Sake
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2009
- Posts
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Hi Guys,
This is my first time posting here, so I hope my questions and comments are well received. I have read most all the information I could about headphones here on this forum, then went out to my local music store.
I have a gift certificate there and am limited to their selection. I basically do guitar rig recordings with drums tracked using a midi drumkit via Native Instruments' Battery and am looking for a good set of monitoring headphones so that my mixes don't sound ridiculous and so that I can accurately model different guitar sounds. I went to the store and the salesman asked me if I had time, to which I replied "Yes", and he pulled out a bunch of headphones that he had in my price range:
1) Audio Technica ATH-m40fs
2) Audio Technica ATH-m50
3) Sennheiser HD-280 Pro
4) Sennheiser HD-380 Pro
5) Sony MDR 7509HD
6) Sony MDR 7506
7) AKG K-271 MKII
8) AKG K-240 MKII
9) Sure SRH840
I sat down for about 2 hours listening to the 2 cds he provided (Massive Attack and some Funky Jazz offering; Duke Grant or something like that?)
Now, I'm no sound expert or engineer, but I plan on using these to learn to do mixes and to model guitar sounds in guitar rig using my Focusrite Saffire LE sound card on my macbook pro. I put down ideas in ableton live and hope to EQ/mix them to the best of my abilities. Getting proper monitors are unfortunately not an option in my apartment.
Consequently, I'm looking for headphones that most accurately represent sound rather than make things sound good. The salesaman talked alot about how some headphones (M50!) had more "hype" than others (k271 mkii). I concluded that "hype" was a bad thing (true/false?). I may be missing terminology here, but I will try to describe everything as accurately as I can.
After listening to certain parts of certain songs for a couple of hours, my conclusions were the following:
Sennheiser : I liked the 380s better, but I found snare hits terrifying on both of these, very pronounced and there seemed to be some sort of clipping that occured. Both sounded like they had nice/heavy bass, maybe even exagerated sometimes, but the mids seemed to get lost in them, not as bad as the ATH's though.
Audio Technica: The M50s sounded WAY too bass heavy for me, the mids were completely lost in the mix and the upper frequencies seemed less sharp as the senns. The m40fs sounded more balanced, but the mids seemed a bit lackluster, an overall good headphone for the price, but I want better. M50s are out of the question, which is weird because I heard alot of good things about these!
Sony MDRs: Both sounded nicest as far as sound was concerned. For some reason though, the sound seemed to change entirely. I don't know what Sony's doing here, but I can't even describe it... The other headphones seemed like they would vary emphasis of different frequencies, whereas these headphones seemed to change the sound profile, maybe even the timbre, all around the board really subtly. It sounded great, but scared the **** out of me as far as my goal to most accurately represent my mixes. No go.
AKGs: I fell in love with these. The basses were MUCH more toned down, not as heavy and thumpy, but they were easily distinguished and the sounds sounded rich, without necessarily giving that "poundy" or "thumpy" feeling. The mids were incredible and didn't get lost in the mix at all. The snare hits were clean, distinguishable and didn't scare me into blinking, even when I raised the volume. I actually thought the 240s were more comfortable than the 271s, but the sound (for some reason that I tried to describe but couldn't), seemed SLIGHTLY better on the 271s. I don't know why or how... maybe I just listened to too many and had to make a choice. I also found these to be the softest of all the headphones. (Highest impedance I presume?)
Shure: Now.. after falling in love with the AKGs, I plugged these in and immediately felt the bass was heavier. Expecting the mids to get lost in the mix, I almost put these away but all of a sudden, the guitars/mids seemed to layer on top of the thick bass and remain crystal clear, same for the upper end. I would guess that these are bass (perhaps "upper bass"? ) heavy, but it's almost a welcome addition given that the mids and highs come in so crystal clear. They're super comfortable and I love the way they sound, but I feel like they maybe be exagerating the bass a bit too much for my "monitor headphone" purposes.
IN CONCLUSION / MY DILEMMA
I have to pick between these and my choice seems clear : I'm going for either the AKGs or the Shure headphones. The salesman told me to go with the K-240 mkII's because they had the flattest profile and suited my needs most, but those Shure headphones sound SOOO good...
My questions are as follows:
* The Shure's were my favourite sounding, but the salesman told me that that's because they have a little bit of "hype" in the low end. True or false? Are my mixes going to end up too light on the bass because of these headphones's low-end heaviness? Everything else seems to come through clean and I love the way these sound, but I was advised to go with the ones that "most accurately represent the sounds recorded" and not with the one that "sounded the best to me", but what the hell do I know about what the sounds are supposed to be like "accurately"...
* The AKGs sound great, but the low-end seems alot softer, maybe even too soft. True or false? Everything else is crystal clear, but I REALLY can't tell the difference between the K-240 mkII and the K-271 mkII beyond a feeling in my intuition... The salesman told me that the 271s are closed whereas the 240s aren't, and therefore the 240s most accurately represent how monitors would sound in a room, but they'll let outside sound in and vice versa, which is why people will pay more for the 271s, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. True or false? Since I'm not worried about bleeding or a good seal on the headphones, would you recommend the 271s over the 240s?
* Finally: The AKGs seem like they're under-represented in the low end and the Shures seem like they're OVER represented in the low end. The mids and highs are nice on both (unless you guys tell me otherwise). Maybe also one's on target in the low end and I just don't know the difference. Do you have any feedback/commentary to offer on this topic?
Any help would be appreciated, and I'd love to answer any questions should I have missed out on any important details. I need your advice on which headphones to buy!
This is my first time posting here, so I hope my questions and comments are well received. I have read most all the information I could about headphones here on this forum, then went out to my local music store.
I have a gift certificate there and am limited to their selection. I basically do guitar rig recordings with drums tracked using a midi drumkit via Native Instruments' Battery and am looking for a good set of monitoring headphones so that my mixes don't sound ridiculous and so that I can accurately model different guitar sounds. I went to the store and the salesman asked me if I had time, to which I replied "Yes", and he pulled out a bunch of headphones that he had in my price range:
1) Audio Technica ATH-m40fs
2) Audio Technica ATH-m50
3) Sennheiser HD-280 Pro
4) Sennheiser HD-380 Pro
5) Sony MDR 7509HD
6) Sony MDR 7506
7) AKG K-271 MKII
8) AKG K-240 MKII
9) Sure SRH840
I sat down for about 2 hours listening to the 2 cds he provided (Massive Attack and some Funky Jazz offering; Duke Grant or something like that?)
Now, I'm no sound expert or engineer, but I plan on using these to learn to do mixes and to model guitar sounds in guitar rig using my Focusrite Saffire LE sound card on my macbook pro. I put down ideas in ableton live and hope to EQ/mix them to the best of my abilities. Getting proper monitors are unfortunately not an option in my apartment.
Consequently, I'm looking for headphones that most accurately represent sound rather than make things sound good. The salesaman talked alot about how some headphones (M50!) had more "hype" than others (k271 mkii). I concluded that "hype" was a bad thing (true/false?). I may be missing terminology here, but I will try to describe everything as accurately as I can.
After listening to certain parts of certain songs for a couple of hours, my conclusions were the following:
Sennheiser : I liked the 380s better, but I found snare hits terrifying on both of these, very pronounced and there seemed to be some sort of clipping that occured. Both sounded like they had nice/heavy bass, maybe even exagerated sometimes, but the mids seemed to get lost in them, not as bad as the ATH's though.
Audio Technica: The M50s sounded WAY too bass heavy for me, the mids were completely lost in the mix and the upper frequencies seemed less sharp as the senns. The m40fs sounded more balanced, but the mids seemed a bit lackluster, an overall good headphone for the price, but I want better. M50s are out of the question, which is weird because I heard alot of good things about these!
Sony MDRs: Both sounded nicest as far as sound was concerned. For some reason though, the sound seemed to change entirely. I don't know what Sony's doing here, but I can't even describe it... The other headphones seemed like they would vary emphasis of different frequencies, whereas these headphones seemed to change the sound profile, maybe even the timbre, all around the board really subtly. It sounded great, but scared the **** out of me as far as my goal to most accurately represent my mixes. No go.
AKGs: I fell in love with these. The basses were MUCH more toned down, not as heavy and thumpy, but they were easily distinguished and the sounds sounded rich, without necessarily giving that "poundy" or "thumpy" feeling. The mids were incredible and didn't get lost in the mix at all. The snare hits were clean, distinguishable and didn't scare me into blinking, even when I raised the volume. I actually thought the 240s were more comfortable than the 271s, but the sound (for some reason that I tried to describe but couldn't), seemed SLIGHTLY better on the 271s. I don't know why or how... maybe I just listened to too many and had to make a choice. I also found these to be the softest of all the headphones. (Highest impedance I presume?)
Shure: Now.. after falling in love with the AKGs, I plugged these in and immediately felt the bass was heavier. Expecting the mids to get lost in the mix, I almost put these away but all of a sudden, the guitars/mids seemed to layer on top of the thick bass and remain crystal clear, same for the upper end. I would guess that these are bass (perhaps "upper bass"? ) heavy, but it's almost a welcome addition given that the mids and highs come in so crystal clear. They're super comfortable and I love the way they sound, but I feel like they maybe be exagerating the bass a bit too much for my "monitor headphone" purposes.
IN CONCLUSION / MY DILEMMA
I have to pick between these and my choice seems clear : I'm going for either the AKGs or the Shure headphones. The salesman told me to go with the K-240 mkII's because they had the flattest profile and suited my needs most, but those Shure headphones sound SOOO good...
My questions are as follows:
* The Shure's were my favourite sounding, but the salesman told me that that's because they have a little bit of "hype" in the low end. True or false? Are my mixes going to end up too light on the bass because of these headphones's low-end heaviness? Everything else seems to come through clean and I love the way these sound, but I was advised to go with the ones that "most accurately represent the sounds recorded" and not with the one that "sounded the best to me", but what the hell do I know about what the sounds are supposed to be like "accurately"...
* The AKGs sound great, but the low-end seems alot softer, maybe even too soft. True or false? Everything else is crystal clear, but I REALLY can't tell the difference between the K-240 mkII and the K-271 mkII beyond a feeling in my intuition... The salesman told me that the 271s are closed whereas the 240s aren't, and therefore the 240s most accurately represent how monitors would sound in a room, but they'll let outside sound in and vice versa, which is why people will pay more for the 271s, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. True or false? Since I'm not worried about bleeding or a good seal on the headphones, would you recommend the 271s over the 240s?
* Finally: The AKGs seem like they're under-represented in the low end and the Shures seem like they're OVER represented in the low end. The mids and highs are nice on both (unless you guys tell me otherwise). Maybe also one's on target in the low end and I just don't know the difference. Do you have any feedback/commentary to offer on this topic?
Any help would be appreciated, and I'd love to answer any questions should I have missed out on any important details. I need your advice on which headphones to buy!
