Man, no mention of Blue yet? Those were like the standard response for several years after Cliff raved about them when they first hit the market.
As mentioned, those are two totally unique listening environments. Nothing will sound the same. In one situation, you are hearing the speakers in the room with a million reflections potentially comb-filtering frequencies and in the other scenario you are hearing nothing but the source with no “room”. Considering that playing environment will also be in the room, that is the best way to dial things in. Just use the headphones as a reference by comparing it to other music you know well.
Also considering that both of these sources are adding their own sonic signature to the sound. Each will have peaks and valleys in different areas in the frequency spectrum.
To further disrupt the tone-dialing scenario, when you are playing at a separate location you will have an entirely new set of equations to deal with. In each circumstance, a new iteration of the tone will likely be necessary. Much like when you play an amp in a room, you find yourself adding more or less treble, mid or lows to your sound to compensate for room nodes, comb-filtering and various other issues a new room can EQ into the final tone.
My rule of thumb is to get a general tone based on a normal cab output… highs rolled off around the 6k area-ish and a peak in the lows (that may or may not be in your CAB IR). This will translate better across most situations and you will find you need to tweak less when placed in those different rooms. The mistake people make with the Axe is dialing in too much top or low end to simulate a recorded, final mixed tone… that’s not true to the real world and that’s why when you do that you find that the top end is way too much when you play them in a live scenario in a room you aren’t familiar with.
One last thing… if you want to hear things a little more evenly across your various listening environments, try a product called Sonarworks. It’s a gamechanger.
Same for me. I also felt like they sound better after a little break-in time.I never grab headphones to play through unless I absolutely have to! That being said, I purchased some open back HD650s, and I must say, it’s obviously not as good as through the big rig, but they sound pretty darn good.
ATH-m50x ok too, but read a review here of someone that hated them...
Greetings All!
I have a pair of Presonus HD7 headphones. They're 'OK'. I heard in a forum somewhere that they were decent for the price.
Now I have recently got some Eris 4.5 monitors. Again, just 'OK' based on reviews, but in my price range!
I am noticing that things sound GREAT in the monitors, but harsh and fizzy in the headphones. I know one should not rely on headphones for tuning presets (or monitors - gig volume is best etc etc) but I was surprised at the difference. Headphones are handy for playing around late at night, but they sound... well, awful.
Is this likely due to the headphones just being shitty? Honestly until now I have found them to be fine. I have been working on getting my sound less shrill and ice-picky (using Eon speakers which are shrill), but was surprised at how much better it sounds through monitors...
Have I just adjusted to the much better sound of monitors?? Is that possible?? I didn't think Eris was THAT good???
Thanks, some awesome advice here!