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Good affordable studio monitor headphones, no EQ added


utubebenscott
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You certainly do not need high impedance headphones, I use a cheapo set of Coby most of the time, think they were 20 bucks or so. High impedance will work with the HD 500 as I've tested that out. I've learned that a headphone amp pairs nicely with high impedance phones. I've even usesd skull candy in ear plugs which sound pretty darn good.

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Been using AKG 240S cans for many moons...last pair died after about 15 years of regular use. Neighborhood of $100-$120 depending on the source. Semi-open back, low impedance (55 ohms if i'm not mistaken), but I've used them with the 500X without issue. Pretty flat response, good for mixing too.

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I recently upgraded from lower impedance, less costly headphones to the beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. The quality improvement is very noticeable. The cheaper phones were OK; these are great. You get what you pay for in headphones.

 

http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/shop/hah/headphones-and-headsets/studio-and-stage/studio-headphones/dt-990-pro.html

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"You get what you pay for" - well, it depends...

 

$20 headphones: $20 quality

$100 headphones, brand A: $20 quality, $80 for the brand name

$100 headphones, brand B: $85 quality, $15 for the brand name

$500 headphones, brand X: $120 quality, $380 for the brand name

$500 headphones, brand Y: $400 quality, $100 for the brand name

 

I don't have specific brands in mind for those, but it's a jungle out there.... don't believe the hype, and don't believe your ears too much, either, since they tend to be attracted to silly "smiley" EQ curves.

 

Personally, in the studio, I have Sony MDR-7506s, but don't particularly like them; it's just that everybody I know also has them so it's a consistent reference. I also like the AKG 240s, and have enjoyed a pair of Ultrasone HFI-650s for the last 10 years.

 

Then for my desk job I wanted an extra pair of closed over-ear headphones, and tried the $20 ones from Monoprice. They're not great by any stretch, but are reasonably OK. At least every penny of the $20 goes to quality and not brand name.

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I've got the DT990 open backed (600 ohm) and love'm. I think I may get an amp for it although they work ok with the HD500 without one. I can wear'em for quite a long time without taking them off. Some headphones make your ears uncomfortable, not these. I think the ones silverhead has are 250 ohm which should pair with the HD500 perfectly.

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Speaking of uncomfortable headphones, I have the Sony MDR-V6 and these can get quite uncomfortable. I also wear glasses, so sometimes there are intense pressure points right behind the ears in combination with these. But only sometimes, weird. It's not intolerable but also depends on a persons pain threshold. Sometimes when I play I actually draw energy from this and direct it towards my playing. Turn a negative into a positive? Anyway, I have nothing else to compare these to, so I don't know if other headphones in combination with glasses are any better.

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Well, not everything. Extended warranties, for instance........ :angry:

Best scam ever...particularly amusing when the register jockey at Giant Electronics Emporium tries to get you to buy a $19.95 insurance policy on an $89 item. It should be accompanied by the following speech:

 

"The CEO and shareholders would just love it if you would agree to pay 20% more for this item than you should. To that end, I will now attempt to terrify you into believing that despite it being statistically unlikely, you are about to purchase a lemmon, and spending more money is your only defense against that remote possibility. Please do not allow your decision to be influenced by the fact that you are 99.97% more likely to drown in marshmellow fluff than to actually have an occasion to use this warranty. Thanks for allowing us to rob you today, while convincing you that it was all your idea."

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Best scam ever...particularly amusing when the register jockey at Giant Electronics Emporium tries to get you to buy a $19.95 insurance policy on an $89 item. It should be accompanied by the following speech:

 

"The CEO and shareholders would just love it if you would agree to pay 20% more for this item than you should. To that end, I will now attempt to terrify you into believing that despite it being statistically unlikely, you are about to purchase a lemmon, and spending more money is your only defense against that remote possibility. Please do not allow your decision to be influenced by the fact that you are 99.97% more likely to drown in marshmellow fluff than to actually have an occasion to use this warranty. Thanks for allowing us to rob you today, while convincing you that it was all your idea."

I agree, You have an eloquent way with words and I think many people would love to drown in a huge vat of marshmellow fluff. :blink: LOL.

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I have the sony mdr-7506, this is standard studio monitor headphones

 

Yup, pretty much everyone has them. I think everybody buys them precisely because everybody else has them, so that there's a decent chance of finding familiar headphones when visiting a different studio.

 

I don't like them very much; most pairs I've heard (used to run a computer lab with a couple dozen) have a very unpleasant resonance around 2.5kHz - play a one-sample "click" through them and it sounds like "tinggk" at 2.5kHz... But, they're common and worth getting to know.

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