Matching headphones to 'live'?

ethrbunny

ethrbunny

Inspired
The sound I get when I'm in the headphones vs my speaker is so radically different. I'm wondering if there are suggestions on how to match these so I can build patches without waking up my neighbors every time.

.. or if not to match.. to compensate?
 
The headphone talk is endless. There is a guy here on the forum who will chime in. He uses a pair of $1000 headphones and he swares by them. I am sure they are amazing but needless to say is to much for my blood. Cliff recently said molders never sound as good through head phones. Just make sure your headphones ohms is not to low or else the headphone jack won't drive them properly.
 
Headphones can never give you the same response as a speaker, because there's no way for the amp's sound to hit the guitar. That's where feedback, sustain, feel, and a large part of the tone come from.

The best you can hope for is spend enough time comparing your headphones to your live sound that you start to get familiar with the differences between them.
 
I play through IEM's live (and when I practice) and I quite enjoy it. In fact I prefer it to my studio monitors in many ways. There is no room to colour the sound.

I tried the headphone output on my AxeFX II the other day and I found it quite a bit different than either the mixer in my home studio or the mixer I use live. I suggest you try a different headphone amp to at least see if the one in the AxeFX II, in combination with your headphones, is colouring the sound in a way that is not complimentary.

Terry.
 
Tone Seeker said:
I play through IEM's live (and when I practice) and I quite enjoy it. In fact I prefer it to my studio monitors in many ways. There is no room to colour the sound.

I tried the headphone output on my AxeFX II the other day and I found it quite a bit different than either the mixer in my home studio or the mixer I use live. I suggest you try a different headphone amp to at least see if the one in the AxeFX II, in combination with your headphones, is colouring the sound in a way that is not complimentary.

Terry.
Click to expand...

Terry - really interesting; I've heard the same from a friend as well....may I ask what IEM's did you decide on and can you recommend the best setup/config for them? Thanks
 
GBM said:
Terry - really interesting; I've heard the same from a friend as well....may I ask what IEM's did you decide on and can you recommend the best setup/config for them? Thanks
Click to expand...

I have heard this as well. Is there something that the IEM's are capable of, ( sonic related ) that headphones are not ?
 
As Brokenvail has said, there is an endless discussion at the correspondent section of this forum. Have a look there.

In the meantime, I do not see much difference in between the Audeze LDC-2 and the Mackie HR-824 monitors. They have also changed the way I listen to music.
 
Either I have really good headphones or a really bad speaker... but what I get in the headphones is (to me) much better sound than what I get live. I've tried building patches using them and it really doesn't translate well.
 
I think headphones through the AXE-FX sound Exactly like a closed mic'd speaker cab does (if you listen to mixes of the amp in isolation). Many (including me), like the sound of "air" that standing a bit away from the monitor or speaker gives you. That really isn't present, in a real sense, through headphones (or if you listen to a close mic'd cab). In a mix, it's not a big deal, but in true insolation, it certainly isn't my cup of tea. I have a feeling many prefer the "live" cab sound which requires some real "air".
 
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