We often talk about transducers being the part of the audio chain to spend the majority of our hard earned cash on. Normally this means our microphones and our speakers, but for many of us, our headphones are just as, if not more important, than our speakers. We can spend many hours with them either on our heads or around our necks waiting to spring into action. In this article, I'm going to look at some of the new and older headphones I have been using and let you know some of the features to look for when you are next shopping for studio headphones.
Let me give you a little back story on my current headphone choices. While I was still working for Avid, M-Audio brought out a set of studio headphones, which were quite competitively priced. These were the M-Audio Q-40 headphones and they were well built, loud and sounded great. I think, in total, I bought 6 pairs of Q-40's but over the years they either the frames broke or thanks to one particular, incredibly loud brass player died through being driven far too hard. You know a pair of headphone are tunred up too loud when they are dancing their own way across a table on their own.
So I started to look for reasonably priced, well-made headphones that I could buy multiple sets of for the studio and not need to take out a second mortgage to pay for them.
After some research, I settled on 4 pairs of Audio Technica AHT-M30 headphones. I have had these about 4 years and they have not skipped a beat. They sound great. They give good isolation for tracking and recording work and at around £55 a pair they are not going to break the bank.
More recently a care package arrived from those good folks at Audio Technica with 2 new pairs of headphones to try. In the box was a pair of ATH-M50x in Blue and a pair fo the new ( launched at Musik Messe 2018) ATH-M60x. But more on these as we plough through my headphones requirements.
Open Or Closed Back
The first and most important question to ask yourself is "What is the main reason I need headphones?" The answer to this question will guide you to whether you need Open or Closed back cans.
Open Back: In short Open Back headphones provide little or no isolation to the outside world. This, of course, works two ways. If you are recording with microphones using a click track, Open Back headphones will be no use at all as they will allow the sound of the click to bleed into the open mics. They can also cause feedback if the mic level is up too loud in the headphones. Open Back cans will also let the environment sound back to your ears. So if you are trying to listen to a quiet sound source in a noisy environment, I would try to avoid Open Back headphones.
But if Open Back headphones are so annoying why use them at all? The main benefit of Open Back cans is that they are easier to mix on as you don't get a feeling of being closed in or shut off. It is in my experience, far easier to mix a track on Open Back headphones rather than Closed Back.
Closed Back: In complete contrast to the Open Back design, Closed Back headphone provide a greater degree of isolation (depending on design) so are much better suited to tracking and recording applications. It is fair to say that most studios will have a selection of Closed Back cans and maybe only one or two pairs of Open Back.
In the past, I have found mixing on Closed Back headphones quite hard work as it can be difficult to get an accurate sense due to the isolation, however, having now been working with the new ATH-M60x headphones I have to admit, I almost want to take back everything I have just said about mixing on closed back headphones. I have had situations recently where I have had to make some quite sizable changes and revisions to a mix in far from ideal circumstances where I was forced to mix on the M-60x headphones. Not only did the mix turn out really well, but the M-60x were comfortable, they felt great on my head and clearly, the sound quality was excellent.
Audio Quality
This should, of course, be the number 1 priority on everyone's list when shopping for new headphones. However, some of the most popular studio headphones in history (Beyer Dynamic DT-100 for example) are not the best sounding headphones money can buy, far from it in fact.
If you can test headphones in real life in a music store, take your phone or iPod and pick 3 or 4 tracks that make good use of the frequency spectrum. I have some tracks that I also use for speaker testing and evaluation that I know very well that I also use for headphone testing. Do your best to drive the headphones hard to see how they react to very loud music. I'm just thinking about brass players now but, they and drummers do like it loud, so no need to give them harsh distorted sound to listen too if you have the choice not to.
Size Weight & Quality
If you are buying headphones for tracking then there is a fair chance that they are going to be getting worn for long periods of time. It's all very well giving your artist cans that will withstand a direct hit from an RPG but if they need neck muscles like a Formula 1 driver to hold their head up after 20 minutes these might not have been the right choice. So as much as I loved the Blue MO Fi headphones that I reviewed for Pro Tools Expert back in December 2015 and then went on to buy, they are far from lightweight and after only a short time on your head, you do start to notice this.
If you are spending your hard earned cash you also want to make sure it is well spent so try to buy a quality product from a recognised brand. I reviewed the Direct Sound EX-29 Extreme Isolation Headphones back in September 2017 and while these did very well in regard to isolation, the fit and finish on these headphones was somewhat lacking, especially on a pair of headphones for around £100.
All three of the Audio Technica headphones I have been using have a quality feel about them. Even the older ATH M-30's still sound great and no parts of the frame have snapped or failed. The earpads even still look good and are not shedding little bits of black all over users ears.
The other pair of cans from Audio Technica I have been given to try are the AHT M-50x in a rather lovely blue colour. Although these are slightly bigger than the M-60x and do weigh a little more they do not feel bulky or over the top on my head. The M-60x design means the earpads sit more on the ear rather than the M-50x which sit more over the ear. This may slightly affect the isolation factors of both sets of cans but not to a level which I have noticed. There is no noticeable click bleed while tracking drums with the M-60x for example.
Writing from a drummers point of view, we can tend to get a little warm whilst 'giving it some' and although the earpads on both the M-50x and M-60x are of a man-made material, not some rare Peruvian goat leather, I did not get uncomfortable if you know what I mean whilst wearing them. All was dry in the ear department.
Accessories & Spares
It's always good to get a selection of extras and goodies but often the soft carry case that comes with some headphones is only beaten to the trash bin by the box it all shipped in. However, the extra cable or in the case of the Audio Technica AHT-M50x and ATH-M60x cables plural that came with them should be put in your studio useful tin for that moment when the bass player says, "I've lost one side in my headphones but it comes back when I stand on the cable". Yes, it has happened to me. Looking after your headphones helps a great deal, but gear does break no matter how much TLC it gets. It's also good to know that you can buy spares. Audio Technica makes it very easy to buy spare part including cables and ear pads directly from their website. I know this is also the case for the Bayer Dynamic DT100 range.
Price
Sadly, at some point, we have to mention the price. As I mentioned earlier the ATH-M30 cans which I own cost me around £50 per set. The ATH-M50x which I am loving for my live space are around £130 - £150 depending on the colour (Black and limited edition Red or Blue). The new ATH-M60x are a little more at around £179 but for me these are the jewel in the collection. These are the headphones I want to work with.
Now you can, of course, pay a great deal of money on headphones, but once again its time to think about how they are going to be used and who is going to be using them. If you have just dropped over £1000 on a set of Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones (£1299 in UK VAT) you are not going to be too happy when said bass player stands on the cable and pulls it out of the casing. In my studio world, I was happy to spend around £100 on my headphones for the musicians and it was a bonus that the ones I liked, the ATH M-30 were almost half that. The almost industry standard Beyer Dynamic goes for around £110 and if you want to fit in and follow the masses this could be the way to go, but I'm not a fan.
Conclusion
This is the list of attributes that I look for when I go shopping for new headphones if you feel I have missed something, or if you have a comment please do add it to the comments section below the article. However, shameless plug moment. If you are looking for some new studio headphones you really should take a look and listen to the Audio Technica range. In my opinion, bang for buck they are punching well above their weight. You can find out more about the full range of Audio Technica headphones at their website.