[kiikasi]

Hello, fellow Prog lovers! I am currently looking for headphones that would best suit listening to bands like Ayreon and Dream Theater, among many, many others. What are your recommendations?

 

[Claritas]

The expert on prog in my house (my special lady) prefers my K340 followed by K702. She enjoys both a lot.

 

[Mjolnir125]

I recently purchased K702's and I find that they do very well with prog that is recorded well with a good amount of dynamic range. Synths on most Ayreon songs sound really crisp and energetic, and acoustic parts sound really good as well. Guitars with a lot of distortion can sometimes be almost a little grating because of the treble and relative lack of bass (so you really hear the distortion and they don't really sound warm and fuzzy). It is also worth mentioning that Arjen seems to do at least some of his mixing on a pair of K702's; you can see him wearing them in a few of his preview videos for The Theory of Everything. Therefore, it may be that you will be getting closer to what he intended if you use K702s (although I believe he uses KRK monitor speakers for actual mastering when he does it).
 
Dream theater and other progressive metal sounds great on K702s as long as the dynamic range and fidelity is there. Lower quality recordings don't sound all that good on K702's for whatever reason. I can also hear Myung's bass decently with the AKG's, which is significant given how buried he usually is in the mix.
 
Older "classic" prog like Jethro Tull or early Genesis also does very well. The K702's definitely seem to do detailed acoustic music more justice than pure rock, but as Prog is a multi faceted genre it works a lot better than something like basic punk or really simple rock does. Prog songs tend to have a lot of tiny details strung throughout the songs that the k702's are really good at bringing out.
 
There is also the q701 which people seem to like, although the current K702 has a flat headband while the q701 has the bumpy headband that people don't seem to like. You also might want to look at the K712 or K702 anniversary edition which have more bass than the K702.

 

[Claritas]

K702 annie doesn't much more bass and the cause is the pads, so you can buy the pads if you think you want that. I'd be concerned about the amount of bass on K712, based on the measurements.

 

[kiikasi]

I've been using the K550s mainly for the soundstage and closed nature, but I have the Q701s, too. I will try my T5ps, too!

 

[sludgeogre]

I'm using K550s for prog rock/metal and death metal, I love them, but also mostly because I need a closed headphone at home/commute/work. I don't have a lot of time in the day where an open headphone is practical.

 

[kramer5150]

RS1 for progressive metal... Savatage, symphony-X, Dreamtheater, queensryche, Liquid tension experiment, BOC, maiden
K701/2 for prog... Floyd, Zappa, Dregs, Marillion, Alan Parsons, Yes, Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck
 
HD650 is my go-to prog can when I want something warm, more relaxed and easier on the ears than the RS1 and K701
 
How did I forget Kansas... I prefer them on the HD650... fwiw