Dave Rat - The Mighty Headphone Quest Part 1

[pcho614]

@performingmonkey1 I would say audio technica pro 700 mk2 they are only like 150 on amazon and with their 53 mm drivers they add a nice kick. Unlike the beat pros they are not as colored and maintain the highs. When played even to full volume they do not distort because of the huge driver size. I listen to hip hop dubstep techno and so pop and they sound awesome. One thing I did was I emailed audio technica and paid 12 dollars for the ath m50 earpads because the stock ones aren't very comfortab

[performingmonkey1]

can you please tell me what the best all around 400$ headphone would be, the dr dre pro's, the akg q701's, i need to know, i love bass but i dont want the muffled pillow sound, somoen please help me out!

[rovusss]

Its Gene Wilder giving us info about headphones.

[www73171]

@rovusss That rules!

[butterknucklez]

what is a good headphone with a flat eq, and good sound quality, like the sennheiser hd280s except smaller and you can wear them on the bus and stuff

[AstAMoore]

Jeepers. This video is simply awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[marlo916]

vid description says you tested the sony v6, it's not it this vid... just saying. thanks for these videos, they're really a great help

[bortous]

Hi buddy. I'm wondering if you have tried the audio technica ath-a2000x headphones? They are the ones below the w5000 that you tested. It says the offer live sound so I would assume it would have a flatter curve. Would you recommend it for use on an iPhone?

Cheers

[stayoutofmyhouse]

hi, im looking to buy the best over ear headphones i can get for under 100 dollars. i looked into sony mdr v6 but i want some other opinions, thanks!

[stevengotremix]

Hey are the Pro 900s loud without an amp? Do you know if they're as loud as hd25 II?

[TMRaven]

Wow, is that the Audio Technica AD700 at the very end? I have a pair too, but I never would have guessed your machine would give it a flat response up until the highs. My experience and everybody else's experience with it has been that it's bright and has very weak lows.

[stevengotremix]

Yo man can you tell me if you'd recommend the ultrasone po 900, ive been wanting to buy it but had some questions before i do. Im a basshead and i love my sennheiser hd25 and IE8, however i also like clarity details. Also is it possible to crank it up loud without distortion? Would i need an amp for it if i wanted to plug it to my ipod? Im not worried about every little details im just hoping its not like my sennheiser hd 598. It cannot handle volume for anything. Thanks!

[www73171]

@stevengotremix I would say the Denon's are a better way to go, The D3000's especially if you want extended low end.

[CiaranVanDon]

@stevengotremix Hey since you have the Sennheiser HD25-1 ii is it a good headphone for listening to Trance and techno, do they have good bass response?

[SpadesHeart]

i love that you're doing this, just love it. It's a fantastic demonstration and I like how you describe what certain headphones are good for, ie the Koss pro4aat are good for home use. Thats a little thing I wanted to point out tho, the headphones you used there were not the pro4aa, as that was a vintage model from the 1970 and rereleased and "improved" in 1988, what you reviewed was the ill received replacement. It would be great to see how the original stacks up...

[mukeh111]

What about the sennheiser 380 pros? What's your opinion on them? I wanna do some audio work with them?

[mukeh111]

@mukeh111 sorry, I posted this comment before I saw you take those 380s out. But Aren't they still good headphones?

[vadim9687]

what about akg k240 studio?

[hellobooom]

ultrasone hfi- 2400 very balanced sound i think, but shame they are open ear, i had to put tape on the back when i took a flight over the atlantic to canada, not ideal hahahah

[glebo2007]

Can you recommend a headphone that has the most flat sound for mixing electronic music?

Thanks

[www73171]

@glebo2007 I think it would be the same, flat is flat. The Denon D2000's were really good all the way around.

[Tcchiky]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your explanation and for sharing knowledges!

I would like to know your opinion about the Dt 880 pro from Beyer ?

And I was wondering what was the mic that you use ?

[TaylorBurk025]

Have you tried the AKG K701/2? A lot of people have suggested them for bringing out the details in a recording.

I believe their sound is a little distant and analytical, but with a good bass; some swear to them and compare them to much more expensive headphones.

[www73171]

@TaylorBurk025 I believe those are open ear headphones and I was focused on testing closed ear.

[l3tl3v]

Any way to protect your hearing and still hear everyone while actually playing? I'm pretty worried about my hearing when just practicing with friends since my ears are often ringing afterwords.

[patrikk777]

I bet you smoke weed

[www73171]

@patrikk777 Ha! Assumptions are often misplaced. Actually I have not smoked weed for many many years. No drugs, lots of surfing and I work more rock shows than 100 average people will see in a lifetime combined.

[patrikk777]

@www73171 Haha, ok my bad :D

[akshayesinghkhanna]

What tone generating software are you using mate?

[www73171]

@akshayesinghkhanna sinegen 2.1

[shizo668]

I wonder if this test would also help someone who's looking for headphones for recording and mixing? It seems like flat response is equally important in both applications.

PS: Looks like your old headphones are still the best of the bunch. Keep them.

[www73171]

@shizo668 I would think so but I will stick with my area of expertise. I have been touring now with the Denon D2000's and they are working perfectly as expected. On a side note, for listening to my iPod, my favorites are the Sennheiser HD25-1 II 70ohm. The Denons tend to point out the flaws in the recordings while the Senn HD25's tend to gloss over the flaws and make the music enjoyable while being compact and they seal well for plane flights and get quite loud.

[16mmDJ]

Aww. I was hoping you were going to test one of the old classic Koss PRO/4AA's from the 70's or the 80's. :(

[www73171]

@16mmDJ I actually did tests on older headphones and newer versions by Koss but the frequency responses were pretty far off of what I was seeking for this, so I did not post.

[joshgura]

one thing i have found with headphones is that if there is a small gap between my head and the phones, then some bass is lost. its because the bass seems to need a seal around the ears in order to push the LF air. do you think the introduction of the microphone might be creating a small gap or do you think the difference was negligible? i also had an idea that might be worth trying: a 3" thick slab of rubber with a hole drilled for the calibration microphone.

[www73171]

@joshgura Excellent point. I actually took great care to seal that gap. Also the type of earpad and pressure on your head are integral parts of headphone sound. So, yes, squeezing headphones does increase low end but with well designed headphones that extra bass should be 'too much.'

When I tested, I did my best to match the unsqueezed sound. I also gave all the headphones the benefit of the doubt and judged them on the best response obtainable. So some cans got an extra boost in ratings.

[joshgura]

@www73171 well at any rate, this work of yours is the stuff of legend, cheers!

[joshgura]

ok, thanks for doing this, but in the description it says you test the V6. I've just gone through the video 3x and didn't see them. did you mean the Sony V6?

[www73171]

@joshgura yes, the Sony MDR V6 and there are more videos in the series as well.

[joshgura]

this is like using an ouija board. subtle movement of the mic in relation to the ear canal will definitely influence the curve, especially when you're watching the graph.

[www73171]

@joshgura Yes, the responses do change with mic movement and I did my best to compensate by using each headphone's best response I was able to get.

[nvguitarguy]

Dave, thanks for the videos! I'm just starting to learn about gear and these videos were very informative and authoritative.

Craig Logan

[tzaxo1]

I was planning on getting the Sennheiser HD380. You think they are good? Worth $200USD?

I'm needing a headset for Studio use.

[www73171]

@tzaxo1 I would say the Denon D2000 would be a better choice or the Shure SRH 840's are more durable, have a removable cable and extra ear pads and cost less and sound nearly as good.

[bigdima3]

I have Sony V600s,

Before when i wasnt into audio stuff, i thought V600s were crap, but not know

They sound awesome, , instruments sound so separated and i can hear every little detail. the bad thing is that they sound a bit distorted at high volumes

[nastymikkel]

OMG where did you get all the headphones? Its a small fortune! Youre one of the lucky one that still own an mdr v7509 :S I wanted one too but couldnt find one so i bought a Pioneer HDJ 2000. Any experience with it?

[www73171]

@nastymikkel Well, I have the advantage of being the president of a company that buys a tremendous amount of adio gear and sells gear as well. So I made some calls and got most all of the headphones as loaners and demo units. Except the Sony, Denon and a few others I had to buy.

[infango]

big thx

[lakai958]

what about the mdr-v700's?

[bsod4u2]

Very good,finally an informative test !

[MobiusBP]

Nice video, and one that I have been waiting for someone to do for awhile.

And wow, the AD700 are pretty flat. And here I have the bass boosted about +4db for them.

Also just bought a pair of V6's for my throw-around/PC headphones. Hope they last.

Cheers.

[observationhole]

Thank you for making these videos!

Just bought a pair of MDR-V6, they are such a great deal (70$) and together with your videos my perfectionism is highly satisfied.

[amBullseye]

And how about electrostatic headphones? Those are very highly praised.

[www73171]

With very few exceptions, electrostatic headphones are open ear and though isolation does not top the list, for live sound, a reasonable amount of isolation is necessary.

[TokyozzFinest]

cheers for not overlooking sony

[jerryx2000]

Hi could u measure the Nokia BH 905?

[www73171]

Those look really cool and would love to check them out if I get chance.

Though for this series I am focused on finding headphones for live sound engineers to use. Noise cancelling does not work well in the high volume environments we work plus the volume levels that I am looking for typically exceed the capabilities of battery powered units.

[UmbrellaCorp666]

Shure 840 without question. $200.00 for the best closed backs you can get for up to and around $200.00

[www73171]

I found that the removable cable, extra ear pads and general build of the 840's was quite good.

Unfortunately the HF response was no better than a Sony MDR-V6 and they have a significant bass boost that was too drastic to make the cut.

Sadly, I had to send the demo pair back to Shure before I thought of making the youtube video's of the testing.

[MajinFrahma]

Looking for a good pair myself. Not easy haha.

[fantomfeltpen]

beats by dr dre.

[johnsa28]

one word-overpriced

[www73171]

I listened to the Beats and for a greatly exaggerated low end sound, they did sound quite good and were really comfy and fairly well built.

I am looking for professional use, accurate rather than "tons o lows" so for live sound. See, if the headphones have added low end, it makes the instruments on stage sound very bass heavy in the headphones. Then the engineer would tend to EQ out low end making the instrument sound thin to the audience and everyone except in the headphones.

[GreenfieldMN]

Thanks for sharing and all 4 parts of the blog .... I know I love my Sen 280HD's, but looking to see what you finally come out with!

[www73171]

The 280's are quite good. Definitely a good set of all around cans.