[390571]

Ok i'm tearing my hair out trying to decide what headphone to get for general listening mixing and mastering purposes. I was going to buy the el-8 open back but the reviews say they are not worth it. I am thinking about buying the he400s but i want something better and preferably something that's not hard to drive with a neutral sound signature. Any recommendations for a neutral natural esay to drive open back headphone? Preferably planar magnetic.

 

[GREQ]

Any particular reason you're not interested in the usual suspects like DT880?  The 250 ohm is a good compromise between neutrality, accuracy and ease to drive well. 

Regarding EL-8; it's not neutral. The treble is somewhat rolled off, which makes them great for general listening, but useless for mixing/mastering.
The HE-400s is more neutral and better suited to both jobs than the EL-8.

 

[VNandor]

I would like to point out that headphones are not as good for mixing and mastering as monitor speakers in case you are not aware of that.
 
The HD600 has a very flat frequency response for a 300$ headphone, almost no coloration added apart from its bass roll off and a slight bump at around 3kHz. If you really don't have any amps you could still pick up one with the money left.
I wouldn't overthink it if I were you, every headphone will have their pros and cons, you'll basically have to learn how the sound translates to other systems, no matter what headphone you get.

 

[GREQ]

  The HD600 has very flat frequency response

This is simply not true unless you only care about 100-2000Hz

 

[VNandor]

  This is simply not true unless you only care about 100-2000Hz

You are right, I will edit my post. I should have said they are flat for a 300$ headphone. I didn't want to say that they are the and all be all reference headphones, you can definitely find a more balanced heapdhone/speaker setup.
By the way, listening to logarithmic sine sweeps with it reveals no peaks or dips in the FR apart from a rather steep subbass rolloff and a slight but still noticeable peak around 3kHz.

 

[Alizz]

I have the Yamaha MT220, Focal Spirit Pro, AKG K712, Beyer DT250 all fairly neutral sounding BUT if I have to choose only one for mixing I would choose the MT220 since it reminds me the most of my HS80m speakers.. the K712 however have the most detail and it's an excelent reference headphone,  for $500 I would get both the MT220 & K712!

 

[Alizz]

However if you must get planars I've read good things about the HE-560. They do cost 899 new but perhaps an used pair is an option? For me,  if I would eventually get planars it sure will be the HE-560!

 

[390571]

 I use the jbl lsr305's to mix most of my music, but i do not have room treatment and a subwoofer to show me the whole picture so i tweak on headphones to finish up and correct mistakes, i need a good headphone that can give me the whole picture, i have my eyes on the he400i at the moment but i'm willing to wait and go up in price if i must to get what i want. Also i generally just love to hear my music the way it was made so i love neutrality above all else, and i love thumping bass too. I'm not a fan of headphones with a rolled off bass response. I'd also like to add that i am an EDM producer, my music is heavily dependent on punchy hard-hitting accurate low end. I need headphones that are especially detailed in the low end, I've heard that planar magnetic headphones are very well extended in the low end even more so then most dynamic headphones.

 

[390571]

I tried the el-8 closed at B&H, they sounded odd and distorted to me, i also tried the he400i, did not like them. They had a muffled midrange. The only headphone i liked was the lcd-2 which sounded thick and super warm with a meaty punchy bass. I think i will go with the dt880 pros 32 ohm and be done with it until i can save up  for the audeze lcd's.

 

[Me x3]

Audeze LCD-2 is not a very neutral headphone.
I think you should decide whether you want a neutral headphone that will expose flaws on your recordings or a musical headphone that will make your recordings sound pleasing.

 

[390571]

Well now that i've heard my first planars i can confidently say they are pretty good, the biggest difference is the faster fuller bass and the thicker midrange.  But i don't think that they are superior overall. Like i said i think i will just get the dt880 pros or maybe the beyer t1 if it's neutral. However i have yet to hear a headphone that impresses me as much as my jbl lsr305's in terms of accuracy and tonality, the lsr305's are laid back sounding with a cold clinical sound that never gets fatiguing. I like the beyer sound signature the most so i think i will stick with it. 

 

[Me x3]

  Well now that i've heard my first planars i can confidently say they are pretty good, the biggest difference is the faster fuller bass and the thicker midrange.  But i don't think that they are superior overall. Like i said i think i will just get the dt880 pros or maybe the beyer t1 if it's neutral. However i have yet to hear a headphone that impresses me as much as my jbl lsr305's in terms of accuracy and tonality, the lsr305's are laid back sounding with a cold clinical sound that never gets fatiguing. Ilike the beyer sound signature the most so i think i will stick with it. 

K702 and DT880 are very good neutralish reference headphones.
DT880 (250 or 600) is a bit more neutral (tiny bit more bass, softer upper midrange and more treble extension), but K702 is clearer, more precise and more layered across the spectrum. Both are extremely good for the money, and great as studio tools.
 
Pick a top class recording, feed one of these with a good amplifier and the sound quality you get is almost as good as it gets.
Pick an average recording and you'll get average sound quality.
 
The T1 while superior from a technical point of view, it falls a bit on the warm side of things. More pleasing than reference.
HD800 is very similar to DT880 in terms of frequency response, but it's even better than K702 in terms of transparency, soundstage and layering.
 
These are all reference headphones and very different from LCD-2.
 
HE-6 might work as a reference among planar magnetic headphones but it's hard to drive.

 

[GREQ]

  I tried the el-8 closed at B&H, they sounded odd and distorted to me,

You probably heard the old one.
And I agree with you.
 
I think it's the worst planar to be released in the past 10 years.
But apparently they've updated it and now it sounds more like the open version, although I havn't heard it yet. 

 

[Alizz]

Don't get the DT880! I've had the DT770, DT880, DT990 (all pro), DT150 & DT250. The DT250 is flattest Beyerdynamic off those (and even ever made I think, more than the T1!). 
 
The DT880 are too harsh in the highs, your snaredrums, synths etc will translate very wrong trust me I've had this problem before! Get the much cheaper DT250 and you'll have the best mixes, don't get fooled by it's closed design it has very precise stereo imaging!
 
And the K701/K702 have not realistic bass (little) and stereo image (too wide), you'll be better of with the K712 but the DT250 is your best bet!

 

[buke9]

The LCD line would be the last ones to mix or master with . I think it would be with type of music . If mixing you are not looking to what sounds good on TOTL equipment but what sounds good to everyone. That is why they don't mix with Stax or the like. Get a pair of HD-280 Pro's or the like and let it roll for mixing. Mastering is done on speakers as far as I know. ICDW.. You are over thinking this too much.