Headphones?

[kakapo]

21 hours ago, xox said:

i forgot to mention that i also had two pairs of cheap Audiotechnica ATH50 headphones before and now again i have another pair bc they're great for listening to music, to feel energy but they're almost completely unusable for production and mixing, especially compared to the neumanns.

I replaced my trusty sony mdr7509 (the superior originals from 20 years ago) with Audio Technica r70x which is their studio open backed model, and I'm pretty happy with them, although build quality isn't anywhere near the old Sonys, they're not going to last 20 years.  Got them for 250 and I think I'd have to spend closer to a grand for something noticeably better.  I may purchase the HEDDphones at some point for the simple reason I have HEDD type 20s and love them.  But the opportunity cost of £1,500 headphones when I already have a perfectly workable pair is significant.   

[xox]

18 minutes ago, kakapo said:

I replaced my trusty sony mdr7509 (the superior originals from 20 years ago) with Audio Technica r70x which is their studio open backed model, and I'm pretty happy with them, although build quality isn't anywhere near the old Sonys, they're not going to last 20 years.  Got them for 250 and I think I'd have to spend closer to a grand for something noticeably better.  I may purchase the HEDDphones at some point for the simple reason I have HEDD type 20s and love them.  But the opportunity cost of £1,500 headphones when I already have a perfectly workable pair is significant.   

yes! i've read a lot about the R70x' on the net! ppl are mostly very pleased with them. many have said that they're the best Audiotechnica hp so far, or their fav.

they were on my top 5 list at time but i went with the neumanns bc i wanted closed-back hp and they need less power than R70

[thawkins]

On 1/16/2021 at 5:50 PM, Squee said:

I don't think I've mentioned this, but I bought the Beyerdynamic 1770 DT a couple of months ago and I run them through Sonarworks' calibration and wow! That combo is brilliant. I can instantly hone in on harsh frequencies or muddy bass. It's just *chef's kiss!*

Just out of curiosity given that the 1770s are 250 ohm - you need to run them through a headphone amp or something, right?

I have kind of always drawn the line at getting a headphone amp as being "too audiophile" for me, but I guess it makes more sense in a studio context where you will not be the turbohipster with a tube-looking-thing taped to your cracked screen iphone.

Edited January 18, 2021 by thawkins

[kakapo]

8 hours ago, thawkins said:

Just out of curiosity given that the 1770s are 250 ohm - you need to run them through a headphone amp or something, right?

I have kind of always drawn the line at getting a headphone amp as being "too audiophile" for me, but I guess it makes more sense in a studio context where you will not be the turbohipster with a tube-looking-thing taped to your cracked screen iphone.

I dont know about the 1770 but when I needed some extra headphone juice, I got a RME adi2 FS (not one of the dac/pro versions with the screen) and justified it by also using it as my main stereo in/out via adat attached to main interface.  It was about £500 for a bit but seems to have gone over £600 now.  If money is no object then the dac/pro versions have an even better headphone amp.

[xox]

@kakapo

The latest ADI-2 Pro FS R iteration has a beautiful remote control... and i almost bought it but at the end I went with the Motu M4, which sounds beautifully sharp btw, with good enough headphone amp built in. This interface reminded me how important a well implemented good converter is! 

 

[chim]

9 hours ago, thawkins said:

Just out of curiosity given that the 1770s are 250 ohm - you need to run them through a headphone amp or something, right?

I have kind of always drawn the line at getting a headphone amp as being "too audiophile" for me, but I guess it makes more sense in a studio context where you will not be the turbohipster with a tube-looking-thing taped to your cracked screen iphone.

A lot of headamps teeter on the edge between flattering Hi-fi BS and actually useful studio equipment, but I'd consider it a good investment. Having a solid sounding setup can really improve the music making process. Just watch out for the slippery slope of accessories, tube rolling and whatnot. 

[thawkins]

15 hours ago, kakapo said:

I dont know about the 1770 but when I needed some extra headphone juice, I got a RME adi2 FS (not one of the dac/pro versions with the screen) and justified it by also using it as my main stereo in/out via adat attached to main interface.  It was about £500 for a bit but seems to have gone over £600 now.  If money is no object then the dac/pro versions have an even better headphone amp.

That's interesting, because I have a MOTU Track16 and for my 80hm 770 Pro I have not ever needed to turn it up above 1/3 headphone gain. So it looks like if I do get a 250ohm, then I can just crank it up a bit more and it would provide enough to drive the headphones.

Anyway my current pair of 770pro is nice enough but yeah now I am curious of how the more bad-ass pro 250ohm version sounds like.

[mcbpete]

2 hours ago, thawkins said:

 So it looks like if I do get a 250ohm, then I can just crank it up a bit more and it would provide enough to drive the headphones.

Yeah you should be OK with 250ohm, though that's probably about the limit for a powered audio interface before I'd look into getting a dedicated amp. Might be a bit too much to get a lotta volume out of portable devices though (phones, tablets etc)

Went nuts and ordered the LCD-XC didn't I (apparently the closed fixes some of the weird mid-treble response that the X open has). Am a bit excited - Hopefully they'll last me as long as my hearing does (or maybe even longer what with my current tinnitus annoyance)

[YEK]

How about getting a headphone tube amp just to make the headphones sound nicer?

Using dt 990 pro

Will my mixes sound better? I'm using a focusrite interface

[mcbpete]

'Nicer' is probably a subjective term for it - It'll add 2nd and/or 3rd harmonics which can sound 'richer' (as you're literally adding slight overtones to the original sound), whether that's better or not would be entirely up to your ears. I'd personally do without it so I have a 'truer' sound to the original source, especially for mixing purposes, and only consider an amp if I literally can't provide enough power to the 'phones without turning them right up to max in the audio interface. I believe your 990s have quite a meaty impedance so may well benefit from an amp (how far are you having to crank up the headphone dial on your focusrite ?)

[cboyardeat]

i used to end up buying a new pair of headphones every year cus id get cheap ones that would break. few years  ago i got myself some philips fidelio x2's. theyre built well so hopefully theyll last 

[mcbpete]

9 minutes ago, cboyardeat said:

i used to end up buying a new pair of headphones every year cus id get cheap ones that would break. few years  ago i got myself some philips fidelio x2's. theyre built well so hopefully theyll last 

Reminds me of this great quote from Terry Pratchett's Discworld:

Quote

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."

 

[cboyardeat]

2 minutes ago, mcbpete said:

Reminds me of this great quote from Terry Pratchett's Discworld:

 

you might enjoy this 

https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/

[thawkins]

12 hours ago, yekker said:

How about getting a headphone tube amp just to make the headphones sound nicer?

Using dt 990 pro

Will my mixes sound better? I'm using a focusrite interface

I think what you want is that your favorite tracks from other artists would sound nice on your headphones both in terms of subjective quality (i.e. you enjoy listening to music) and objective quality (you hear all the stuff that is going on in a mix, EQ response is flat, etc.). Because even if you get some wicked nice amp that makes your music sound good, then none of your listeners have that amp and your music will then sound not so good?

Once you are at the point where all your idols' mixes sound really good on your headphones, it's time to start figuring out why your mixes still suck ass.