Should I upgrade my headphones?

[newholland]

I had great results using Slate VSX for mixing. However, I don't like them so much for just playing guitar. The rooms emulated in the software sound a bit too ‘hyped’ to me for that. The non-spatial profiles such as ‘Human Linear’ are better, but somehow the upper mids always sound a bit aggressive.

After much deliberation, I have now ordered a pair of Sennheiser HD 650s, which should be delivered today. From everything I've read, they're supposed to sound very neutral and, above all, not too shrill or unnatural in the upper midrange. I'm really looking forward to trying them out later!

With all the headphones I've had so far (except for the rooms emulated in VSX), it was always extremely important to add a little bit of room ambience and/or crossfeed to make the guitar sound natural and pleasant. So that would be my tip to anyone considering buying new headphones. Try a little reverb or crossfeed first; some models also benefit greatly from frequency response correction, e.g. with Sonarworks.

hee! it took me a while to love my hd650s- give em a while to both break in and for your ears to assimilate. at first, being used to beyers i thought they sounded harsh and broken
now they just sound relaxed and lovely. its wild though cause at my desk flipflopping between my hs80s and them- its super close.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Bonus is that they came with Dear Reality Mix SE plugin which offers headphone frequency correction and room simulation in one plugin. Dear Reality seems to have been bought by Sennheiser, and they made all their plugins free. You can get them by signing a form here: https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/immersive/dear-reality

Unfortunately, all these plugins are adding lots of latency, so they're really only good for some final mixing. As long as you might still track some things, they're useless.

 

[newholland]

Unfortunately, all these plugins are adding lots of latency, so they're really only good for some final mixing. As long as you might still track some things, they're useless.

seriously. lotta processing power to make a headphone 'perfect' when really all that matters is your ears knowing the difference. 'course, that takes training your ears and a lotta human processing power.. but probably more dependable long term, and way less of a techno-bandaid.

i know lots of folks nowadays using cans to mix, but theyre really just a very reliable microscope to keep on hand. id still rely on old fashioned monitors for the lions share of things and save your cpu headroom for other biz.

 

[Sascha Franck]

seriously. lotta processing power to make a headphone 'perfect' when really all that matters is your ears knowing the difference. 'course, that takes training your ears and a lotta human processing power.. but probably more dependable long term, and way less of a techno-bandaid.

I agree here.

i know lots of folks nowadays using cans to mix, but theyre really just a very reliable microscope to keep on hand. id still rely on old fashioned monitors for the lions share of things and save your cpu headroom for other biz.

Well, given that even some pretty professional mixing dudes are doing quite some of their mixes on headphones, I think they're a pretty viable alternative. Even more so in case you don't have a treated room, which should be the case for most mere hobbyists.

 

[newholland]

I agree here.



Well, given that even some pretty professional mixing dudes are doing quite some of their mixes on headphones, I think they're a pretty viable alternativer. Even more so in case you don't have a treated room, which should be the case for most mere hobbyists.

yeah absolutely true. my room is less than optimal, for sure- and not sure too many folks think to optimize, or CAN optimize rooms! its always good to have lots of ways to look at a mix even if theyre imperfect cause god knows, most people dont listen in perfect environments.