Help me choose which headphones to order today
What I’m looking in them for:
- Mixing & mastering
- Recording vocals too
- Clear vocals without harsh/piercing highs
- Tight/full low end
- Accurate enough to trust mixes
- Comfortable for long sessions
- Don’t get too hot
- Translate well
- Bedroom producer setup (room isn’t perfectly treated)
- Under $400
- Something durable that will last
TLDR…
A big thing: I think I’m sensitive to treble/brightness. I want clarity, but not headphones that become fatiguing after an hour. I still want music to feel full and immersive, not thin, distant, or sterile.
For context, I used Beyerdynamic Custom One Pros for years and honestly never liked them much. They always felt simultaneously too bright/sharp AND too thin/weak sounding. Listening became tiring fast, and I constantly felt like I wanted more body/fullness from the music but never got it.
Because of that, I eventually started mixing more on my consumer headphones (Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless), mainly because they felt fuller and easier on my ears. Plus I knew them better.
Now I’m trying to find something smoother, fuller, clearer, and accurate enough to trust without harsh highs on proper studio headphones. I’m looking for something that I will listen ALL music to.
My biggest confusion is open-back vs closed-back.
People say…
“You NEED open backs for mixing.”
But then others say open backs can feel weak/light on bass and less immersive. Basically what you need for mixing, but I wanna enjoy the process of making as well.
Closed backs seem more practical for vocal recording because of less bleed, and I do like the more “inside the music” feeling they tend to have.
At the same time, I’m worried about buying something too colored or misleading for mixing/mastering.
Right now I’m considering:
Sennheiser HD600
Sennheiser HD650 / 6XX
Sennheiser HD490 Pro
HIFIMAN Sundara Closed Back
Slate VSX / VSX One
(Though I really have no idea)
Attracted to Sennheiser cause I’m pretty happy with my consumer ones from them. Though, they are open back and I’m sort of leaning closed-back because I also need to track vocals, and want sort of isolation from the outside world. but I genuinely don’t know at this point what the smarter choice is if I can only buy ONE pair right now.
Would really appreciate advice from people who mix/record professionally or who’ve owned multiple of these.
If you could only choose ONE pair for both mixing and vocal recording in a bedroom studio, what would you buy?