.

Stuart

[Rob Lorenzo]

Thanks for all the recommendations, so far, and advice (Mazz and all!)

This has given me more models to check out.

In no rush to buy; so if anyone has any more information to share, please do.

[jdhogg]

Audio-Technica ATH-M50. Love 'em. eo.

I recommended these a while ago (but did not own a pair) based on some of the finest ears in the business saying these are the best regardless of price.

I now own a pair.

These are the new pro headphone reference.

[t4mh]

AKG K 7O2
1) comfortable and 2) unbeatable frequency response 10-39,800 Hz
You can hear a mouse farting with these!!
Adonis

+1 to this. I have the K-701 which is just a little older. As true reference headphones I believe these before I believe any speakers.

Keith

[ernstinen]

Hey,

I bought the best Sennheiser phones I could find years ago: Sennheiser 430's! They were "next" to to top-of-the-line back then, but were
flatter than the best Sennheiser's & Sony's, which were more hyped on the high end.

I still use 'em, and Sennheiser paid for new cords, drivers etc. at no cost. BUT, the phone cushions are breaking down, and I'm thinking about replacing them. They ARE the flattest, best phones I've ever heard.

Last time I listened to phones, I was shocked that the newer Shure phones sounded the best, to my ears.

Ern

[Rob Lorenzo]

As per Mazz's footer " it's not the gear, it's the ear! " - good advice to try and buy.

I'm loving the fact you can post a question on the taxi forum and get good reliable, inspirational feedback.

And now got a variety of models to try.

[t4mh]

Problem is, its hard to try out a set of headphones. At least there is no place near me that is going to have a bunch of these cans out for someone to try out and have a recording system setup so that a person can hear the difference between a set of reference headphones and a set of reference monitors and make an informed decision about which headphones to purchase. The informed decision probably is going to com from a forum like this and a look at your pocketbook for how much you can spend. I'll bet most people buy theirs online anyway.

Keith

[monteverdejon]

sony MDR-V6 here. i was looking for 7506s and internet sleuthing told me the V6s have the same components list except for the BLINGIN' gold connectors

they sound "flat" response-wise to me, insofar as i can get detail in the highs and lows without one seeming to overpower the other...unless it's my mix, of course. the V6's highs do make it fatiguing to use even at moderate volume for long stretches, so i mostly use the phones for tracking and checking my monitor mixes rather than long mixing sessions.

tried a bunch of other cans in that price range...audio technica ath40fs (too bassy), akg k240 (too quiet)...starting to sound like goldilocks.

[Rob Lorenzo]

Good point on the finding a place to try - my nearest 'pro audio' store that's likely to have a variety of headphones is a trip to London - even then it's not with my existing gear, will unlikely have all models and this will contribute to eating away at the 'headphone budget'...

Also, I'm trying to be realistic about how much I'm going to use them. For example, I might not use them as much as I perhaps think I will i.e. I'll likely only use them late night, to keep the peace, or if there's noise around and I want to concentrate on a mix or whilst tracking. On that point I think my use is going to be 50:50 monitoring:mixing.

I'm guessing people's experience varies on their goals, gear and environment.

Next step is to engage my left brain and write up a list of pros/cons based upon opinions here, prices and available reviews.

My budget is £150 tops - that's $215 USD to you fine American folk.

Welcome further thoughts and information or links to reviews. I was just going to buy some headphones and now this has become an enjoyable detailed mission: it's been interesting to hear what everyone uses and how.

thanks guys!

[mazz]

I'm probably going to get creamed for saying this, but the bottom line is you can get used to anything. If you're not going to be mixing in headphones, which I don't recommend unless you've been doing it for years and know how the mixes translate, then you can almost use anything decent for composing and for keeping the peace late at night.

There's lots of good cans in the price range of your budget, I honestly don't think you'd go wrong with any of the recommendations here. Some will say what they use are the flattest, best bass, whatever. Honestly there's no such thing as a flat frequency response on headphones or speakers (which is probably a good thing anyway) and it really just boils down to what you use and that you're used to it. And you will get used to whatever you get.

Happy Shopping!

Mazz