[MF_Kitten]

now, the question is not so much what brands, or models or whatever, but whether i should get studio monitors or headphones...

i´m thinking something around 570$, and i´ve eyeballed the shit out of the AKG K701 headset, but i´m wondering if maybe i should get studio monitors instead... i want to hear the sound AS IT IS, and get an exact representation of what´s going on...

can i get good monitors that´ll beat that headset for that price?

i have a high-end hi fi system, and i have pc monitors with a sub (which sucks ass, over-hyped bottom end with a super-peak at about 85 Hz, makes all mixes sound thin as fuck!)

if i got the monitors, i´d replace the pc speakers+sub setup with those... if i got the headphones, i´d use them instead while mixing, and while listening by myself, but use the pc speakers for listening otherwise...

the hi-fi system rarely gets any use, which is sad, because it´s a tight as hell system, with extreme clarity, but it´s got a lacking low-end, designed for movies i guess, because movies sound intense with them... they play tightly all the way down to 25 Hz, and they still play frequencies below that as well, just not loud enough to do anything :P

gotta start using that hi-fi system more... oooh yeah...

anyways, headphones or monitors? :P and i want reasons, not just "moniters, cuz it´s loud LOL "

[Oneiros]

I would recommend monitors first for mixing and headphones are just usefull for clearing the tones and frequencies... so around that price I would recommend KRK Rokit 6.
as for headphones I like byerdynamics 770

[MF_Kitten]

that headset is the highest-end analytical headset for ordinary consumers though, and monitors in the same price range aren´t as high-end...

that´s basically what makes this a hard choise :P

and headphones are so much easier to haul around too, and don´t require power supplies...

let´s say i wanna ANALYSE sound then... price range the same... phones or monitors still?

i´ve heard studio monitors in that price range sounding so-so and hyped, and i once mixed a really fat-ass sounding track on a pair of studio monitors, and people who listened to it with hyped speaker systems said it sounded thin, and wondered if there was even a bass track on the song :P

so yeah, i´m picky in this are, it has to be just the right pair of monitors, not hyped-sounding, but not under-hyped either, like it has too LITTLE low end or something...

[Oneiros]

indeed! thats my dilemma too, and I guess you need em both, the headset option is great but it wears the ear very quickly, you get tired of the sound and then you cant do anything till you rest a bit, and the monitors are easier to work with (less headaches lol)

[MF_Kitten]

well, these headphones are really flat and even and airy in the response, and don´t have a sound character that works it´s way into your ears and cause fatigue, that´s what i want them for...

fuck it, i love headphones so much i´mma get them first... it just suits me so well, i´ve always been a headphones person when it comes to listening just for the sake of listening, and the headphones i have right now are reverse hyped... no low or high end, so you have to do a hard smile-curved eq boost, and it doesen´t do the low end very well, and so distorts when there´s alot of bass going on... so yeah, phones... i´m getting them, and monitors can come later, i think i might actually be able to afford that too, but i´m not sure... anyways, i´m done with that argument, haha...

[ukfswmart]

As a rule of thumb, you should never mix on headphones as you won't get a proper representation of how the mix sounds. You should always mix on a set of really good studio monitors and a pair of crap speakers (which is why you see the Yamaha NS10 / copies in every single studio; they're shit ), at the very least, to try and get the mix to sound good on a range of playback systems

Mixing on headphones will give you an inaccurate idea of the sonic spectrum, especially in the lower frequencies, as the drivers are being coupled directly to your ear canal. Bass, by physical nature, spreads out in all directions, whereas high frequencies are more directional; by mixing on headphone, all those bass frequencies are all going in the same direction (right into your ear canal) instead of spreading all over the place, giving you the illusion of more bass. For this reason, the 'flat' headphones you mentioned above might not be flat when pressed up against your head (I don't know how they're tested, though)

[MF_Kitten]

i´ve got a consumer-grade speaker set and a hi-fi speaker set too though, and i´d test my mixes on those...

Bulb mixes with headphones, and he doesen´t seem to have any problems regarding levels and stuff, sounds great through speakers :P

and when i´ll be properly mixing stuff, i´ll be using our singer´s studio monitors, so... i´ve got it all covered this way :P

but i´ll eventually get some studio monitors eventually, but right now i´d rather have the headphones... unless i could have both, of course, we´ll see how my budget works out, and what i can sell :P

[Oneiros]

yeh, than go with byerdynamics 770!!! and I wait for review and comments dude!

[MF_Kitten]

AKG K701 is what i´m getting, sir

i will review it though, no problem :P

[m3ta1head]

Originally Posted by MF_Kitten

AKG K701 is what i´m getting, sir

i will review it though, no problem :P

Oh god, the K701s will sound horrible unamplified. They pretty much require an amp to even listen at a reasonable volume, let alone with clarity and precision. K701s are one of the pickiest headphones as far as amplifiers go-people build entire RIGs around the K701s. Check out Head-Fi.org: Headphones, iPod earphones, portable audio, MP3 players, high-end audio .

Unless you plan to drop an additional $5-1000 for a suitable headphone amp, I would highly, highly recommend going with something else. The Audio Technica AD2000 are much more forgiving as far as amplification goes and can even be used out of an iPod with no problem. The AD2000s sound a lot better than the K701s as far as I'm concerned. I listened to K701s through a very high end Meridian CDP and a Ray Samuels B-52 ($5200 tube amplifier) in addition to a few other amps...I thought they were boring and stale, completely cold sounding. They did not have any warmth or life at all. I plugged in my $250 AD900s and they sounded leaps and bounds ahead. Full impact in the bottom end, a beautiful, soaring midrange, and best of all, a warm, full sound.

Another great headphone is the Sennheiser HD600. With a proper amplifier, it can be absolutely jaw dropping. Through the B-52, it was hands down the best headphone setup I have ever heard. Immense clarity and soundstage, I felt like I was sitting in a damn concert hall or something I tried the HD650 afterwards and the bottom end sounded all flubby, not to mention the entire headphone sounded a lot darker-not recommended. Kind of strange considering the 650 replaced the 600 as Sennheiser's flagship model

Look into Audio Technica AD2000s! You will not be disappointed, trust me. If you would prefer a closed headphone, the Denon D2000 seems to be a huge hit as well (though I've never heard one). The D2000s definitely have more bass impact than the AD2000s, however I can't make any other direct comparisons because I've never heard D2000s.

edit: as far as Beyer DT770s go, they are great cheap headphones, but probably not the best choice for precise studio use. They have a huge bottom end with tons and tons of bass that really overpowers the other frequencies. Additionally, the midrange sounds really sucked out.

You could get Dark Beyers, which are the ultimate DT770s-highly modified and tweaked to sound nothing short of amazing. A lot of people call them the best closed headphone under $1200, hands down.

Beyer Modding, Darth Beyer, DT770, DT880, DT990, Beyer Cables, BeyerDynamic Modding