Question for my fellow audiophiles

Kazabazua

Kazabazua

Active member
Hey guys,

I recently broke two pairs of Skullcandy's (not the first time) so I'm looking to invest in some nice headphones that will last a long time. I produce music, mainly hiphop and electronic so I guess I'm looking for something pretty well balanced with a big soundstage. I've tried the Grado SR-225i's and my cousins AKG's which I also liked but I'm looking for some other recommendations before I drop upwards of $200, any ideas?

+K & thanks for your help.
 
I use a pair of Shure SRH840, they have a very flat frequency response which is what you want for production along with a 20-20000hz range; everything you need. Don't bother with Skullcandy, Bose or Beats for production, the tailored frequency response will ruin your mixes.

If you're really getting into production also get a good pair of monitors, doing all your mixing with headphones can lead to some issues such as too much reverb in your mixes.
 
SRH840 is a good call.

I use AIAIAI tma-1 headphones, they're not very flat though. I DJ off them and they're perfect for that, they're bombproof, noise isolating and very good quality.
 
I know they are a bit overrated and a few years old but the audio technica ATH-M50s are still some of the best headphones you can get for cheap
 
I have the Pioneer HDJ 2000's and they are perfect for production, especially in hip-hop and electro genres. They are the best headphones I have ever owned.
 
an audiophile wouldn't have bought Skullcandy's to begin with, let alone a second pair after the first broke.
 
also I guess I should input something. the k-240's I've always been fond of, although probably not what you're looking for in a DJing situation with lots of background noise you can't really go wrong for studio work. especially with their relatively cheap price
 
u guise

200$? No probleme : Audio-Technica ATH-M50

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I've had the SRH 440s for years and have beaten the crap out of them, but they just manage to hold up. Shure makes a good pair of cans for sure.Any decent music store will have loads of headphones and will be more than happy to let you try out a few pairs.

Also, Dusty I see you're going to the University of Lethbridge... DAA major by any chance?
 
Sennheiser Amperior/ hd-25 ii . Really good set of headphones in my opinion and pretty bomb proof.
 
Ha, I did the exact opposite, former physics major at UBC but I transferred to Uleth for the DAA program. Loving the program so far.
 
I can vouch for the TMA-1s. I had a pair for a year and a half. Then they snapped in half, which was unthinkable, because they had withstood an unreasonable amount of abuse from me. In hindsight, that might have been the cause...I literally threw them against a wall once to prove a point.... Anyway, AIAIAI gave me a deeeeep discount on a replacement pair, which was awesome of them. They're not flat, but they're wonderful to listen on, and honestly once you get used to their response they're very nice to produce in in a pinch. They're not a very flattering headphone. Bad mixes sound bad on them. I do a good deal of my work in them, but I don't do my final mixes or my masters in them if I can avoid it. Also worth checking out: AIAIAI TMA-1 Studio. Haven't tried them, but I've heard great things.

Beyerdynamic DT series is also pretty nuts. I'm not a huge fan of them but I've tried them and they're impressive.

Sennheiser HD-25-1 ii is the DJ standard. Apparently not particularly comfortable but built like tanks, parts are individually replaceable, and strong sound.

V-Moda Crossfade LP are ugly as shit and not particularly well-built but they really do sound quite incredible. Probably not great for producing though, they're a pretty flattering set.

/my .02

(FYI I'm a computer music major, been producing for 3 years, DJing for 2 1/2. I'm not a headphone expert but that experience is where my opinions are backed from.)
 
Too much reverb, inaccurate bass, bad stereo spread, and more. Not to mention producing in headphones all the time is dangerous for your hearing.

BUT there is no way a good pair of monitors will run you less than $1000 (maaaaybe $800 if you're savvy on eBay/craigslist), and then you need speaker stands and/or isolation, and once the sound's in the air you have to worry about frequency response in your room and you have to start thinking about room treatment, which gets expensive fast and is pretty hard to get right....bleh. You also need good cables and a good audio interface.

Really you should be producing on monitors. But you may need to save up a bit before you go down that rabbit hole. Don't buy cheap monitors, like I did. They're a waste of money. Really the best plan of action for a budding producer is to get a midrange pair of small (5-6" driver) monitors—try companies like Focal and ADAM, and AVOID KRK like the goddamn plague—and produce on a combination of the monitors and headphones. Use the headphones for bass and sub. Don't buy a subwoofer. 99% chance the room you're working in will become a complete sonic mess if you put a sub in it.

And a good pair of headphones is a good investment to hold you over and enable you to work until you can afford to drop on good monitors and the requisite accompanying equipment.

Sorry for the dub post.
 
I master all of my shit on old jvc speakers I spent all of my money on when I was 14, if it will sound good on those it will sound good on anything else... No need for a $1000+ systems, I do appreciate good sound though.
 
I've heard this argument many times, and it's one of the main arguments behind the success of the Yamaha NS-10. It's not one that I side with, really, but hey, if your process works, it works.
 
I have some heavily modified grado sr-80i's that I love to death. When you start spending real money on headphones, start thinking about your source too. I have a fiio e07k DAC/amp that plays well with the cans. You could have both of those things for under 200 and that would give you some serious sound for the money.
 
>calls himself audiophile

>has yet to invest in nice headphones

>in addition, has been using skullcandy products

;)
 
Headphone performance is honestly such a tricky subject, there are so many more factors that go into it than the frequency response of the cans you're buying and the amp you have. Spending $150 on headphones is plenty, that's really all you need. An amp will help but its not necessary. The only reason to upgrade your monitoring stuff is when you actually can't hear any differences between your own music and professionally produced stuff.

Beware of gear fetishism; lots of people go on and on about having analog this, analog that, these converters, the best headphones, the flattest response, etc etc but more often than not these things won't improve your music in a significant way. Just get one tool and learn it to perfection.

Any $100-$200 pair of monitoring headphones will be perfectly fine. Its like AreMG stating that you should avoid KRK like the plague and that you need a $1000 monitoring setup and acoustic treatment to get a decent mix. Its simply not true; KRKs may have a mild bass and high frequency bias, but they're also the tool of choice for many electronic music producers and bedroom musicians. Plus their higher end monitors are fantastic, and the Rokits have great bang for your buck. Whining about how bad KRKs are is honestly just regurgitating second hand information; most people that say this stuff are just passing along a viewpoint that they read on the internet, and have probably never even had the opportunity to listen to a pair.

You can buy all the gear you want but its not going to make your music better past a certain point. All you need is a laptop and decent headphones, and you can make great music. Example: Burial. Produced his debut album with soundforge and youtube samples. Koan Sound: uses the same shitty pair of headphones for all their mixdowns. Madeon: produces in an untreated basement. Its all about knowing your tools inside and out, not having the best tools money can buy.

But of course, some people are easily deceived by the clever marketing schemes employed by audio companies, and these people are going to adamantly disagree with everything I say.
 
I would disagree, you can get a decent pair of monitors for $700-$800, that being said you do have to be aware of when they are crapping out on you so you don't include the fixing of faults in your monitor in your mix. I used to use some sort of micro isolation chamber, put the monitor inside and do a sweep and would have a correction eq turned on whenever I was mixing with my monitors. I would do something similar with my room so I would know which frequencies would be amplified by my room. Of course this was more of a work around and was not as precise as using a professional mixing room, that being said I did have access to a professional grade recording studio last year and most of my mixes that I did like this sounded pretty good and didn't have any glaring issues.

That being said I also believe there is a different standard between sonic quality between rock, classical, pop and electronic music. Electronic production seems to be the easiest since you are synthesizing all of your music and the frequency spectrum outputted should be somewhat predictable whereas production that requires any microphone use is much more difficult to predict where problem frequencies will be. Because of this I personally think electronic music can be produced in a somewhat more botched studio, just be careful of bass, unless you're in a professional studio do not use a subwoofer for production.

Also just a note, I generally focus primarily on eliminating trouble frequencies when setting up a room to work in, yes too much reverb and a bad stereo image (which shouldn't be a problem for someone producing for shows) can hurt a track nothing destroys one like a couple bum frequencies.
 
Audiophile = having an appreciation for high fidelity sound. I am aware that skullcandy's are shitty headphones but they were all I could afford at the time. Just because your parents bought you a pair of Beyer dynamics or AKG's doesn't make you an audiophile, it just makes you an undeserving cunt with rich parents.
 
1. There are a lot of headphones out there that are much better than skullcandy's for the same or better price.

2. My parents don't buy me shit. I worked my ass off to get what little music production gear I own.

3. I respect you anyway because you are a great producer and your music is sick.
 
It's all subjective, but it's possible. Mine are quite modified, I removed the grille on the back, the screen over the drivers, punched 6 holes in the back of each driver, felted the back of the driver/around the chamber, and upgraded pads. I was working on a pair of beautiful cocobolo wood cups i turned on a lathe to replace the plastic ones, but I wrecked them with a hole saw and no longer have access to a wood shop. The upgrades/mods I've done have made a huge difference though and I'm really happy with them.

The DAC/amp I spoke of plays an important part. Your music setup is limited by the weakest link, typically the oft neglected source. I can't speak for mixing things, but starting with a lossless format if you can get it, 320 mp3 failing that is important if you want to get the most out of whatever you end up with. Having the DAC/amp completely separated from the integrated sound makes a big difference, as the files are taken directly via usb to be decoded outside my computer as opposed to decoded and amplified on less shielded components on the motherboard not designed/built with serious fidelity in mind.

I would suggest you do some googling on different cans, mods if you feel comfortable with that, DACs and amps. Head.fi.org is a good resource and has a good forum. Headroom.com is another pretty good place and they have fantastic frequency response charts for a wide variety of headphones.
 
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