Headphones Upgrade

Hello,

I’m currently using old Sennheiser HD518 headphones for my home playing. In the Archetype: Gojira, the clean tones are pretty good, but when I add heavier distortion (especially with the 3rd amp), it feels like I can hear some artefacts.

Do you think, is this limitation of my current headphones and upgrading them to some current model could help? If so, could you, please recommend some brands/models?

Thanks.

Hi,

I don’t know much about the HD 518’s, but considering it’s price range, it’s a budget headphone. And from what I read, the bass and mid range department can be not clear enough for your needs.

You want a flat sounding headphones, in order to best capture the true characteristics of your guitar tone. I would recommend Beyerdynamics DT 770 Pro (closed type) or DT 990 Pro (semi closed). I’m using the 770’s for quite a long time and pleased with the sound overall.

You can also check the Sony MDR 7506, which is more affordable, yet delivers a flat sound.

But keep in mind that, the ‘artefacts’ you mentioned might not be all related with your headphone chioce. I recommend you to check your input/output levels, because if either one is clipping (exceeding the maximmum optimal amount) then you’ll definately hear those ‘artefects’ in high gain tones.

Hope it helps.

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Thanks for the reply. I tried ATH-M50x, but returned them. The closed headphones don’t suit me very well and they were very sweaty. Finally, I purchased Sennheiser 560S and I’m very happy with them. Compared to the old 518’s they are incredibly flat and clear.

Regarding the “artefacts”, I can still hear them, but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s just the amp “tone”, which for some reason doesn’t sound all natural to my ears.

Thanks.

Thanks for this too, I’m in the market as well.

AKG 371, hard to beat for the money.

I use Shure Srh440 is a good one for the price and flat sound it delivers :metal:

That Are decent headphones. But you can upgrade to some Audio Technica. m40x or m50x.
Also, there are some good headphones for 100-200$.
I think this recording blog has a list of good headphones - https://apartmentrecording.com/

Hello everyone,

for my first plugins iI also bought two Adam Audio T5V Monitors and I was most of the time overwhelmed, how good its sounding! But beacuse its maybe a bit too loud, I wanted to try headphones. Bought the beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X and I must say, Im disappointed. I read, that with headphones its a differnet kind of hearing, but for me it sadly sounds so much less good, than with monitors. Especially the high strings sound not good for me with headphones. I dont know, If I maybe had just wrong exceptations, but has anyone had the same problems?

I bought some Beyerdynamic 990pro and love them. They are unforgiving with showing details in mixes and have helped me out considerably. I had some Audio Technica ATH-M40x headphones and the difference in clarity with the 990’s is massive. When I listen to the m40x’s now, they are too midrange-y (for my tastes) and I’m a guy that LOVES midrange, especially in my guitar tones.

Hope that helps someone out there. :slight_smile:

Have the T7V, absolutely love the sound and feel I get in combination with the qc and plugins!
I have a pair of AKG k702 which are open back headphones and while I prefer playing through my monitors the sound and feel I get from these headphones is still really nice.

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