Dear Audiophiles,
Is a good pair of headphones for vocal records and mixing supposed to sound like shit?
What I mean by that is, I am starting to assume that you actually want studio headsets for recording/mixing vocals to sound as flat and boring as possible so you can then make the correct adjustment and add the correct effects yourself (so if the audio then sounds good from TRASH cans, it should sound awesome when doing playback from anything else). Is this assumption correct?
Why am I even asking this question? Well, EVERYONE seems to swear by various Sennheiser models, Sony MDR-7506 and Beyerdynamic 770... For studio headphones under $300.
But when you listen to this audio sample from 1:20 comparing popular budget candidates
from popular brands.
You can CLEARLY hear that the Sennheiser HD280 is bland/tinny, the Sony MDR7506 is flat/boring. Neither have any reverb (which is natural in real life, especially concert halls), only the Audio-Techinca ATH-M40x is close to the original sign signature, but still not as good as the original sound signature.
If the Sony MDR7506 are as good as all reviews make them out to be. Then the irony of the sound sample is that the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x (which in this case CLEARLY sound the best for casual music listening) is actually the worst for recording/mixing out of the three, because the sound signature is already coloured, right? That would also mean that the ATH-40x are actually stereo or hi-fi headphones NOT studio or monitor headphones as advertised, correct?
As for why people who refer to a boring/flat sound (from e.g. Sony MDR7506) as an 'accurate' sound, I have NO IDEA because there is nothing natural about it.
Conclusion, is a bland headphone better for vocal recording and mixing of audio due to the reasons stated above or are 90% of people hearing impaired, including self proclaimed producers who seem to swear by the cheap Sony MDR7506.
If you can be bothered to listen to this sound sample at 1:20
You can hear that the more expensive Beyerdynamic and Audio-Technica ATH-M50x also sound worse than Audio-Technica ATM-M40x (as far as a natural sound goes), because they lack the clarity. The Beyer are muddy and M50x have an over exaggerated base.
Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong I'm not a Sony hater, infact I own a Sony phone, laptop and Bluetooth headset. They are all great products for the price, I just don't understand the positive reviews of the MDR7506 when comparing it to the Technica ATH-M40x for audio playback is like comparing night and day.
PS: Sorry if I sounded harsh but I felt it was necessary to be blunt to eliminate confusion.
