Closed-back headphones under $500 for guitar practicing and home studio

[Vovan]

Hello!

Could you please recommend closed-back over ear wired headphones for practicing electric guitar and home recording?
I am looking for something that:

• Has good (passive) isolation from the environmental noises.
• Is able to reproduce "realistic" guitar sound from crispy clean to crunchy / metal / djent with good details and dynamics.
• Is under $500. Though I can probably go higher for the right headphones.
• Not too important, but it would be nice if they were relatively portable and situated for traveling.

They will be used with Quad Cortex --> A90.
Right now I am using ATH m50x and am quite disappointed with their dull middles...

 

[twsecrest]

Get some low cost monitor headphones for audio production, like the Sony MDR-V6 or MDR-7506.
Takstar HF 580 planar (open) headphones, with Sendyaudio AVIA ear pads, for audio enjoyment.

 

[Dunring]

I've had the MX50x and yeah those are pretty dull with those pads on them. If you have an amplifier the Beyerdynamic DT770 250 ohm is a good choice. I have one and the treble peak is a little sharp but they don't have sucked out mids like the 990's. The MMX300 headset is really good if you don't have an amp or want to travel with out. I had the Gen1 version for years and it sounds great. Those are a steal on eBay most of the time too for a nice one. The DT1770 or too tame, the DT17xx from drop is a little better but not as fun as the MMX300 for 32 ohm closed backs. Also the mic on it is really good quality if you do any vocals.

 

[LightninBoy]

Seems like the AKG K371 would be perfect for this application.

 

[earlevel]

All the choices listed will do the job, and maybe there are better choices if you want to do double duty (also use for listening to hifi music), but really hard to go wrong with Sony MDR-7506 to start. Routinely $99.99, but I see it on B&H for $83.99 at the moment. The thing is about the 7506 is not that it's perfect, but they are reasonably sturdy for musician use, they've been around for decades and will continue to be, you can get replacement ear pads cheap, they fold up and are compact. Key is that their tonality is good for scrutinizing the important part of instrument and voice spectrum. They are used in studios of any budget. I've seen Andrea Botticelli using them to monitor while singing through a $7k+ mic, Andrew Scheps has claimed he can mix on them. If you want to "not go wrong", just buy them. Then if you find something you like better, you didn't spend a lot.

TBH, I haven't used them for years, I moved to more expensive (and no longer made) Sony model, mainly because I wanted to hear the lower, warmer part of my voice while tracking vocal a little better, in addition to the similar mid clarity. If I were to use them as a music listener more, I might go with AKG 371, mentioned previously, for more money, and use them for double duty. But performances while monitoring through the 7506 translate well, and that's why it is so popular with musicians.

 

[Dunring]

Seems like the AKG K371 would be perfect for this application.

I'd go with the AKG371Pro though. I have the regular 371 and it's dull by comparison, and the bluetooth version sounds like it's tuned for battery life instead of fun sound like the Pro version. It's one of those headphones you can plug into a phone and not have to equalize it.