Headphone suggestions

Barnezy

Any recommendations on a quality set of headphones up to £300. 

Primarily for use as monitors playing guitar, but would be nice if they are pleasent to use for music as well. 

Winny_Pooh

For playing music (rather than recording) where bleed is OK, look at open backed as way more comfy long term. DT880 are good

Barnezy

Winny_Pooh said:

For playing music (rather than recording) where bleed is OK, look at open backed as way more comfy long term. DT880 are good

Thanks. Ordered the Pro version. Amazon have them at quite a decent price.

tekbow

I've got a pair of HD600's that seem to be good. Many like the 650 as well

Wazmeister

Boss Waza Air.

Simply stunning and one of the best purchases Ive made,

Barnezy

Wazmeister said:

Boss Waza Air.

Simply stunning and one of the best purchases Ive made,

I've got a pair and not overly keen on them unfortunately. These would be fo use with my computer/interface mostly. 

Barnezy

Winny_Pooh said:

For playing music (rather than recording) where bleed is OK, look at open backed as way more comfy long term. DT880 are good

Thanks for the recommendation. They arrived yesterday and unfortunately had a cosmetic defect on the casing which means I'll need to return them regardless. However I gave them a long listen and played some guitar with them. 

I can see why they would be great for mixing etc. However I found them a little metallic sounding with the guitar and with music a bit too detailed and narrow sounding, like the music was being played right in front of your face.  

Trying them has given me good insight however in to what I'm looking for, and I've decided to go with a pair of HD-650's. I believe they will have enough detail for playing guitar with, but will also be relaxed enough to enjoying long music listening with, without fatigue from being overly detailed. 

Winny_Pooh

I found them a bit dark and flat, which is nice for spiky guitar. At least you had the chance to try them. Hopefully the hd650 work for you. 

Jonathanthomas83

Rob, your new HD650's should be nice and comfy and will be great for music listening. I use them for listening to music, gaming and playing the guitar and pretty everything else in between and they're awesome. I've used them for a good 9 years now and they're still going strong, even if they're a bit battered!  They sound superb and the sound stage is really good.

PolarityMan

I have DT880 pros..theyre pretty decent

keir

Is there much difference between the HD600 and HD650s? 

tekbow

keir said:

Is there much difference between the HD600 and HD650s? 

I researched this a lot whilst getting ready to buy.

Short answer is not loads as far as I can tell.

The 600s seem to be considered the more accurate/analytical reference phones and the 650s the more audiophile and pleasant to listen to.

600s slightly brighter/arier at top, the 650's slightly warmer.

Prob can't Go wrong with either but as mine were intended for mixing/mastering and Waves Abby Road Studio (recommended to me and seems useful) have a correction profile for them, I went with the 600.

IMO YMMV

Barnezy

keir said:

Is there much difference between the HD600 and HD650s? 

650's were intended to be the improved version of the 600's when they came out. People complained about a lack of bass with the 600's so they tried to resolve this with the 650's. Obviously if you change one element in the tuning, the entire EQ sounds different, due to the relativity of the frequencies to one another, even if there isn't actually any difference. 

I went with the 650's as I just want one set of headphones for listening to music and mixing and the 650's are described as a more pleasant music listening experience. I doubt you can go wrong with either. 

That said Sonarworks who know a thing or two about sound frequencies, seem to think the 650's are the best on the market for monitoring, straight out the box. 

https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference/blog/reviews/sennheiser-hd650-review/

"It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Sennheiser HD 650. For Sonarworks this headphone was used to translate a neutral sound from speakers to headphones. They’re also used by our engineering team as reference headphones, so they’re really special to us."

"These are our all-time favorite headphones. Apart from the weak bass response, there isn’t much correction required to get them absolutely perfect! Once calibrated, we can’t recommend Sennheiser HD 650 enough to anyone looking for production / mixing / mastering studio headphones."

UnclePsychosis

Big fan of the Beyr DT990 model here. 

Barnezy

For sure the Beyerdynamic's are quality HP's and offer great value aswell! The build quality on the T880's I recieved is fantastic, aside from the glue marks on the grill. If the highs weren't so sharpe for me I'd keep them, but everyone's hearing is different, and they hurt my ears after a while. 

keir

Interesting thanks all

Indiee

Beyer 770,880,990's should cover 99% of all use cases in studio IMO.   Depends on if you want open/closed and what Ohm rating really...     you can spend more, but at that point you should know what you want and try them first.    

paulmapp8306

Senny hd650 or akg 270 are my 2.  Both very nice in different ways.

Personally im not keen on the beyers (live their mics, not tgeir headphones), which is why you need to try several options for yourself.