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Best Headphones for Midi Composing - 11/17/2011 3:13:28 PM

Amygdalin

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Joined: 6/28/2011
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I had a pair of Ultrasone I-700's I bought years ago with a computer I got from Alienware (big mistake by the way), but they have recently gone up on me. So now I'm in the market for a new pair. It was several years ago I bought them, but I think they cost around $120. Maybe a little more. I can spend a good bit more now.

The Ultrasones were okay headphones, but after wearing them awhile they had a way of cramping my ears and making them sore. They also weren't the best sounding. I bought them mainly as a beginner on a limited budget back then.

I mainly use Ableton Suite 8 with a Pro Keys 88 midi keyboard to compose. And I do all kinds of music. All genres.

I was wondering if anyone here composed any or had some experience with any headphones that were any good and comfortable over long periods. Sennheiser is a brand that looks fairly good and pops up a lot in my searches. And some cans made by Dr. Dre.

I'm also in the market for a decent pair of monitors for later on. Because I listen to my music on both outlets. So, anyone with any experience with them is welcome as well.

Anyone has any experience or advice they'd like to offer I would really appreciate it. I don't care about price or brand, just if the product is good. Thanks everyone in advance.

< Message edited by Amygdalin -- 11/17/2011 3:14:54 PM >

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RE: Best Headphones for Midi Composing - 11/17/2011 6:46:32 PM

Termyn8or

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Joined: 11/12/2005
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I've had quite a few pairs of phones in my time. I can tell you this much, you can only wear them for so long before they bug you. The one almost exception is the big huge bulky ones that have pads resting on your head instead. Those will be harder to find with really good sound quality for simple physics reasons, less direct coupling.

I had a pair of Sony MDR-CD5s a while back that came close. About a hundred bucks but damn good phones. Flat within 2dB from 2-22,000 Hz, and yes that is 2, not 20. Soft as hell, really nice but still after a while they just were no longer comfortable. They could also produce over 126dB which is extremely loud. Let's just say it would cost money to get speakers to go that loud in a closet. The only louder phyones I ever heard were Sansui SS-10s ran directly off speaker voltage. I cut most of the padding off of those so they would hit the head, and they sounded great with all that small hole gone, letting the driver have fuller access to the ear.

In fact I used to listen to phones WITH the speakers cranked at the same time. I got a couple of other people to try it and they liked it too, you get the feel of it as well as about as perfect possible sound around.

But nothing beats a pair of monitors. It's nice to go slumming and dig up a pair of old woodie EPIs or something, if you can find good drivers or they have good drivers, but really for about a hundred bucks you can get PC speaker systems from HK, Polk or a few others that sound really good. Some PC speaker systems rival the sound of decent monitors.

I think speakers are almost always better unless you are worried about bothering the neighbors.

T^T

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RE: Best Headphones for Midi Composing - 11/17/2011 6:56:38 PM

outlier

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Joined: 10/22/2005
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Hi,

My first thought was to go to Newegg and read the customer reviews
on anything you are thinking of buying. Then I typed "headphone reviews"
into Google and came up with a bunch of sites including the following:

http://www.headphonereviews.org/

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-headphones/

http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/

http://www.head-fi.org/

http://www.stereophile.com/category/headphone-reviews

http://www.headphone.com/

http://www.headphoneinfo.com/

http://bestheadphonesreviews.net/

http://www.goodcans.com/HeadphoneReviews/

And then you can try the following pages, good luck.
Please, let us know how happy you are with your choice
and why.

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RE: Best Headphones for Midi Composing - 11/18/2011 7:05:55 AM

Amygdalin

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Thanks a lot Termyn8or and Outlier. I have been doing a lot of research, reading reviews and all and I will continue. And I am definitely going to get some monitors. Unfortunately, sometimes I work at night and "waking the neighbors" is a problem, so me needs the phones too. Thanks again.

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