[fustrun]

Hey all!

I am reviving this post since i was looking for a wired pair of headphones however i have decided to switch to Bluetooth, i have attached the original post below and would love to hear your recommendations.

I am a Beyerdynamics fanatic and i currently own DT880, DT990 and also the ATH-m50x, i compose music in my studio and i have an acoustically treated room and that is the sound that i am used to.

I had the Beyer Custom Street headphones which died on me and what i loved about them is that they did not have a ton of boosted frequencies in the low end and they could not fool me when i listened to my mixes outside they would help me determine make decisions about the low end of my mix.

So now i am looking for the flattest earphones possible, preferably portable if possible, i dislike the "Smiley" curve earphones (My DT990, DT880, ATH-m50x) that cut the mids and fool you into a round sound.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[GREQ]

The only headphone I know of that fits your criteria is the JVC HA-MX100-Z + MDR-Z1000 pads.
It's a Japan only headphone, so you'd have to get it imported, and the best aftermarket Z1000 pads are on ebay China for about $25.
They do have some bass roll-off, but on the whole it's a precision tool for sound.

Only negative points are the cable is quite long and a bit thick and unwieldy for public use, but I manage fine keeping my audio player in a shoulder bag with the excess cable.

 

[rkboni]

I don't have a suggestion for a BT set, though one way to skin that cat is with some of the new APT-X HD BT adapters (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Elekele-Bluetooth-Adapter-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B075WSFS7M) and whatever wired headphones you were thinking of using anyway, particularly if your source also has APT-X HD support.

As for a neutral-response headphone, I really like the SoundMagic HP-151.... a fairly neutral and not all that expensive closed back set. It is a wired headset, and one with a long and fairly stiff and ungainly (proprietary) cable, so that might not work for you even if you paired it with a BT adapter depending on whether the cable would be a impediment to what you need to do and how you were planning on using it.

 

[Makiah S]

Back in the day the k550 was known for it's rather flat response

I in fact enjoyed it quite a bit! Only problem was if you broke the seal again'st your face/jaw the bottom end would drop out entirely

Another really good closed back is the KRK KNS 6400

Have a look at the frequency response



I VERY much enjoyed this headphone, an I regret selling it to be honest. It's $99 or so it's only flaw is that kinda sloped off bass and that dip around 60hrz or so, perfectly fine with natural music but terrible with electronica

But for a closed back it was far more detailed and tonally accurate than a LOT of what's out there. An I imagine with a very simply parametric EQ it would work perfectly fine. Like a flat shelf up to 60 of maybe 2 dB or so? With a little peak around 60 to correct that dip

 

[PaganDL]

Hey all!

I am reviving this post since i was looking for a wired pair of headphones however i have decided to switch to Bluetooth, i have attached the original post below and would love to hear your recommendations.

I am a Beyerdynamics fanatic and i currently own DT880, DT990 and also the ATH-m50x, i compose music in my studio and i have an acoustically treated room and that is the sound that i am used to.

I had the Beyer Custom Street headphones which died on me and what i loved about them is that they did not have a ton of boosted frequencies in the low end and they could not fool me when i listened to my mixes outside they would help me determine make decisions about the low end of my mix.

So now i am looking for the flattest earphones possible, preferably portable if possible, i dislike the "Smiley" curve earphones (My DT990, DT880, ATH-m50x) that cut the mids and fool you into a round sound.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Hi @fustrun,

I would suggest demoing the Neumann NDH 20, this may suit your needs.

With the NDH 20, there is no emphasis in any part of the frequency response.

Regarding anything Bluetooth, I suggest something like the Fiio BTR 3 &/or Shangling M0, though for best audio quality on either of these, LDAC is recommended on whatever source device you choose.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[Makiah S]

Hi @fustrun,

I would suggest demoing the Neumann NDH 20, this may suit your needs.

With the NDH 20, there is no emphasis in any part of the frequency response.

Regarding anything Bluetooth, I suggest something like the Fiio BTR 3 &/or Shangling M0, though for best audio quality on either of these, LDAC is recommended on whatever source device you choose.

Hope you have a great day !

Good blu tooth recommendations!

NDH 20 is decently flat in its frequency response but its presentation is very... interesting. I felt it was flawed in many ways. Lot of ringing and cup reflections but ymmv

Thus I strongly recommend you hear it for yourself. Before buying

 

[PaganDL]

Good blu tooth recommendations!

NDH 20 is decently flat in its frequency response but its presentation is very... interesting. I felt it was flawed in many ways. Lot of ringing and cup reflections but ymmv

Thus I strongly recommend you hear it for yourself. Before buying

Always agree about demos, @Mshenay, there can never be enough...

Though I haven't encountered any ringing & cup reflections with my NDH 20, what are you using that makes it so ?
Just curious.
Also define very...interesting

 

[Makiah S]

Always agree about demos, @Mshenay, there can never be enough...

Though I haven't encountered any ringing & cup reflections with my NDH 20, what are you using that makes it so ?
Just curious.
Also define very...interesting

Interesting in how its tonally quite good but again when you turn it up to around maybe -20 dB [average of 83 peaks of 90] the sound again starts to break down

Which irritates me, but even at quiter levels I still heard an abundance of internal reflections and even ringing at certian frequancies! I guess maybe the unit I heard at AXPONA was defunct but I've seen some reviews on Sweetwater claim it's presentation sounds wrong, as it not like real instruments. Which I agree with

So honestly I'd love to see some one open one up and change up the dampening in the cups as I imagine the drivers are quite good

 

[PaganDL]

Interesting in how its tonally quite good but again when you turn it up to around maybe -20 dB [average of 83 peaks of 90] the sound again starts to break down

Which irritates me, but even at quiter levels I still heard an abundance of internal reflections and even ringing at certian frequancies! I guess maybe the unit I heard at AXPONA was defunct but I've seen some reviews on Sweetwater claim it's presentation sounds wrong, as it not like real instruments. Which I agree with

So honestly I'd love to see some one open one up and change up the dampening in the cups as I imagine the drivers are quite good

Hi @Mshenay,

Honestly, personally & subjectively, not sure where you hearing all these abundance of internal reflections and even ringing at certain frequencies, my NDH 20 is performing admirably & as stated previously, with no emphasis in any frequency range...
So unless you actually own the NDH 20 & find the same thing, then no one can help you.
Depending on source material, I usually listen at lower volumes than most & I can tell you I found no breaks in sound so not sure what you're listening to which makes it so.
Reproducing real instruments in most cases is difficult from a recording standpoint as it's not LIVE for various & obvious reasons but not overly complicated or that hard either, just takes work to get right to a certain degree but that's a whole other discussion...
The variety of music I usually listen to covers instrumental so everything sounds fine, more than fine.

Subjectively & personally, reviews for 'Professional Grade Headphones', doesn't matter which one, at least the ones I've seen, are are usually terrible for one reason or another as more often than not, someone just likes to compare one headphone over the other just because they can & think they should.
There are a lot of fake reviews on Sweetwater, more so than Amazon in most cases well, so I don't put stock in either in any case & really [/I]trust my own ears[/I].
Though saying that, there are certainly more than decent reviews out there for the NDH 20 & those tend to be from the pro industry who actually know what they're talking about.

Maybe just a suggestion, why don't you get an NDH 20, open it up & changing the dampening yourself to see if there is anything better for you.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[Makiah S]

Hi @Mshenay,

Honestly, personally & subjectively, not sure where you hearing all these abundance of internal reflections and even ringing at certain frequencies, my NDH 20 is performing admirably & as stated previously, with no emphasis in any frequency range...
So unless you actually own the NDH 20 & find the same thing, then no one can help you.
Depending on source material, I usually listen at lower volumes than most & I can tell you I found no breaks in sound so not sure what you're listening to which makes it so.
Reproducing real instruments in most cases is difficult from a recording standpoint as it's not LIVE for various & obvious reasons but not overly complicated or that hard either, just takes work to get right to a certain degree but that's a whole other discussion...
The variety of music I usually listen to covers instrumental so everything sounds fine, more than fine.

Subjectively & personally, reviews for 'Professional Grade Headphones', doesn't matter which one, at least the ones I've seen, are are usually terrible for one reason or another as more often than not, someone just likes to compare one headphone over the other just because they can & think they should.
There are a lot of fake reviews on Sweetwater, more so than Amazon in most cases well, so I don't put stock in either in any case & really [/I]trust my own ears[/I].
Though saying that, there are certainly more than decent reviews out there for the NDH 20 & those tend to be from the pro industry who actually know what they're talking about.

Maybe just a suggestion, why don't you get an NDH 20, open it up & changing the dampening yourself to see if there is anything better for you.

Hope you have a great day !

I also demo with well recorded and well mastered stuff and from what I heard it wasn't ideal. I own a few guitars and have grown up with a multitude of talented guitar players in my family. So when I listen to that kind of music I know what I'm looking for or listening for. An I'm sure you do as well,

I have an acoustic bass I enjoy playing to. In terms of volume, I like some material at around 83 dB peaks or so. Others more quite around 74 or so, in terms of ownership I don't see what owning them would change. Well the only thing ownership will add is bias. As now I've paid X amount of dollars so there's a chance I'll be biased again'st or rather develop a bias to protect my self from the feeling of "I've wasted my money" but even that's unlikely as most retailers have fairly good return policys.

There was very little activity at the RHNP table sadly but that allowed me a chance to hear a headphone new to me extensively from a system that I know and personally enjoy

So regarding my ears I knew what I heard wasn't correct. Again I heard a lot of good! But also a lot of not so good... the other thing here might be standards or what is "fine" according to you.

An really tonally, it was very good, but the texture of certain sounds and frequencies was very incoherent, the presentation of fundamental tones over/alongside harmonics just struck me as very much off... there is of course a chance the headphones have some degree of variation and maybe there are some less than ideal units out there. Sadly this kind of thing does happen, but I wouldn't take the time to purchase and own something that struck me as so flawed after spending so much time with it

I would be open to hearing it again, but I cannot recommend it online. An I feel the need to share my very negative experience with it when others have their own positive. Not that MY experience is any better than yours, nor is yours any better than mine.

I would certainly recommend any one pursuing this headphone to have a return option in the even that it doesn't strike them as correct.

Now what I will say is in terms of "correct" I quite like how my 305p mkII set on ProJax Dampeners and placed ideally in my office sound, tonally they are very much quite proper and the texture of sounds are also proper. I really enjoy having a little speaker system on hand, my only qualm with it sometimes is low frequency spectra but I'd need more room treatment [or a sub] to fix that

Another point of reference for me is the Mr.Speakers AEON C, it's exceptionally clean sounding and exceptionally clean measuring. An prior to that I and a buddy actually did tune our own closed back. Which is beyond exceptional though it's in need of repairs at the moment. I would be curious to see if some one will produce CSD's for the NDH 20 as those will verify any possible ringing

But ultimately I'm hoping the unit I heard was not correct, and that your experience is the norm. That said I still have to trust what I heard and advise others based on that experience. An I apologize if I in any way came across as trying to discredit what you've heard and experienced.

The only real/proper way to do that would be to have both pairs, the one I heard and you own measured and listened too! But I doubt that'll happen. So for now I guess we can agree to disagree, and thank you! I wish you a great day as well