So a while ago I decided to get more serious about my (very) amateur electronic music production. I started this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/646398/akg-k702s-and-focusrite-2i4 for advice which should give some background and info if needed. I'll post my setup here though.
Win7 64 bit machine running mostly Reason for production
Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface acting as DAC
JDS Labs O2 headphone amp
AKG K702's
This setup seemed amazing while making songs. The soundstage was all it was advertised to be, I tried to account for the lean sounding low end by not overemphasizing low frequencies. So I worked on some songs and then my inspiration faded and I only just recently came back to it. Finished a song the other day and started mixing and mastering. The problem lies in when I test the songs out on any other setup besides the laptop. It sounds like there is a veil over what seems nice and bright in the songs. It's almost like I EQ'd out all high frequencies. I've tried it multiple places and the effect is always there. In my car, the home theater, through my phone with a set of AX-35 IEM's amped with a Fiio E11. So apparently the K702's are just WAAAY too bright. And I knew they were supposed to be a bit brighter than others in their category, but this is a dealbreaker. It's about as inaccurate as I can imagine for trying to make music.
So then I plugged in my very decent (and should be for the price) Sennheiser PC363D gaming headset plugged in through the above setup. These sounded veiled just like everything else besides the K702's. So I mixed with the Senn's and played the song on other sources and it was much more accurate. Very close to what was coming through the headphones. The problem with this is that the soundstage sucks on these in comparison with the 702's. Everything just gets kinda muddled together, relative to the 702's of course.
So my question is what's keeping me from being able to correctly use these, by most accounts, very good cans for music production? Is my amp just not doing the job?
And yes, I should be using real studio monitors but generally I'm working on this stuff late at night and my two roommates would probably murder me if I tried that.
Win7 64 bit machine running mostly Reason for production
Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface acting as DAC
JDS Labs O2 headphone amp
AKG K702's
This setup seemed amazing while making songs. The soundstage was all it was advertised to be, I tried to account for the lean sounding low end by not overemphasizing low frequencies. So I worked on some songs and then my inspiration faded and I only just recently came back to it. Finished a song the other day and started mixing and mastering. The problem lies in when I test the songs out on any other setup besides the laptop. It sounds like there is a veil over what seems nice and bright in the songs. It's almost like I EQ'd out all high frequencies. I've tried it multiple places and the effect is always there. In my car, the home theater, through my phone with a set of AX-35 IEM's amped with a Fiio E11. So apparently the K702's are just WAAAY too bright. And I knew they were supposed to be a bit brighter than others in their category, but this is a dealbreaker. It's about as inaccurate as I can imagine for trying to make music.
So then I plugged in my very decent (and should be for the price) Sennheiser PC363D gaming headset plugged in through the above setup. These sounded veiled just like everything else besides the K702's. So I mixed with the Senn's and played the song on other sources and it was much more accurate. Very close to what was coming through the headphones. The problem with this is that the soundstage sucks on these in comparison with the 702's. Everything just gets kinda muddled together, relative to the 702's of course.
So my question is what's keeping me from being able to correctly use these, by most accounts, very good cans for music production? Is my amp just not doing the job?
And yes, I should be using real studio monitors but generally I'm working on this stuff late at night and my two roommates would probably murder me if I tried that.
