Natural sounding headphones.

[Dynamic Mike]

Grado SR325e (now 'x') are the least occlusive headphones I've ever used. I've no idea how accurate they are though. But then I find HD25's comfortable compared to 702's so I may just have a strange head!

[James Perrett]

At the moment, I’m using Sennheiser HD25’s, they are too claustrophobic, and have a bass boost.
I need to be able to still feel connected to what’s going on around me.

I was using HD25's before buying the HD600's. They're great when listening for defects (like clicks and dropouts) but the balance is more scooped with enhanced bass and treble. The HD600's are definitely better for mixing and more comfortable if you wear glasses but I still use the HD25's for location recordings for their isolation and the fact that they don't take up much space.

[Arpangel]

But then I find HD25's comfortable compared to 702's so I may just have a strange head!

Not as strange as my head.

I was using HD25's before buying the HD600's. They're great when listening for defects (like clicks and dropouts) but the balance is more scooped with enhanced bass and treble. The HD600's are definitely better for mixing and more comfortable if you wear glasses but I still use the HD25's for location recordings for their isolation and the fact that they don't take up much space.

That’s what I bought mine for, outside work, small, light.
They do make things sound larger than life though, I’ve thought "wow"! about some things when using them, and then when I’ve listened on other things it turns to "meh"

[Arpangel]

Double posting is getting worse, the submit button doesn’t work, so you do it again, and find out it has.

[tea for two]

I think it would help when a headphone is recommended it's added for which genres styles.

There's no headphone that covers every genre styles not even the Outstanding £2.5K-£3K Hifiman He1000se I auditioned.

Same as speakers. Same as we would select mics for specific purposes.

::

I think my next port of call is to compare £200-£400 open backs
For a variety of genres styles.

Akg K712
vs
Audio Technica Ath R70x which I have and Mix on. R70x is fairly near the Outstanding £2.5-£3K Hifiman He1000se just R70x is missing some clarity some treble and a little presence, a little separation in comparison to He1000se. R70x is a brilliant all rounder across several genres from complex to subtle to hard to bass heavy, from acoustic to electronic, more so than the Hifiman He1000se.
vs
Grado Sr325e
vs
Sennheiser Hd600
vs
Shure Srh1840.

Also with Sonarworks sound id.

::

*The hidden gem £35 headphones I mentioned is Superlux Evo Hd681 semi open back DJ headphone 32 Ohm 98dB sensitivity.
It does rather well from Orchestral to Hard Rock to Choral to Jazz to World music to Reggae to Electronic to HipHop.
Detachable cable, lightweight.
I prefer Superlux Evo overall balance of sound across several genres styles compared to my open backs Akg k702, Beyer dt880 pro and Philips x2hr bass monster.
Because Superlux Evo easy to drive even from mobile phones they are my go to when outdoors making music on my macbook.
Although I prefer to pair Superlux Evo with a USB DAC amp as my Apogee Groove.

[The Elf]

*The hidden gem £35 headphones I mentioned is Superlux Evo Hd681

Worth taking a chance at that price - bought.

These might be ideal for location work.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Double posting is getting worse, the submit button doesn’t work, so you do it again, and find out it has.

Clearly, the submit button does work. If it didn't you wouldn't have had a double post.

It can be a little sluggish sometimes, though, particularly when using mobile phones. Try slightly more patience...

[Arpangel]

Try slightly more patience...

I’ll try, but I'm finding cocodomol work better, they help stop the shaking when I press the submit button, I’ve never really been into submission.

[ManFromGlass]

Good to hear I’m not the only twitchy fingered one who double posts!

[tea for two]

*The hidden gem £35 headphones I mentioned is Superlux Evo Hd681

Worth taking a chance at that price - bought.

These might be ideal for location work.

I had to get the white ones to pretend I'm a hipster lol.

[ConcertinaChap]

Good to hear I’m not the only twitchy fingered one who double posts!

{Listen, don't mention Delete. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it all right}

[The Elf]

*The hidden gem £35 headphones I mentioned is Superlux Evo Hd681

Worth taking a chance at that price - bought.

These might be ideal for location work.

Gottem!

A bit hyped in the highs/lows (lows especially), as if a 'loudness' curve was switched in, but not bad at all for the money. Thanks for the steer!

[Sam Spoons]

No idea how they will sound but I've just bought a pair of these https://www.status.co/products/betweenpro triple driver, 12 hours battery etc. and got a pair of these free https://www.status.co/products/coreanc. £101 in total with VAT etc so unless they're really poor I'll not be grumbling.

[James Perrett]

Sam, they're Bluetooth. Bluetooth can't handle uncompressed audio so you're going to be listening to data reduced audio. Probably fine for casual listening but not for serious work.

[Sam Spoons]

Yeah, I did know that, I'll take wired for critical listening anytime but if they can deliver better sound than my Apple Airpods I'll be a happy bunny (the Airpods are pretty good as ear buds go but something a bit 'weightier' would be nice).

[Vlaaing Peerd]

I used to use HD650s but found they were a little 'tight' on my head. For long sessions, I'm also after comfort. These days I use Beyer DT880s, which I find very comfortable, suitably neutral - well let me explain - they have a bit of a HF lift - but that helps my ageing ears.

I have the HD650 and recently bought the DT880. Am I the only one finding these DT880's to be incredibly harsh?

They are absolutely good for detecting problems with transients, resonances and ...erh whistle tones (is that good English?), but I find them very fatiguing for longer sessions. In that regard the HD650 is a lot more mellow.

I must say I never really got the hang of mixing on headphones. I think they are good for details in panning and reverb, but I always find I need to adjust a lot on EQ, levels and dynamics as soon as I turn on the monitors.

[The Elf]

I must say I never really got the hang of mixing on headphones. I think they are good for details in panning and reverb, but I always find I need to adjust a lot on EQ, levels and dynamics as soon as I turn on the monitors.

But which mix translates better?

[Arpangel]

I have the HD650 and recently bought the DT880. Am I the only one finding these DT880's to be incredibly harsh?

They are absolutely good for detecting problems with transients, resonances and ...erh whistle tones (is that good English?), but I find them very fatiguing for longer sessions. In that regard the HD650 is a lot more mellow.

I think the 650’s are bright, god knows what the 880’s are like!
My faves are still the HD600’s.

[Drew Stephenson]

I used to use HD650s but found they were a little 'tight' on my head. For long sessions, I'm also after comfort. These days I use Beyer DT880s, which I find very comfortable, suitably neutral - well let me explain - they have a bit of a HF lift - but that helps my ageing ears.

I have the HD650 and recently bought the DT880. Am I the only one finding these DT880's to be incredibly harsh?

I don't have the 880s but I've got 770s and 990s and, according to sonarworks, they all have a similar family sound. They've certainly got a high frequency lift, and I'd call them bright, but I wouldn't have said harsh.

[Aled Hughes]

New Sennheiser HD 400 Pro look interesting.
I might be looking to change my K712 next year. I can borrow a pair of HD650 to compare, and I might order the HD400 and Austrian Audio Hi-X65 from somewhere with a generous returns policy* to try alongside.

*Do returns policies usually cover headphones? I know they often don’t cover earbuds etc. for hygiene reasons.

[Bob Bickerton]

I used to use HD650s but found they were a little 'tight' on my head. For long sessions, I'm also after comfort. These days I use Beyer DT880s, which I find very comfortable, suitably neutral - well let me explain - they have a bit of a HF lift - but that helps my ageing ears.

I have the HD650 and recently bought the DT880. Am I the only one finding these DT880's to be incredibly harsh?

I don't have the 880s but I've got 770s and 990s and, according to sonarworks, they all have a similar family sound. They've certainly got a high frequency lift, and I'd call them bright, but I wouldn't have said harsh.

Headphones are such a subjective thing.

Firstly, as someone has already said, none are natural sounding, so we can let that concept go.

Some headphones are more accurate, that is, sound more 'flat' than others and of the headphones I've tried I would rate the HD600/650 as being some of the more accurate.

Now a shout out for https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com who have done some interesting research and have published a number of frequency response plots which I'll use here - please support their work.

There's been some debate about HD600 v HD650 - take a look at this:



Blue HD650 - Red HD600

You can see the HD650 has a small HF rise.

Now let's look at the DT880 compared to the HD600 and HD650:



Light Green DT880 - Dark Green HD650 - Orange HD600

Sure enough, we see more of a HF rise, in fact as much as 5dB around 7.5kHz to 12kHz, but they are remarkably similar to the HD600/650 otherwise.

I would not myself describe this as 'harsh', but as I said before, I have lost some HF myself so having a little 'reach' in this area is not a bad thing

Importantly, we need to ask what is the task we are using the headphones for? For me their principal use is for monitoring at concerts and there's gigs where I may have to wear headphones on and off for up to 8 hours a day - so comfort is essential - providing the headphones are giving me the information I require. As stated before, I find the HD650s to be too much of a squeeze on my head, especially when wearing glasses.

The second purpose is to check the low and hi ends of a mix, and I use headphones to provide extension for this over my monitors.

We can go to huge lengths (and expense) to find the 'perfect' headphones, but my view is that I need something which will provide sufficient information to make decisions (largely monitoring and LF/HF checks in my case). For me the DT880s are fine - there's a myriad of different headphones out there and I'm sure there may be models which could suit me better, but I don't feel the need to explore them.

And just for fun, Drew mentioned he uses DT770s and DT990s so here's there comparison:



Blue DT770 - Red DT990 - Green DT880

And Arpy mentioned he had used HD-25s:



I can see why he wants to upgrade

Bob

[OliverATX]

Hands down the Status Audio CB-1 as you cannot beat the price and will guaranteed be surprised at the quality and sound. https://www.status.co/products/cb1

[Sam Spoons]

Hands down the Status Audio CB-1 as you cannot beat the price and will guaranteed be surprised at the quality and sound. https://www.status.co/products/cb1

I'm currently in dispute with Status over their description of their 'Between Pro'* IEMs. They say "Hybrid Triple Driver, Two balanced armature drivers + one dynamic driver in each earbud (all good so far). Ultra-wide frequency response with stunning clarity." And... "a frequency response of 10-30,000 Hz (which I didn't notice when I was buying ) and 'Audiophile' audio quality (which I did and should have set the alarm bells ringing). Then they sent me this FR graph (which is not, as far as I can see available in the website) :-



I emailed asking for some explanation of the discrepancy between the 10-30,000 claims and the graph, when I got a non committal reply I asked them to place my order on hold until they had answered satisfactorily, I got a reply to the effect that my order was, indeed, on hold... The "Between Pros" arrived on Saturday afternoon

I'm guessing you can see why I am regretting my late night purchase even before it arrived... It may well be that they, and the 'free' Status Core ANC BT headphones are quite decent for casual listening (sorry, it was another late night post above where I commented that I had bought them) but their customer service is appalling and I could not recommend buying a paperclip from them.

[OliverATX]

Hands down the Status Audio CB-1 as you cannot beat the price and will guaranteed be surprised at the quality and sound. https://www.status.co/products/cb1

I'm currently in dispute with Status over their description of their 'Between Pro'* IEMs....

Yea that looks ugly. I do not know the Inbetween Pro line. Still the CB-1 are fantastic, especially for the price.