Headphones are like stereo speakers in that they are all biased or add coloration to the sound. Be aware of that up front. To minx on them you will need to "learn them".

That said, almost every studio has them and they are critical for monitoring during recording takes.

My advice.... for what it's worth.

Go to a music store and try them. Ask the sales guy to let you try the ones you are interested in possibly buying. You will find that they sound quite different from each other.

Find a pair that feel good and are comfortable. remember, you'll likely be wearing them for several hours at a time. Next is the sound quality. Listen to the lows and the highs and the mids. In fact, I highly recommend that you carry your own source material on a laptop, phone, or mp3 player and an adapter in case they are 1/4" plugs. Play the same material for each pair you try. A good source song is Heart's Magic Man. It has synths that are high and it also has that dive-bombing super low synth in it to test the bottom response as well as the standard instruments and vocals. Also select a song of the same genre and style that you plan to work with. Put the cans through their paces.

My story on cans. I went to the store with a budget of $300 top. I was looking for a pair to replace my existing Yamaha rh5ma cheap cans. I bought those on an impulse buy from the 50% off bargain bin in a Guitar Center store for $30. They don't sound bad. In fact I use them all the time in my studio and have even mixed...as in final mix.... several songs on them. They work and sound good and are comfortable enough to wear for hours of recording and mixing.

I went to the store with my mp3 player and my ear buds that cost $20. (Creative EP-630). Note that these ear buds are well built and have exceptionally good sound quality and superb low end reproduction, due to the rubber ear-cups that seal quite nicely. They are sound reducing and I have used them in a pinch when mowing the lawn and shooting my rifle to reduce the ambient dB level to prevent hearing damage. Back to the store... I tried several of the cans in the +$200 range and compared them to the sound in the 630's. End result....all of the cans were disappointing. I could hear no discernible improvement in sound reproduction with the high dollar cans over the $20 ear buds. I walked out of the store having bought nothing. The 630's had the same or similar sound quality, and in one case better sound quality than the cans costing nearly 15 times as much.

You want to audition the cans you plan on buying and just remember that the price of the headphones doesn't always equate to better sound. Trust your ears and not the hype from the ads or the salesman in the store.

BTW: You can still buy the Yamaha rh5ma cans on Amazon brand new for around $50 And the Creative EO-630's for $20 on Amazon. And, BTW.... I have used my ear buds when tracking vocals. Talk about having almost ZERO bleed into the mic.... nothing even close to the cans which do tend to bleed.

My 2 cents worth

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/08/17 03:02 AM.
You can find my music at:
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