Headphone monitoring discovery: Bose QC 15?

[Paulie]

I bought a pair of Bose QC-15 noise canceling headphones several years ago due to a loud work environment. They are great on flights as well, almost magical how they remove the background noise on a plane.

A month or so ago on a flight I was mixing some tracks and listening to others. I noticed that some of my tracks sounded like crap while others sounded full. Then I did a simple A/B comparison with some good tracks from Taxi friends. The mixes I made on the flight sounded better than normal for my modest skill level.

It turns out that for me, the Bose headphones are like a GROK box. They are not super high fidelity, but they do a great job of delivering mids, which is what the Avantone, Auratone and Behritone monitors do.

If you have a pair, give them a try and let me know if you notice the same thing I did. They don't make the QC 15 anymore, the QC 25 is the current replacement ($299).

[mojobone]

Pretty much any headphones that don't have a built-in "smiley curve" will do. What you personally find useful may vary.