Recommendations for mixing headphones

[Shane WorkmanParticipant]

Hey PLAPers! As much as I would like to live in the studio for the rest of my life and never see the light of day, every once in a while I'll break out of this tomb and go to my office to do a little bit of mixing. Unfortunately, that room is about as acoustically treated as a basketball stadium. I was hoping somebody had some recommendations for, probably open back, headphones that are high enough quality to get at least a relative reference mix with. If I could keep it under $300 that would be great! Any recommendations?

[Malcolm MiddletonParticipant]

Hi Shane,

I use DT 1990 Pro's, they are a bit pricey although ceX are doing refubished ones for under £300. They are very precise with good bass and defined mid and high end. I use mine with Dsoniq's Realphones which refines them even more. Malcolm.

[Jeff TaylorParticipant]

I use AKG k702’s

They’re nice and flat.

Normally they are around $400 but for some reason Amazon has them for $180

I’ve had my pair for a long time, they sound fine but they’re worn out physically… I’m thinking of buying one of these $180 pairs.

If I pull the trigger I’ll post again and confirm there’s no bad reason why these are $180! Or if there is…

Andrew Sheps uses Sony MDR 7506’s and has been for 20+ years. They’re cheap and flat.

Honestly if I wasn’t so used to my 702’s I’d buy some 7506’s and get used to those. I might still, I’m fence sitting…

Flat is best, and the thing to remember is you’re going to want to, and you will, get used to the headphones you end up with.

I also have a pair of Lucid Sound LS50’s I check mixes on  - they are not flat! I like them for checking mixes because of their exaggerated bass response.

Know that some headphones, like the 702’s have a break in period. As I understand it the 702’s wont sound “right” until they have about 100 hours on them .

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Jeff Taylor.

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