I need help choosing the best headphones under $600 to use for mixing (I'm currently learning, not doing this professionally). I plan to get studio monitors in the future, but for now, I'll be producing in a small, untreated room.

 

To me, DT 770 250 ohm.
Because they are closed, so i can track with them too (vocals, acoustic guitar ...) without sound bleed.

Only if you don't track at all, DT 880.

And why Beyer dynamic ?
Because they sound very good, and they are well built with affordable parts.

 

K701 are great headphones for critical mixing but you have to learn to compensate for the lack of bass punch so you don't underestimate it when mixing on open back headphones. Price is good too these days

 

I compared Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser and AKG and picked the Sennheiser (650, open(?) ). I think it is important you compare by yourself . You will get many different recommendations . Same with speakers . Before I bought some Sony that were recommended to me but those did not work for me at all

 

dt 770 are generally ok headphones for casual listening, but they have a big problem. First, they have very pronounced high frequencies and all mixes over them sound muddy. The biggest problem is the low middle, which are hollow, somehow pulled in and separated from the rest of the spectrum, and it is impossible to make acoustic instruments sound balanced through these headphones. hd600 have a little too weak extremes but excellent middle.One of the best headphones and certainly the best headphones for that price.

 

Slate VSX is the best option I have purchased many headphones and I sold them after getting VSX

 

my experience so far is:

I was using only my built in Realtek soundcard for years with my DT770 PRO 80ohm
2 weeks ago I bought a SSL2+ interface

There's a huge difference in sound quality
The SSL2+ can drive my DT770s uncomfortably loud without distortion
An audio interface is game changer because of the AMP/output is way much better & stronger than a usual motherboard HD soundcard

 

If you are into the dt 880 - Take a look at the new dt 700 pro x and dt 900pro x. I have the dt900x here. Pretty impressive headphones. They are - semi open with detechable cabel. The 900 pro x is in terms of bleed an soundstage more similar to a 880 than to a 990.
The sound signature is pretty neutral. They sound more like a sennheiser hd 600 than a typical beyerdnamic highs hyped (which I love) headphone.

 

If you're willing to drop an extra fifty bucks, I would absolutely recommend looking into the Neumann NDH 30's. I personally don't know of anything better. That said, I love my HD 600, recently invested in Realphones software as well. And I can confidently say that they are a beyond magical combination.

 

I have the DT 1990 Pro and they are excellent.
For me I only get Beyerdynamic due to the easy replacement parts

 

I've posted a few times about this combination, and my favorite setting is Big Fat Bottom (Normal) @ 75%

I'd also recommend the NDH-30 for mixing, but I use the above for general listening

 

Last edited: Dec 30, 2023

Kind of leftfield but

You should check out Shure SRH940 cost around 250
the older ones SRH840 are nice too, but the highs are a bit Potent
As always:
2nd hand is always a cool choice, once you figured out what you want

 

Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro + Realphones