First off I haven;t been this drunk since college, so apologize for any high level autism. Basically I want to know what the best neutral headphones are available. It seems that most conversations regarding studio monitor headphones online are in the <200$ range, while I am happy to pay less, I still wonder what the " best" monitor headphones might be (aka what are the abyss 1266 equivalent for neutral headphones.). What’s the hierarchy here?
3 Likes
What are you using the headphones for (what type of studio work, I would assume monitoring but just to check). Also what specific budget are you looking for?
@deathlypudding I was looking forward to a weird and memorable paragraph after reading the first sentence but it turned out to be a normal recommendation request. Drink more next time.
3 Likes
I might be misunderstanding but you are looking 200$ headphones that would be as good as 5000$ headphones?
There isn’t really an abyss 1266 equivelant but there are certainly good monitoring headphones for under $200.
I think that’s just his idea of peak price-performance so he’s asking for the equivalent on a $200 budget…maybe.
I reread it a couple times last night, and I think he’s just wondering what some high end studio headphones are, like how there are high end consumer headphones like the 1266 (even though you can easily use the 1266 as studio headphones lol)
My headphones I commonly use for mastering currently (not including past) are the warwick aperio, final d8000 pro, adx5000, focal clear pro, and then others in my collection depending on the type of work
The D8000 pros from final audio and the heddphones are both high ends that are used for studio work right?
Also the raals
Yeah you got it right, sorry for the confusion to everyone. I’ll update the original post to be clearer if I can.
What I was trying to say in my drunken state was that most of the discussions I was finding online were people looking for options in the <200$ range when it came to studio headphones, but I was curious in learning what options knowledgeable people consider as we expand that budget. The ultimate question would be what do people consider to be the “Best” (thus the reference to the 1266) when looking for headphones when it comes to studio work with an infinite budget. It would be interesting to learn how this breaks down at at different price ranges 200$-1K, 1K-2.5K, 2.5K-5K, 5K-Bugatti etc as well.
To answer you first post’s questions:
I’m mostly looking to use for mastering (and some music production), I’ll start by looking at the list you provided (thanks!).
As I said I’m not really looking at a specific budget (though personally I’m interested in <~5K), I’m more interested at this from a “scholarly” standpoint to see what people generally consider to be some of the “best” in the market for higher end “professional” studio headphones
I know the Beyerdynumic DT1990’s are considered good for studio
Sorry to disappoint, I’ll do better next time. Trust me though it took me 5 tries to get it readable, but seems like all of my stupidity ended up manifesting it self irl, but we won’t get into that
1 Like
Thanks, I’ll take a look at them!
1 Like
@MadGman @RiceGuru @BoomShroom
Yeah sorry I wasn’t very clear, I clarified myself in an earlier reply to M0N.
Obviously I won’t find something that’s 5000$ for 200$.
I was just trying to remark that most discussions I found regarding studio monitoring/mastering headphones seemed to be fixated at the <200$ range. I was curious in learning what options knowledgeable people consider as we expand that budget. The ultimate question would be what do people consider to be the “Best” (thus the reference to the 1266) when it comes to studio work with an infinite budget. It would be interesting to learn how this breaks down at at different price ranges 200$-1K, 1K-2.5K, 2.5K-5K, 5K-Bugatti etc as well.
ive seen a few people use audeze in studios, but mostly they use sub200$ headphones from what i have seen. flat response was figured out years ago, and doesnt take much to achieve. your not “rocking out” in a studio setting, so high spl not required.
its hard to find headphones above 200$ that are not colored somehow to the house tuning. i think thats the biggest reason you see sub 200$ headphones in studio’s. not many headphones are all that flat responded above the price point.
im not a studio guy at all, just my observations thus far.
Actually if you search “sound studio headphones” you can pretty quickly discover that few brands and same models pop-up frequently. Some variation in the closed - semi open - open.
As in: The first 8 pop-up pretty often.
Similar type with this:
Probably there ain’t a “best” one. More likely very good options for different situations and scenarios. So good to have different headphones that you can grab for testing / working.
Finishing with good monitors / speakers.
A lot of people use the DT series for the studio. Like maybe the DT880’s might be good if you wanna keep it around 200$
They use the LCD-X a lot.
-Focal Elegias (1000$?)
-Neumann NDH20 (500$?)
-Drop Ether CX (750$)
-Hifiman Sundaras (300$?)
-Koss ESP95X (400$?)
-Takstar HF580 (200$?)
Are all in my “endgame.txt”. They’re all “detail monsters”.
The first three all aim for neutrality/naturalness (and are “detail monsters”, yes).
The last three are more “audiophile-oriented”, but still detail monsters. For example, ESP95X are “compressed” – you hear an unnatural amount of details according to some.
Right now? My mooded T50RPs (150$) + Shure 840 Pads (20$) are the most detailed and neutral headphones I heard. I’ll start using these in my little cheap home studio soon. They’re excellent, they’re my “daily drivers” right now, and I listen to everything from acoustic to jazz to techno/trance to death metal and fail to understand how any other headphones could make anything sound better for me.
Why do I have an “endgame.txt” file? Curiosity.
I use Adam SP5 headphones, the Zeos review was wonderfully opportunity but I disagree with his opinion of these. Bright but very revealing.
I mean a fair amount of studios use HiFi headphones for their work, I personally use some higher end headphones myself (I think I mentioned what I use above somewhere)