Headphones Recommendation

[Michael Martin]

i have pretty sensative hearing and when i can’t use speakers i use akg k702 open back headphones. you’re ears don’t get the compression of closed back cans plus they sound very natural like listening to open air speakers. i can listen to them loud as i need to when mixing for hours without getting horrible ringing and fatigue. One comment that I’ve seen is that they need a little time to burn in but for your purposes you will not likely notice the need.

-Michael Martin
Martin Media Company LLC
Location Sound/Audio Post Production/Sound Design

[Michael Martin]

i have pretty sensative hearing and when i can’t use speakers i use akg k702 open back headphones. you’re ears don’t get the compression of closed back cans plus they sound very natural like listening to open air speakers. i can listen to them loud as i need to when mixing for hours without getting horrible ringing and fatigue. One comment that I’ve seen is that they need a little time to burn in but for your purposes you will not likely notice the need.

-Michael Martin
Martin Media Company LLC
Location Sound/Audio Post Production/Sound Design

[Eric Toline]

Is there a specific reason you don’t use good monitor speakers? To answer your original question, my choice are the Ultrasone line of HP. https://www.ultrasone.com (I think).

Eric

[Mike Bugera]

I work in a small office with two other employees within a close proximity. Can’t really have external audio going. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll check that out.

Mike

[Andrew Rendell]

I like to suggest 2 types that I’ve been using recently:

Sennheiser HD480
(got some of these knocking around at work, a good workhorse IMO and you can get them level limited which is good for protecting your hearing)

Audio-Technica ATH M50
(my current favourites)

[Eric Toline]

The Ultrasones I use are HFI 680. Best phones I’ve ever used. IMO light years ahead of the industry de facto standard Sony 7506 especially for long term daily wearing. As an FYI about the Ultrasones, be prepared to relearn how to listen and evaluate what you’re hearing.

Eric

[Mark Spano]

If you don’t mind in-ears instead of over-ears, I have and love a pair of Westone 3 in-ears that with the Comply inserts are the best and most comfortable pair of phones I’ve used. I listen to my iPod on the NYC subway and the volume level never goes above 30%. That’s how good this combo is at naturally blocking external noise, and a tribute to the efficiency of the drivers. The key to stop the ringing I’ve always felt is to eliminate driver distortion and lower overall volume. These come through in spades. They are pricey, and so are the inserts, but so worth it for me at this point.

[Ty Ford]

Hello Mike and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

I use Sony MDR7506 for recording and editing. I tried Eric’s Ultrasones and they sounded phasey for some weird reason.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50 are getting good reviews (mine among them) for being comfortable and accurate. I bought six pair for the studio.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Cow Audio Forum Leader
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide

[Jordan Wolf]

Mike,

Whichever choice you go for, audition them first. Sure, some may require a little burn-in time, but that usually mellows them out a bit…nothing you can’t compensate for mentally while demo’ing a few pairs.

You might want to look into the Sennheiser HD-25 cans and some stuff from Denon.

Also, Dave Rat (FOH engineer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) did a comparison on various headphones a while ago. It was somewhat empirical since he used an RTA, but he also made judgments based on what he heard.

See here for what he decided on. You can also Google “Dave Rat Mighty Headphone Quest” and you should get a number of hits to his blog.

Wolf
<><

[Craig Alan]

Ty how does the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 compare to the Sony MDR7506? I use the Sony both during production and in post.

Have link to your review?

OSX 10.5.8; MacBookPro4,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.