Oh boy guys, I am overwhelmed! I've been sifting through posts here for the last 5 days and becoming more and more indecisive. I'm new here and am really enjoying the threads. Thank you all.
I'm a film editor with a somewhat unique situation. I work on an older Avid Media Composer with a Mackie mixer. All my equipment is in a medium/small office with me, so I'm constantly hearing the whine of the old Mac G4 and the horrendously loud fan from the Avid audio interface. I use Event powered monitors which sound very good and flat. On occasion I need to mix shows that I'm editing and while I've learned by and large to compensate, knowing the system as I do, I know I'm seriously missing certain dynamics and frequencies and frankly I think this constant fan noise is hurting my ears. So...even though it isn't advisable to mix with headphones, I think I'd like to get a good pair of sound isolating headphones or earphones so I can at least listen critically for long periods, at lower volumes and maybe do some mixing.
My price range is probably under $200.00 unless I can find a fantastic deal on something used, etc.
I auditioned the following with a section of soundtrack I had just finished mixing which included dialogue, music and effects. Some sections of the dialogue were over-modulated and so was some of the music, which was good because I wanted to hear how accurate the headphones would be:
Beyerdynamic DT-770: good, flat, very comfy felt ear pads, but not too detailed. A little boxy maybe?
Ultrasone Pro 650: Interesting soundstage with the S-logic. It sounded a little more distant and slightly anemic, but the detail was excellent. I did notice the s-logic effect, very slight, but I liked it.
Shure SRH-840: Man, these are luscious. I just wanted to lay back, close my eyes and spin off into lala land. They were too "nice". They glossed over the imperfections. The overmodulations and distortions that I knew were there, went by like jelly. I loved the sound, but not practical for my work. :^(
Sony MDR-7506: I've used these many times, I used to be a production soundman. They're very detailed, but not flat and really hurt both physically on my ears and fatiguing almost immediately. I don't think I could get an accurate mix from these, though I could definitely hear the problems in the tracks.
Sony MDR-7509HD: These were surprisingly good, even great and my favorite of all I tried so far. These sounded very flat and detailed. The earcups were bigger, and fit entirely over my ears, very comfortable. I heard all the problems. They sounded almost exactly like my Event speakers except of course I didn't feel the low frequencies in my chest. The noise isolation was pretty good. So far this is my first choice.
Audio Technica ATH-M50: Very well balanced, flat, but not detailed enough to hear the imperfections. Great for the price, just not good enough.
Sennheiser HD 380 Pro: I loved the fit of these. And I can't put my finger on what was wrong with them, but there was something wrong with them. I don't have any more language to describe it...just not quite right.
These were all closed headphones for the purpose of noise isolation. I've read great things about the following here and would love to get some advice:
Utrasone Pro 750
Audio Technica ATH-Pro700
German Maestro GMP 8.35 D
German Maestro 8.300ds
Equation Audio RP-21
and of course the hi end:
Utrasone Edition 8
Denon AH-D7000
Stax 4070
Koss ESP-950
But those are probably impractical for me.
The other thought is an In-Ear Monitor. I've read that they really can't give me an accurate mix, but I'm not sure why it would be any worse than headphones? Can someone explain that to me?
The ones that seem highly thought of are:
Shure SE530: may be too warm like the 840's
Etymotic ER4S
Head-Direct RE0
Audio Technica ATH-CK10
Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro
I like the idea of IEMs for the sound isolation, especially if I get custom gels.
Thoughts and comments are very welcomed!
I'm a film editor with a somewhat unique situation. I work on an older Avid Media Composer with a Mackie mixer. All my equipment is in a medium/small office with me, so I'm constantly hearing the whine of the old Mac G4 and the horrendously loud fan from the Avid audio interface. I use Event powered monitors which sound very good and flat. On occasion I need to mix shows that I'm editing and while I've learned by and large to compensate, knowing the system as I do, I know I'm seriously missing certain dynamics and frequencies and frankly I think this constant fan noise is hurting my ears. So...even though it isn't advisable to mix with headphones, I think I'd like to get a good pair of sound isolating headphones or earphones so I can at least listen critically for long periods, at lower volumes and maybe do some mixing.
My price range is probably under $200.00 unless I can find a fantastic deal on something used, etc.
I auditioned the following with a section of soundtrack I had just finished mixing which included dialogue, music and effects. Some sections of the dialogue were over-modulated and so was some of the music, which was good because I wanted to hear how accurate the headphones would be:
Beyerdynamic DT-770: good, flat, very comfy felt ear pads, but not too detailed. A little boxy maybe?
Ultrasone Pro 650: Interesting soundstage with the S-logic. It sounded a little more distant and slightly anemic, but the detail was excellent. I did notice the s-logic effect, very slight, but I liked it.
Shure SRH-840: Man, these are luscious. I just wanted to lay back, close my eyes and spin off into lala land. They were too "nice". They glossed over the imperfections. The overmodulations and distortions that I knew were there, went by like jelly. I loved the sound, but not practical for my work. :^(
Sony MDR-7506: I've used these many times, I used to be a production soundman. They're very detailed, but not flat and really hurt both physically on my ears and fatiguing almost immediately. I don't think I could get an accurate mix from these, though I could definitely hear the problems in the tracks.
Sony MDR-7509HD: These were surprisingly good, even great and my favorite of all I tried so far. These sounded very flat and detailed. The earcups were bigger, and fit entirely over my ears, very comfortable. I heard all the problems. They sounded almost exactly like my Event speakers except of course I didn't feel the low frequencies in my chest. The noise isolation was pretty good. So far this is my first choice.
Audio Technica ATH-M50: Very well balanced, flat, but not detailed enough to hear the imperfections. Great for the price, just not good enough.
Sennheiser HD 380 Pro: I loved the fit of these. And I can't put my finger on what was wrong with them, but there was something wrong with them. I don't have any more language to describe it...just not quite right.
These were all closed headphones for the purpose of noise isolation. I've read great things about the following here and would love to get some advice:
Utrasone Pro 750
Audio Technica ATH-Pro700
German Maestro GMP 8.35 D
German Maestro 8.300ds
Equation Audio RP-21
and of course the hi end:
Utrasone Edition 8
Denon AH-D7000
Stax 4070
Koss ESP-950
But those are probably impractical for me.
The other thought is an In-Ear Monitor. I've read that they really can't give me an accurate mix, but I'm not sure why it would be any worse than headphones? Can someone explain that to me?
The ones that seem highly thought of are:
Shure SE530: may be too warm like the 840's
Etymotic ER4S
Head-Direct RE0
Audio Technica ATH-CK10
Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro
I like the idea of IEMs for the sound isolation, especially if I get custom gels.
Thoughts and comments are very welcomed!
