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Headphones for under $100 for mixing and listening

post #1 of 21
4/26/11 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 

Hi there, well I'm done lurking and I'm signing up.  I'm sure you guys have seen this thread a million times over but I need a little help.  Seems as though most headphones in the sub-$100 range emphasize the low end, and that's something I'm trying to avoid as I plan on mixing music with these headphones.  While i'm not looking for the dryest sounding headphones possible, I would like a relatively flat frequency response.  I mostly listen to classic rock, prog, psychedelic and some modernish hard rock.  Again, I'm sorry if you guys are tired of these threads, but there are a lot of options out there with lots of mixed reviews, probably due to different tastes and applications I'm guessing so I thought I'd ask here and be specific with what I'm looking for.  From the reviews I've read, I'm leaning towards the AKG 240's, Sennheiser HD280's, and Grado SR60's.  The reviews for the sound with the Grados seem to fit my style, but I'd really like a closed headphone type deal.  As for the low budget... I'm in college, not much I can do about that

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post #2 of 21
4/26/11 at 5:08pm

The 240's are also open,  U can get a set of shure 840's used for around 100 (i picked up a pair of the fs section yesterday for 105), there on the more neut. side without killing all the fun. 

 

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post #3 of 21
4/26/11 at 5:16pm

Or, the SRH440's. You can get a new pair under $100

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post #4 of 21
4/26/11 at 5:51pm

Mixing is really REALLY difficult to do on headphones, things just don't translate well.  You would be better off doing that even on a crappy set of speakers.  Having said that, while I'm not familiar with the SR-60's, I use Grado's for tracking where speakers aren't possible, editing, and checking mixes for extraneous noises.

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post #5 of 21
4/26/11 at 6:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjaudio View Post

Mixing is really REALLY difficult to do on headphones, things just don't translate well.  You would be better off doing that even on a crappy set of speakers.  Having said that, while I'm not familiar with the SR-60's, I use Grado's for tracking where speakers aren't possible, editing, and checking mixes for extraneous noises.


Are you serious? i know people who use heaphones for mixing. There are advantages, and disadvantages..

 

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post #6 of 21
4/26/11 at 8:52pm
Thread Starter 

I've heard to mix with both headphones and monitors... and I would think a quality pair of headphones would take you further than a crappy set of speakers.  Depends on how crappy you mean, I guess.  But I gotta say, this would be for about 5% mixing, 95% listening

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post #7 of 21
4/26/11 at 9:06pm

I mix with headphones but listen in between with monitors to make sure. 'phones help me get it balanced in stereo and nitpick while the monitors give me a good realistic view of what people will hear.
Anywhoo, I just got my first pair of AKG K240Ms today and they are the slightest bit bass happy but overall translate it very musically. They are my favorite reasonably priced 'phones. Mine cost me $50 but the foam behind the cloth was disintegrated. I pulled off the cloth, scraped off the foam, and put it back. The pads hold it in just fine. You can get an old set of K240s for practically nothing but understand that they may need slight TLC (elastic, pads, cord, etc...).

Bang for buck, I say the K240 line. Take your pick of the individual models offered to match your taste. Im a musician so I take to the K240Ms for listening and K240DFs for mixing and such.

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post #8 of 21
4/26/11 at 9:51pm

My vote is for the AKG K271 MK-II.  They're closed back design and neutral, but it's slightly more than $100.  However, your mix will come out nice.

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post #9 of 21
4/26/11 at 10:40pm

AKG K81 or HD 280's easily.

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post #10 of 21
4/27/11 at 8:21am

K81's arent very neutral for mixing, I can;t speak for the 280s since i havent heard them.

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post #11 of 21
4/27/11 at 4:27pm
Thread Starter 

What about the Grado SR-60's?  From what I've read, they are the perfect electric guitar oriented rock headphone, i'm an axe slinger myself

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post #12 of 21
4/27/11 at 4:31pm

Guitar center has a special on sony 7506's, I have owned 2 sets, they are great for live mixing, and not bad for listening either.

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post #13 of 21
4/28/11 at 12:50pm
Thread Starter 

bump

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post #14 of 21
4/28/11 at 9:21pm

AKG K 240 MK II?

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post #15 of 21
4/28/11 at 10:14pm

I would go with the 280's, I have had my pair for 4 years now and they absolutely blow away everything else I have heard sound quality wise.  I also have the HD555's (modded to 595's), however I am pretty let down by the lack of midrange clarity in these, good mid-bass and excellent highs but has a massive hole in the middle of the sound spectrum which makes them sound unbalanced and lopsided.

 

I use the 280's all the time when creating music with my Korg keyboard workstation, however I have come to find out that the music I create using the headphones sounds completely different (often unacceptable) when I listen to it through regular speakers.  Probably because the headphones are so perfectly balanced and clear that even audiophile speakers cannot reproduce it as well as the headphones can.

 

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