Headphones&EQ recommendations

TakaraGold

TakaraGold

Experienced
Hi guys,
I usually try to avoid using headphones when practicing or playing; as it really gets your ears tired and missing the air between amp & ears is somewhat annoying.
But still, sometimes I need silent practice moments. I have the BeyerDynamic DT880 pro headphones. Which were recommended for use with the Axe, but I'm not digging my favourite tones when connected to headphones. I'm thinking of using output 2 to amp, and tweak output 1 global eq to shape the sound for headphones.
Any pointers? Any users of these model of headphones (DT880 pro) having good results or recommendable techniques?

I'll deeply appreciate any help.
Leo


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The 880s are closed back. I'd try something open back with a laid back top end - HD600 for example. The DT990 is too forward and sibilant IMO and the 880 don't sound open enough. Also see what the room parameters in the cab block can do for you.
 
I'm also a big believer in open back headphones, and a particular fan of Grados.

They're not silent; if there's someone in the room with you, they'll be able to hear you playing… but the sound is wonderful, and IMHO, far less fatiguing than closed-ear models.

Grado’s higher-end models incorporate enormous ear pads that hold the drivers quite a distance from your ear canals, leaving a volume of air for them to excite. But all of their models, even the most affordable ones for less than $100, deliver fantastic performance that's far off the beaten track. Nearly all of my guitar practice is monitored exactly this way.
 
I use the AKG K812's, a little on the crazy expensive side but I actually prefer using the cans most the time. They are completely open lol but sound amazing. As a side note, I played with some friends last week and used the patches I created using my cans and plugged direct into their pa and nothing needed to be tweaked. Using the AKGs seems to translate to my monitors too so Ive been a firm believer in the quality of cans you use and open backs
 
Audeze LCD-2s.

Or do a inverse curve to you headphones, look on headroom.org for a graph of yours.
 
Promit said:
The 880s are closed back. I'd try something open back with a laid back top end - HD600 for example. The DT990 is too forward and sibilant IMO and the 880 don't sound open enough. Also see what the room parameters in the cab block can do for you.
Click to expand...

880's are Semi-open reference headphones. 770's are closed back and 990's are an acoustically open headphone.
 
Yes they are semi-open. That's why I went with them. My idea is to use EQ to balance. So thanks for recommending different brands but I don't intend to change them.


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I am def +1 on the open Grado! IME they reflect low and midrange better than any other heaphone I've tried, and just ad a nicely intense but real warmth.

The Beyer Dynamics (except for the 990s) I think are overated, and I personally prefere the cheaper alternatives from ie. AKG any day of the week...
 
TakaraGold said:
Yes they are semi-open. That's why I went with them. My idea is to use EQ to balance. So thanks for recommending different brands but I don't intend to change them.


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Click to expand...

Not much of Help i guess, but when surfing on info on flat sounding monitors, and flat sounding headphones, i found a frequency curve which the human ear considers to be flat (and looking at the graph, its not flat at all ;-). People tend to hear lower hz less (less db(a)). Cant find it atm. Anyway, these kinds of graphs are available.

If you are able to find same graph of your headphone, you then are able to eq them to be alike.

They look like these : http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/boss-philips-fidelio-x2-page-2#eLoFpIVzAI5IT8Iy.97 .

You might find some at headfi.org or those kind of sites.
 
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So I got the freq response curve for three DT880 variations, they are pretty similar between them. I just switched my amp to output 2 and copied the global eq1 to eq2. Now I'll tinker with global eq1 to tame the headphones' curve. I'll let you know after a little while. Thanks for chiming in!

Leo


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30ce60263844a1b1cc19fe17b2b7f72c.jpg


So with very small tweaking, I am having much better results, a couple lead tones sound really non-tiring, but I'm having the best times with my cleans!
This was really necessary, since my stepdad is having the fight of his life with cancer, and chemos leave him really tired so he sleeps a lot during the day. So silence is appreciated.
I doubled a couple presets just for headphones and upped the room level on the cab as well, helps too adding some airiness.
As I had the Global eq on output 1 balanced for my amp, it didn't go well with the headphones. Thanks again for the ideas!!!
The best thing was getting the freq response curve of the headphones, that was the culprit.

Leo


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Ordered a Grado set SR80e! Hope they work well for creating presets that translate to my FR system? Thanks randyman and ByTheHandOf for the info/endorsement and I realize these are lower end Grados!
 
TakaraGold said:
Hi guys,
I usually try to avoid using headphones when practicing or playing; as it really gets your ears tired and missing the air between amp & ears is somewhat annoying.
But still, sometimes I need silent practice moments. I have the BeyerDynamic DT880 pro headphones. Which were recommended for use with the Axe, but I'm not digging my favourite tones when connected to headphones. I'm thinking of using output 2 to amp, and tweak output 1 global eq to shape the sound for headphones.
Any pointers? Any users of these model of headphones (DT880 pro) having good results or recommendable techniques?

I'll deeply appreciate any help.
Leo


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Looks like the OP has found his solution and he did it the right way. To all of the replies telling him to buy other headphones his issue was the difference in tone compared to his guitar amp or FRFR speaker. The OP did the correct thing which was split his signals to different outs and eq either accordingly. Common misconception with audio gear.
 
AkakorMo said:
Looks like the OP has found his solution and he did it the right way. To all of the replies telling him to buy other headphones his issue was the difference in tone compared to his guitar amp or FRFR speaker. The OP did the correct thing which was split his signals to different outs and eq either accordingly. Common misconception with audio gear.
Click to expand...

Exactly!!!


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Just curious- do you use lo and hi cuts on your cab blocks for your presets? I typically start around 70Hz and 7000KHz for any preset I build, but these settings really help when using headphones, at least as a starting point. I tend to also use a 5-band passive EQ on all of my headphone specific presets- I'll try experimenting with a more precise EQ like you did above though..

I'm having to use headphones more often lately as well.. at least for practicing or writing, etc.
 
Hi, i tried lot of head phone for the Axe, i have DT990 pro, i tried a Philips Fidelio M1, an AKG K272HD and the AKG K712pro, a Grado 325IS, a Sennheiser HD25-1 II and a Sennheiser HD25 SP, my favorite is the last, the HD25 SP and not the more expensive (125€) it has a good dynamic and is very linear, i work all my preset with it.
The Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro is too scooped and the treble are a lot agressive.
It's my opinion ;)
 
Some tips for using headphones (and I love the DT 880s!):

- Turn up Room Level in the Cabinet block.
- Use the Stereo Enhancer at the end of the grid.
- Turn up Dephase in the Cabinet block (firmware 19.01).
- When using stock Red Wirez IRs and a mic model: set Proximity to zero in the Cabinet block.
- Add some AIR in the cabinet block.
 
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