[Noob Meister Jr]

First of all, I'd just like to say hi to everyone.I will italicise the intro & background info so you can easily see what to skip over if you want to go straight to the subject of this thread.
 
I'm a noob, just looking to get into making music and listening to it in all its glory. I have been searching around the internet for the last few days trying to figure out what to buy and have only become less and less certain and more and more confused. So please, I need your help!
 
I intend on making music on my macbook with real drums, ukulele, voice (includes voice with no effects and beatboxing with plenty of effects using logic pro), djembe, and electronic music from my midi keyboard and computer software. I don't even have a microphone yet - just the internal one on my macbook. This is just background info we don't particularly need to discuss in this thread.
 
 
The music I listen to is very different from what I intend to make. I listen to mainly metal and progressive rock, with a bit of everything else - I quite like variety. My music catalog is very empty as I've been burgled recently but will likely become primarily higher quality digital formats- e.g. flac, and the highest quality mp3s where flac is unavailable. I'm also building a vinyl collection slowly.
 
My partner will also be using at least one of these headphones. She listens to a lot of alternative rock/pop music with female vocals - such as Regina Spektor, Laura Marling, Kate Bush; as well as prog and post rock, a bit of folky and indyish stuff, and a bit of traditional heavy metal/ power metal. Lots of her music has acoustic guitars. She will primarily listen to high quality mp3s (yes I know that's an oxymoron).
 
 
 
OK so I basically have 4 purposes
 
1. My partner listening to music at work. For this we need a pair:

1. is comfortable enough for my partner to wear for a full work day, 
2. won't break when taking to work in a bag (maybe it comes with a case and/or folds up or maybe it is just tough),
3. can be powered adequately by, and sounds good on, a phone (not even a smart phone) without an amp,
4. is closed cup,
5. sounds good with high quality mp3s,
6. isn't too big.
7. It would be nice if it could be switched to mono and one cup moved from the ear so my partner can do the supervising part of her job without having to stop her music.

 
2. Me recording tracks while listening to other tracks. For this I would need a pair which

1. is relatively flat/neutral,
2. relatively detailed,
3. is closed cup, with minimal leakage.

 
3. For listening and mixing/mastering. For this I would need a pair which

1. is very flat/neutral,
2. highly detailed,
3. great soundstage.

 
4. Listening to metal. A lot of metal is badly mixed, with downtuned guitars loud in the mix thereby masking bass guitars; combine this with poor production and it is hard to distinguish instruments. To hear such music well I need a pair which

1. is very smooth or flat in the bass, e.g. no mid bass highs.
2. highly detailed, so not producing more resonance than already there in the music.

 
I imagine it would be impossible to fulfill all these purposes with one headphone so was thinking about combining the in some way to get two headphones. E.g. possibly headphone A fulfills 1 &2, while B fulfills 3&4; or A fulfills 1 while B fulfills 2,3, &4; or possibly A fulfills 1 & 4 while B fulfills 2 & 3.
 
Probably the ideal scenario would be that headphone A was good enough to record on and for my partner to wear all day at work, while the other pair i could master on - that way I could get a great soundstage for mastering with some open cans but still have a pair of closed cans to record with. But I'm open to other scenarios.
 
And I'd like to get them for around $600 US. 
 
Apologies if I don't know what I'm talking about and sincere thanks to all those who managed to read all this. I'm looking forward to your replies .

 

[BillsonChang007]

Hello,

I suggest the UE6000 for your partner at work. I doubt if there's any mono/stereo switch for headphones to date.

As for recording, the K550 is a pretty good one otherwise, if you wish to save more money so that your partner can get a pair of Momentum, you can go for the Sony MDR-7506 (with Beyerdynamic pads if you need better comfort).

As far as amping goes, I don't find the need of pairing the headphones I mentioned with an amp but the K550 do benefit from one just to make the sound warmer in case you find it too thin sounding. In that case, I suggest the FiiO E07K or iBasso D7.

Hope it helps!
Billson

 

[KT66]

In my experience, mixing and mastering via headphones is never a good idea, speakers do a much better job
 
DT1350s answer many of your requirements.

 

[Noob Meister Jr]

I suggest the UE6000 for your partner at work. I doubt if there's any mono/stereo switch for headphones to date.

 
Thanks for the advice, but I looked up the UE6000 and it has noise cancellation (Same, with the momentum I think?). My partner doesn't need noise cancelling headphones at work - so surely I could save the extra cost of that feature by buying something else. What do you think? 

 

As for recording, the K550 is a pretty good one otherwise

After reading reviews of these ones i'm unsure whether they will fit properly - a few people have said they are too big, leading to leakage, and I have a small head. Someone else mentioning a large peak around 6.5k. Any other recommendations or do you think these are non issues?
 
Are either of the headphones you mentioned flat, and clean, in the lower spectrum?

 

[Noob Meister Jr]

 
Thanks for the reply!

 

DT1350s answer many of your requirements

I looked up these and they were noise cancelling. I don't think I need noise cancelling headphones. Do I?
 
Thanks for the advice about mastering too, I had no idea.

 

[BillsonChang007]

I think you got mixed with active NC and passive NC. Passive NC is what you need while at work to prevent leakage of sound from your headphone to others while working in office. Active NC will cancel out everything to minimum level and some even make noisy airplane sound to nothing. If you think you do not need the active NC, you can go for the Momentum or PSB M4U1 for your partner.

If you are worried about the K550 fitting, there is the new K545 which helps solving fitting problem.

Billson