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Best Closed back Headphones for "Mastering" under $600

aspillane789

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Hello all! new this this forum and i love it so far. Great community. Anyways i noticed most pair of cans recommended for mastering are open back. I have a few reasons for looking for closed back including noise isolation, convenience, and a tip from my Mastering mentor who oddly enough prefers closed back if he was forced to master on headphones. btw he doesn't ever master on headphones he has a very good control room with top notch Acoustical treatment.

Since i simply cannot afford or have the luxury of having a control room/ we are looking for suitable pair of cans for me. His current owned list of headphones are the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro, a pair of grado's (im not sure which model,) and the slate digital VSX headphones.

Surprisingly he states that the Slate VSX headphones with goodhertz can opener is very similar to his current monitoring control room. he was impressed.

[I currently have the Hifiman Sundara. Even though its highly praised its just not working for me (and my mastering mentor noticed this too. I have this slight suspicion that the pair i bought from amazon are not as good as buying from sweetwater or something. Ehh im probably just paranoid lol..]

Anyways the plan is to do the following.

1. Connect new "to be determined" closed back headphones to my SMSL m500 Dac/amp.

2. Try different EQ profiles from AutoEQ, until i find the best one.

3. Put Goodhertz Can Opener as a last plugin on my monitoring channel. (i use Reaper daw)

4. Carefully consider Dsoniq Realphones instead of Can Opener just for the HRTF application. (Might do occasional room simulations to check different platforms.)

So this is the basic overview. Completely open to any pair of closed cans under $600. If its a little more that's okay.

*If recommending a pair of closed back i would be interested to hear your use of Headphone EQ, and use of those pair of cans in a mixing/mastering context.

Thnx all! :D

Edit 1: oh also having a neutral eq response is preferred. However most important is how the pair of cans will translate to studio monitors, clubs, cars etc.
 

Bernd

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Hi, i would recommend the AKG 371: as close as possible to an almost perfect response curve. Distortion negligeable, and decent sound stage. There a few negative points,mainly the transmisse cable: so please read Amir's review. Nevertheless, It is a great closed monitoring phone for very little money. Regards
 
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aspillane789

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Hi, i would recommend the AKG 371: as close as possible to an almost perfect response curve. Distortion negligeable, and decent sound stage. There a few negative points,mainly the transmisse cable: so please read Amir's review. Nevertheless, It is a great closed monitoring phone for very little money. Regards
Funny enough I literally just bought them yesterday to test them out but will probably return them for a few reasons.

First off Phenomenal sound, absolutely gorgeous. However for a mix/master context it seems inappropriate.

1. With auto eq correction the k371 sounded worse with all profiles, atleast IMO. While technically more balanced it sounded thin, weak, and hard to judge the low end.

2. The headphones do move around easily and hard to know when and if you get the right suction and position.

3. While it was probably the most beautiful sounding pair of cans I have listened to, for critical eq moves especially in the lower end it seems hard to pick out the frequencies below 160hz. They seem mushed together. Great for listen to music, not so much for mixing/mastering imho
 

GaryH

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Have you tried Oratory's EQ?


He's an acoustic engineer (and former audio engineer), and actually listens to the headphones to fine-tune the EQ rather than the purely algorithmic AutoEQ which can lead to erroneous results, and by default the latter does not actually EQ to the Harman target (what most people prefer and would likely consider neutral), instead its target has ~2 dB less bass, which is probably why you find it sounds worse (thin, less prominent low end) than stock.
 
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aspillane789

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Have you tried Oratory's EQ?


He's an acoustic engineer (and former audio engineer), and actually listens to the headphones to fine-tune the EQ rather than the purely algorithmic AutoEQ which can lead to erroneous results, and by default the latter does not actually EQ to the Harman target (what most people prefer and would likely consider neutral), instead its target has ~2 dB less bass, which is probably why you find it sounds worse (thin, less prominent low end) than stock.

Great question. I did try oratory’s eq. It sounded very balanced and neutral, but thin and inappropriate. However maybe it’s just my opinion but perhaps the k371 arnt really meant to be equalized.

Either way I just returned the k371. Even for the one day I had them they were absolutely gorgeous. Truly remarkable. But for a Mastering context the way the move on the head, and the (in my opinion) mushed low end seemed not right for me. Phenomenal listen cans if not the best, but for critical tweaking it seems to lose its value.

I’m highly considering the slate vsx, not for its room emulations though. And you could argue well what’s the point of getting vsx if your not using their software. Perhaps because my mentor suggested when it’s paired with can opener the results are incredibly close to his control room.
 

Sputnik

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OLLO S4R is a good option.
 

Bleib

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Doodski

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I believe they have failed some people if not many with the hinge/locking assembly or whatever one calls it. Test drivers at Amazon made commentary that they where not working properly, failed within a short period of time etc. Test drivers here at ASR I think stated similar. So no loss on a studio's part getting rid of them.
 

DVDdoug

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Here's something I saved from Recording Magazine -

Can I mix on headphones?

No. But in all seriousness, headphones can be a secret weapon and it really doesn’t matter what they sound like…

Over time, after constantly listening back to my work from different studios on those headphones I really started to learn them. They became sort of a compass. Wherever I went… It became a pattern for me to reference these headphones to see if what I was hearing was “right”…

I learned them, I knew them, I trusted them. It didn’t matter whether or not I loved them…

So, can you mix on headphones? Probably. I just think you really need to put some time into learning them first…
 
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aspillane789

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Perhaps these?

This is my second contender to the slate vsx . Have the vsx been measured here yet? I guess one pro of them is they have eq profiles for different headphone models. Hmm curious what ppl here measure on the vsx.
 

Doodski

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@aspillane789 I discussed serviceability with Dan Clark some months ago and there are DCA headphones that are fully serviceable. Perhaps this one is serviceable with replacement parts and such. For a studio that's a plus for sure if not another reason to support a company and celebrate their making such awesome headphones.
 

KeithPhantom

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I did try oratory’s eq
In his EQ presets, he tends to do "adjustments by ear", which I don't like most of the time and differs from pure equalization with no changes. If you can use Python, I recommend using AutoEQ and computing your own EQ (do not use their presets because they use a +4 dB shelf by default) using the compensation curves found in the resources provided.
 
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aspillane789

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The Shure SRH1540 also look good for $500. so far it seems like im between 1. slate vsx, 2. Aeon x, 3. maybe Shure SRH1540
 

majingotan

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I like my modified Sony MDR 7506 though I've never tried to mixed with them. Here's a miniDSP EARs SBAF compesated measurements

RAW minidsp target curve:

index.php


Here's the SBAF compensated measurements for the modified Sony MDR 7506: 1% THD @ 104dB SPL, 20Hz

index.php
 

GaryH

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Great question. I did try oratory’s eq. It sounded very balanced and neutral, but thin and inappropriate. However maybe it’s just my opinion but perhaps the k371 arnt really meant to be equalized.
Every headphone can be improved with EQ :) The issue with the K371 is it has poor frequency response consistency between people, especially in the bass, which is probably why you found it to sound thin with Oratory's EQ. But he specifically designs his EQ filters to have easily adjustable bass shelves (and other areas) to ameliorate such issues, shown at the bottom-right of his EQ pdfs, e.g. for the K371 he says "Adjust gain of band 3 to preference (bass)".

Either way I just returned the k371. Even for the one day I had them they were absolutely gorgeous. Truly remarkable. But for a Mastering context the way the move on the head, and the (in my opinion) mushed low end seemed not right for me. Phenomenal listen cans if not the best, but for critical tweaking it seems to lose its value.
Fair enough about the fit and movement, but in terms of sound, the frequency response of the production (mixing/mastering) and reproduction (consumer listening) transducers should match (to each other and best to the Harman target as that's preferred by the majority in blind listening tests), otherwise you get 'circle of confusion' issues, resulting in consumers not hearing the music as the artist (you!) heard and intended it.

In his EQ presets, he tends to do "adjustments by ear", which I don't like most of the time and differs from pure equalization with no changes.
His EQs mostly follow the Harman target very closely, the adjustments by ear are only for fine-tuning, listening for things like audible distortion if the bass is EQed too high, or filters not having an effect on non-minimum phase parts of the frequency response (neither of which AutoEQ can do). Considering this and the fact he's a trained listener (achieving level 8 on Harman's How to Listen program) and former audio engineer, I think his fine-tuning by ear is warranted. AutoEQ is also prone to erroneous filters.

The Shure SRH1540 also look good for $500.
Looks like they have a thick, bass-heavy tonal balance:
Could be fine after EQ, but so could a lot of cheaper headphones.
 
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bequietjk

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I believe they have failed some people if not many with the hinge/locking assembly or whatever one calls it. Test drivers at Amazon made commentary that they where not working properly, failed within a short period of time etc. Test drivers here at ASR I think stated similar. So no loss on a studio's part getting rid of them.
If not for the headband and clamp design I would have been able to hold onto a pair. They sound very nice but I just could not get them to seat properly without assistance. Hopefully they make some adjustments in a revision or new design.
 

bequietjk

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The Shure SRH1540 also look good for $500. so far it seems like im between 1. slate vsx, 2. Aeon x, 3. maybe Shure SRH1540
I've been contemplating buying a pair of the SRH1840s for many years for at-home tracking/monitoring. Have you tried those?
 
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aspillane789

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I've been contemplating buying a pair of the SRH1840s for many years for at-home tracking/monitoring. Have you tried those?


I have not tried those although they do look good. I’m starting to lean more towards aeon closed x because well I don’t need vsx for it’s room emulations.

Aeon is about $25 more, but look very good for my Mastering needs
 
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aspillane789

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Hey guys! surprise here. I ended up getting the Sennheiser hd 560s :0... Im not saying im keeping them, ofcourse i can return them. But with oratory eq its boring. And thats what i need! to my ears i hear ZERO coloration. Its very neutral. Need to spend more time with them however, and do a couple masters to see how i perform with them. only$200 so well i guess i potentially saved money.

I already miss the k371. But they were too euphoric imo for critical tweaking.
 
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oleg87

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It's the damne
Every headphone can be improved with EQ :) The issue with the K371 is it has poor frequency response consistency between people, especially in the bass, which is probably why you found it to sound thin with Oratory's EQ. But he specifically designs his EQ filters to have easily adjustable bass shelves (and other areas) to ameliorate such issues, shown at the bottom-right of his EQ pdfs, e.g. for the K371 he says "Adjust gain of band 3 to preference (bass)".

Huh, fascinating how dips turns into peaks. I thought I had a bad set hearing excessive treble where most measurement showed dips but guess it's just my particular head?
 
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