[olorosooso]

Hello headfiers, hoping I can get some feedback.
 
I recently moved to a new apartment in which the room for my music recording gear is an acoustic nightmare. A perfectly square room with thin walls.  Add on to that the poor electrical outlet placement and I don't even have enough sockets for plugging in the studio monitors and all my gear without it being a fire hazard. 
 
With that said, I'm currently looking for a nice pair of comfortable cans without too much color for mixing music.  Being a lurker here for years, I have quite a few headphones already.  My collection includes ATH-es7, esw9, esw10jpn, m50, Sennheiser HD-25's and a few earbud type.  Most of my listening is done on my commute so these have served me well but they're all uncomfortable after couple hours on the ears.  So I'm in search of full size open cans.
 
After a few nights of research, I'm about to pull the trigger on the HD-600's.  Was looking at the 650's but most people mention the 600's being more neutral.  I'll be running them out of an Apogee mini-DAC, will this be enough to drive the phones?  Any other phones I should consider taking a look at? 
 
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
 
Thanks!
 
-oso

 

[obobskivich]

HD 600 wouldn't be a bad choice, K702 could also be considered. I would also look at doing acoustic treatment to the room to help correct many of the issues - you won't get it perfect, but you can improve on what you already have. Basically - you want speakers at some point in the monitoring process. I know that Auralex will give you an hour or two of free consulting on room design and treatment, might be worth looking into.

 

[olorosooso]

Thanks for the reply,
 
Yes, definitely I agree.  I should have mentioned I work as a sound designer by day so I have access to a fully treated 5.1 mix room there.  (Not to mention plenty of plugins I can't afford or even run for that matter hah)
 
After some reading this morning, I have added the AKG to my shortlist, along with the Beyer DT line, although I haven't had much experience with those brands.  I'm not sure if the Beyers will be too bass heavy.  I would prefer as neutral as I can find while remaining comfy and listen-able.
 
Any more thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated!

 

[obobskivich]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes, definitely I agree.  I should have mentioned I work as a sound designer by day so I have access to a fully treated 5.1 mix room there.  (Not to mention plenty of plugins I can't afford or even run for that matter hah)

After some reading this morning, I have added the AKG to my shortlist, along with the Beyer DT line, although I haven't had much experience with those brands.  I'm not sure if the Beyers will be too bass heavy.  I would prefer as neutral as I can find while remaining comfy and listen-able.

Any more thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated!

I'm not a big Beyer fan, so I'll let someone else talk about those, regarding the Sennheiser v AKG question - the AKGs are more detailed/fast, but are comparatively "thin" on the low-end compared to the Sennheiser. Both are comfortable for long-term use and very listenable. At the somewhat higher end you might also look at the Koss ESP/950 (which basically improves upon the AKG or Sennheiser headphones, and has less weaknesses aside from price and reliance on its proprietary amplifier).

 

[Zoom25]

I use Denon AH-D2000 and they work quite well for mixing/mastering. For monitoring, I also have KRK KNS 8400. For open, I use HE-500.
 

 

[machoboy]

You've probably already seen this, but if you haven't, it's a good read. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/articles/studioheadphones.htm
 
I got the K 702s today and what can I say, I'm in love. This is what "neutrality" is to me.
Bass extends low but doesn't thump relentlessly at 100hz.
Mids... It's a flagship open-back AKG, enough said. Perfect mids.
Treble is percussive and detailed without being sharp or piercing.
 
I find the higher end Sennheisers to just be too leather armchair oriented and not so much studio oriented. They don't have that realistic snap in the treble and sound so polite. Don't get me wrong though if more money falls in my lap I'd like to complete my "upper-mid-fi" collection with HDxxxs, but they're something I'd read a novel too after mixing on the K 702s.
 
I got the DT 880 pro 250ohms today as well and I haven't had time to really compare them head to head. Buried in work... They smell nice though.
 
Amp all of the above... I know it's an ongoing debate, but this level of headphone officially sounds like a waste of $$$ to me out of underpowered sources.

 

[Zoom25]

^ I've never heard anyone ever argue about whether the AKG's or Beyerdynamic need an amp or not.
 
AKG's are good for mixing, however they are missing the low octaves. If you're composing electronic music, then no AKG's. For other stuff, it should be fine. 
 

 

[machoboy]

I have... I'm not sure what they were talking about though now that I have them. They like power.
I do not find the 702s to be lacking at all in sub-bass..
 
The K 240s, k 271s, and other models based on that driver or some variation of it (which seems to make up a large portion of AKGs lineup) have practically zero sub-bass and are all about "groovy" but somewhat lo-fi '70s midbass. The 702s actually extend very low. If you have any available, push 20-50hz frequencies with an EQ. They retain strong, clear bass practically to the bottom of the human hearing threshold, they just don't invent bass that isn't really there. I quite like them on bassy trance.
 
For the first time I feel like I have found "the" headphones, in the form of the 702s...
All hail AKG

 

[loopfreak]

"they just don't invent bass that isn't really there"
 
People should try Trentemoller "The Last Resort" just for fun and hear how akg's sub bass can sound when it's actually there and have a non compromised production (especially this album).

 

[olorosooso]

Thanks again for the replies.
 
I just wanted to mention that I took the plunge on the AKG Q701s.  Only had about an hour and a half worth of testing out on my bookshelf system but I was very pleased with what I heard. I'm no audiophile but here's my noob take so far:
 
They are quite comfortable, although every now and again between taking them off to grab another CD, when I would put them back on the headband would press down on my head in a way I didn't like, simply moving it a bit solved the issue.  The pads are very comfy, didn't get too warm or sweaty at all.
 
The music sounded very wide and spacious.  I guess this is the advantage of open cans I've been reading about.  I usually have problems with high end fatigue, no such issue here.  The highs are there (i love crisp crisp cymbals) but there's no shrill or piercing issue for me.  As far as the bass goes, my first reaction was to bump the bass up one notch, however, after some time I switched back to a flat EQ and have been very happy with the results.  I can only imagine them getting better after some burn-in.  
 
Checked to see how my X1000 player would handle them, definitely need an amp.    Good thing they are staying at home.