I have recently started DJing monthyl at a new venue. My first two times tehre went far from smoothly. I have never learnt to DJ one cup and monitor as my setup at home doesnt allow me to play loud music.... so I am a headphone mixer.
The club I have been spinning at has MDR-V700, just like what I have at home. I have never used any other headphones than these while playing out live and I am starting to think that they are really bollocks at cutting out outside sound as when I have been trying to beatmatch in them I am forced to turn the volume up really high to hear whats going on. Are other headphones better at cutting out sound? I am thinking of investing in some new ones....

well, if the Sony's are "bollocks " then a good majority of the best DJs in the world are clueless. You don't need new headphones, you need to learn how to use the ones you have. The sound in the booth of any club is going to be much much louder than what you're used to at home. You need to adapt and learn how to beatmatch using one ear or you're gonna kill your ears no matter what headphones you have. Also, if you can, try just turning down the monitors. Not all clubs will let you do this, but some will.

To answer your question though, I have found that the Pioneer headphones are slightly better than teh Sony's at blocking out outside noise. But not substantially to the point where you're going to notice a huge difference.

i'm in the same situation as you...i have a set up at home that doesn't allow me to play my music very loudly...but...

i have dj'ed at clubs and been a headphone mixer. most clubs (at least decent ones) will have a mixer that allows u to cue both tracks in your headphones (mainly the pioneer 600). worked for me very well. i didn't really need to turn my headphone volume up that much and i do have the the sony 700's. besides the pioneers, i really don't know what else there is out there. i know that bose makes a really good set of headphones that block out noise, but they aren't made for djing. if you have any questons...feel free to pm me.

quote:

Originally posted by zizack a good majority of the best DJs in the world are clueless.

.. that's been well established!

regardless, the V700's are decent headphones, but not much more than decent. it could be said most folk that spin on 700's do so for looks or status quo. nobody will gleem with glee about the bust-happy plastic pieces, the lack of sound isolation, or the only-slightly-better-than-average sound clarity/quality.

what is so cool about these headphones then? well, they look "sexy" on just about anyone, are the "standard", and not many other headphones swivel quite as easy as the 700s. they win based almost purely on thier physical package... how typical!

if your looking for tighter more articulate response (read: easier to beatmatch and pull out sounds in the headphones) and massive isolation, check the sennheiser HD280PRO's.

32db of sound isolation, big and comfortable (for me atleast) and some of the best sound I've heard. after spinning a few gigs with loud sound on the HD280s, I have no intention of using mv V700s live again unless the 280s break and I cant get another set quick enough...

some people say the 280s are bulky or ugly. bulky, sure.. ugly?maybe but who cares, its a pair of headphones, not a bikini! :P

cheers!

I tried out a pair of 280's and I found them to be very flat, Maybe that was just that one model or something.

The 700's arent too bad, But do lack on the Isolation.

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quote:

well, if the Sony's are "bollocks " then a good majority of the best DJs in the world are clueless.

they arent bad headphones. theres just alot better out there for the same money. which is fairly consistant with alot of sony products really. they look cool. they are marketed aggressively. but in terms of build quality? well. the mdr's have a really poorly designed joint which breaks just above the driver/phone really easily. for a headphone that costs 100 quid thats scary. my sony pc? same deal really. cost alot more than it was really worth. looked cool though. a number of the components were cheaply made (the RAM seriously must have cost peanuts cuz its CAS latency 3.0 rubbish. it was also underspecced for the price).

as for a pair of cans that destroy the sonys and cost about the same price?

audio technica ATH-A900s:



someone on the production forum recommended these to me a while ago when i asked about monitor headphones. frequency reproduction is pretty flat although the bass presence is somewhat heftier than i expected (leading me to think its artificially amped in the bass regions. that said it sounds brilliant whereas typically flat frequency monitors like tannoy reveals often get criticized for their 'lack' of bass.). that dude been pretty quiet ever since. couldnt afford the 900s so went for the 500s and they are mind blowing. so much so that i challenge anybody to find a better headphone for 50 quid. heck if the 900s didnt exist id bet nobody could find a better can for 100 quid either (including the v700s). quite a wide sound stage and you can drive them at fairly high levels (especially with a headphone amp) without causing listening fatigue. they are also somewhat hard to break. the isolation is excellent. dont wear these out. they are 1) very stealable 2) you will get hit by a car cuz you wont hear it coming. shame they are only available on import via audio-cubes.com because these deserve a bigger market. audio technica are mostly known for their microphones.

oh. and they are the coolest looking headphones ive ever seen.

Last edited by Derivative on Mar-08-2005 at 23:50

I dont know to many djs that mix in their headphones. So I would suggest train your ears to seperate the music from your headphones and watch you actually head on the floor.

As far a club setups are concerned. Generally clubs have booth monitors and booth volume control. You should turn the volume down to hear whats going on in your headphones and turn it up when your mixing. Clubs usallly have the acoustics of a room setup so the dj hears one thing and the floor hears another.

Headphones arent as much of the problems, its actually getting your volumes and ears just right so the music balances out and sounds good.

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and herein lies the problem. usually. meaning they sometimes dont. in southampton ive had friends who had to mix without monitors. mix on shit nearfields. what the hell?! ive also seen some really terrible setups where the PA speakers were above and slightly behind the decks meaning you seriously couldnt hear shit when you were mixing - all you hear is this overpowering mess of sound caught between a pair of crummy nearfields and some PAs strung up on the roof. whoever thought to put them there should be fired.

in a perfect world, it would be as you say. unfortuneately alot of the little dives and cellars around soton definitely do not have the acoustics set up that the DJ hears one thing and the floor heres another.

quote:

[i][b]in a perfect world, it would be as you say. unfortuneately alot of the little dives and cellars around soton definitely do not have the acoustics set up that the DJ hears one thing and the floor heres another.

Nonetheless you should still train your ears to distinguish the music in your headphones and whats coming out of the speakers. Im pretty sure that is the only way to mix tracks efficently and consistant.

___________________
I will not lose, for in defeat, its a valueable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me.

-Jay Z

v700s aren't bad as a DJ headphone. Shit, any headphone that has a loud enough kick can be used easily as a DJ headphone. We aren't exactly stopping to appreciate the fine details of our tracks as we beat match them, are we?

But there are plenty of other arguments against the v700.

They're flimsy as shit. Lots of people here (including me) will tell you stories of how their v700s literally fell apart and broke. They're not very comfortable on your ears for any extended amount of time. They don't have the best sound isolation.

And for those of us who enjoy using our headphones for listening as well as DJ'ing, their sound sucks compared to others.

Do yourself a favor and get another pair of headphones, like Sony v6 or 7506.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_lane I tried out a pair of 280's and I found them to be very flat, Maybe that was just that one model or something. The 700's arent too bad, But do lack on the Isolation.

yea, the hd-280's are flat when u get them... but give 'em a couple weeks to break in and they'll sound much better. mine almost sounded metallic when i first got them...

nevertheless even after break-in there is still less bass than most headphones.... i personally like the more flat and accurate response, but everyone has their own preference...

hate to break it to you, but monitor headphones are SUPPOSED to be flat. that's why they are called monitors

if they were not meant to be flat, they'd be called playback cans, not monitors.