Headphones for Metal

[JediMa]

Which are the best headphones for Metal ? It doesnt matter if closed or open backs.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Which are the best headphones for Metal ? It doesnt matter if closed or open backs.

Same as the best headphones for anything else. Of the ones you've got, I'd take the Sennheiser HD600 with a bit of bass boost EQ, or the 7Hz Zero 2 IEMs.

You don't need to buy more headphones for metal. Metal's just music like any other music, whichever of your headphones you like best will be fine. The best headphones are the ones that reproduce the music with the most balanced frequency response and lowest distortion.

 

[Martin]

I like planars. I also have the 7Hz Timeless II. I like my Audeze LCD-3 headphones.

Martin

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

Same as the best headphones for anything else. Of the ones you've got, I'd take the Sennheiser HD600 with a bit of bass boost EQ, or the 7Hz Zero 2 IEMs.

You don't need to buy more headphones for metal. Metal's just music like any other music, whichever of your headphones you like best will be fine. The best headphones are the ones that reproduce the music with the most balanced frequency response and lowest distortion.

This is just wrong. HD600 are good for acoustic music with vocals but even with EQ they can't produce decent bass which is a must for metal

 

[JediMa]

This is just wrong. HD600 are good for acoustic music with vocals but even with EQ they can't produce decent bass which is a must for metal

I agree, they are the best for other genres like Classical but really not ok for Metal

 

[SuicideSquid]

This is just wrong. HD600 are good for acoustic music with vocals but even with EQ they can't produce decent bass which is a must for metal

Clearly you're not listening to black metal.

 

[DVDdoug]

This is just wrong. HD600 are good for acoustic music with vocals

The job of a speaker headphone is to convert electrical signals into acoustic signals accurately, or with headphones in a way that's perceived as accurate, since headphones don't sound like speakers in a room. It doesn't matter what the electrical signal is. (Vocals or speech without instruments is "easier" than music since there are no very-low or very-high frequencies.)

Mixing & mastering engineers don't use different monitors for different genres.

The Harman Preference Curve approximates what is perceived as accurate and preferred by most listeners.

Different people do have different preferences so you can choose a headphone that you like the sound of, and/or your can use EQ. Most of the sound character/quality is frequency response and that can be tweaked with EQ, except sometimes if you boost the bass you can end-up pushing the headphone or headphone-amp into distortion.

Open or sealed is a matter of personal preference. Comfort is also personal.

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

The job of a speaker headphone is to convert electrical signals into acoustic signals accurately, or with headphones in a way that's perceived as accurate, since headphones don't sound like speakers in a room. It doesn't matter what the electrical signal is. (Vocals or speech without instruments is "easier" than music since there are no very-low or very-high frequencies.)

Mixing & mastering engineers don't use different monitors for different genres.

The Harman Preference Curve approximates what is perceived as accurate and preferred by most listeners.

Different people do have different preferences so you can choose a headphone that you like the sound of, and/or your can use EQ. Most of the sound character/quality is frequency response and that can be tweaked with EQ, except sometimes if you boost the bass you can end-up pushing the headphone or headphone-amp into distortion.

Open or sealed is a matter of personal preference. Comfort is also personal.

Why is this even here? If headphones physically can't reproduce certain frequencies no amount of EQ can fix it. That's it, there's no other way about it.

 

[isostasy]

@Boobisha Chodhankar HD6xx series are capable of reproducing frequencies down to 20Hz with EQ. Whether you then like the sound or not is down to you, and it's fine if you don't, but no point being snide about it and calling others "wrong" when they disagree.

As it is, the first question usually is are you willing to EQ @JediMa ? If you still own all the headphones in your signature then you have a nice collection, many are more than adequate with EQ.

Anecdotally I do think a lot of people who like metal are happy using HD6xx series with EQ to bring up the bass, myself included.

 

[Mort]

Fostex th-900 have a reputation for metal. Whatever they do to recreate the double kick bass drum is impressive.

 

[JediMa]

@Boobisha Chodhankar HD6xx series are capable of reproducing frequencies down to 20Hz with EQ. Whether you then like the sound or not is down to you, and it's fine if you don't, but no point being snide about it and calling others "wrong" when they disagree.

As it is, the first question usually is are you willing to EQ @JediMa ? If you still own all the headphones in your signature then you have a nice collection, many are more than adequate with EQ.

Anecdotally I do think a lot of people who like metal are happy using HD6xx series with EQ to bring up the bass, myself included.

Yes about both questions, I can EQ and my signature is correct

 

[Curupira]

For metal I think that there are two different valid approaches to tuning (and a third if you're Harman compliance "obsessed"): V shaped and L shaped.

Bass elevation is very welcome in both approaches as the impact of kick drums and bass strings are important, specially to counter the astringency of the mid-high and high frequencies in metal songs and recordings, which are most often poor. That said, you have to be careful with the amount of midbass you have so as to not drown the recording (muddiness): a little elevation even up to 200hz is welcome because it adds impact, no more than 3-4 dB.

The controversy starts, however, with high-mids and highs, where the best tuning will be very personal due to how well you tolerate an aggressive pinna and high frequency content.

Therefore, without using EQ I'd gravitate towards the following headphones (yes, they're all closed):

EDIT: a later addition to the list as Sai and crinacle haven't yet measured it (I can't plot them on squig) is the Focal Azurys and Bathys, which are way cheaper than the Radiance (literally, a Veblen good), and yet have the Focal closed back signature with bass elevation (mixed in with some treble inconsistencies):

Other honorable mention would be the AKG k361/371, but I dislike their build quality and comfort.

With EQ, I'd add in these with a bass shelf (careful with the Focals so as not to damage their drivers) and other incoherencies corrections:

For iems, literally any recent Chinese Harman compliant single DD, specially the cheap ones which have unbeatable value. Personally, the best I've heard were the Hype 4 (with a few negative dB after 10khz) and the S12/Timeless duo.

 

[JediMa]

For metal I think that there are two different valid approaches to tuning (and a third if you're Harman compliance "obsessed"): V shaped and L shaped.

Bass elevation is very welcome in both approaches as the impact of kick drums and bass strings are important, specially to counter the astringency of the mid-high and high frequencies in metal songs and recordings, which are most often poor. That said, you have to be careful with the amount of midbass you have so as to not drown the recording (muddiness): a little elevation even up to 200hz is welcome because it adds impact, no more than 3-4 dB.

The controversy starts, however, with high-mids and highs, where the best tuning will be very personal due to how well you tolerate an aggressive pinna and high frequency content.

Therefore, without using EQ I'd gravitate towards the following headphones (yes, they're all closed):

View attachment 448732
EDIT: a later addition to the list as Sai and crinacle haven't yet measured it (I can't plot them on squig) is the Focal Azurys and Bathys, which are way cheaper than the Radiance (literally, a Veblen good), and yet have the Focal closed back signature with bass elevation (mixed in with some treble inconsistencies):

View attachment 448738

Other honorable mention would be the AKG k361/371, but I dislike their build quality and comfort.

With EQ, I'd add in these with a bass shelf (careful with the Focals so as not to damage their drivers) and other incoherencies corrections:

View attachment 448736

For iems, literally any recent Chinese Harman compliant single DD, specially the cheap ones which have unbeatable value. Personally, the best I've heard were the Hype 4 (with a few negative dB after 10khz) and the S12/Timeless duo.

View attachment 448735

This something I searched for so long, thank you so much for so many useful and helpful informations

 

[Curupira]

This something I searched for so long, thank you so much for so many useful and helpful informations

Np! But be mindful that you already have a pretty solid collection!

The he 560 is already a mini he6se (or a full fledged one if you aren't chasing the intangible "technicalities"), and I spent years enjoying my collection in a Eqd Hd 600.

If I were you, I'd try delving into well measuring v shaped iems

 

[ManuCV]

For metal I think that there are two different valid approaches to tuning (and a third if you're Harman compliance "obsessed"): V shaped and L shaped.

Bass elevation is very welcome in both approaches as the impact of kick drums and bass strings are important, specially to counter the astringency of the mid-high and high frequencies in metal songs and recordings, which are most often poor. That said, you have to be careful with the amount of midbass you have so as to not drown the recording (muddiness): a little elevation even up to 200hz is welcome because it adds impact, no more than 3-4 dB.

The controversy starts, however, with high-mids and highs, where the best tuning will be very personal due to how well you tolerate an aggressive pinna and high frequency content.

Therefore, without using EQ I'd gravitate towards the following headphones (yes, they're all closed):

View attachment 448732
EDIT: a later addition to the list as Sai and crinacle haven't yet measured it (I can't plot them on squig) is the Focal Azurys and Bathys, which are way cheaper than the Radiance (literally, a Veblen good), and yet have the Focal closed back signature with bass elevation (mixed in with some treble inconsistencies):

View attachment 448738

Other honorable mention would be the AKG k361/371, but I dislike their build quality and comfort.

With EQ, I'd add in these with a bass shelf (careful with the Focals so as not to damage their drivers) and other incoherencies corrections:

View attachment 448736

For iems, literally any recent Chinese Harman compliant single DD, specially the cheap ones which have unbeatable value. Personally, the best I've heard were the Hype 4 (with a few negative dB after 10khz) and the S12/Timeless duo.

View attachment 448735

Best possible reply here - great job Curupira. Agree with everything he said.

I love my Arya Organic but for badly recorded/mastered metal (which is quite frequent), they are a bit unbearable. I borrowed the Fiio FT1 from a friend this past weekend and was very pleasantly surprised - they are much more forgiving of those not-so-good recordings and it's a very enjoyable headphone, for so little money.

I have to add - the Truthear Nova are also quite good for metal.

 

[markanini]

If you have a chance to try AKG K371 give it a demo with a few familiar songs. Even if you end up with a different headphone K371 is an excellent benchmark for closed back tuning quality-it will make you picky, and common enough that you may find it in retail stores to demo.

 

[Phorize]

This is just wrong. HD600 are good for acoustic music with vocals but even with EQ they can't produce decent bass which is a must for metal

With EQ the bass is as good as any other open back.

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

With EQ the bass is as good as any other open back.

Lol no, it's horrible. I've had HD6XX for a couple of weeks and sent them back

 

[Curupira]

It's decent, on louder volumes you can hear the difference in timbre due to distortion, but the mids and highs cohesion makes up for the lacking bass.

 

[Robbo99999]

With EQ the bass is as good as any other open back.

Not in my experience, different headphones are better or worse at delivering bass after EQ, and for me the HD600 was about the worst for that.