Flat freq headphones?

[alex.the.forge]

Beyerdynamic DT100s are the NS10s of the headphone world - you'll find them everywhere in studios all over in the same way as NS10s….but you wouldn't want to work on them for long periods of time, just for recording vocal takes and the like. they used to fit over my ears so tightly they felt like suction caps sucking my eardrums back and forth and often gave me a headache if I tried to just make music with them late at night. Good for short term use though when you want total noise cancellation and flat sound.

I have DT250s now and they are much nicer and I'm really happy with them

A mate has DT770s and they are very posh and velvety

I'd agree with what leeds said though, the test sounds a bit dubious…. you could always try the ableton test tone in the preferences and sweep through the frequencies and see if any seem to jump out. That will tell you as much about your hearing though as it will about the headphones. Difficult thing to test yourself really.

[TenSquare]

I use a Sennheiser HD 250 Linear II for years and it is really wonderfull!

A very well balanced headphones in its frequency response, very confortable as well.

Unfortunately I think it is not manufactured anymore.

[smaucher]

(snip)... Unfortunately I think it is not manufactured anymore.

That's right

[esky]

Here are my 2 cents...:

Sennheiser HD25II: I have them, used them for Djing. In the studio...no! No top end, no openness, just a part of the picture.
In April i bought a new headphone, tested Sony 7506, didn't like it, to harsh in the upper mids, hurted my ears. Read through gearslutz.com, tested the there praised Audio Technica ATH-M50. Liked it, bought it. There might be better ones but they sound great for the price. For me they translate good and are fun to work with. But...check if they fit to your head...!

[Guff Tong]

Got the silver HD 280's 4 yrs ago, great mids and highs though bass is a bit understated so need to compensate for this, use other references / spectral anylizers etc....

Major ear fatigue after loooong sessions. I dont do that anymore. took weeks to get my ears back!

Well comfortable but look a bit naff in da club.

Not the best build as compared to other sienhiesers ive had. (Got split ear cusions and few cracks in the head-band but still pretty solid.

[3dot...]

Read through gearslutz.com, tested the there praised Audio Technica ATH-M50. Liked it, bought it. There might be better ones but they sound great for the price. For me they translate good and are fun to work with. But...check if they fit to your head...!

+1 excellent headphones for 99$...
I confidently recommend them to anyone..

'Grado labs' are alsogreat.. even their cheapest ones..
but they are 'open' and so might not fit well to all environments...
only in a quiet room/studio..

[fx23]

Here are my 2 cents...:

Sennheiser HD25II: I have them, used them for Djing. In the studio...no!

do you speak of HD25 SPII or MK II?

[Franz-Olof]

I just had my mind set up for HD-25 but now... Well, many say they are like a standard for djing and good for mixing too.

I tend to lean towards closed ones anyway to get a better picture of small things and bottom end. Will of course use monitors for the main picture.

[razorblade]

I've been really satisfied with my ATH 50s after switching from K240s...They cross reference with my KRK 5s fairly accurately.

[anybody human]

I've had AKG's for a long time and really like them. Years ago a friend told me that's what to get if you want open back, flat frequency response headphones. I'm sure there are lots of good brands and models out there, but they work great for me. Not sure which model cos mine are older.

http://www.sweetwater.com/c412--AKG--Headphones

The K 240's are popular, $99
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K240S/

Whichever brand or model, semi-open back, (relatively) flat frequency response headphones are incredibly helpful for mixing. Especially for things like checking effects levels, panning information etc. Absolute must if you have to use headphones for long periods of time because they help prevent ear fatigue.

[Rave]

I just had my mind set up for HD-25 but now... Well, many say they are like a standard for djing and good for mixing too.

I tend to lean towards closed ones anyway to get a better picture of small things and bottom end. Will of course use monitors for the main picture.

The HD 25s are gash for mixing. Don't waste your money.

[Rave]

Don't forget guys you need to break your headphones in. They change character quite a lot in the first 200 hours of use.

[leedsquietman]

ATH-M50s are also my main cans, all of the above are fine suggestions, you guys get some good deals in the USA which we never get here in Canada and when you apply import taxes and postage, it's totally wiped out, so we get gouged - ATH-M50s are a solid $150 CDN and no one gives discounts on them, ditto Senn HD280s, AKG and the rest.

Closed back headphones are never really that comfortable for long sessions, but essential for tracking to prevent leakage while tracking, so while mixing and listening goes better on open backed headphones like my Senn HD650s, (although new they cost over $600), the main thing with sub $500 cans is to know their weaknesses and compensate - while all of the above are fairly neutral, the comparison of the KRK RP5s and the ATH-M50 was pertinent. RP5s are pretty good for the money and fairly neutral but not as neutral as some $5000 monitors, ditto the headphones.

The Shure SRH440s are still good cans for the money and it mostly comes down to personal preference, and to things such as comfort etc as much as sound, there's only small differences at that price.

[Dr. Fluffenstein]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. One of my major concerns about closed back headphones is the fatigue they might cause, I was a bit paranoid about my eardrums being forced to go back and forth since it's pretty much like a pressure chamber as one of you already mentioned.


@ leedsquiet, about the frequency graph I linked to earlier, I don't want to disagree with you since your explanation is probably correct (I hadn't realized that the test medium was a drum-machine). However I'd rather be safe than sorry, I'm pretty certain that my tinnitus was caused by my 440's since it started after I'd used them for about a month. It's quiet enough that I don't notice it in most environments, but I don't want it to get worse. I kept the volume very low, so it's possible that I got it because I'd never exposed my eardrums to that kind of pressure chamber effect, so I suspect it's more a matter of my eardrums getting screwed then it is of hearing loss. When I say very low, I'm not exaggerating. When I let my buddy try them he commented on how quiet they were and proceeded to crank the volume up from 1/10th to 1/2.


I've decided my next cans are going to be open ones since I'd need them for long sessions, I'm not too worried about background noise since I'm in a reasonably quiet environment. Except for an AC vent, I'm kind of concerned about the vent noise actually, I'm not sure whether or not it would get in the way of mixing on open phones.

[leedsquietman]

Your tinnitus problems are worthy of further investigation, for sure.

It is usually recommended to use a headphone amp before using headphones, but I find that my Alesis audio interface has good headphone output, so I don't need it. When I go around to my buddy's house who has an M-Audio Profire 2626, the headphone output is much weaker, so he had to buy a headphone amp, otherwise, he was having to crank the gain really high and it was still quite weak.

I'm pretty sure you would have had similar issues with almost any closed back headphone, but I am not an audiologist, so can only speculate on that. Hope you can work it out and find a good treatment and be able to go ahead in more comfort.