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Satan's back with a favor to ask. I don't currently have monitors as I can't afford them at the moment so I just use regular speakers. Sucks to be me. I also don't have good headphones and my brother took back the ones that he had lent me. Maybe this would be easier if I told you what I DO have, it would be a short list. Anyway, I was talking to my friend (the one you know by that 4 letter name that I refuse to repeat because she deserves a fuck of a lot better than that) and we got on the subject of music so I mentioned that I was looking to get a pair of decent headphones. She said that the holidays are coming up so if you have something in mind then let me know and maybe it'll show up at your door. She's too good to me and yes I tell her that all the time. Even more than usual these days. I'm looking for something approximating $100, new or used. I can possibly add to that amount, partly from me and also if I end up getting a family member to throw in a little something in, instead of getting me another gift. So please keep it in the $100-$200 range. Looking for some good recommendations from experienced producers. Thanks. Anyway, gotta get back to drinking blood and eating souls or whatever it is us devils do.

 

MASSDROP HD-6XX (Sennheiser HD-650 clone) (usually go on sale around holidays) ($220)
https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx

BEYERDYNAMIC DT-770 ($154)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Beyerdynam...651956&hash=item5b78ed5d62:g:5WkAAOSwh-lfieG6

SONY MDR-7506 ($100)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-MDR-7...493459&hash=item35e2c68dfc:g:6qkAAOSwmdteF3U~

Just stay away from Audio Technia ATH-m50x - built like shit, imo.

 

Last edited: Dec 15, 2020

One of the best headphones in the 100-200 price range is technics RP-DH1200E-S for me. It has a big, clear, nice, warm and powerful sound. Never distorts. It's mainly a dj headphone, but I also use them for producing and mixing. I love it

Tried ATH-M50 too, but I don't like the sound. They are sounding so dry and vague to me. Tried a lot of headphones from beyerdynamics aswell. Beautiful sound, but they were distorting so pretty easily on my focusrite interface on like only 50% of the total volume. Idk why.

 

I've been using the ATH-M50 in one or the other incarnation for like 12 years or so and they work great while tracking for me.

That's a cool what I believe Paul Lehr cover and one I've not seen.

 

Focusrite interfaces have a not-so-good headphones amp. That's why BeyerDynamics sounded distorted, especially if you tried 250 ohm ones. You have to use lower ohm headphones with Focusrite's interfaces. Audient ones have decent headphones amps. Not sure about iD14, but iD22 sounded great with my 600ohm AKG-240DF and BeyerDynamic DT-770 Pro which are 250ohm.

Depending on the audio interface, or if you have an external DAC with a good headphone amp, I would go with a 50-100 ohms headphones if the amp is bad, and 250ohm or 600ohm ones if the headphone amp is of really good quality.

Also, go for open ones. They always sound better. Closed ones are usually just useful for recording.

Cheers!

 

Err, open or closed? High or low impedance?

 

I don't have too much time to respond at the moment, I have to go get a coronavirus test because I'm having a heart procedure done tomorrow but I'll try to reply briefly. It seems that I should be going for open ones. I want to record vocals later but, at the moment, I don't have a microphone anyway so closed ones aren't a necessity. If you feel like including closed and open options, I'd definitely appreciate that. Then the thread could be even more useful for the next guy. I currently have a MOTU M4 DAC but I'm not too sure on the specs of the headphone amplifier. I'll put that info up when I get back from my appointment. Thanks to everyone that's responded thus far, I really appreciate it.

 

Musician's Friend has a Stupid Deal of the Day right NOW!! Shoot! It seems they ran out and subbed something else. ;-(. It was a Tascam.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2020

MDR-V6 are almost the same and a little cheaper. I have both and they are great.

 

I tried the 32 ones. Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro. I don't know if this could be one of the reasons aswell, but I found out later that there is actually a difference in maximal spl between beyerdynamic (96) and my current headphone (106).

 

Then I'd go for open ones.
Close to 100€ would be AKG 701/702.
Close to 200€ I think I'd go for the just recently released Sennheiser 560S because the AKG 712 are still a bit more pricey.
In between are the renowed beyer 880 and 990, but they're not quite my taste.

 

I may be getting old, but I prefer monitors all the time,
and if I need to grab headphones out of necessity, I prefer comfortable headphones over perfect sounding headphones,
ones I'm least annoyed with (especially when wearing sunglasses) during longer sessions are AKG K702,
for tracking, there's only one best choice, that's Beyer DT 770 M which offer best isolation from inside and outside (so useful for both loud drums but also loud metronome)

 

For $60 USD, the Status Audio CB-1 is hard to beat.

 

Buy them from Sonarworks to get calibrated flat headphones, might be a good small investment.

 

Sennheiser HD280s are dirt cheap and lots of studios use them

 

Sony MDR-V6, because my pair is from 1986 and still work perfectly- just replaced the pads with $20+ pads.
I replaced with some cheap ones <$5.00 from China, which felt great but didn't last long.
I bought another MDR-V6 about a year ago, and was switching between the two.
I can't tell you which ones I am wearing right now...
When i first got them I could tell, because I had 'unbent' the top to make them fit more loosely for listening to audiobooks as I drifted off to sleep... but after rebending the old ones to match the feel of the new ones, I can't tell a difference in feel or sound....at my age I know I don't hear the high end as well as I used to, but i never had issues using them for everything.

Even back in the 90's wearing them at work to cover machinery noise, throwing them in my bag all the time, these things have been through hell and i do not know how i never ripped the tiny wires going to the drivers, but it never happened.

That is why I recommend them, along with the reviews that say they are accurate.
Some say a bit too "honest" as harshness may stand out ...
So for music listening maybe they are not the smoothest, but there is no such thing as "too honest" for mixing work, right?

 

Thanks so much for all of your responses, really a lot of great information here.

Now I must bid you adieu, I have my procedure in a few hours and I need to get a little rest before it. Hopefully, I'll be seeing you on the other side.
QUOTE="tzzsmk, post: 517580, member: 28140"]I may be getting old, but I prefer monitors all the time,
and if I need to grab headphones out of necessity[/QUOTE]
I would prefer to have monitors as well but I don't have money for them and I don't really have space for them either. I would have to get a new table to accommodate or get stands and that increases my costs a lot. That's why I figured a pair of headphones would be a good compromise for now.

 

Highs, you hear highs? Lucky you! What did you say? Speak up, please, would you Sonny?

 

P

I would prefer to have monitors as well but I don't have money for them and I don't really have space for them either. I would have to get a new table to accommodate or get stands and that increases my costs a lot. That's why I figured a pair of headphones would be a good compromise for now.[/QUOTE]
Proceed, see you there.