why is headphone quality so important?

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-- why is headphone quality so important?

Posted by specialK on Jul-14-2003 21:21:

why is headphone quality so important?

Everyone seems to be debating what kind of headphones to buy, dropping obscene amounts on money on em . . . why are studio quality earphones important if you're going to have one ear to your live mix anyway? I would imagine that earphones would be the least important part of your setup, especially in a live situation, where you would't barely care about sound quality, just about hearing the cued music.
Can someone enlighten me?

Posted by JohnSmith on Jul-14-2003 21:27:

there are two significant advantages good headphones will give you in mixing:

1. soundquality. with good headphones, you will hear BALANCED sound so that you can make your mixes sound good. sometimes you cannot hear if you something sounds amiss on the loudspeakers, due to echo, crowd noise or whatever. but if you have good cans, then you will hear it in the headphones. if they are not balanced, you might hear booming bass (MDR700s) when really, it's not all that booming.

2. isolation. A good pair of cans will block out a LOT of outside noise. My Sennhesier HD280 pros block out an amazing -32db of outside noise. With this sort of isolation, you don't have to turn them up very loud to block out outside sound, thus preserving your ears, and allowing you to be a better DJ, because you aren't straining to hear the cued track over the monitors.

Posted by Tiger777 on Jul-14-2003 21:58:

Yup, if you don't wanna become deaf after a few months, buy decent headphones. I still have bad headphones ('cuz of financial reasons), and Sometimes, I have to put them really laud to hear it clear... Next thing on my list to get is a pioneer HDJ1000

Posted by anth_on_e on Jul-16-2003 16:55:

ye they definately make a difference i juss got a pair of new headphones and it is a lot easier to hear the cued song without it being overpowered by outside sounds

Posted by futurevision on Jul-16-2003 17:51:

why is it so important?

everything said above is true.

1) quality and 2) isolation
(thats why its so expansive (looks/style is optional), but it is one of the most very important piece for the dj - the headphones)

but here ill explain

its different when you mix in your bed room and when play out in a club.

your $25 headphones might be good for bed dj'ing its fine...(and if your only going to spin in your bed room thats alright, theres no problem with your headphones in that case)
but if you were going to take that same headphone and use it in a club enviroment ... you will be in alot of trouble.

as you need to have a good pair of headphones to be able to hear what your playing (to hear that cue track)

the club monitors/speakers and sounds comming out of it is so loud that you wouldn't even hear your headphones (if it was poor quality/bad isloation)
and just to hear it you would need to crank it up so high that it might blow those headphones or even damage your own hearing (afterawhile) and that is only because you would like to hear it.

if you are just going to spin at home, a good decent headphones will do. if you plan to go out and dj in a club. do get a headphone with some good isolation /quality but it comes at a cost.

hope that helps
cheers
Rob Energy.

Posted by specialK on Jul-16-2003 18:39:

right on, thanks for the tips everyone . . . what are some good reasonably-priced headphones that would be good for performance DJing?

Posted by Abscond on Jul-16-2003 19:21:

Depends on what you consider reasonably priced to be. Check the headphones sticky at the top of this forum, it's loaded with good info.

Posted by Dmatrox on Jul-17-2003 00:24:

I want to try Technics headphones after my SonyMDR7560's wear out, so has anyone got any reviews for the Technics? the MDR7560's are really great but i wanna try something else.

Posted by pumavisor808 on Jul-17-2003 00:42:

uhmm, because they sound better than cheap ones?????

Posted by futurevision on Jul-17-2003 07:26:

quote:
Originally posted by Dmatrox
I want to try Technics headphones after my SonyMDR7560's wear out, so has anyone got any reviews for the Technics? the MDR7560's are really great but i wanna try something else.

technics 1200
headphones are good
i use them all the time.

Posted by ScratchMaster on Jul-17-2003 08:56:

Good headphones are also very useful when you have bad monitors and you have to EQ the track you're bringin in with whats goin on outside in your head phones itself.

As for the Technics 1200 they are very good.Very comfortable and great soud quality.
I looked all over for them but only the new version is available[1200s/1210] with a coiled wire which makes it heavier and gets in a tangle after a while.
So I'm savin up for an HD25.