Rai Thistlethwayte THE *BIG* HEADPHONE LINEUP! Focal Utopia Sennheiser HD600 Oppo PM3 HD25 + MORE!
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Dear reader,
Of all the headphones I own, here is a list of my favourites to least favourite, after many hours of comparative listening and personal reflection. I tried to contextualise this unique and extensive lineup from the point of who I am and where I see myself fitting into 2020's headphone listener's landscape: Part touring musician, part recording artist, part audiophile, part casual listener, and part audio gear geek who's somewhat interested in technology, tech specs and electronics. I do not intend this to be a review to necessarily aid others' purchasing of headphone models. I try and be conservative in my use of 'audiophile' or audio terms, out of choice. I do not mention the term 'soundstage,' for instance, even though I am aware of this term. Instead, I try to keep the language at a level where I can get my feelings across, so some descriptive words are used, but I hope the style isn't seen as an omission. Its intention is to mitigate confusion in semantics. I do not mention cost or value to the consumer (in most cases, unless I see it as a particularly important thing to note), or follow a set criteria in how to appraise each item on this list. The fostex models and hyper X models would have also been included in the line up but weren't because they are in my storage unit and I can't get to them at present. In the last part of the video especially, I wish to strongly stress the importance of personal opinion and assert my personal feelings about importance of everyone's differing hearing perception, due to things such as hearing losses, congenital or lifestyle, age, wax build up etc. This is in addition to creative aspects of different listening practices ie genre and musical style choices, which also change how one chooses their favourite products. I wish to show that one needs to play around with items they own to get the most out of their particular product, instead of focusing on an unattainable search for 'the perfect' product. The final part of the video was made as a disclaimer to show, even though I have been studying headphones and their attributes heavily over the last long while, (more-so during COVID-19), I have eventually found that there are TOO many factors involved, and therefore there is a pointlessness in trying to play off this product against that, or even to care at all about the differences, and in turn, a pointlessness to try and tell others that this is better than that (FOR THEM!). In ALL cases, I suggest to not believe reviews of products much, if at all - and similarly, anything you read on forums or reviews, you should not trust MORE than your own feelings after doing personal listening tests, if available. This also helps to explain my thoughts on scientific measurements of total harmonic distortion, signal to noise ratio, frequency response, etc, even though not mentioned in the video: We need them, make no mistake. The manufacturers and R&D departments are immersed in this world, some more or less than others, I assume, anyhow. But given tiny changes in person to person's hearing, for instance, even from left to right ear, even a 'flat' scientific EQ measurement, could be perceived as not flat - in the real world. This statement is made in conjunction of why so many people historically have often enjoyed audio gear with non-linearities, over gear with better scientific readings. It's all about personal choice, and my opinion needs to be known as simply that: 'just my opinion, man.' (Big Lebowski reference, obv ;)
Note on my non-scientific, but arguably obsessive method of comparative listening: When testing, I always try and use the same source material and musical passages, played at the most volume matched levels as perceivably possible (using the idea that the overall 'energy' is matched by ear so a LUFS meter would hopefully be integrating similar readings from dB output on the two sets of cans. Failing that, using, say, the perceived volume level of a lead vocal as the yardstick from 'A' headphone to 'B' headphone. I try to set up the the quickest A/B comparison change time, keeping everything else in a critical listening chain the same and at least wait until I'm mentally focused enough to pick up on what is really going on sonically. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseam.
I realise after this entire time spent on this, it was too much effort and time to listen, think, speak on the topic, to not want to share it on the internet. If you're bored reading this info, you are probably in a similar place to where I've landed with my own 'Audiophila.' I've realised, it's an endless rabbit hole, and although a worthy thing to check out in life, it's time for me to forget all that I've learned, and employ this study simply as a 'background' to get back to my first love: MUSIC, and CREATIVITY, albeit with somewhat of a new framework from these recent studies.
Thanks for watching and listening, and I hope you got something out of this video.
Love,
Rai XX
Super useful mate, as I was looking at AT M50Xs but now the classic HD25s are back on the list.
I absolutely agree with your words at the end of the video!!
Great video Rai! Watched the whole thing. Very informative. My favorite part was when you were talking about long hair over your ears causing changes to your hearing. You started to list the ways to solve the problem if you were a mastering engineer...wear a hat, headband, hair tie, ... and a haircut never was considered! Haha.
Matt Bolton Music hahaha yes! Thanks for watching. Relationships between musician and their long hair run deep, and in all relationships, there must be compromises made ;)
Nice explaination on PM3. I like 5,5 click (5 click on left, 6 click on right) on my PM3. Sound very balanced
Awesome vid. What’s your favourite microphone?
Sam Merriment the one I use the most in terms of number of hours is the Shure Beta 58a, for live work. I like U87 or U67 by Neumann for recording a lot, probably have had the most enjoyable experiences on those + consistent results for my voice. I’ve have had success with many others though - depending on the source and task. If I only had one mic to record literally everything with, for a whole record, I’d probably say a Shure SM57, of all things. ;) for looping work I use an Audix Fireball V due to its tight pattern and volume control knob. What about u?!
Rai Thistlethwayte I inherited a SM58 but can’t get a good sound out of it, I’m wondering if It might be a knockoff.looking at buying a proper SM57 in the future.
@@SM-ic2bg You can't really go wrong with an SM57 if you're looking for an all rounder which, if paired with a good preamp, will give you so many options. Depending on what you're prioritising on recording, though i.e. if you want to primarily do vocal recordings, you could also look at some (same or close ish priced to an SM57) large diaphragm condenser mics...and/or get a mic and channel strip combo which could give you some more options of dialling in what you want with knobs/switches/buttons and nice amounts of gain. I'm surprised at how affordable some of these options are, and how good they all sound these days! I'd suggest a swagger of other mics too, if you're only looking for an on stage, live mic (depending on what you need to mic up, of course!) Thanks for writing in! Best, Rai
You should try Austrian Audio hi x55, they are amazing! I currently use them and I have to tell, I've never ever heard so many sound details from a closed-back...
Thanks a lot Rai, these are very valuable insights! At first, I didn't like DT880pro too much, mainly because their very neutral mids (totally flat in the 2-4 kHz region) are contrasting harshly with the slightly hyped top end. But I realized this keeps me listening at lower volume, without the wish to pump it up, and finally mixes done on them translated quite well for me when I got used to them. Especially when I crosschecked these mixes on Sony MDR7506 - the DT880pro / MDR7506 setup is now a sort of 1031A / NS10 combo with a cans formfactor to me...
One last thing I want to share, as it surprised me how big this influence is: Ear pads degrade over time, and need replacement when they start changing shape - deformed cushions have a huge influence on sound, and normally not in a good way (I have 2x DT880 and 2x MDR7506, and A/B them more than once with new vs. worn out pads). Also, Beyerdynamic delivers alternative black cushions for the DT880 ('black edition') which trigger heavier bass response - I do not recommend these for mixing purpose, as the lower mids get masked too much in these. Likewise, I do not recommend to use alternatives to the original Sony earpads, though they are costly - experiments with Beyerdynamic DT250 pads made mine sound real nasty.
Thanks for checking in! Yes I agree! Pads change stuff a bunch. The age of the pads affect the sound to a level too. DT880s are reviewed in Sound On Sound as one of the best mixing headphones, and for that use I have had success too (for headphone mixing, anyhow, which I find somewhat makes my mixes less translatable than using studio monitors that I know well in a consistent room, but I’m learning as I go). That’s likely mainly why I originally got those DT880s - plus comfort. I’d actually still use those over many others, for mixing checks. I made a note in this vid that the HD600s and the DT880 for me are almost ‘second opinion,’ of each other though I’m more into the ‘house sound’ of senn in this case vs BeyerDynamic’s house sound. I like your analogy and use in ur setup of those different cans to give a sort of emulation of different classic studio monitors. I use Dynaudio BM6a mk1 and original NS10s too in the studio, I probably use them in conjunction with each other to get that ‘second opinion.’ Whatever works, if it’s working, stick to it, I say!
In my opinion HD600 trumps HD650 as well. Interested in testing Oppo PM-3's.
Try more of the audio technica line, some of the best studio closed back cans, a step up from the beyerdynamic for flat response.
Talking about IEM's, a friend of mine who's a producer and very critical about sound in general has bought some random Chinese brand called KZ that I've never heard of (AS16 8BA is the particular model in question), silly cheap compared to Shure Pro IEM's or any other at all, they rock 8 drivers per side (2 bass, 2 mid and 4 high) armature balanced, and described them as shockingly transparent and true sounding, sound clarity at any volume, very suitable for critical listening and are surprisingly comfortable to wear for hour after hours and solidly build too. He said he bought them just for laughs since they cost less than $100 on Amazon and Alibaba, as some other dude told him about them, and he described them as 'shockingly good' not just for bang per buck, but just really good as a high end IEM's that cost $1000+ and more. I've watched some review videos for more opinions, but since I don't know the credibility of all those people, and I know my friend who really likes his expensive sound gear in the studio, he wouldn't say what he said to me if he didn't really meant it. I've ordered one pair yesterday and waiting for delivery in about a month, and I'll report back with my thoughts about them. I'll compare them with my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro and DT 990 Pro, both 250 ohm.
Not sure if you're aware of those, so thought to bring that to your attention since you're a such a headphone freak.
Sorry for the long post 🥔
Sounds like a good model to check out! Haven’t heard of these, thanks for getting in touch! Happy listening :)
Can we talk monitor and home audio speakers?
We definitely can, and may well at some point! It’s yet another rabbit hole of endless audio talk! I can’t say I’ve tried as many monitors as I have headphones, but I have tried and used a lot. Thing for me is, I’ve made statements in this video about almost how seemingly infinite the variables seem regarding choices of headphones, in terms of who is gonna choose or favour what depending on those variables. Now, once we get into monitors, but then how we have to use them in a space ie in a room, WHOA.....we’re opening it up to yet another insane can of worms, coz the room type/tuning/absorption/diffusion/acoustic treatment variables are going to open out the conversation even more, it seems, at least in the real world, because there would be even more variation in how people are making inferences on this vs that once an acoustic space is added into the equation, before the sound even enters a person’s body! But yeah, I love studio monitors too, can’t u tell?
@@raithistlethwayte Hahha true - even with angle of headphone drives to ears as you said (same with positioning speakers in proximity to walls etc). I don't expect anything definitive and things are definitely personal to some extent (I mean assuming the speakers have a reasonable frequency response/measure objectively well). You're probably lucky that you get to hear a range of equipment in a range of conditions and for long periods of time. Buying stuff is hard in that in a shop you can't really tell how it will sound in your own space + you really need to live with speakers for a while until you're used to them (I'm not talking about music production... even just for music consumption, probably doubly so for production) + you're really susceptible to how nice and shiny things look in a showroom and as hard as you might try, also affected by marketing. Always hard to A/B stuff too (hard to remember one speaker when you're in another shop/another room (maybe at that point it doesn't really matter - I mean if you can't recall from memory a significant difference, buy the cheaper one, right? Maybe the "best" speakers are the ones that are most room agnostic (or have the greatest range of controls to tweak sound for placement etc - definitely one advantage of studio speakers vs home audio). Anyway, would be interested in hearing about what you've used and what you think.
Stuart Murphy in various studios I’ve used, enough to have some sort of feelings about them: dynaudio bm6a, Yamaha NS10, Barefoot MM27, Genelec 8010a, Adam Ax3, Behritone, Auratone mix cubes, Pro Acs and those PMC mega wall mounted ones QB1 I think they are. They’re the makes and models I’ve used, but you’d have to try all and more out yourself and if you did, depending on a billion potential factors you would likely have a different feeling about any/some/all of these to the next person! It’s true as well, what you write: once in your own place or studio or home, there are ways to improve the existing speaker for your own ears or work requirements, with things like room treatment, speaker placement, sonic settings that some speakers have as boosts/cuts etc, and/or tuning the speakers to the space with room correction software/eq.
@@raithistlethwayte Thanks for the reply. What do you use at home for listening and for playing keyboards through? (Or do you mostly just use headphones)
oh lol. this video after chasing for recent pm3 reviews (have them and love them since 2015). Rai Thistlethwayte. What ? THE Rai Thistlethwayte ? Oh my, the world is small. The demon keys of the time traveller''s foyer gig hunts me everyday... So... oh lol.
Re-cabled Focal Elear here, can't quite afford Utopia, but they are both fantastic.
I can highly recommend the Fiio btr5 to be a perfect match for these.
A.S.M.R
Cool to hear your personal views on the headphones! Have you ever tried akg headphones?
I haven’t tried nearly enough models of AKG to have formed an opinion. The only ones I can say I have heard in any comparative way is the 702 model and I definitely liked what it is doing. I’m assuming this model is just the tip of the iceberg for the AKG range!
Why haven't you aged
Honestly man, it's time you and I got together, I play sax, I love audio gear, fusion to pop, I partake and wouldn't mind a jam, you in Melbourne? Send me a text, I've got time
Combs are your friend.
fuh dat shi