Are bass heavy headphones good for metal?

 

Heya,

 

Depends what kind of metal we're talking about. Old 80's and some 90's stuff was really good without much bass emphasis. However, some newer stuff is really, really good with some strong sub-bass, especially orchestral metal and melodic medal and the like.

 

Very best,

Of course, out of an ipod or whatever a forward phone just isn't right if it doesn't have the bass to back it.

Beyer DT770 PRO's.

 

Very best,

lol what do u mean not that great?

the sound quality of the 770 pro 80 and the beats solos arent even in  the same league.

 

also i think thats two problems

 

yea DT770's look goofy if u wear them in public. They have great isolation though.

Depends on the sub-genre, artist, album, song, and which headphones.  Metal productions in general tend to bury the bass in the mix, so if nothing else, cans with a bass hump are beneficial to rectify this.  For a lot of the metal I like, it has powerful, synchronized rhythms from heavily downtuned or 7/8-string rhythm guitars, bass, and bass drums, and some additional bass really brings this out and gives the music some muscle. 

Edited by LithoJazoSphere - 2/1/12 at 5:40am

Honestly, no. I think metal needs speed more than anything. On a slow transducer sounds just blend into one another and you end up with a generic wall of sound. A faster transducer like an electrostat will keep up with everything and you'll hear individual instruments and detail therein much more clearly. Granted, some metal relies on lo-fi systems and that wall-of-sound effect (old school black metal and so on) but the classics are generally a bit better produced.

Bass kick is good but bass kick and bass emphasis are two very different things. Also a lot of slam in metal comes from treble more than bass, although for my metal I generally prefer to have less treble emphasis since most metal is produced too brightly anyway to sound better on car stereos and the like. But I'm also generally sensitive to trouble in the highs.

A lot of the old metal records from the 80s were produced without much bass emphasis, so a bass-heavy headphone can bring life to these recordings (think Slayer, Anthrax etc).

Newer metal is generally all about being very loud (lots of compression) so a bass-heavy headphone might become muddy with these recordings.

 

Personally, I like a nice fast headphone for metal, such as a Grado, a Goldring DR150 or a Shure SRH940... These cans are not bass heavy but they are fast. If I need more bass, there is always EQ. 

I agree with your point, but electrostatics are a whole other kettle of fish.  In terms of dynamics though, you are right on, and this is why I don't like or recommend most Sennheisers or certain headphones like the DT-770 for faster music, they just don't keep up as well.  Now something like an Ultrasone, those are lightning fast and can easily keep up with anything you throw at them, and I know for sure that the Pro 900 and HFI-780 are good with metal.

Personal preference.

 

New (ish) metal I love with loads of bass. AHD2k's on something like korn, slipknot, five finger, or six feet under. The strong rythmic drums in these sound great with some low end. Anything from the 80's i prefer without.