The UUUUULTIMATE headphones topic of the universe
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DaBeatPlayah
- State Newcomer
- Posts: 30
- Joined: 21 May 2014, 21:55
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I have hard time finding a replacement for M-Audio Q40. I've tried quite a few headphones but I keep returning to these. Next up is Ultrasone Signature DJ's which is a 720€ retail price (actually got them for 450€ why I couldn't pass it up) but even this one I'm not sure I will enjoy more than the 120€ M-Audio Q40, that's how pleased with the sound (for my prefences anyway) but will see. I'm scared that the Signature DJ's won't have that "full" / nicely rich weighting mids of Q40 that I like but expect it to be a step up in terms of soundstaging, imaging and clarity while bass should be pretty comparable on both, going from reviews and measurements.
The Q40 has a ^-- shape response, so balanced mids & highs presence with a bit boosted bass. Seems suprisingly hard to find closed headphones with bass emphasis but keeping a good balance in the mids & highs without huge dips or peaks (especially mids taking a backseat). Q40 manages to avoid this suprisingly well, especially for the price. One minus for a lot of people can be comfort (clamps hard, shallow pads=can be swapped or tweaked) and lack of "air" (feeling of openness) due to too much rolled of top-frequencies (14kHz+).
Examples of headphones that didn't manage to pull me over compared to Q40: Audio Technica M50, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, Sennheiser Momentum, Sennheiser HD8 (and several lower-cost offerings). Felt now I had to try a bigger step, hence something like Ultrasone Signature DJ.
On my scope is also the new Philips A5 Pro, the Armin Van Buuren collaboration. Seems quite good. Anyone tried these yet? Looks very sexy & sturdy too.
The Q40 has a ^-- shape response, so balanced mids & highs presence with a bit boosted bass. Seems suprisingly hard to find closed headphones with bass emphasis but keeping a good balance in the mids & highs without huge dips or peaks (especially mids taking a backseat). Q40 manages to avoid this suprisingly well, especially for the price. One minus for a lot of people can be comfort (clamps hard, shallow pads=can be swapped or tweaked) and lack of "air" (feeling of openness) due to too much rolled of top-frequencies (14kHz+).
Examples of headphones that didn't manage to pull me over compared to Q40: Audio Technica M50, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, Sennheiser Momentum, Sennheiser HD8 (and several lower-cost offerings). Felt now I had to try a bigger step, hence something like Ultrasone Signature DJ.
On my scope is also the new Philips A5 Pro, the Armin Van Buuren collaboration. Seems quite good. Anyone tried these yet? Looks very sexy & sturdy too.
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Shadow Interaction
- Artist
- Posts: 5603
- Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 01:03
I still have and use the AKG K181 headphones. Though I don't use it for producing, only when i'm DJ'ing or listening music when i'm out of the house
As I realised that I won´t be able to treat my studio acoustically soon and my KRK 8 are lacking a lot of detail, and perhaps are too big for my room and I don´t have the possibility to position them exactly how they should be I thought I´ll upgrade my headphones. Right now I am working with AKG K DJ181 headphones, with the bass boost on, they give me the detail (like transients, disturbing slight noises in kicktails etc) much better than my monitors. However without the bassboost on I wouldn´t be able to tell if the bass is tight enough, they have a slightely piercing sound and become fatiguing in terms of sound as of comfort.
What I need are professional producing headphones that will work for some years (until maybe I can build a small studio) and deliver me quality mixdowns, without me having to think "if the headphones sound like this it probably means that I have to do that". They should react to small changes, what apart for mixdowns is also very important for kicks and give me an analytical sound in all frequency bands, I should hear when for example in a kicks tail there is a small disturbing offbeat noise, I should hear the transients well, if a kick/snare knocks as supposed to, it should have good bass response so that I know if it is tight or may be lacking on PA speakers and it should also have ab accurate stereo image. I short, it should just sound as it is, detailled, analytical, not hyped but solid in all frequency ranges.
I did some research, also found a SOS article and came to the conclusion that the Sennheiser HD650 and the Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro would be the best choices for mixing. I am leaning a bit more towards the Sennheiser however as I read the bass response is a bit fuller and as I am used to listen to boosted bass it might be easier to get used to them than to the Beyerdynamics. I also read about the Shure SHR940, which are pretty new and for that reason I did´t find any professional review. They should give pretty accurate sound tough, however they are closed headphones, what for mixing isn´t that good usually, and I read that the bass is slightly underrappresented.
However I didn´t find any useful information on those headphones tested on EDM (not to mention Hardstyle) and which one works best for mixing down (and generally working on) those generes. Anybody here having worked with one or more of those, or maybe other better headphones who can give me some advice? Or somebody can point out articles or people who use those headphones professionally? Would be very appreciated as I need to improve in the studio as it is now..
What I need are professional producing headphones that will work for some years (until maybe I can build a small studio) and deliver me quality mixdowns, without me having to think "if the headphones sound like this it probably means that I have to do that". They should react to small changes, what apart for mixdowns is also very important for kicks and give me an analytical sound in all frequency bands, I should hear when for example in a kicks tail there is a small disturbing offbeat noise, I should hear the transients well, if a kick/snare knocks as supposed to, it should have good bass response so that I know if it is tight or may be lacking on PA speakers and it should also have ab accurate stereo image. I short, it should just sound as it is, detailled, analytical, not hyped but solid in all frequency ranges.
I did some research, also found a SOS article and came to the conclusion that the Sennheiser HD650 and the Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro would be the best choices for mixing. I am leaning a bit more towards the Sennheiser however as I read the bass response is a bit fuller and as I am used to listen to boosted bass it might be easier to get used to them than to the Beyerdynamics. I also read about the Shure SHR940, which are pretty new and for that reason I did´t find any professional review. They should give pretty accurate sound tough, however they are closed headphones, what for mixing isn´t that good usually, and I read that the bass is slightly underrappresented.
However I didn´t find any useful information on those headphones tested on EDM (not to mention Hardstyle) and which one works best for mixing down (and generally working on) those generes. Anybody here having worked with one or more of those, or maybe other better headphones who can give me some advice? Or somebody can point out articles or people who use those headphones professionally? Would be very appreciated as I need to improve in the studio as it is now..
soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/djreaper-2
Okay guys, i could use a bit of advice from you I finally decided it's time for a new headphones. My budget is 200-250 EUR.
Currently i am thinking about two classics - AKG K701 and Sennheiser HD25. I owned both brands, AKG and Senneheiser in the past and i was satisfied with both. I can get the K701 for circa 220 EUR and the HD25 for circa 160 EUR but the price is not that much of a deciding factor. Bowers & Wilkins P3 or P5 also catched my attention.
I am quite hard on the audio quality actually, the problem is that i am going to use them as much on metal/rock/instrumental music as much as for hardstyle/electronic music and well, you usually get different kinds of headphones for those if you go for high end. Naturally as a hardstyle lover i want strong, clean bass, i odn't even mind a slight over-bass setting in headphones.
What am i looking for is headphones for everyday use - listening at home, listening outside on the street, in a bus etc, not djing. I expect the headphones to have a good isolation, inside and outside aswell. The deciding factor for me is the manufacturing quality, i fucking had it with headphones that break down / fuck up after a year of using, i want to put a bunch of money in them and i expect them to last, happend to me before that i bought expensive headphones and now i got a bunch of plastic scrap from them.
So what do you say? HD25? K701? P5? Or something else? Any advice welcome, especially if some of you guys own any of those headphones
I finally decided it's time for a new headphones. My budget is 200-250 EUR. Currently i am thinking about two classics - AKG K701 and Sennheiser HD25. I owned both brands, AKG and Senneheiser in the past and i was satisfied with both. I can get the K701 for circa 220 EUR and the HD25 for circa 160 EUR but the price is not that much of a deciding factor. Bowers & Wilkins P3 or P5 also catched my attention.
I am quite hard on the audio quality actually, the problem is that i am going to use them as much on metal/rock/instrumental music as much as for hardstyle/electronic music and well, you usually get different kinds of headphones for those if you go for high end. Naturally as a hardstyle lover i want strong, clean bass, i odn't even mind a slight over-bass setting in headphones.
What am i looking for is headphones for everyday use - listening at home, listening outside on the street, in a bus etc, not djing. I expect the headphones to have a good isolation, inside and outside aswell. The deciding factor for me is the manufacturing quality, i fucking had it with headphones that break down / fuck up after a year of using, i want to put a bunch of money in them and i expect them to last, happend to me before that i bought expensive headphones and now i got a bunch of plastic scrap from them.
So what do you say? HD25? K701? P5? Or something else? Any advice welcome, especially if some of you guys own any of those headphones
k701 all the wayceero wrote:Okay guys, i could use a bit of advice from you
Currently i am thinking about two classics - AKG K701 and Sennheiser HD25. I owned both brands, AKG and Senneheiser in the past and i was satisfied with both. I can get the K701 for circa 220 EUR and the HD25 for circa 160 EUR but the price is not that much of a deciding factor. Bowers & Wilkins P3 or P5 also catched my attention.
I am quite hard on the audio quality actually, the problem is that i am going to use them as much on metal/rock/instrumental music as much as for hardstyle/electronic music and well, you usually get different kinds of headphones for those if you go for high end. Naturally as a hardstyle lover i want strong, clean bass, i odn't even mind a slight over-bass setting in headphones.
What am i looking for is headphones for everyday use - listening at home, listening outside on the street, in a bus etc, not djing. I expect the headphones to have a good isolation, inside and outside aswell. The deciding factor for me is the manufacturing quality, i fucking had it with headphones that break down / fuck up after a year of using, i want to put a bunch of money in them and i expect them to last, happend to me before that i bought expensive headphones and now i got a bunch of plastic scrap from them.
So what do you say? HD25? K701? P5? Or something else? Any advice welcome, especially if some of you guys own any of those headphones
the thing that bugs me about them is that i would most likely need to amp them to get the greatest goods from them, what is another 70+ EUR investition. I also heard that they may disappoint electronic music listeners as they are not exactly bass oriented. I had AKGs in the past and i fucking loved their sound though well, if i forget the fact they fell apart like a house of cards within a year, really shitty manufactured construction). Do you own them yourself?
What i like about the HD25 is that it's a long term investiton, the fact i can change pretty much everything that dies on them is very attractive for me as i am a real talent when it comes to fucking headphones up. Seems like they are great for hardstyle aswell, according to replies in this topic. I am mostly tempted to get them
What i like about the HD25 is that it's a long term investiton, the fact i can change pretty much everything that dies on them is very attractive for me as i am a real talent when it comes to fucking headphones up. Seems like they are great for hardstyle aswell, according to replies in this topic. I am mostly tempted to get them
soooo yeah, couldnt resist and got myself a pair of HD25s
Wellllll my ver first impression after a day of using them. Was maybe expecting a little bit more. The bass is indeed fucking amazing and clear, especially subrgound stuff sounds riddiculously god on them. The mids are muddy as fuck on the other hand, definitely expected more from this aspect in this price range, half the price AKGs pwn them when it comes to mids quality. I do love the functional design and they look they really can take some shit. Also they kind of suck for rock/metal music but i expected that, for dance music they are great.
if they are really so though as they say as they are it was a good investition. Sucks that i cant change my audio chip in my ntb, this is the kind of gear that makes you realise your audio output i shit
thanks god i have an ipod classic
Wellllll my ver first impression after a day of using them. Was maybe expecting a little bit more. The bass is indeed fucking amazing and clear, especially subrgound stuff sounds riddiculously god on them. The mids are muddy as fuck on the other hand, definitely expected more from this aspect in this price range, half the price AKGs pwn them when it comes to mids quality. I do love the functional design and they look they really can take some shit. Also they kind of suck for rock/metal music but i expected that, for dance music they are great.
if they are really so though as they say as they are it was a good investition. Sucks that i cant change my audio chip in my ntb, this is the kind of gear that makes you realise your audio output i shit
thanks god i have an ipod classic-
ShotzieExplosion
- State Outsider
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 00:30
Sennheiser HD-25 II all the way!
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Wavelength
- State Senior Citizen
- Posts: 250
- Joined: 25 Nov 2012, 19:45
- Location: Glasgow
I might be mad here, but just got my HD25 PLUS and while the sound is very high detail the volume just isnt loud enough! I was expecting high detail and high volume, so much so kicks feel punchy but it feels like its at 70% of the potential.
Is there some Sennheiser application I can download to adjust?
Is there some Sennheiser application I can download to adjust?
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