Do NOT mix with headphones. I know you heard it 100 times but don't do it. Just don't. Save your money to buy a pair of monitors. If you're going to buy headphones anyway then you should buy an open back headphones. Cheers.

 

first of all I would forget headphones when it comes to bass. but it is indeed pretty good to have for example akg k240 or stuff like that. when it sounds good there, it sounds good everywhere. but for mixing bass u need speakers and a sub.

 

Most popular solutions:

AKG K702, Beyerdynamics DT 880 Pro, Sennheiser hd 650.

 

I d go for Sony or AKG the model depends on the budget
closed headphones for recording
open for mixing
be careful... we have only a pair of ears

headphones can be handy for FX and Pan, or mixing at 4 AM in a building but speakers are obviously better

 

For me the KRK KNS 8400 is the best!

 

and yes i agree about good monitors over headphones for mixing but in some situations AKA apartment living , it'ds hard to get a good mix with monitors with neighbours banging on your door even 5 minutes and then the Police
true story

 

The main thing to remember is you have to get to know your cans. By that I mean you have to pretty much live in them. listen to everything in them, YouTube, movies, CD's, Soundcloud, everything. It will take time, so don't get downhearted if things aren't perfect off the bat. They have to wear in, as do monitors, and your ears have to become accustomed to them, as they do monitors. I've had my Sony MDR-ZX700's for 5 years and I always listen to everything with them when I'm at home.

 

dt770's you cannot go wrong with these !

 

You can mix on headphones. A combination of headphones and monitors in a treated room is ideal though.

I do own and use

AKG k702 (open back)
DT770 (closed)
Sony MDR7506 (incredible for the price)
ATH m50x (incredible for the price/closed back)
Sennheiser HG 558 (different, but extremely comfy/open back).

Based on your budget, I'd go with ATH-m50x.

Get to know the response and performance of your phones, just like a nice set of monitors, so that you can use them to make relevant mix decisions - when you need to.

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M50X

 

first of all, for "NIGHT TIME" mixing must be open type )) listen to any open type Beyerdynamic DT series and choose one that fits you budget ;)

Mix on monitors at daytime ;)

 

Definitely Grado SR80e's. Open back ribbon headphones and with nice price of around $90. I still cross check with monitors at some point but adjustments are minimal by that point.

 

Are you still using the K712? How would you describe the difference to K812?Is it worth to cough up that extra amount of money?
I hear a lot of praise for both.
It was mentioned you would have to pay a few thousand euros for speaker monitors to be able to come close to to K812.
K712 are now 300 euros,which is a lot less than before when they were around 500 euros.

 

It isn't a great difference and a law of diminishing returns, They are very good though for sure. For reference I still do use the K712 and the Audeze. I traded in the K812's to fund the Audeze's, I'd be very comfortable using just the K712 but if you can stretch your budget to the 812 then there is no reason I would honstely be able to give not to do so. AKG gear I have always had nothing but good results from and total relability. If you find a shop/store which has both in stock then I would say the best thing to do would be going in for two or three hours and demo both, switching and of course take in your own reference material. Even better would be to order both from a place you trust and set aside as much time as you can to listen/uses each in your own enviroment and simply return the pair that do not fair the best out of the two. Like said they have a family sound and in a very good way, I'm sorry that I can not just easily say "yeah buy x as it really blows y out of the water" as I'd not be telling you my honest opinion, Obviously it is subjective. At a push I'd say that to me/my ear's the 812s give an even more natural sounding low-end extension and superb "weight" whereby it's great for actually hearing the lowest/fundamentals of a bass oppose to that congested and even worse sometimes one note mush plus they also deliver additional detail to the mids and the spatial feeling is about as good as it can get from what I know and have ever used, The higher end isn't harsh or tireing at all, Nothing is hyped and yeah they're really top-notch, The K712s though still deliver almost the same

My monitoring setup revolves around a pair of Yamaha NS10's (The "M Studio" variety) which I mainly use for tracking and checking mixes/various elements isolated, I kind of like the brutal mid-range forward sound they deliver/am used to them. Then I utilize my own "rules" for my main monitors, It's made up of one ADAM S3XV that runs a constant Mono/Sum of anything coming out and when they released the AX series A8X, I upgraded to a pair of them from the older A7 model, They are setup/used just like a regular L&R pair and run/are fed anything coming out. I know it's abit of an odd combination but I find it works well for my needs/wants, I suppose the idea is the S3VX acts a centre which simply bolsters the phantom centre created by the pair of A8X's. The S3VX is calibrated to not put out as loud as the main pair, If it we're then it'd cause some major issues by overly representing anything central. I call it my LCR solution if anyone notices and asks about it. I've only brought up that so you have an idea of what my monitoring setup is with which I have to judge against the headphones in question

I hope that is of some help/use to you dude, All the best

Dean

 

Thank you very much for the detailed information,Dean.
I will probably get the K712`s and later down i will try to get my hands on 812k.
AKGs give you that natural soundstage and detail that is lacking in so many pro headphones.
And your monitoring setup is clever as well.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 20, 2016

I wouldn't get K812 even for free - there are numerous reports on head-fi that one transducer stops working after just a month of use. The engineering is also not well thought of, the shells are inaccessible from the outside, making true-balanced mod very hard to accomplish. And that's coming from AKG, which used bi-wiring as one of key selling points for "lesser" models.
K812 uses unbalanced single ended wiring, which tend to affect SQ. K812 also uses non-standard miniXLR plugs, which cost 10 times more.
It's also 32Ohm, quite difficult to drive properly with rather low efficiency drivers.
If you desperately need to spend $1000+ get HD800S.

No idea about how K712 perform, but with K701 and K702 there's no depth in sound, at least how I perceived it. K601 are probably the best bet when it comes to soundstage - it's fully spherical. 701/702 do have width, but no depth.

 

Last edited: Feb 20, 2016

i can recommend akg headphones, but not for bass mixing of course. only mids and highs and 3d room stuff. and when the bass kicks in a lil bit even on the akgs, and you mixing the bass with good sub&speakers,too - u know u r done with the mix.

 

Thanks for the info Andrew,will go hunting for more info now.
Yes,i was looking at HD800 as well,used to sell Sennheiser gear in the music store i worked and they certainly deliver quality.
Thing is im very familiar with "AKG sound",that is very specific and works well,especially if doing modern type of production and orchestra with sound design.
No over hyped bass,very analytical,detailed,great sound stage,you can easily position the instruments.
Im not desperate to spend money,but its an investment, a tool that is needed

 

I agree, AKG sound has a lot of great potential. Not sure which headphones you have now, but if you can, have a listen to K612/K601 as well. They're most often overlooked in favour of the "higher-numbered" and acclaimed K701/702/712, but I ended up enjoying them much more than K701. The stage is much more precise, and they deliver true direct sound with minimum reflections.
AKG K240DF and K240 Monitors are great complements to K601.
I wouldn't say they're "worse", just different. The semi-open design leaves out some ER inside, which "smoothen" the sound. They also don't leak as much as 601. I usually put on K240 Monitor for sequencing, and K601 for mixing and K240DF for mastering.

Actually this myth about headphones "not as good as monitors" is no longer valid today with angled drivers, field equalization and crossfeed.
As stated, it's best if one has access to both great headphones and monitors, but for starters, 99% of studio monitors, regardless of price aren't exactly portable, and has to be "attuned" to the room. For some people, who spend most of the time on the road, or doing distance jobs and frequently relocating from one place to the next, monitors aren't a solution. In that case, headphones are required to be reliable in all aspects, and thanks to "technology", they've come very close to reliability of monitor speakers.

 

Last edited: Feb 20, 2016