Top Requirements For Professional Headphone Use
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The three major requirements for headphones in the rough and tumble world of professional use are 1) the headphones must sound good and have a fairly flat response; 2) they should be closed so that the listener is isolated from ambient sound; and 3) they need to be durable enough to survive a working environment.
Headphones For DJ's
The Sennheiser HD 205 is an entry level can with a swiveling earpiece to move one earpad off your ear, and features big bass and decent sound; a good low-end DJ headphone. A solid move-up for DJs and budding pro empressarios is the AKG k-81DJ model with full deep bass, secure fit, and great ambient noise isolation ability. Though the earpieces don't quite swivel, the Sony MDR-V500 and flashy MDR-V700 are both solid pro DJ headphones with significant articulation/mobility of the earpieces. Both are decent-sounding, durable, and will fold up for convenient storage and transport. The Sennheiser HD 25-1-II is an extremely well-detailed, well-engineered DJ-application headphone with a split headband and a movable rotational ear piece. While it remains a closed headphone, its rather small earpieces might not seal quite as well as the larger full size models. However, it makes up for it with excellent sound quality, and the fact that the band splits and drops forward & back to form a VERY secure fit around your head means you can dance behind the turntables all you want without worrying about the cans slipping off your head. If you don't mind a standard headphone and just sliding one earpiece back to hear the live sound, most of the headphones in the next section will work well.
Headphones For Studio Use
A hook shot into a milk crate from half way across the studio is the level of tender care studio headphones are likely to get. We advise better care, but the following sealed cans should survive well in studio use. At the low end we like the Beyerdynamic DT235 and Shure SRH240 for a neutral and good sounding closed headphone. Some excellent choices in intermediate prices ($100-$200) are the folding Sennheiser HD 280Pro, while the Shure SRH440 and folding Audio Technica ATH-M50 offer stellar audio quality. At the top end, the Denon AH-D2000 is a well detailed can and perfect for post-production and mastering as you'll hear every pop and tweet well down in the mix. For producers, the Denon AH-D5000 is an exquisitely balanced and well behaved can, with good bass extention; familiarity with this headphone will permit a very good sense of what's in the mix.
On-Stage Performance In Ear Headphones For Monitoring
In ear headphone monitoring provides excellent clarity of monitor sound for performing artists, reduces feedback problems from stage monitors, and strongly isolates the artist from ambient sound. Many top artists have custom molded in ear headphones, but this is not a requirement to perform well in this application. The Etymotic HF5 are very good sounding for the price, and seat deep in the ear for excellent isolation and secure fit. The Shure SE535 is simply the best sounding generic fit in ear phone, so good you'll want to use them all the time for your personal listening. If drummers don't want to wear in ear headphones, the Sennheiser HD 25-1-II is outstandingly dynamic and accurate sounding, and its split headband that can loop around the front and back of your head will remain securely in place even through the most violent, head-banging solos. We'll also mention for sound reinforcement engineers and road work, our two battery powered professional headphone amps (the Portable Micro Amp and Portable Desktop Amp) will allow you to troubleshoot monitor signals with microscopic detail without the likelyhood of inducing ground loops when plugged into a system. Both have USB and optical and coax S/PDIF digital inputs.
Working With Computers
At almost every level of music and film production from amateur to professional, computers are everywhere. Unfortunately, computers are rather noisy inside and tend to have fairly poor digital to analog converters. HeadRoom does not manufacture external soundcards for digitizing incoming audio, but our line of USB headphone amps for post-production mix-down and mastering work are superb. At the low-end our battery powered Total BitHead is an excellent choice, especially for laptops and portable applications. In stationary locations our Micro DAC and Micro Amp and Desktop Amp are very cost efficient choices; look at the Ultra versions of these amps for high-end performance.
