|
Post by bluegrassdan on Nov 24, 2020 9:03:51 GMT -6
I love AKG K701s for most everything including tracking. But sometimes more isolation is needed.
Which closed back headphones sound most like the K701s? (I realize that physics dictates it’s not entirely possible, but help me out here!)
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Nov 24, 2020 20:20:56 GMT -6
Sennheiser 380s and the $15 monoprice suckers re fantastic. BUT . . . IEM's are better. The new Shure ones are great, as are the Senns
|
|
|
Post by wiz on Nov 25, 2020 5:47:32 GMT -6
I loooooopove extreme isolation cans
|
|
|
Post by timcampbell on Nov 25, 2020 21:43:37 GMT -6
I own many, many different brand headphones because they are handy in my line of work. For years I tracked with Beyerdynamic DT770's. I think I still own 4 pair. I don't understand the love of AKG K701's. I have a pair. They are my least favorite headphones and find them quite "hifi" sounding. I also own Sony's and Sennheisers but I repeatedly return to Audio Technica ATM-50's
I have been meaning to get around to trying the Neumann NDH20's and the new Austrian Audio Hi X 50/55's.
|
|
|
Post by reddirt on Nov 25, 2020 23:15:04 GMT -6
A lot talk about the M50s; I've had them and IMO they have a wide bottom end bump. If that bump is OK with you but you want more fidelity then the Shure 1540 is a thing of beauty and extreme closed back comfort ( and , ahem; price, sadly). Without that bottom end lift, i'd have bought them without question. Cheers, Ross
|
|
|
Post by timcampbell on Nov 26, 2020 0:40:42 GMT -6
A lot talk about the M50s; I've had them and IMO they have a wide bottom end bump. If that bump is OK with you but you want more fidelity then the Shure 1540 is a thing of beauty and extreme closed back comfort ( and , ahem; price, sadly). Without that bottom end lift, i'd have bought them without question. Cheers, Ross Well unfortunately with closed back headphones there is always a compromise in the bass region. Mine are the original series and I have heard complaints about the 50x series. Talking prices Neumanns aren't cheap but Sennheiser's HD 820's cost 2400 bucks.
|
|
|
Post by tkaitkai on Nov 27, 2020 2:29:18 GMT -6
As mentioned, the Direct Sound/Extreme Isolation headphones are killer for tracking. I just picked up a pair of EX25s at a steep discount and they're honestly one of the best studio purchases I've made all year.
Sonically, they don't hold a candle to the high end AKGs. Not even in the same universe. Like, they really don't sound good at all. But the isolation is amazing.
I can crank the click to where it's almost deafening and it's barely perceptible in the recording. I was using in-ears + shooting earmuffs before — these are pretty much just as good. Highly recommended.
If you do decide to get these, go with the higher-priced EX29s (better build quality).
|
|
|
Post by mulmany on Nov 27, 2020 20:54:14 GMT -6
As mentioned, the Direct Sound/Extreme Isolation headphones are killer for tracking. I just picked up a pair of EX25s at a steep discount and they're honestly one of the best studio purchases I've made all year. Sonically, they don't hold a candle to the high end AKGs. Not even in the same universe. Like, they really don't sound good at all. But the isolation is amazing. I can crank the click to where it's almost deafening and it's barely perceptible in the recording. I was using in-ears + shooting earmuffs before — these are pretty much just as good. Highly recommended. If you do decide to get these, go with the higher-priced EX29s (better build quality). I assume that all the original versions can be upgraded with the new drivers? You can improve them even more by coating the inside with plumber's putty, at least the originals.
|
|
|
Post by tkaitkai on Nov 28, 2020 3:41:53 GMT -6
mulmany I haven't looked into any upgrades, but the plumber's putty thing is fascinating. If I grab a second pair, I'll have to give that a shot.
|
|
|
Post by mulmany on Nov 28, 2020 10:04:34 GMT -6
mulmany I haven't looked into any upgrades, but the plumber's putty thing is fascinating. If I grab a second pair, I'll have to give that a shot. I put about 1/8" coating on the inside of the ear cup then put the foam back in. It dampened the resonance and improved the isolation as well. It does make them a bit heavier, but it was a big improvement with the originals. I need to shoot them a message and ask about the driver upgrade... The replacements on the site look like they should fit.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,817
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Nov 28, 2020 10:36:25 GMT -6
mulmany I haven't looked into any upgrades, but the plumber's putty thing is fascinating. If I grab a second pair, I'll have to give that a shot. I put about 1/8" coating on the inside of the ear cup then put the foam back in. It dampened the resonance and improved the isolation as well. It does make them a bit heavier, but it was a big improvement with the originals. I need to shoot them a message and ask about the driver upgrade... The replacements on the site look like they should fit. One thing to remember when dampening these your going to end up with slightly different LF response in each ear, it’s just a fact of life. Not saying it’s going to be a big deal or reason not to dampen it’s just that the odds of you dampening both the exact same is nil.
|
|
|
Post by tkaitkai on Dec 13, 2020 13:06:49 GMT -6
A little update here as I've done a ton more tracking with the EX-25s recently.
These have literally made such a drastic difference in the quality of my recordings, I'm almost in disbelief. I can't believe I ever tracked without these.
Previously, I got so annoyed with using in-ears/shooting muffs that I just settled for using my 7506s. I was either gating or strip-silencing passages between sung parts, but never noticed how much the bleed was affecting the actual vocals themselves. It's like there was a layer of high frequency garbage that just sat on top of everything and made it sound ever-so-slightly gritty and unclear.
It's completely gone now. Easily the best $35 I've spent in 2020.
|
|
|
Post by mike on Dec 13, 2020 14:00:52 GMT -6
A little update here as I've done a ton more tracking with the EX-25s recently. These have literally made such a drastic difference in the quality of my recordings, I'm almost in disbelief. I can't believe I ever tracked without these. Previously, I got so annoyed with using in-ears/shooting muffs that I just settled for using my 7506s. I was either gating or strip-silencing passages between sung parts, but never noticed how much the bleed was affecting the actual vocals themselves. It's like there was a layer of high frequency garbage that just sat on top of everything and made it sound ever-so-slightly gritty and unclear. It's completely gone now. Easily the best $35 I've spent in 2020. Where did you find EX-25' for $35 ?
|
|
|
Post by tkaitkai on Dec 13, 2020 14:14:22 GMT -6
A little update here as I've done a ton more tracking with the EX-25s recently. These have literally made such a drastic difference in the quality of my recordings, I'm almost in disbelief. I can't believe I ever tracked without these. Previously, I got so annoyed with using in-ears/shooting muffs that I just settled for using my 7506s. I was either gating or strip-silencing passages between sung parts, but never noticed how much the bleed was affecting the actual vocals themselves. It's like there was a layer of high frequency garbage that just sat on top of everything and made it sound ever-so-slightly gritty and unclear. It's completely gone now. Easily the best $35 I've spent in 2020. Where did you find EX-25' for $35 ? A local shop here had a bunch of them on clearance. I've been meaning to go back and buy all of them!
|
|
|
Post by drumsound on Dec 13, 2020 16:04:46 GMT -6
Sennheiser 380s and the $15 monoprice suckers re fantastic. BUT . . . IEM's are better. The new Shure ones are great, as are the Senns You can't have IEM for clients, though. I bought a bunch of sets from Monoprice that actually sounds pretty good and are tight to the head, but not uncomfortable. The cable is removable as well. They are gamer phones the there's a mini TRS that's a little short.
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Dec 13, 2020 21:52:11 GMT -6
A little update here as I've done a ton more tracking with the EX-25s recently. These have literally made such a drastic difference in the quality of my recordings, I'm almost in disbelief. I can't believe I ever tracked without these. Previously, I got so annoyed with using in-ears/shooting muffs that I just settled for using my 7506s. I was either gating or strip-silencing passages between sung parts, but never noticed how much the bleed was affecting the actual vocals themselves. It's like there was a layer of high frequency garbage that just sat on top of everything and made it sound ever-so-slightly gritty and unclear. It's completely gone now. Easily the best $35 I've spent in 2020. I wonder how much difference the newer driver makes - the HPA. I haven't used any of these in years, so it was pre-HPA driver. The old ones just sounded so bad to me that I found them very uninspiring and started using the ATM-50. But that was years and years ago. If the HPA driver makes a big difference, it's worth a shot to try again.
|
|
|
Post by tkaitkai on Dec 14, 2020 8:56:45 GMT -6
A little update here as I've done a ton more tracking with the EX-25s recently. These have literally made such a drastic difference in the quality of my recordings, I'm almost in disbelief. I can't believe I ever tracked without these. Previously, I got so annoyed with using in-ears/shooting muffs that I just settled for using my 7506s. I was either gating or strip-silencing passages between sung parts, but never noticed how much the bleed was affecting the actual vocals themselves. It's like there was a layer of high frequency garbage that just sat on top of everything and made it sound ever-so-slightly gritty and unclear. It's completely gone now. Easily the best $35 I've spent in 2020. I wonder how much difference the newer driver makes - the HPA. I haven't used any of these in years, so it was pre-HPA driver. The old ones just sounded so bad to me that I found them very uninspiring and started using the ATM-50. But that was years and years ago. If the HPA driver makes a big difference, it's worth a shot to try again. I'm pretty sure mine have the original driver, as they don't sound good at all. Probably why they were on clearance. I definitely wouldn't be trying to mix with these. The isolation is worth it for me, though. They're also a hell of a lot more comfortable than in-ears/earmuffs!
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Dec 14, 2020 10:33:55 GMT -6
I wonder how much difference the newer driver makes - the HPA. I haven't used any of these in years, so it was pre-HPA driver. The old ones just sounded so bad to me that I found them very uninspiring and started using the ATM-50. But that was years and years ago. If the HPA driver makes a big difference, it's worth a shot to try again. I'm pretty sure mine have the original driver, as they don't sound good at all. Probably why they were on clearance. I definitely wouldn't be trying to mix with these. The isolation is worth it for me, though. They're also a hell of a lot more comfortable than in-ears/earmuffs! I hear ya. I've never tried the IEMs/earmuffs route, but I'm going to order some 'muffs on Amazon today to give it a shot. I find that what I hear in my headphones does impact what I play and/or how I sing. It doesn't have to be top shelf sound for tracking, but I like it to sound inspiring enough. I'm curious about that new HPA driver, though...
|
|
|
Post by ChaseUTB on Dec 14, 2020 13:31:57 GMT -6
Sennheiser 280 HD Pro - man these get loud but really don’t let out hardly any bleed once you got them on your or talents noggin correctly. Can’t handle full reference digital levels w/o crapping out but one shouldn’t be listening that loud. These get loud w/ Apollo.
BeyerDynamic DT770 - think VK sent me the wrong ohm load for my Apollo but these sound prettt accurate but are kind of bass shy. These work great for tracking as well but I think more ppl mix w them. Hardly any lows or volume on my our paired w/ Apollo.
Shure SH440 - lots of bleed, maybe my noggin is mishaped but these don’t seem to ever fit on me snug. They are pretty accurate regarding balance where the low end still has some impact & get loud.
|
|
|
Post by plinker on Dec 14, 2020 14:05:35 GMT -6
Sennheiser 280 HD Pro - man these get loud but really don’t let out hardly any bleed once you got them on your or talents noggin correctly. Can’t handle full reference digital levels w/o crapping out but one shouldn’t be listening that loud. These get loud w/ Apollo. Apollo prefers Airpods!
|
|