Been mixing on the sony mdr-7506s for 10 years and they are awesome once you learn them. Especially for low end. It’s not Super present but when you hear it you know when there’s too much or too little

I haven’t used the BT 1990 Pro, but the SRH1840s have a very open/airy midrange and good balance throughout the frequency range. Great for detail. They sound to me a lot like my monitors, Dynaudio
Core 59s: not at all hyped, just clear. They’re also comfortable for long sessions. The only problems I’ve encountered are that the cables are sensitive to friction of any type, so I can’t move around without annoying noise transmission — not a deal-breaker; I just have to be still. And the connectors on mine occasionally drop signal — very annoying and startling when this happens. I hope this is just a defect in my pair. It only happens maybe once a month, so, again, not a deal-breaker. I like them a lot, and much better than the Senn HD600s or Audeze LCD-X I’ve used in the past. They’re also great for making music and just listening for enjoyment. Great all-around open-back headphones, IMO.

Worth checking those ones..?

https://olloaudio.com/pages/s4x-reference-headphones

@ ajscent - try Slate VSX. Fantastic for mixing.

I am enjoying the absolutely “dinky” atom amp that you recommended ! Cheers for that

Good purchase!

Just finished my build of the Neurochrome HP-2 headphone amp and all I can say is, WOW!

Really recommended. Im coming from an SPL phonitor (original) and lcd2.

Pared with CanOpener it just puts my phonitor to shame.

The designer of this neurochrome appeared here a few months ago with his high end design (not available in DIY).

after several weeks, i finally decided to remove the canopener from my headphone chain, as it caused the utopia not to translate that well. today, i see the canopener just as a nasty distortion which is just fun to use, not as an "opener" anymore.
it masks some real issues at least on the pure sounding utopia (classical music here).

now, i just use the oratory eq (equilibrium 65k analog). that's it. the translation is almost perfect on Strauss NF-3.
the utopia needs a very good amp though in order to really "open". So is Abyss Phi. It's not about the power (quantity) which is often confused with the quality of it.

Hey I’m just curious but I noticed those white Logitech computer monitors in your pic. I have the black ones, love them!! But where did you get the white ones from? 🤔

Hi,

I share my workstation with my girl and she wanted these. I bought them for her at my local PC store.

Maybe EU only thing?

P.S. They are not monitors they sound awful. But my girl doesn't understand how to turn on the sound in my current setup.

Detailed review of the great OLLO Audio S4X
(also comparison with the older S4 Ollo model and the new Avantone Planar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNiUrxTw6A

Wasn’t even aware of the Avantone’s. I find it annoying that he refers to sibilance coming from the headphones. Surely if sibilance is not in the recording, headphones cant create it. Maybe they do accentuate it though, which for simply listening would not be desirable, but for mixing, we want to hear it, not hide it, which he indicates the Avantone’s do.

Headphones can certainly introduce their own distortion in the sibilance range, as well as accentuate what is in the recording.

so for tracking/composition/sound design - and considering I will be using eq on the phones via realphones -
should I pick neumann's or dt1770 (they have to be closed back)?

Same here. I think the catch is "once you get an ear for them after an extended time". I do not find them pleasant in any way....utlitarian, clinical...Or maybe I am just cheap.
I keep consider upgrading, but I use them strictly for mixing and feel familiar with them. I am in a sort of different mind and listening for different things as opposed to through monitors.

That's odd coming from closed backs. I used to have a pair and the clamp caused so much pain.

I have spent a ton of money on head phones over the years.
Had several expensive AKG sets in the studio, all eventually broke in a relatively short time.
Same with Nakamitchi and others.

The good news is, some of the very cheap sets lasted for years and worked well for mixing.

So, maybe cost doesn't equate to quality in the world of head phones.

Durability and sound quality are unrelated. Issues with the former are regrettable, of course. I've had them. They needn't be mutually exclusive, but the priorities of the designer show themselves.

I`m using Beyerdynamic DT1990 + dSONIQ Realphones software (for electronic music). I am happy with feeling of transients and the integrity of the mix in the process and amazing degree of detail for mixing purposes.

I started with Beyerdynamic DT150 and was struck by their dynamics, but in this case, I can say that there is just a too distant midrange. there is a lack of detail, which makes me hard to work with space (fine dynamics, EQ and reverb). For this reason, I had been searching for better solution for a long time.

So I came to DT1990 thanks to the advice of my colleague. After a short period of habituation (about 2 weeks) I realized what a wonderful piece of gear they are! They're lively and emotional, play smoothly and to the hotspot for monitor purposes, with groove! They're not dark and not light, but such as they should be!

1990 have 2 sets of earpads with different timbre, dynamics and space feeling. You need to play with them for a while to decide which pair fits better to your taste.

The combination of Beyerdynamic DT1990 and Realphones software is powerful system for me, because I can do very precise tweaks in my mix, like in real acoustic prepared studio room, and the result is really good. Regularly I do 2-3 or bass layers with nonlinear phase EQ, and then I correct phases. I have a treated mixing room and I have an understanding of how a good room with monitors should sound.

I have to note Beyerdynamic DT1990 have sharp annoying sibilants so i wouldn't use these cans without Realphones correction software. This is probably their only drawback.

By the way, no matter how flat the frequency response the headphones have, I would not mix without specialized processing software (frequency response, spatial sensation and room emulation).

Shure SRH 1840's are really flat, but don't have as much detail and resolution as DT1990's if I use both with Realphones. 1840's sound much softer, laid back and with less transients. On my opinion 1840's fit better to acoustic music than to electronic.

Update: After reading Sonarworks' review of the 7506 decided to take a stab at some new HD 280 Pro's.
The Sony's seem more adept at getting the essential mids, but roll off prior to any sub and apparently have quite an accentuated 10k and rolloff from there. They also apparently have a higher than average THD.
I am probably working my way to some HD 600s, but for now impressed by the sturdy build and reviews of the new 280s which seem to perform way beyond the sticker price. Will give them a few sessions to confirm.

Been using AKG 872 for some time now (been recommended to me in this thread actually) and as much as i like them for their super clear sound, astonishing sealing and very spacial yet defined sound i can´t really mix on them. Especially when it comes to leveling the mix is completely wrong when i take em off and listen to them on my Neumann KH310´s (or else where). So, the AKG 872´s are great for precise EQing or reverb/delay settings (amounts), but just not to get a decent overall balanced mix (at least i can´t do it with them). So, i ordered the Slate VSX, will hopefully here in 2 days and will check them out. I already tried Shure SRH 840, ATH-m50x and several Beyerdynamic´s (DT 770, DT 1990 and DT 1770) but i always struggle with leveling. I produce Bass heavy music (Trap and Techhouse), so a clean bass signal is crucial as well and also i need closed headphone. I hope with the VSX my journey will come to an end, as i can switch between different environments for a quick check, just like switching between different monitors (got the Neumanns but also a mono Avantone Mixcube and even a super little blutooth speaker to check my mixes). Will let you guys know, what i think of the VSX.

have you calibrated your 310s and is your room treated? not insulting you just curious

Well, the hd280s are pretty much the complete opposite of the 7506 to me as I took to a recent mix. Took some getting used to since I prefer to listen bright. But for budget closed backs with the necessary bass reveal, I assume there are limitations. As the EQ curve suggests, an adequate amount of low-mid, almost a bit much for my taste, but I expect muddle in that area to really stick out which can be helpful and I was able to clean up some sub that would have passed me by. Some amp seems to bring them up to more balance, as I noticed from pushing them from the mixer. Sonarworks also adjusts by bumping the top end a bit but some may appreciate the lack of harshness up there when listening at louder levels.

Next stop: open backs...

Yes, i work with Sonarworks and have room treatment (at least the front end is treated very well).

it was worth it to me,definitely an interesting comparison.

years of 7506, or the 280's are so so different than open backs.

Ive only tried a couple pairs of open backs, the sound was very different, much less bass at first was noticed....but more so the Beyer's were built so much better than my other pair, they just became the ones that get used.
I chose the DT880 250ohm from reading around here on GS....but I still want to try some 600ohm. The Beyers are much more comfortable and light for long sessions versus my closed back tight fitting designs too.

A question. Why do you guys using SW for headphones? "I understand" that some cheap headphones can benefit from using SW, but what is the point of using them for headphones made by well-established professional audio companies? Are you really thinking that Beyerdynamics, Denon, AKG .. (not to mention all) can't make flat response headphones? That a bit silly considering how easy it using EQ to make the curv you want. If they aren't flat, assuming flat curve really does exist for human ears, it's because the company's engineers have been seeking that specific curve for those headphones. I see guys spending thousand dollars on headphones and using SW to modify the headphone response. It's like buying expensive wine and mix it with soda. No make sense to me.

The fact is there is virtually no perfectly accurate headphones because it is indeed quite difficult to get even just that really right, and most companies aren't even trying to make them flat so much as what they judge to be appealing, or useful in some particular way, such as bright to highlight detail, or bass boosted, or scooped in the upper mids to make them less aggressive sounding. There is even disagreement about what constitutes flat in the context of headphones on ears. A few get close. Most do not.

Killer isn’t it. Tails of verbs go on forever etc as there is no noise for them to get lost in.

Well I just clocked my Apollo with my old mutec again yesterday and that has improved the Playback tightness in the low end in general. I seem to be slightly struggling on the top end using vsx May revert to old phones to check.
But am enjoying my new hyperspace reverb so must be working!

Certainly there is a subjective improvement in roundness and lengthening in the bass with the atom, compared to the Apollo headphone outs.

Particularly noticeable when running in conjunction with my subpac.

So yes happy with the atom, however my enthusiastic slutizm forced me into ordering a Topping L30 yesterday to compare. It’s like I’m on auto pilot, I might be able to save £40 ! That will nearly pay for the leads to wire the thing up!