Topic: Which passive headphones are best?

[deadhedjed]

I am looking to buy new headphones and wanted to know what the best passive monitoring headphones are?

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1) Define best (what criteria do you hold in high-esteem).
2) Budget?
3a) Where would you use this (so is isolation a concern or no)?
3b) Do you use an amp/dac or are you just plugging it into a soundcard or the recorder?

[deadhedjed]

1.Highest db elimination without sound quality loss.
2. $100-$200
3a. live shows with multi-track recordings that isolate each instrument as a separate track. I want to monitor each instrument at a time and am having a hard time getting bass levels because it bleeds through my headphones so bad.
3b. plugged into a presonus firestudio preamp.

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If the isolation is clutch, then I'd look at a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50 or (I think this is the model number) Sony MDR-7506. The M50 is sort of a dark headphone and might help with what your looking for, and if thats the right model, the Sonys seem to be used by a lot of folks in the field. Both are closed back phones.

beyerdynamic makes a set of DT-48s which have supreme clamping force, but it's almost too much to wear for any real length of time. I can't remember if they are open back or not.

[travelinbeat]

I'm a big fan of the Shure line of earplug style headphones.  I've owned two pairs now and you can often find the MSRP $120 ones on a clearance of one type or another in the $60 range.  Granted they aren't big ol' cans or anything, but I've found their isolation to be really quite good, and being as they're not the big clunkers, their portability can't be beat.

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I'm a big fan of the Shure line of earplug style headphones.  I've owned two pairs now and you can often find the MSRP $120 ones on a clearance of one type or another in the $60 range.  Granted they aren't big ol' cans or anything, but I've found their isolation to be really quite good, and being as they're not the big clunkers, their portability can't be beat.

true, etymotic and westone make IEMs which have around 25db of isolation as well.

[jlykos]

I would look at in-ear monitors for your purposes.  If the instrument levels are that high, they will bleed through even closed headphones.  Shure, Etymotics, Westone, Ultimate Ears, and a few other companies make these.  In your price range, I have used the Westone UM1 earphones and I like them a lot.  Great midrange, highly accurate, fantastic isolation, and comfortable, but only go down to around 40 hz.

[DSatz]

I've been using the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO headphones for location recording over the past few years, precisely because of their excellent isolation from outside sound--the best (i.e. most) I've ever heard in a pair of headphones. I would certainly never recommend them for a pleasant listening experience--they're oddly dark and they've got somewhat the opposite of "presence," I find. But with a little practice I adapted to them as well as I have to any other headphones. They don't seem to tell outright lies, and that's important. They can be worn for hours on end, and the headband and ear cushions are user-replaceable.

I'm no fan of the Sony MDR-V6 phones (now sold as the model 7506), though they're a kind of a standard and I did use them for a year or two. But they've got bumps in their frequency response that really send the wrong signals (literally) about a recording. If you're trying to figure out where to put your microphones, you can end up with bad recordings if you believe what those phones are telling you. They're OK for editing, though, and one of their bumps is in a good place for hearing hum in case you're picking any of that up.

--best regards

[deadhedjed]

anyone ever tried or heard much about the koss QZ99's?