Please choose: Sony MDR-7506 vs. Beyerdynamic DT770

[Nestor]

Alllllmosssst there...., aaaaaalllmoooooost there...., a little more effor and I will, so close...., so close....

[Nestor]

Man..., you close your eyes for a couple of years and the market is overflown with new staff, there's SO many new headphones, trademarks, technologies that it is overwhelming when you need to choose what to get.

So far, I can say that there are many very expensive headphones that are worse than so many other cheaper but better in quality.

I can see the market is quite confused when it comes to choose headphones because there is not a clear barrier between studio-monitoring sets, vs fun sets. People are getting studio-monitoring systems for games..., then there are guys getting game cans for their studios, then both complain and say such or such headphone is a piece of crap.

[w_ellis]

It really is a bit of a minefield. I recently bought headphones for "budget audiophile" listening in bed and ended up pretty happy with my choice. Arguably it would be a good option for transparent monitoring too. Some considerations I hadn't thought of before researching:
- the seal of the headphones to your face makes a big difference for closed back headphones, but not so much for open back. Similarly IEMs need to seal well in your ear
- comfort as a glasses wearer is definitely not guaranteed
- as you said: cheap doesn't always mean bad. There are some amazing cheap and amazing expensive headphones
- headphone amp matters for difficult to drive headphones
- with a good quality headphone you can apply an eq curve to reach a desired frequency profile, rendering subjective differences between different headphones largely irrelevant

I ended up buying Sennheiser HD600 with a Topping DX3 Pro+ headphone amp. The headphone amp is ridiculously low noise and distortion and the headphones extremely clean sounding. I use an eq curve with a harmon target to have a pleasant listening experience. I could also choose to boost the bass frequencies to mimic more popular headphones or go even flatter with the eq target.

I also bought TRUTHEAR x Crinacle ZeroRed as cheap but high quality IEMs. Already match the harmon eq target without adjustment needed.

[w_ellis]

https://autoeq.app/

[w_ellis]

I would have bought these if there was sane shipping costs to Germany: https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx - incredible bargain for those of you in the states

[Nestor]

- with a good quality headphone you can apply an eq curve to reach a desired frequency profile, rendering subjective differences between different headphones largely irrelevant

This is probably my main concern and reason why I'm getting new headphones. The HD 280 are great, but I need more detail and definition when applying EQ and other subtle FXs.

There is a great, relatively new trademark called OneOdio, they make two headphones that are cheap but really good, the Monitor 60, closed back, and the Monitor 80, open back. They both are cheap and very good sounding and well balanced. The only problem they have is that construction is not that durable.

[Nestor]

https://autoeq.app/

Wow, amazing to be able to do so, will try if it really is accurate or not.

[Nestor]

I would have bought these if there was sane shipping costs to Germany: https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx - incredible bargain for those of you in the states

Those have great reviews all over the place.

Yes, USA is great to buy these kind of things. I'm in Mexico right now, and I have to pay about 40 to 50% more on almost every item.

[Nestor]

Thank you everyone for answering my doubts and questions here, I've learned a lot recently about all these. I did not pay attention that much ever to the headphone world, it is amazing what's behind it and how much money people are willing to pay for a good pair of headphones, like the Audaze LCD-3, which, depending where you are in world goes from 2000 to 4000 dollars

I've finally got the Beyer DT 770 Pro 80 Ohm yesterday. I have used them about 4 hours yesterday and about 6 hours today. I am still discovering them. So far, so good, I like them and understand what they want to be from its creators, so to use them accordingly.

Excellent sound stage for a closed back, in that regard, about the few best in the market. The HD 280 Pro are really great too, but they have not this crispness and high frequencies the 770 has neither such a low bass extension. It is interesting as you tend to bust or cut depending on what you are listening at, so this is a welcomed characteristic for me.

The 770 has indeed, a very deep and very large frequency covered in the sub-bass realm, bass is defined, clear and it keeps where it has to be, it is not muddy.

They are very comfortable, it has a very good quality cable, sturdy and nice build quality, light weight, velour in the pads feel great. There is space even for a guy with big ears too. Isolation is stronger than with the 280, even if the 280 specs says differently.

The 770 pads could easily last for years, the upper band that goes into your head too, contrary to what Sennheiser does with the 280, they are a little bit dishonest because pads get in a bad shape after just a few months and the original replacement for the 280 costs HALF of the headphone price, ridiculous!

The 770 is a real pimp that tells you everything when you need to apply EQs to anything, it is very clear what you are doing so, something I was after. There are many things that I could hardly listened at with the 280 that I now easily can with the 770, I'm talking specifically about subtle changes, those very small differences you can get from a reverb, a compressor, a delay, or so many of the weird and great awkward free plugins out there in existence, by the way, free plugins that should have never been free, so good they are.

I'm very happy with it in general, they are a very good tool for me, thank you again!

[Nestor]

I forgot to say this 80 ohm need about 35% extra power to be driven correctly. I tried it in my Samsung Cel, and it works well, not very loud, but good enough.

[astroman]

After the AKG K401, a couple of K501 I‘m now on K601 for about a year, sticking to the Austrian built models.
(except the very 1st all were acquired 2nd hand and got replacement ear pads)

I‘m exceptionally happy with my current headphone amplification, which originally served as a bass/guitar DI.
Removing the impedance converter part of the V357 and bridging input lines was all it took
(the V357 module is modular itself, with 4 pluggable circuit boards)
It‘s output is transformer balanced and highly sensitive to load impedance.
The K501 and 601 (iirc in the 200 Ohm range) match perfectly, but my Sennheiser IE4 earbuds (40 Ohm) sound like shit with it.

Never had a better sound under cans

[Nestor]

Hehe , you have always been restless brother Tom You are the MacGyver of Planet Z, your Studio must look like "Back to the Future" or something like that.

I too like big headphones like those K601, I guess it is part of their great sound, their size. I wanted to get some K240 too, but the original ones from Austria second hand are hard to get, people don't want to let them go. The Chinse one, something like 50 or 60 USD right now, I'm sorry to say but they have nothing to do with the original ones, they sound like total crap.

I use an Alto mixer right now, pretty good sound for the cans and can drive the 770 more than enough with a spare power to go of, at least another 50%.

I'm right now listening to some Phil Collins because know all these songs very well, so I get a better idea of how the 770 represents the spectrum.

I'm also doing a whole new set of reference tracks, very helpful indeed, as a point of start for final mixes.

Cheers

[astroman]

LoL, I have to be MacGuyver to get along with such limited budget
At least I was fortunate enough to get 2 old P-basses for $200 (non Fender, tho) and a Magma with 5 Digidesign cards for less than $100 last summer
(mostly intended as spares, like a couple of Scope cards I keep for that purpose)

[Nestor]

Hee, cool "MacGuyver". Well, money is never enough in todays world. Anyway, it is very cool to have this capacity, the skills you have, to modify anything into what you want. I like it, but never got into electronics. I wish I had.

There are many new brands that are building amazing low price instruments, I know a few of them and wow, man..., sometimes they are better in the 300 usd range than in the 1500 or 2000.

[Nestor]

Days are going by, I can say now: excellent choice! Loving these DT 770, what a great tool, amazing what they offer for the price.