[kbal]

Personally, the majority of the music I listen to is mainstream: I realised recently that I am addicted to music and ever since buying my turbine pro golds, I noticed a huge improvement, what mainly interested me was the clarity/definition of the instruments. Anyway, the major problem for me is: Is mainstream music terrible quality, as in would higher end headphones simply show up flaws in my music, in other words, should I just not get into audiophile tech?
 
For a while I've been looking through the forums looking for some headphones that are around/under £200 and I've noticed many people kind of display high levels of aggression towards mainstream music, mainly criticising the recording quality and the abuse of technology, I also read on CNET that mainstream music is compressed in a manner to make it louder before being written to CD. If this is the case, are there certain headphones that are actually good for mainstream music's drawbacks?
 
Examples of artists I listen to: B.o.B, The Dream, Hans Zimmer, Brad Paisley, Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, Usher, R Kelly, Kanye West, Akon, Frank Ocean, John Williams.
 
Summary: Any really good headphones that would be incredible for Mainstream music, or am I completely off?
 
 
 
 
 
 
P.S: It barely takes a minute in these forums to know how horrific/terrible/awful Beats, Souls etc. are, and don't judge me for my taste in music: I'm 16 and my parents don't really listen to much music.

 

[kbal]

In case anyone was wondering: I am currently deciding between the K550s and Ultrasone PRO 750s, mainly for bass: but clarity still a priority.

 

[kbal]

And also, a large amount of my music is stored in 1411kbps (WAV)

 

[kbal]

Should I expect a response?

 

[Blackfish]

I suppose you should... but not in 40 minutes.
Sorry, can't really advise you on this matter, i'm not an audiophile, and just waiting for my first pair of headphones to arrive in the mail.
 
 
Quote:

I'm 16 and my parents don't really listen to much music.

 
I'm sixteen and my parents don't listen to much music either, but this did not stop me from getting into metal and industrial ^_^

 

[tribestros]

It really depends. Some of that stuff is produced and mastered very well that you listed off, then some of it is mastered terribly.
 
For example, Kanye and Frank Ocean have perfectly mastered albums. I use Runaway to demo headphones. But stuff like B.o.B, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Akon, etc tends to be mastered terribly. Some of Jay-Z's stuff is pretty good on any headphones, though, like Gangster or The Blueprint. If you notice, it's usually the more critically/musically respected musicians that have the better produced albums. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is pretty incredible on a good pair of headphones.
 

 

[davidsh]

I'm 17, never really into music before some 3-4 years ago, actually I did not care about it at all. Now I listen to different subgenres of metal, a bit of jazz, alternative rock, and some older rock.
 
Actually, I don't listen to my former favorite band anymore, since I have attained some proper 'phones, due to bad production of the albums.
 
You can have a look at Pearl Jams original album Ten, and then try to listen to the remasters. To me the original tracks from 'back then' sounds way better. They seem more natural and real, while the remasters have been through the studio and comes out sounding a bit odd and unnatural. Also the remasters sound 'flat', and by flat I mean that the volume is unnaturally loud, making all the songs seem loud with no peaks, just non-stop. The remaster isn't necessarily bad, but it does show the tendencies of todays music.

 

[tribestros]

Quote:

I'm 17, never really into music before some 3-4 years ago, actually I did not care about it at all. Now I listen to different subgenres of metal, a bit of jazz, alternative rock, and some older rock.
 
Actually, I don't listen to my former favorite band anymore, since I have attained some proper 'phones, due to bad production of the albums.
 
You can have a look at Pearl Jams original album Ten, and then try to listen to the remasters. To me the original tracks from 'back then' sounds way better. They seem more natural and real, while the remasters have been through the studio and comes out sounding a bit odd and unnatural. Also the remasters sound 'flat', and by flat I mean that the volume is unnaturally loud, making all the songs seem loud with no peaks, just non-stop. The remaster isn't necessarily bad, but it does show the tendencies of todays music.

 
Not all remasters are bad, though. Smashing Pumpkins' reissues have been top notch remasters without any brickwalling.

 

[davidsh]

Quote:

 
Not all remasters are bad, though. Smashing Pumpkins' reissues have been top notch remasters without any brickwalling.

USUALLY, from my experience, the remasters are often more impressive, but not really good quality

 

[tribestros]

Quote:

USUALLY, from my experience, the remasters are often more impressive, but not really good quality

 
I tend to agree, but I'm saying that's not always the case.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
If you want headphones that are going to be more forgiving, look for any headphone with treble roll-off basically.
 
I listen to a good share of main stream stuff too, and a lot of it is horribly recorded, but so is some old stuff I listen to. It's not just one year or another. I look at it album to album. Some are just done really well and some are not. Can't do anything about the ones that are not done well. I still listen to them, I just know that it's the recording and get over it. There are still good studios taking time to make really good CD releases. But there are also cookie cutter studios pumping out volume over quality, and you'll notice them right away with a pair of headphones.
 
I buy CD's used from amazon/half.com. Usually $2~5. If it's a poorly recorded album, I'm out a few dollars. No biggie.
 
Very best,

 

[kbal]

Thanks for the response, to be honest I have no idea what treble roll-off means.
 
From this list, please could someone highlight which headphones would be good for this music selection/with treble roll-off:
 
Sennheiser HD598, HD600, HD650
Ultrasone PRO 750, HFI 580, HFI 780
Beyerdynamic DT770 pro, DT880, DT990
Sony XB700, XB1000
 
Or could someone recommend some other headphones, preferably under £250.

 

[kbal]

In case anyone was wondering, I currently use my PC with Foobar2000, but am expecting to be able to get an ASUS Xonar Essence STX within a year, or an Arcam rPac, but I would prefer to go with the Xonars because they are internal.

 

[kbal]

Sorry to go on, but for those who are into music producers, could anyone name some producers, for example, tribestros pointed out Kanye and Frank Ocean (I'm not sure if Ocean produces though), who master their tracks well.

 

[Anita1186]

I decided to stop listening to mainstream music even when the media makes it a little difficult to do. I recently found an online radio station that plays non-mainstream music and I´m having a great time getting to know new high quality artists from all over the world and the best thing is that it has no ads bothering my ears I really really want to recommend www.earbits.com to the non-mainstream music lovers.