Cans du jour

[sir hills]

ATH-M50's & Beyerdynamic DT770's

The M50's are great across the board but I've found that they "creak" on occasion (plastic rubbing) if the person wearing them likes to move their head a lot..."feeling it". Also, the somewhat short curlicue cable can be annoying. BUT they do sound good.

The Beyer's surpass in comfort & representing lows/low-mids. They have a nice long straight cable & feel like you're wearing huge powdered donuts on your ears...minus the sticky mess.

[cgarges]

Yeah, the Beyers seem good. I'm reluctant to buy a bunch of those, though, because it seems like their microphone repairs are costly. I'd hate to have a set of those things blow up and have it cost almost as much as a pair of new ones to replace.

Anyone have any experience with the longevity/durability of the Beyer cans in a commercial studio setting?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jhharvest]

It's not really a studio setting but my colleague uses Beyerdynamic DT770s for all location shoots. They seem to be surviving fine except the faux-leather earcups fused together at some point and ripped. Now he keeps a piece of paper between the cups when he sticks them in their carrying pouch.

I tried them at some point but found the EQ balance so wonky I found them impossible to work with. My mate says when mixing with them there's enough bass when it tickles the back of your neck. I just use Fostex T20RPs. They sound like the dog's dinner but at least the balance is pretty good.

[sir hills]

Chris - I've used this pair of Beyer's for tracking bands (paying clients wearing them) in studios & on location for almost 10 years...probably not nearly the volume of clients you work with but maybe 30 albums worth of sessions & a full year of weekly location recordings (a different band each week) for a local radio station. Physically they are about as tough headphones can be & I've never had any issues with build quality. About a year & a half ago one side (speaker) started flopping a little when too much volume & low end is being sent to those cans. I still use this pair if it's a low-volume situation or as another reference & they still work fine for that scenario but they're so old I haven't contacted Beyer to see how much a fix would be...perhaps I'll check it out & see what they say?

I probably wouldn't invest in 10 pairs as the sole headphones for a studio. But, having a couple pairs around would be cool. For long sessions alone they'd be well worth it.

[cgarges]

I tried them at some point but found the EQ balance so wonky I found them impossible to work with. My mate says when mixing with them there's enough bass when it tickles the back of your neck. I just use Fostex T20RPs. They sound like the dog's dinner but at least the balance is pretty good.

Really? I have a pair of T40s and I think the Beyers sound WAY better. I think the Beyers and Senneheisers are about the best-sounding off-the-shelf headphones in terms of comfort and sound. They're not too bright and have a nice bottom end representation. I would never give a bass player a set of T20s, 7506s, or AKGs unless it was all that was available.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jgimbel]

I was using an old pair of headphones from the 70s for years. Did a long search for what headphones would be good to get, and ended up with HD280s. I'd have 10 pairs of them if I could. Isolation is good enough that I now use them for tracking drums instead of the Vic Firth isolation phones, with the added bonus of actually being able to rely on the sound enough for mic placement. I've had a pair of HD202s that recently went out of commission. They were definitely decent for artist phones, though they had a ridiculous boost in the low end. Not bad when you really need to hear the low end in what you're working on. I'd buy a bunch for artist phones, but I think I'm going to get those MoreMe phones from Mercenary with that deal they have instead to give them a try.

[sir hills]

jgimble - I did the MoreMe deal, which I think is a good deal...but they are friggin uncomfortable! They give me "cauliflower ear" after an hour or two. I think it takes a certain head/ear for them to sit right. Had a few complaints during tracking so I'd switch 'em out but they're tough & sound decent enough. Bass players tend to like them, nice solid low end & nothing harsh up top.

[wren]

I LOVE the 280s, but have gone through probably six or seven pair of them in the last five years. That's absurd. I dont' think I've ever seen one person outright drop the cans or do anything destructive, but they still manage to lose one side on a failry regular basis. They sound great and they're comfortable, but I just can't justify continuing to use them in a commercial studio if I'm going to keep spending money on them when they break.
...
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Really? Weird, that hasn't been my experience at all: I have a pair of HD280s that I've had for years that go literally everywhere with me; I've really abused them at times, and yet they still work fine.

[cgarges]

Try keeping ten or eleven pairs around for handfuls of different musicians to use on a near-daily basis for a few years. I guarantee you'll go through a few pair.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jhharvest]

I tried them at some point but found the EQ balance so wonky I found them impossible to work with. My mate says when mixing with them there's enough bass when it tickles the back of your neck. I just use Fostex T20RPs. They sound like the dog's dinner but at least the balance is pretty good.

Really? I have a pair of T40s and I think the Beyers sound WAY better. I think the Beyers and Senneheisers are about the best-sounding off-the-shelf headphones in terms of comfort and sound. They're not too bright and have a nice bottom end representation. I would never give a bass player a set of T20s, 7506s, or AKGs unless it was all that was available.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Yeah, it's a mixed bag. I was solely talking about mixing on location. It's weird but my experience has been like this: DT770 sounds nice but I felt they represented everything out of balance. The T20RP sound really crap (and are pretty uncomfortable too) but when I mix with them everything just goes right.

I wouldn't give the Fostex to a musician to monitor with. For that I'm sure the Beyerdynamics would be a lot better.

[jgimbel]

jgimble - I did the MoreMe deal, which I think is a good deal...but they are friggin uncomfortable! They give me "cauliflower ear" after an hour or two. I think it takes a certain head/ear for them to sit right. Had a few complaints during tracking so I'd switch 'em out but they're tough & sound decent enough. Bass players tend to like them, nice solid low end & nothing harsh up top.

Hmm thanks for the heads up. It kind of seems at this point like I should either do the MoreMe's or Sennheiser HD201 (not 202). I've heard pretty good things about them too. Right now the phones I'm having clients use are older, very uncomfortable heavy phones that don't have padding on the ears, so they're pretty uncomfortable, yet no one's complained. I'm thinking the MoreMe's might be a step up from this, even if they're not that comfortable.

[vvv]

I still prefer the 7506's to anything, altho' I have a fondness for Sony MDR earbuds as I commute with them, and I have a couple pairs of the old Senn HD433's that are nice for open-backs.

That said, anyone else see the thread title and think of sompin' different meaning for "cans"?

[b3groover]

ATH-M50's here. Had a pair of the 280's. Mine broke when my two year old messed with them. Not cool. She's banged the crap out of the AT's with no issues.

[-3db]

Shure Srh440's. They sound good and don't break the bank. You can swap out the wound cord for a straight one by just plugging it in no soldering necessary.

[vxboogie]

ATH-M50's here. Had a pair of the 280's. Mine broke when my two year old messed with them. Not cool. She's banged the crap out of the AT's with no issues.

With all this headphone love going on, i ordered a set of the m50s for $109 from B&H to round out my 280 & 7506. Be interesting to compare the lot.