macadood wrote:Etymotic ER-6i. sounds fantastic, completely isolates outside noise/sounds. comfortable, can keep them in all day. tiny, can roll them up and just stick into my pocket and take them anywhere anytime.
even after having the er-4p's which are quite a bit more expensive i went back to the er-6i's
You use these for practice or music listening? I ask because my dog just chewed up my practice headphones and I would love to have some like this for practice with my Zoom B3. How is the bass response?
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For the bucks, IMHO it's hard to beat the Audio-Technica ATH-M50. I've tested/reviewed a TON of headphones over the years, and have yet to find anything more cost-effective.
If you want the best high end, AKG has the recipe down for that. For bass, the Dr. Dre Beatz (c'mon, stop laughing) have an extremely even but somewhat hyped response.
When I do my "headphone reality check" for mixes, I listen to the overall mix on the ATM-M50, check the highs with the AKG, and the low end with the Beatz...sort of the same procedure as checking a mix over multiple speeakers.
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for the last year or so I've been using Bowers and Wilkins P5s for general listening and I love them.
probably the most comfortable headphones I've ever used and they sound great. they're passive so the bass isn't super in your face, and there's no noise cancelling but with the volume up its still parily isolated. I wouldn't use them as monitors while recording or anything, but for daily music listening and the occasional plugging into my keyboard they're way better than anything I've used in the past. I like that the cables and ear pads can be replaced too so that and being made of all metal and leather they should last me a long time.
For me, it depends on what I'm doing. I own a ton of different cans. What I prefer for tracking isn't the same thing I'm going to reach for when doing critical listening on a mix I'm working on, and those are not the same as what I might use when listening to something as I'm reading a book or when I'm checking out the latest video someone posted on HC.
I do really like Grados a lot. I reviewed the SR125i's a while back, and was really impressed with their sound.
If I'm doing critical listening, that's what I reach for. They're exceptionally accurate, but they're an open-backed, supra-aural design, which makes them bleed like crazy, so they're not good at all for tracking. They're not the most comfortable cans in the world either, although I find them less annoying than some people apparently do.
Fostex used to make some good cans that were a decent compromise - you could track with the T-20's without too much bleed, and they were fairly accurate for their day, and they were very comfortable. I'm not sure if they're still making them, but there's probably better choices in that same price range today.
For example, the Sennheiser HD280's are a fantastic choice for musicians IMO.
They're reasonably affordable at around $100 "street", and they're pretty rugged and durable. Isolation is really good, sound is more than decent, and they're very comfortable. They're sealed (closed-back) circumaural headphones though, so they'll cut you off from the world around you - if you need to maintain some situational awareness to the outside world, like when you're walking, biking, skateboarding or jogging and listening to your iPod, they're not a very good or safe choice. For that, a lightweight pair of supra-aural (the type that sit on the ear instead of surrounding it), open-back headphones would be a wiser choice.
The KRK KNS series are also really good all around musician's / studio headphones - I love the comfort of the KNS 8400, and they have very respectable isolation and very good sound too, although at about $150 "street", they're about $50 more expensive than the Sennheisers.
AKG makes some very good cans too, as do Audio Technica, Sony, and Beyerdynamic. But nearly all of them make headphones in different categories, and that are best suited to different purposes. You really need to consider what you want to do with the headphones first, then consider specific models that match your needs and intended uses.
martha_KH wrote:
I just bit the bullet on some of these (Sennheiser HD428). They get good reviews on neutral sound, isolation, comfort, and bass response. They can be had pretty cheap too. I will report back when they arrive.
Got these in yesterday, and I am pretty thrilled with them. The bass is waaaay better than I was expecting. Very comfortable. I used them for a couple of hours last night practicing and they never bothered me. The only condern is the cable. Smallest cable I have seen on phones. I am sure it will be an issue at some point, but for <$30 shipped I cannot complain.
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