Best Headphones for Metal

N

nandro48

Member
I currently have DT 1990s and play a decent amount of metal (Killswitch, Lamb of God, etc.) and neoclassical (Malmsteen, Becker, etc.) music through my Axe.

I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with the tone so am looking at either HD 650 or 660 instead.Is there a material difference between these headphones for my purposes? I'm not talking about subtle (audiophile) differences. I'm talking about enough to spend another $300-400.

To be specific, I'm noticing my presets lack the mids when playing through my DT 1990s and sound a bit muddy. They sound great through my HS8s (I realize this isn't a fair comparison but wanted to mention this).
 
Budda said:
Copy the presets, tweak for the headphones, save with "DT1990" in title. Done. Money saved.
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I already tried that. The problem is that I whatever I do, the sound is either muddy or boxy (if that makes sense). I also played around with AutoEQ which didn't seem to do much other than decrease the volume when running through a Cab. It also feels like the sound is a bit harsh or piercing for me. Welcome any feedback you have.
 
nandro48 said:
I already tried that. The problem is that I whatever I do, the sound is either muddy or boxy (if that makes sense). I also played around with AutoEQ which didn't seem to do much other than decrease the volume when running through a Cab. It also feels like the sound is a bit harsh or piercing for me. Welcome any feedback you have.
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If you try the leon's live preset, how does it souns for you?

Cuts at 80hZ and 6k hZ at 12-24dB/octave, plus you may want to try different IR's.
 
nandro48 said:
If anyone complains about sound leakage I'll just tell them they're open back headphones lol
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"What? What? Sorry I can't hear over this 100watt rectifier model into these v30s.... What was that, you want me to get off the train?"
 
I learned to like the sound of my HD650s when monitoring guitar, but headphones are just never going to sound as "good" as speakers pushing air when it comes to guitar tone. Keep in mind that most "audiophile" headphones have boosted upper mids and highs which can make guitars sound really harsh. My HD800s sound noticeably "worse" for guitar than my old 650s. If you're used to the sound of the HS8s, the 650s aren't too different.
 
jephjacques said:
I learned to like the sound of my HD650s when monitoring guitar, but headphones are just never going to sound as "good" as speakers pushing air when it comes to guitar tone. Keep in mind that most "audiophile" headphones have boosted upper mids and highs which can make guitars sound really harsh. My HD800s sound noticeably "worse" for guitar than my old 650s. If you're used to the sound of the HS8s, the 650s aren't too different.
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Thank you - and is it worth spending $ on the HD650s (or potentially HD660s) to use instead of my DT 1990s?
 
80EEB870-3845-4BCF-A85F-60B6CB21D35E.png13F054D5-1E99-4359-88AF-5E1A3BA1E7F5.png

You noticed right because this graph shows dt1990 (red line specifically ) lacking alot of mids

Moving over to the hd 650 would yield a more balanced listening experience
 
You want your headphones to be as accurate as you can afford, so they'll reproduce the sound correctly, not color it. It doesn't matter what the music genre is, because any genre-specific music will be EQ'd during the recording process already. The headphones should reproduce that accurately, not change the sound.

Rather than spend money immediately, add a GEQ or PEQ block just before the OUT 1 block, and add EQ compensation to help flatten the curve of the headphones. Search the AutoEQ site and locate your headphones to get the curve(s). If there are multiple curves then try them all and see what sounds the best to you. Save them to your block library so you can easily recall them. And, when you're finished working on a preset remember to remove the block or disable it so it doesn't color the output going to your FRFR or FOH, etc.
 
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nandro48 said:
Ok and is there a big difference between the 650s and 660s for metal?
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I think there is a flaw to your question on "what headphones are good for metal" but to answer your question comparing the graphs of the HD650 or 660 s I would just choose the HD650 just because it seems more balanced

side note I do agree with @Greg Ferguson said overall

Sennheiser HD 650.pngSennheiser HD 660 S.png
 
Greg Ferguson said:
You want your headphones to be as accurate as you can afford, so they'll reproduce the sound correctly, not color it. It doesn't matter what the music genre is, because any genre-specific music will be EQ'd during the recording process already. The headphones should reproduce that accurately, not change the sound.

Rather than spend money immediately, add a GEQ or PEQ block just before the OUT 1 block, and add EQ compensation to help flatten the curve of the headphones. Search the AutoEQ site and locate your headphones to get the curve(s). If there are multiple curves then try them all and see what sounds the best to you. Save them to your block library so you can easily recall them. And, when you're finished working on a preset remember to remove the block or disable it so it doesn't color the output going to your FRFR or FOH, etc.
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That is helpful, thank you! I am seeing three txt files at the top: FixedBandEQ, GraphicEQ, and ParametricEQ.

How do I translate these files into a PEQ or GEQ block?

FixedBandEQ: This has 10 entries along with a Preamp level. I assume this goes into a GEQ block? If so, how do I make use of the Preamp and Q numbers?

GraphicEQ: This has an incredibly large amount of text that I can't make sense of. Is this worth looking at?

Parametric EQ: I can't figure out how to make use of this. It has frequencies that are different than the GEQ and then has 10 entries (as opposed to the 5 available slots in the PEQ). If I use PEQ, would I create 2 separate blocks and run my chain through both of them?

TLDR: How do I plug the values in the txt files into a GEQ or PEQ? If GEQ, do I use Constant Q or Variable Q?
 
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Following up - I'm seeing 3 txt files on AutoEQ. The only readable ones are Fixed Band and Parametric. Fixed band is straightforward as this goes straight to GEQ. For PEQ, I'm seeing 10 adjustments. Does this mean I'll need 2 PEQ blocks? Also seems strange that the PEQ is showing an adjustment at 18Hz, and the lowest I can adjust is 20Hz.
 
I’ll send you the Impulse response files to “correct” your dt1990 , you’ll load these into your cab block

Would you like that ? It’ll save you money from upgrading and the results would be better than using a PEQ or GEQ block In my opinion
 
ApocalypticKatana said:
I’ll send you the Impulse response files to “correct” your dt1990 , you’ll load these into your cab block

Would you like that ? It’ll save you money from upgrading and the results would be better than using a PEQ or GEQ block In my opinion
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Thank you for your response. Are they different from the AutoEQ wav files?

I ran the AutoEQ wav files through a Cab 2 block at the end of the chain, and it drastically reduced my volume. Is there a workaround or is volume reduction inevitable?
 
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