ausforest

Anybody own or used these headphones?

I'm looking at getting a new set of cans for mixing (engineering not dj-ing). I've heard great things and terrible things about these headphones. I've only been able to listen to them once or twice and they seemed pretty good but I'm doing a bit of shopping before i fork out the money for them.

GuitarBizarre

A big name endorsement is rarely worth the money.

If you're mixing, use some good Grado phones, or some studio quality sets. They'll get you closest to a flat frequency response, particularly at low volumes with the grados, where the subtle lifts in the bass and treble response actually make the ear percieve a flatter response at low volumes, than an ACTUAL flat response would give.

You should also bear in mind that mixing on headphones is fine, but you NEED a pair of monitors to do your panning with, and to get a comparison of real world use. Panning things on headphones always sounds wierd, and EQing on headphones is GREAT, but you need a point of reference.

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SATCHMO

In all honesty, headphones should really almost never be used for mixing down recorded tracks. There's usually too much disparity between the perceived acoustics of a headphone mix and the ambient acoustics of a typical listening environment. Sometimes using headphones as an alternate reference point for your mixes can be good, but in most situations a pair of studio monitors is necessary.

Guitarbizarre is right though if you are really compelled to mix through headphones don't skimp on quality, and make sure you're getting a pair wit an across the spectrum flat frequency response. Otherwise your mixes will be terribly inaccurate. Or, better yet, invest in a really good pair of studio monitors instead.

ausforest

I've got a decent set of monitors both at home & at my studio. I do find however that headphones provide a much better reference of getting a ballpark balance very quickly as they're not influenced by the acoustics of the control room.

Do either of you guys do much mixing/recording? If so could you recommend a decent pair? I had a look at the Grado cans and they seem the business but they don't give too many technical specs (frequency response graphs, thd etc) which is a bit worrying.

GuitarBizarre

The grado cans are about as natural a sound as you're going to find outside of a dedicated pair. They have a completely flat frequency response except at the extreme low and extreme high end.

What this works out as, is that at low volumes, they sound very balanced, since that boost compensates for the way we hear things at low levels.

I've owned SR60s and 80s, and I love mine.

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Freebase Dali

I used to get into trouble every time I mixed in cans. They're nice for checking your reverbs and detail work though, but apart from that, I wouldn't recommend using them for anything other than A/B referencing.

I can tell you one thing... DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, buy those Sony MDR-7509's. I made that mistake after hearing hundreds of reviews that they were the second generation of the industry standard engineering headphones. Eventually I ponied up the dough, and they sound horrible. Not a good "true" horrible, but like someone's playing music through a hollow coke can in a toilet.

Just throwing that out there.
Beyond that, I haven't experimented with anything else that's "supposedly" proper for mixing. My monitors treat me just right.

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