[Dead-Vocalist]

I am very grateful for the additional comments people have shared about amps, about high frequency reponse, and about electrostatic headpones.
 
I was wondering if anyone has any specifc recommendations about headphones with neutral high frequency response, or about electrostatics, that I should make sure to add to my list to hear? 
 
Thanks so much for all of your help!

 
DV

 

[kesslerjesus]

Quote:

Some to look at are:

Beyerdynamic DT48
Sennheiser HD-800
AKG K-501, K-1000
Grado HP-1000

And while I'm not up on electrostats, they're worth looking into, as well.

For the price, however, I think you'll find the DT48 excellent.

I should be getting some 200ohm DT48s sometime next week, I can't wait to see what the hype is about (specially vocals).

 

[sumathias]

Agreed, the K701/2s are excellent with vocals, especially higher pitched ones. However, the audio reproduction is very accurate, and poorly recorded material with lousy vocals/acoustics overwhelming vocals will clearly be shown.

 

[Red Jacket Mike]

My vote is for the HD-800 with a tube amp, such as the Woo WA6, WA6SE, WA22, or the ultimate WA5LE, if cost is not a big factor.  

 

[wind016]

I slightly disagree. Neutral studio headphones always sounded great with vocals to me in the studio and it sounds great in theory, but the best vocals I have ever heard are most definitely colored. The W11JPN is the best vocals I have ever heard and with a tube amp(more coloration), it sounds even better. In theory, neutral would sound best with anything, but in reality it isn't so. Mid range emphasis over neutral almost always sound better imo for vocals.
 
Dead-vocalist, I suggest you ask Muppetface about this. She is very intense on vocal emphasis too. She has experience with the Stax Omega 2, ATH W11JPN, ATH L3000, LCD 2 also
 
If you want the most upfront full and crisp vocals, you can not go wrong with the W11JPN if you can find one. They trump the HD800 in the fullness and upfront aspects, but the HD800 are more detailed though laid back IMO.
 
FWIR about Stax, they are incredibly fast and detailed, but vocals lack a fullness to them. That is only from what I read, but I would like to try one personally.
 
Quote:

If what you want to hear is a faithful reproduction of the singers, avoid colored audiophile headphones and use neutral studio headphones. Musical gear can sound better/richer/more detailed than neutral gear for vocals, but it's further away from what was originally sung and intended by the singer. Imo, vocals are the easiest thing to be distorted by gear, partly because they can be complex to record and reproduce, and mostly because subtle differences in nuances, artificial or real, can have very different connotations to the listener, and the difference can vary time to time and listener to listener. Neutral gear, especially when low end, will not reproduce what was originally sung, but will give a more accurate portrayal of the singer's intent than colored gear. Only mid-high end gear can faithfully reproduce some parts of the voice like vocal modulation.
 
I would suggest splitting your purchase evenly between dac, amp, and headphones.

 

[haloxt]

Wind016, I know vocals sound great with colored gear. Some coloration can be so profound that it makes me want to shed a tear . But the op's need is for headphones that help in analyzing voices.
 
Imo real life unamplified singing is ideal for learning about how others sing, audio reproduction will always add more variables. That is not to say some types of sound processing or recording/reproduction coloration can't assist in analyzing singing, but from what I have experienced with different tier of audio gear, it is easy for reproduced sound to be incorrectly portrayed.
 
Using real life music as a reference, I never considered my audio setup to be good enough to be called  totally dead-on truthful, maybe 85% of the time with my currently $3500 headphone, and maybe 70% dead-on with my $4500 speaker setup. With $1500 headphone setup I'd say 50% dead-on, and $800 setup 30% dead-on. What I define as not dead-on is some coloration in a gear I pin down by swapping gear around, it can be an extremely small deviation from what I call a perfectly faithful reproduction, but noticeable enough that I think it changes the meaning of the note played/sung. I figure precision is very important for what you want, ergo my silly diatribe . And to quote Tomatis, "The voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear".

 

[wind016]

Today, we learn crying from vocals is not necessarily always a good thing... ='(

 

[spookygonk]

Quote:

Today, we learn crying from vocals is not necessarily always a good thing... ='(

What was the track that affected you so?
 

 

[wind016]

If you can enjoy world music, it's actually in mandarin... Tanya Chua's "If you see him/her"
streaming MP3 audio: http://www.4shared.com/account/audio/t9jnQHBy/08_Tanya_Chua_If_You_See_Him_-.html 
 
or youtube mv with crap sound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQHtAyEl9YE
 
this song gets to me X'D
 
Quote:

What was the track that affected you so?
 

 

[BlackbeardBen]

I know this is a headphones forum and you're probably looking for headphones, but...
 
I'm not sure there is anything out there better for vocals (especially detail-wise) than vintage Infinity speakers with EMIT tweeters and EMIM midranges.  Of course, they can be pricey ($600-50000 depending on the model) and hard to run - but let's just say that my Infinity Renaissance 90's make my HD 600's sound like carp.
 
And that's saying a lot.

 

[Dead-Vocalist]

Hi Blackbeard,
 
I admit I had been thinking in terms of headphones, but I had also assumed that for vocal detail, that the best headphones would be better than the best speakers.  Thanks for helping me to reflect on, and reconsider, that assumption.
 
DV
Quote:

I know this is a headphones forum and you're probably looking for headphones, but...
 
<snip> 

 

[desktophifi]

I agree with the boys who mentioned the AKG K702 and the Sennheiser HD800 (with proper amplification) 
Both are the best vocal performers i ever heard. 

 

[sizwej]

Of the headphones i've owned, the DT48 and the K501 come to mind. If you're lucky, you might still find a used DT48 for a bargain price. K501's are hard to come by though.

 

[graben]

Get a 507 or Omega 2 from Stax.
If you want to save money get some used Stax. The SRX-MK3 is very nice for vocals for example.

 

[singh]

My K702 is very good with female vocals ..male as well but high pitched vocals do shine more ,
also i have friends praising the DT880 600 ohm specially for its vocals ...just pair a good tube amp with it  and you are done !