What headphones or monitors (speakers) should I buy?

[GallenWolf]

I want to +1 on the recommendation for AKG K240 MKIIs.... very nice phones for the price I think. I only have my SR80s to compare with, very different sound signature. I though the AKGs were very balanced, compared to the grados that were over the top detailed. Would love to try some DT880s down the road

Driven by my laptop output they're quite good, and really shine when driven by my audio interface.

[SPEED and HONOR]

I think any decent studio monitors or headphones will work for an amateur studio. In my case I have a pair of Behringer Truths and AKG K141 MKII studio headphones. If I had make an economic pick I would probably look for KRK studio monitors of the same size supposedly A5 or A6 size and AKG K701 studio headphones. I think that for mixing/ mastering and referencing. Any gear can do provided you have more than 1 source. The audio will give you a good aspect on one monitor but will sound bad on another. The real deal is knowing how to work with frequencies/harmonics, etc... to get a good sound. So probably I'd say for those looking for good solution for studio is to have both studio headphones (mine I use for mixing low frequencies and high frequencies) and use studio monitors for mids and balance. Though you might want to check overall audibility on studio headphones after that. It's also not a bad idea to check how the audio sounds with smaller mp3 player headphones or in a car to get the most polished impression, however keeping balance between all the versions is what will be decisive for the audio in the end. So good luck for those of you looking for gear, there is a lot to choose from!!!!

[Guardian_Force]

So, based on recommendations in this thread, along with some input I read across various other forums and reviews, I decided to plunk down $160 on a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50's as my starter set of headphones.

So far, I'm extremely pleased with what I'm hearing. These are no question a billion times better than the $20 Sony headphones I'd been getting by on (just for listening, not creating). These sound (to me) crystal clear. I realize now that cheap pair of Sony headphones in fact sound like mud by comparison.

I couldn't say anything truly specific about their range, since I'm by no means anywhere close to knowledgeable in those realms yet, but for newcomers like myself, I feel that if you're used to a massive amount of bass in consumer headphones, you might find the ATH-M50's a bit light in that area by comparison. I think someone at a different forum stated the ATH-M50's have bass in "quality, not quantity", and that feels right from what I'm hearing.

That said, I'm just powering it out of my laptop's headphone jack alone right now (no amp yet or external soundcard), playing lossless audio files in Foobar. I plan to make those items my next purchase.

I'll update my thoughts as a newcomer when I get a chance to demo some other solid pairs of headphones, since this thread was quite helpful in my purchasing decision. Thanks, all.

[SPEED and HONOR]

So, based on recommendations in this thread, along with some input I read across various other forums and reviews, I decided to plunk down $160 on a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50's as my starter set of headphones.

So far, I'm extremely pleased with what I'm hearing. These are no question a billion times better than the $20 Sony headphones I'd been getting by on (just for listening, not creating). These sound (to me) crystal clear. I realize now that cheap pair of Sony headphones in fact sound like mud by comparison.

I couldn't say anything truly specific about their range, since I'm by no means anywhere close to knowledgeable in those realms yet, but for newcomers like myself, I feel that if you're used to a massive amount of bass in consumer headphones, you might find the ATH-M50's a bit light in that area by comparison. I think someone at a different forum stated the ATH-M50's have bass in "quality, not quantity", and that feels right from what I'm hearing.

That said, I'm just powering it out of my laptop's headphone jack alone right now (no amp yet or external soundcard), playing lossless audio files in Foobar. I plan to make those items my next purchase.

I'll update my thoughts as a newcomer when I get a chance to demo some other solid pairs of headphones, since this thread was quite helpful in my purchasing decision. Thanks, all.

Those are decent headphones, make sure to differentiate though, that for sound in general there are room properties. Headphones will generally not cover much on that aspect. You can still pull out a good mix if you know how to work, or if the headphones are specifically made to sound in one way that might sound well in given conditions (clubs or such)

(out of topic, but interesting to know: )

That's why most mastering studios use very expensive Very Wide Field Loudspeakers. These are not the typical near fields studio monitors that they sell for normal prices, and these are pricey in general. To get the most out of the quality of your production. ( I guess you need your headphones for production, correct? ) You need to use your tools in a way you'll learn by yourself. For instance these headphones might help you judge the frequencies around the bass tones better than studio monitors, but they will not give you the final sounding image. They will help you on the mix but you will have to vary the sound output sources, to get good idea of the sound. Sometimes it will sound worse on 1 system, better on another, so you have to decide on which that is. Until you find a way to balance all those parameters, and make the mix commercial sounding masteringwise.

[20abox]

Hi guys, I just found out this old thread and I was wondering if one of you could help me.

Since a couple of days I'm trying to find monitors.

However, I'm a kind of a beginner and I don't want to throw the little money I have everywhere. I want to start to record my stuff and maybe trying to remix some of my favorite VGM.

I'm open to suggestions (monitors and headsets) with a good quality VS price ratio. And... since it's black friday maybe there's something good out there!

Thanks !

[GallenWolf]

If you are just starting out, why not just use what you have? If not, for headphones the AKG240 MKII seems like a popular suggestion.

And welcome to ocremix

[20abox]

Thanks for the suggestion,

I thought that mixing and mastering with regular speakers/headphones was a bad thing to do (It's what I have).

However, I guess that over all the remixes on this website not everybody has a professional home studio and does that as a job. (I really hope so ahahah)

[calvinthedestroyer]

Thanks for the suggestions.