# new headphones for a sound designer



## josh88 (Apr 12, 2010)

Hey folks, I've been looking to buy a nicer set of headphones for awhile. I've done a lot of sound design for college and am thinking that since I'm moving on to bigger and better things, hopefully, its time I upgrade some. So I want something that is circumaural or covers my whole ear, and something preferably between $60-100 in price. If you've had good experiences with things cheaper or a bit more expensive thats good too.I've looked at some sennheisers, sony, bose and a few others and read reviews its just that people have so many different preferences. 


Just wondering what folks around here have had good/bad experiences with and if anybody has suggestions on a direction to look. Thanks for any input folks might have.


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## DaveySimps (Apr 12, 2010)

I LOVE my Sony MDR 7506. I have had them for years, they are very roadworthy and still sound great. I have a couple of pairs for my small studio space at home and regularly get compliments on who well they sound; very accurate reproduction of sound.

~Dave


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## gcpsoundlight (Apr 12, 2010)

First of all, you should ONLY use headphones for checking one thing on solo, not to mix EVER. Just thought I would say it.

Now the headphones......

I currently own a pair of Audio-Technica H-M30 headphones, they cost me around $100 AUD, and they have been very good, nice noise rejection, loud, crisp and surprisingly good frequency response. If you are after something a bit more what is used professionaly, you might wan't to try the Sony MDR-7506. They retail at about $350 AUD, and these are considered the industry standard.


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## gcpsoundlight (Apr 12, 2010)

DaveySimps, you beat me to it on the sony's. I agree, when I have used them on shows to listen to the band foldback, they have been GREAT!


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## derekleffew (Apr 12, 2010)

Perhaps something from one of these threads?
Headphones (cans?!)
Inexpensive but decent monitor headphones?
Headphones for live rec.

My suggestion? Sony MDR7505. But I also like the idea of a combination intercom headset/headphones, as discussed in this post.


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## Dover (Apr 12, 2010)

Check out Dave Rat's blog, a couple of weeks back he did a series on his search for the perfect headphones. The headphones he was looking at might be a little pricey but he has a lot of good information.

Dover


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## TimmyP1955 (Apr 13, 2010)

Best fidelity, no isolation: Grado (any model, but preferably above the 125)

Good-VG fidelity: M-Audio IE-10

Good-VG fidelity, best isolation: Extreme Headphones EX29 (latest version only - gold lettering I believe)

Mediocre fidelity, mediocre-poor isolation, PITA coil cord: Sony 7506


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## josh88 (Apr 13, 2010)

derekleffew said:


> Perhaps something from one of these threads?
> Headphones (cans?!)
> Inexpensive but decent monitor headphones?
> Headphones for live rec.
> ...




and here I'm usually good with searching forums for posts before starting something . Thanks for those links, and thanks for the input so far. I do some film work and soundtracking as well where I'm just listening to potential music to use, recording audio, these would mostly be used for playback, wouldn't really be trying to do live mixing with something like this.


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## BigBC68 (Apr 13, 2010)

I'm a huge fan of my Ultrasone Pro550's, but they're probably out of your price range. The Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's are pretty good, and so are the Sony MDR-7506's.


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## renegadeblack (Apr 13, 2010)

BigBC68 said:


> I'm a huge fan of my Ultrasone Pro550's, but they're probably out of your price range. The Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's are pretty good, and so are the Sony MDR-7506's.



The Sennheiser HD 280's are amazing! I'd recommend them to anyone!


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## bishopthomas (Apr 13, 2010)

For the price, I'd recommend the Sennheiser 280's as well. Although, if you can find some change under the couch then the Audio Technica M50 is great. I had my 280's stolen a couple of years ago and decided to buy the M50's "sound unheard." Even at dealer cost (I'm a Sennheiser dealer) I would rather spend more money for the AT's.

Edit: I see that the price is very similar now. When I bought my AT's they were around $200. Even more reason to buy them.


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## jkowtko (Apr 13, 2010)

I'm pretty happy with my HD280 pros ... for me they have a very good overall frequency response.


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## headcrab (Apr 13, 2010)

The Sennheiser HD 280 PRO:
IMPRESSIVE

Very good frequency response, impressive bass, insane power handling, not very expensive. I think we bought ours for about $100. It was totally worth it.


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## banjokeith (Apr 13, 2010)

Thanks for this forum! I was wondering the same thing. I honestly have been using a pair of giant Panasonic headphones from the late 1970s that I love, but they are starting to disintegrate. It's not due to cheapness, just love of the sound from them. I am not sure if this was a good model, or just a freakishly good pair.


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## TimmyP1955 (Apr 14, 2010)

The 280s sound pretty good, though IMO not as good as the IE10 or EX29. Isolation may be on par with the IE10.


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## gpforet (Apr 14, 2010)

Keep in mind that the primary requirement for a set of cans to be used in recording, editing, and mixing is that they provide flat, accurate response.

The idea that a set of headphones sound "good" is not relevant. If I listen to a piano in the open air, and then listen to that piano miced with cans, I want them to sound the same. Not good, not better, the same. Mic choice, placement, signal path all play a part in what I hear, but I don't want my earphones to add to that colorization.

Most headphones in the $100 price range I have found to be mid-scooped, and what I hear is boom/hiss. The bass is exagerated, and the highs are pinpricks. 

If my headphones are lying to me about what something sounds like, then anything I try to do will be tainted by this lie.

I have abandoned cans altogether and am now exlusively using in-ears. My current choice is the M-Audio IE-30 due to my budget constraints. They provide better isolation, and a flatter response than any headphones I have ever used.

Right now I'm working mostly in location sound recording for indie films. We are trying to avoid ADR as much as possible so capturing dialog cleanly and accurately is vital and I can wear my in-ears all day long, and focus very clearly on how the microphone (Sennheiser MKH-416) is behaving at the end of the boom pole.



josh88 said:


> Hey folks, I've been looking to buy a nicer set of headphones for awhile. I've done a lot of sound design for college and am thinking that since I'm moving on to bigger and better things, hopefully, its time I upgrade some. So I want something that is circumaural or covers my whole ear, and something preferably between $60-100 in price. If you've had good experiences with things cheaper or a bit more expensive thats good too.I've looked at some sennheisers, sony, bose and a few others and read reviews its just that people have so many different preferences.
> 
> 
> Just wondering what folks around here have had good/bad experiences with and if anybody has suggestions on a direction to look. Thanks for any input folks might have.


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## TimmyP1955 (Apr 15, 2010)

gpforet said:


> Keep in mind that the primary requirement for a set of cans to be used in recording, editing, and mixing is that they provide flat, accurate response.
> 
> The idea that a set of headphones sound "good" is not relevant. If I listen to a piano in the open air, and then listen to that piano mic'd with cans, I want them to sound the same. Not good, not better, the same. Mic choice, placement, signal path all play a part in what I hear, but I don't want my earphones to add to that colorization.



I agree, except IMO sounding good and sounding the same as the source go hand in hand.


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## gpforet (Apr 15, 2010)

I am continually amazed at the amount of BAD sounding stuff out there with scooped mids, bass greatly exagerated, and highs cranked up. Like putting the perverbial smiley face on the graphic. I've even had people tell me that's the way the eq "should" be set. I read reviews on equipment (specifically in-ear monitors) and the common complaint is "they don't have enough bass". I try on the same in-ears and smile at hearing the tightness and clarity of the lower octaves. I'm finding the today's listeners want a bass heavy experience and they tend to migrate towards speakers, headphones, and monitors that give them that exagerated bass. They smile and say "dang, these sound good". When in fact, they are listening to something that is very inaccurate in it's reproduction properties.



TimmyP1955 said:


> I agree, except IMO sounding good and sounding the same as the source go hand in hand.


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## lakota651 (Apr 16, 2010)

I own a pair of Sennheiser HD-25 II and love them. I find them very flat and detailed, especially in the low end. This particular design is more of ENG work, meaning that it is very light weight and can wear it for hours without fatigue. It is an on ear design, which was a bit of a draw back for me, but it does mean it fits in my bag better. 

These cans I was able to get for about $175. If are able to get anything closer to this price point, then spend it. Headphones are an investment and you will have a good set for years.


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## dafunkmonster (Apr 19, 2010)

My friend owns a pair of Sennheiser HD 280's, and they're great. My ears don't fit comfortably inside them though, which is why I own a pair of HD 215's. They have a fairly flat response, and decent isolation. I can use them for mixing down effects, or for cuing tracks while DJing. They're solid headphones for $60.


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## dafunkmonster (Apr 19, 2010)

I should also note, the HD 215's, while not as punchy in the low end as the HD 280s, still produce crisp accurate bass. For example, they can reproduce all four bass notes at the beginning of "I Put On" by Young Jeezy (One of my favorite bass test tracks). Out of curiosity, I once played that song through a Behringer GEQ with light-up faders, and it registered the fourth note right around 18-23 Hz. (Note: You have to find a nearly-lossless copy of the song for this reference to be relevant)

They also reveal how crappy my onboard laptop soundcard is...I have to use my desktop's x-fi to do them any justice when playing back music.


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## gpforet (Apr 19, 2010)

You bring up a good point here. As my monitoring system improved, I began to hear things I had not heard before. It's like the shortfalls of my system were being masked by inaccurate monitoring. In less than a week aftering using my in-ears, I quit using MP3 for anything. The amount of aberations, dithering, and distortion was just too much for me to tolerate, and I had been using MP3s for years. A laptop without an interface, forget it. No headroom, smeared separation, etc.

I also began to really appreciate the differences in my mic collection.

Interestingly, I still cannot discern the difference between a track recorded at96/24 and one recorded at 48/24 and I now suspect it's because of the limitations of my M-audio A/D converters.


dafunkmonster said:


> They also reveal how crappy my onboard laptop soundcard is...I have to use my desktop's x-fi to do them any justice when playing back music.


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## bishopthomas (Apr 19, 2010)

gpforet said:


> In less than a week aftering using my in-ears, I quit using MP3 for anything. The amount of aberations, dithering, and distortion was just too much for me to tolerate, and I had been using MP3s for years. A laptop without an interface, forget it. No headroom, smeared separation, etc.



My friends are always amazed when I tell them that MP3's sound like crap. "Really, sounds the same to me." Then listen to them on something other than your laptop speakers or the earbuds that came with your iPod. I just started transferring all of my CD's into the digital realm. I refuse to go to MP3 for a direct replacement for CD, so I'm hoping they all fit on the Terabyte drive I have...


gpforet said:


> Interestingly, I still cannot discern the difference between a track recorded at96/24 and one recorded at 48/24 and I now suspect it's because of the limitations of my M-audio A/D converters.



Don't feel bad. Many (most) cannot. Some might tell you that they do but only rely on their opinion if the test is done in a double blind situation.


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## howlingwolf487 (Apr 20, 2010)

I've owned and used Sony MDR7506s for a number of years. Well, the padding finally wore down enough to make me want to buy a new pair of cans. I auditioned a pair of Equation Audio's RP-21 headphones and felt they were very linear in their frequency response (Dave Rat's headphone blog seems to confirm this). There were a couple of dips in the HF, say around 12kHz and 16kHz, that I noticed with a sine wave sweep, but all-in-all, I think they were a great buy.

They have a detachable cord (sort of nice, I guess) and don't fold compactly (just somewhat flat) but I was able to make them fit in my gig case.

$100 from 8th Street Audio


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## Streamer (Jul 16, 2018)

I see nothing has been posted since 2010. I video record live bands with a feed from the sound board. However, the band is louder than my Shure SRH440s from the board. Not as interested in pure reproduction as just being able to hear the mix instead of (or more than) the band. Any ideas for good cans for this situation? Note- headphones plug into video camera, am about 12' from the board and have camera volume all the way up.


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## jkowtko (Jul 16, 2018)

I still love my Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones ... they are closed ear and do a decent job of sound isolation, but unfortunately probably not good enough for your purposes.


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## themuzicman (Jul 16, 2018)

If you are dead-set on cans, and need crazy isolation - Vic Firth makes a few Drum Isolation Headphones. They aren't the best sounding, but they'll isolate a ton. I'd probably go for In-Ears in a high noise environment, but these cans do get the job done.


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## josh88 (Jul 16, 2018)

Or in ears and then throw a set of muffs over that if you're going to listen to only that and not switch on and off. That would give you some isolation.


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## JonCarter (Jul 16, 2018)

My favorite cans are a pair of Permoflux cans made in about 1950. They were designed for audiometer testing, have very flat freq response and nice chamois ear cushions that seal very tightly. Love 'em.


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## MNicolai (Jul 17, 2018)

Really depends on what you're trying to go for. If you're doing sound design and setting up FX cues for theatrical event, headphones are deceiving because they misrepresent the spatial effects because in a live environment your left ear also hears what your right does and vise versa, whereas headphones isolate your left and right ears from each other. If mixing FX or studio work is what you're going for, you're better off picking up a good pair of reference monitors than a good pair of headphones. Also always something to be said for being able to stand up and walk around _through _your mix, which you can't do with headphones.

If you're trying to record on-location and want to check your levels, then over-the-ear headphones or higher grade in-ears are better. I wouldn't go for any in-ears below Shure SE315's though. The 215's are garbage. At the 215 price point you're paying for isolation, but you're not getting enough LF content and the resulting audio is a bit aggressive for my taste compared to my 315's, which have been my everyday headphones for the last 5 years. As a general rule though, if you want to get in-ears equivalent to over-the-ear headphones, plan on spending 2-3x over comparable over-the-ear style headphones. Isolation and small form factor comes with a cost. If you're budget is limited today, you'll get more bang from the buck on conventional headphones.

Long-term, I would pick up a pair of in-ears though. Shouldn't be your highest priority now but in everyday life having isolation headphones will help save your hearing over the length of your career when you're working, at the gym, walking along a busy street, waiting for a concert to start, or mowing your lawn. These are the kinds of things where over-the-ear headphones aren't practical to carry with you everywhere. It's an indirect avenue toward retaining your ability to do your job effectively.


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## NickVon (Jul 18, 2018)

+1 for Sony MDR 7506's, I have 3 pairs, and 1 of the MDR V6's. Both well in your price range and damn near a standard around the world. (after 4 years with moderate use they will need new cushions. Your mileage may vary. (I purchased replacement cusions from (Wickedcushions.com) through amazon.)

+1 Sennheiser HD 280 series. I don't own any presonaly but I've used them, and they are right in the same ball park as the Sony's. (Touch more expensive maybe, and a touch better isolation?)

Spend 15 bucks to on a solid softish/hardcase for them to protect the ear pads/cushions in your bag.


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## Streamer (Jul 19, 2018)

Thanks for everyone's expert feedback! The headphones will be used by more than one person, and get beat up a bit on field shoots, so I don't think in the ear will work for us. Probably will go with the Sony MDR-7506 or Sennheiser HD280 Pro. Great resources here. 
Edit- Did a lot more research on line, seems the Audio Technica ATH-M50x would work well also, I like the detachable cords, but went with the Sonys for overall usability in the field. I think any of the 3 would work well, each has slight pluses and minuses.


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## Jay Ashworth (Jul 20, 2018)

If I already replied to this, I probably bragged on my BeyerDynamic DT770's; they're closed-back, over-ear, and nicely flat by my standards. Very comfortable for all-day wear, too.


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