If you are looking for a suitable studio headphone, you should have at least some idea of what exactly you want to do with it, as the application possibilities in the studio can be very diverse and the required characteristics can therefore be very different.
Among the studio headphones so-called monitor headphones need to be real work horses, as you wear them for hours as a musician, singer or speaker during a recording session. If this is your type of application you’re after please choose headphones with a closed design to minimize crosstalk when using a microphone. Although a professional headphone should sound neutral, a certain sound character can be quite advantageous here. Thus, some singers prefer models with more present mid-range to better judge their own vocals. Drummers should use headphones, which reproduce the full frequency spectrum distortion-free even at high volumes. Since in professional studios headphones often change its user, it is important to have the possibility to clean the earpads with an ease and, if necessary, to change them.
If you are more into editing, mixing and mastering look out for headphones whose accurately reproduce a full frequency range, transients, spatiality, and dynamics. Here a lot of producers tend to use open or semi-open headphones.
But exceptions prove the rule! In addition to various all-purpose models there are also DJ and hi-fi headphones models whose are also perfect for studio use.
For a final purchase decision please consider the following bullet points:
Does the design reflect the desired application?
Do the headphones fit well and comfortably?
Does the equipment (interchangeable parts, cable length, etc.) meet my requirements?
Does the sound match my expectations and preferences?
The German manufacturer ESI offers a wide range of products for use in professional sound and home studios. With attractive prices and practical features, they are aimed at beginners as well as customers in the mid-price bracket. With the eXtra 10 model, the manufacturer makes its debut in this segment of the very competitive headphone market.
With the HD 820, Sennheiser has followed the outstanding HD 800 S with a top-of-the-range closed model for a particularly demanding clientele.
With the exception of the Orpheus HE-1, the HD 800 S is the top model among Sennheiser's open headphones. The successor to the HD 800 from 2009 is available both in the regular version tested here in black and in a technically identical Anniversary Edition in stylish matt gold which is limited to 750 units - and available for the same price.
The Scenes Lifelike 2 model from Mu6 is an exciting product at an attractive price. They are wired in-ear headphones with the supplementary option of stereo recording via microphones integrated into the earbuds. This also explains their subtitle "Binaural VR/Dummy Head 3D-Recording Headsets".
In studio circles, the American company Avantone Pro has been known (and loved) for years for reissuing legendary studio monitors such as Yamaha's NS-10 or Auratone's Soundcube, as well as a whole range of classic microphones of outstanding quality. But more and more often Avantone also release their own creations, which are often much more exciting than the replicas. One of these new developments is the Planar - an open studio headphone that uses the somewhat exotic magnetostatic driver principle.
Superlux have been around for more than 30 years and during this time the Taiwanese company has launched several devices into the"Personal Audio" and "Pro Audio" markets. Our practical test looks at whether the HD660 Pro is rightly placed in the "Professional Headphones" segment.
Mixing with headphones is problematic as they differ in sound from loudspeakers because they emit sound directly into the ear without any reflections in the room. Loudspeakers are also placed in front of the listener and, depending on the design, transmit sound to both ears. So it is no wonder that the mix does not sound identical, which can certainly cause complications. The Russian company dSoniq addresses exactly this problem with Realphones.
Mackie are expanding their product range with a bold price cut: With the MC-100, they are introducing a pair of truly affordable closed headphones. They round off the lower end of the product series consisting of the MC-150 and MC-250. This is particularly exciting because the other two models have already earned a price-performance recommendation from us. So we say: Raise the curtain, or rather your ears, for the MC-100.
Ollo Audio HPS S4X are reference headphones in the mid-range price range. How neutral and honest do they actually sound?
Mackie has added three more headphones to their MP series: The MP-460 I am testing here is their new top model in this series.