Headphone upgrade from total crap

rze99

Bod said:

rze99 said:

I've been using the Rode NTH-100s.  They came out just as I was starting to look and they seemed to fit exactly my needs. Excellent sound for monitoring / mixing and closed enough to have close to zero spill for using them while recording vocals and gentle acoustic sections. Recommended.

@rze99 are they as comfortable and cool as they say?  I hate having a sweaty head...

They are comfortable yes. They make my head sweat less than others I’d say but the cool thing is a tad overstated. Better than most I’d say. I have a smallish head. They fit and stay put very well.  

When mixing I’ve tended to add a touch more top using these headphones at first. It’s nothing dramatic and I’ve adjusted to it now but worth mentioning. Still recommended   

stickyfiddle

Another fan of Beyer DT770 here. I use them for drums and monitoring.

The Beyers are extremely comfy too - don't overlook that. (I've seen the velour pads described as "like slippers for your ears" and I don't disagree!). I have Sennheiser Momentum2 over-ears for general listening and playstation but their headband is a bit hard. 

Bose NC700 are my dailies for general listening. They're great but very "Bose sounding" so I wouldn't use them as monitors.

roberty

stickyfiddle said:

Another fan of Beyer DT770 here. I use them for drums and monitoring.

The Beyers are extremely comfy too - don't overlook that. (I've seen the velour pads described as "like slippers for your ears" and I don't disagree!). I have Sennheiser Momentum2 over-ears for general listening and playstation but their headband is a bit hard. 

Bose NC700 are my dailies for general listening. They're great but very "Bose sounding" so I wouldn't use them as monitors.

I have the Beyer DT770s as well and they are great for monitoring and tracking. Not the flattest for mixing with but spacious and uncluttered sounding. Check the impedance before you buy, there are at least three options

The wireless noise cancelling headphones I tried were hyped and consumer sounding in comparison. Senheiser Momentum 2.0 and Sony WH1000XM4. Recessed/softened midrange. I found myself compensating while tracking vocals, it was a pretty rotten experience

andy_k

Main thing is learn to love the one you are with

Greatape

So I tried Audio Technica athm50's and Beyerdynamic dt770's. 

Former : less comfortable but EQ seemed more even

Latter: more comfortable but seemingly a dip in mids and more emphasis on bass/treble?

Comparing to monitors in friends's studio.

goldpony

I find headphones best used in conjunction with speakers, they can be very deceiving for mixing due to the lack of crossfeed (left ear doesn't get some of what the right ear is hearing), but very good for checking bass. A specialist crossfeed plugin can be super helpful I find.

I've had Sony MDR 7506, Audio Technica ATH50, Sennheiser HD25 (and Sennheisser HD650 which are in a higher price bracket). You won't go wrong with any of them, my Sonys and ATH50 are workhorses which lasted for years before disintegrating.