Edit::
I wanted you guys to know that I finally went with Sennheiser HD 280 PRO

After some research, I found that it is one of the best headphones for 100$ range, and It is also closed back, so can be used for music listening in public!

https://gadgetspage.com/best-studio-headphones/



:::OLD:::

With PreSonus headphone release I am thinking about buying a better mixing headphones. Please suggest your low price mixing headphones with their pros and cons.

 

Last edited: Oct 21, 2018

Low price? Samson SR 850. Around $45. No other headphone out there can match its sound quality at such a low price. None!

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 27, 2018

Hello @metaller how are you ? i hope all is good

my suggestion is to avoid the $50 price range headphones & go straight to the beautiful Audio-Technica ash-m40x's ;
best & flatest headphone that i heard in the $100 price range,

from audio technica i have the ath-m20x's(if you love bass as much as i do you will love these,but are designed more for listening & not for mixing,stay away from the ath-m30x's as there main use is for monitoring & have the midrange strong
i have the Audio technical athm40x's & audiot technica athm50x's & i use all the time the ath-m40x's as there are tuned flat.
My main headphones right now are these :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...th-r70x-open-back-dynamic-reference-headphone

if you're looking for an open back headphone look no further :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-open-back-mastering-and-reference-headphones
take care
spyfx

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 27, 2018

Why pay $100 when you can get the same for less than half? Have you tried the Samson SR850? It is a well balanced headphone as far as sound quality goes. By the way, Superlux which is the OEM of Samsons has the SuperluxHD-681 EVO. Same sound quality but better built. For the same price.

 

you can't go wrong with Sony MDR-7506, imo. used them for over 20 years. if interested, fish around online and you may be able to get them for less than $100.

however, the ear pads that come native with the headphones tend to peel after awhile (likely from sweat/wear & tear). that's my only gripe! if possible, invest in a pair of velour ear pads to slap on them; they last for years.

good luck!

 

Hello @TonyG
i can not recommend something to a fellow member here that i never used & have no personal experience with.
The Audio Technica athm40x may be $50 more but consider that they come with interchangeable cables & a nice pouch too !

 

Superlux headphones also come with a pouch and interchangeable cables. I own several Superlux models, some of them are good, some of them not so good. Some of the models have what I would call clear design flaws.

The fact is, there are very few people who have actually tested and compared even a decent slice of all the budget headphones available. Also there are a lot more people making all kinds of claims without actually knowing shit. I'm sure there are a lot of good quality cheap headphones you can do professional work with. Chances are no-one on this board has tried all those options. And comparing headphones is not an exact science anyway. What works for some people might not work for others. Flat response curve? That's not actually "optimal", whatever that even means.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function

 

I too use samson SR-850 ! They are nice but the high end is boosted sooo.... gotta be careful when mixing ! I think the most rewarding feature is the stereo image because the cans are big and they fit perfectly on my ear. Also its a personal thing that I live in a hot region so the I can't wear them for too long, I sweat profusely. All things considered with a little bit of tweaking these are the best you can get for the price. If you are however looking for closed back option because you don't want any ambience messing with the sound, try the closed back ones SR-950.
Hope this helps !

 

Thanks for your sincerity and words of wisdom. I have a couple of the Samsons and tried the Evo's, too. My "go to" headphones are the Sennheiser HD 800 with Sonarworks individual calibration.( not within the subject of this thread)

 

+1 for Samson... Though I own the RH600... Similar price... Great sound...

 

I forgot to say that at the moment I have a Philips-SHL9560, which is 43$ if it matters.
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHL9560-White-HeadBand-Headphones/dp/B002KKF7I8

Very good!
Sorry for not sending my finalized guitar stem for your project. I will imdtiately send them.

Thanks for your recomendation. With these explanations, I will choose Audio-Technica ash-m40x's if I decide to buy an Audio technica.

Thank you all of you guys! I should search more about Samson SR or MDR 850 or 750. It seems very good priced

I am looking forward to buy a headphone which is in the list of Sonarworks callibrations, not indivudual though.
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference/headphones

Thanks for your recomendation. I do also belive in that exact flat response curve is not mendatory if you know your headphone and use references.

 

Last edited: Apr 27, 2018

I agree with @Spyfxmk2 here. There are a few really cheap Headphones out there, that are not that bad for the price. But you should avoid going too cheap.

I use superlux too, but you can easily feel by only holding them in your hand a big quality differnce between a 681 and a lets say srh840. Soundswise you can hear it too. The superlux EVOs are the white one? - died here even earlier than a pair of super cheap 20 bucks 681. Not judging here just telling my expirience. And at the moment i use 5 pair of the 681 for my cover band. Noone cares if they get stolen .

For around 100 bucks you get really great Headphones. ATH-m40x (owned the m50x) , shure srh 840 (own them), Sony MDR 7506 (own a pair that is about 12 years old looks like sh** but still works).

If you want to use the headphones for mixing go with open headphones. They got a better soundstage than closed headphones. But they will have a good amount of mic bleed if you want to track someone with them.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 27, 2018

I will buy a better headphone than mine which is 43$.

Thanks for your suggestions
Regarding Tracking, I do have a closed back headphone, and that is not a parameter in my decision. If they have better soundstage this will be a boon for open back ones.

 

Samsons are good, more balanced than superlux. They are bright but very balanced, a bit V shaped smiley face sounding but with a good transient response, good depth and stereo image, low end is not hyped. Great value. I mix with expensive headphones now, but still use them for A/B-ing material, great way to see if the material is too bright ( on samsons) i have to pull back a lil.

 

Hate to disagree but I got a set of mdr-v6 for $50 last year on Amazon and I can bet you the MDR-V6 are 100 % better than the SR 850.

 

I have tested so many different headphones in the meantime around the $100 price range, including Sony, Pioneer, Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Technics, etc.

I have the Technics RP-DH1200E-S right now. They are absolutely amazing! They also have 5 stars that's coming out from 100 reviews in the biggest music shop in my country. What I love about them is as follows.

Rotatable ear cups that you also can adjust to your own preferences. Wearing comfort is amazing! Long and a very nice curly cable and I believe you also can replace if it gets broken. In general I am a big fan of curly cables. And then yeah the sound. Everything is so clean, bright, full, very well balanced, neutral and no distortion at high volume. They can go hard and it will still sound great. Big 50 mm drivers! What I love so much about it is the thrilling bass. It goes so deep that you can feel it in your whole head and that for a headphone around the $100 price range. It's crazy! Also very great for DJ, but that's probably you don't care about, haha. It's also much better than some of the more expensive headphones out there. If you start listening to it and you don't know anything about the price yet, then you will probably think it costs much higher than what it really is. Very great for it's price. In my opinion one of the all in one best closed back headphones around the $100 price range with some copies from Audio Technica, but I personally love the Technics a lot more.

I also love to use some in-ears from Sennheiser when I am making music. I have used the Sony MDR-EX650AP for a really long time. Right now I have the Momentum M2 IEG from Sennheiser. In my opinion and according to so many reviews it's probably one of the best in-ear under $100 for the ones that are looking for in-ears aswell.

If you're looking for open headphones (in general open headphones sounds better, more natural for instance than closed back, but this is also very personal) and only really focussed at mixing, then I think the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro will be a great one. This one have such an amazing sound! Sennheiser open headphones are very great too, but I believe more expensive than Beyerdynamic. Senneiser and Beyerdynamic are probably one of the best open headphones you can get for mixing.

But yeah this is for everyone different and of course I would suggest you to test them out first before you buy

 

Last edited: Apr 27, 2018

Can’t find them in stores. I’ve bought the SR 950, which have different padding. Will they sound as good as the SR 850? Does anyone know?

 

have to agree here, and they are available for $80 right now.. new in the box

I had been using the ATH-M50x which sound good, have a better bass response, but also are like having a clamp
down on your head, get quite uncomfortable after about 30 - 40 mins. When I got a volume spike one time,
they were like suction cups keeping all the painful pressure right on my ears... F THAT ! I'm selling them...

the Sony's have a very nice clear defined highs, and enough bass for my taste as well, and are very comfortable
on the head and ears, the cups sit just right... in fact I'm considering getting a backup pair of them...
no more Audio Technica for me..

I also think highly of the Sennheiser's,( DT 770, 880 )
but that's a good step up from the price range specified

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 28, 2018

And I bet you they were used! True, the OP never mentioned new or used but we have to go by the sale price when new in order to make a fair comparison.

 

https://www.samash.com/samson-sr850-professional-studio-reference-headphones-sr850xxxx

By the way, anybody that owns the 850s can do a little mod to improve sound. Remove the 2 plates with name and glue a coin in its place. It reduces some resonance.