Hi guys, does anybody here have experience with music production, monitoring, mixing?
I'm looking for a pair of BT headphones which can also be used with cable, closed back, and which are as near as possible to neutral and accurate like reference studio monitoring headphones.
The reason why I need them to be able to do both BT and cable is that they'll be my only way to enjoy music and to produce it.
For enjoyment for me BT is a must. Can't live with cables.
For production, cable means no/less latency and generally more accurate sound.
But generally headphones aimed to entertainment add some salt and pepper to the sound.
And that's a problem when producing.
Thank you!
I have owned a number of very nice Bluetooth headphones, currently I have the Sony XM3 and the KEF Space One Wireless. I am a pretty big fan of the KEF and I think it deserves a serious recommendation. The full retail price the KEF used to command made them very expensive, but I will say this, absolutely everything about this headphone is brilliant design and build. IMO. The sound I would not call neutral, but it is not that far off, at least when you talk about perceptibility. I think the KEF has a really nice voicing that I think would really work for somebody who wants to hear into a mix, needs very good accuracy, but who also wants a little degree of character. In the case of the KEF, it is what you would expect from a very renowned British speaker company who clearly took making good headphones quite seriously. I owned the KEF M500 a few years back and I have owned two sets of KEF speakers most recently the R300s.
Throw in the fact that the headphone is really a design and build masterpiece. When you hold it, you are struck by how wonderful and easy it is to hold, how solid but not heavy it feels. All of the tolerances are of the precision you get when the design was a collaboration with Porsche Design. Everything feels right and balanced, the comfort for me is fantastic.
Because it was so expensive, and was perceived as being already trailing edge with codec support for Apt X, and AAC it didn't sell that well and after a few years of I am sure too large inventories and not encouraging selling patterns the retail price was dropped substantially. Where the codec support is concerned, in my experience both are excellent codecs and completely transparent to the listener in all but the most extreme circumstances, almost not worth mentioning.
I think at one time the Space One would have been a little more than $600 Canadian domestically and the sale price on brand new factory sealed pair I bought from a retailer in Quebec was $223 total with tax and shipping. I cannot even begin to tell you what great prices are available out there on this headphone and I am all in saying well worth a spin. You will need a headphone that is very comfortable, very well built and engineered so that you can use it a lot and you need very high quality sound reproduction. IMO the KEF does all of these things and I cannot emphasis enough how extremely good the materials and build quality is. This is a top shelf engineered headphone. Now, keep in mind, I have likely average to maybe ever so slightly smaller than average ears and head, so with how important fit is to a sound signature, this is important to mention. I get a fantastic fit and seal with the KEF.
As for being able to perform wired, well let me tell you, absolutely, and very nicely so. One of the first things I did was use the Space One connected to my Q5s with the AM3D amp module and it was sublime. I used LDAC into the Q5s from my phone and the sound was very nice. I like to use very small equalizations, and with the KEF I modestly boost the low bass and it responds very well to good equalization. Now the cable it comes with is the Achilles heel in the sense that it is too short likely unless you are sitting close to the amp and your system. I suspect there would be several after market cables that would fit the cup termination which doesn't seem too unrealistic. Anyway, I've tried to give you as much information on the headphone as I can. Good luck however you decide and I look forward to reading your impressions of your eventual choice.
