Headphones for tracking

[Djunn]

Hey guys,

I'm in search of a new pair of headphones for tracking and mixing stuff. I used to have Shure SRH440 for 3 months but I just sold it because I found it very harsh and treble sounding. I use Sennheiser in-ear and portable headphones for years and I like how they response. So that Shure was a different experience for me.

I have some candidates like AKG K271, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro. I want a flat response headphone without ultra-mega bass stuff and I don't want it to sound too treble. I'll use it mostly for guitar tracking / jamming and some vocals.

I'd like to hear your suggestions too. My budget is around 200 Euros. I can go a little higher if it will make a real difference.

PS: Closed back prio.

 

[jipchen]

I own AKG 271 and Beyerdynamic DT 990s and like them both. I also tried the 770s (but already had closed headphones) and found them to be really cool.
The Beyerdynamics were more comfortable to me - at first. I noticed my head begins to hurt after several hours wearing them.. because the.. uhm "headstrap" (is that the correct name?) is pretty hard and about half as wide as the AKGs and thus puts pressure on the skull from above.

You should really try them out somewhere locally. Or order both and only keep the ones you prefer.

 

[Djunn]

Thanks for the input jipchen. Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to try neither of those here. AKG are a little! bit of pricey here, about triple more than usual. Also they usually don't have stock except cheap products. Same for Beyers. I'll have to order from Thomann or eBay.

But hopefully I'll try Equation Audio Rp21 tomorrow. I've heard good things about them and they are not that expensive. (130ish $ here).

Which one would you prefer between AKG 271 and DT770 according to your experience? My friend has AKG K240s and I put my hands on it pretty often. It has quite flat response and comfortable but I found it sounding a little lifeless. Is 271 similar to 240s soundwise?

 

[AdamWathan]

I can't compare the ones you've mentioned but I do own DT770s and I have no complaints, I do most of my mixing with them and trust them more than my monitors. I also used them as my iPod headphones for about two years though so I know them really well which helps.

 

[jipchen]

(@Djunn: )
Aw that sucks man. Imho it's really important how comfortable you are with your headphones.. well if you really hate them you could still send them back I guess - but I don't think that will happen I couldn't compare the 770s and 271s side to side, I just tried them a few times at music stores.. A direct comparison 770 vs 271 would be unfair because the AKGs are closed and will sound and feel a bit different.
Still I agree, the AKGs are a tad flatter, the Beyerdynamics seem(ed) a bit nicer and more exciting sounding to me. You would think that's not what you're looking for in sound-engineering but it's no extreme hype, just a little more low-end and a punchier overall sound - imho (!). I like the Beyerdynamic headphones a little bit better when judging the sound and listening to music for fun.. but they're a bit unfortable after about 6-8 hours. Might just be me, though.

 

[Djunn]

Thanks guys. I'm more into DT770s than others and I think I'll give them a chance. Since I don't have a headphone amp, I think I'll go for 80 ohms version. I'm not sure if my interface can handle 250 ohms. (NI Audio Kontrol 1). I'll call Beyer's local distributor before I order it from somewhere else. Maybe they have stock, that would be best of my luck.

 

[Djunn]

Yesterday, I ended up with buying Equation Audio RP21s after I test them for like 15 minutes at the store. They are pretty balanced, no boosted disturbing frequencies, plenty of sound stage and volume, they are sweet. They are very comfortable too.

Bad news is, my Audio Kontrol 1 is dead and it's guarantee is over. Fuck that.