Well if we're going to go with "pricey" I have a pair of THESE which are custom molded to my ears. These have a pretty darn flat response.

Beepster


Oh poop. I missed the comment about the HD280s not being suitable for mixing. That's exactly what I need them for. I spent a lot of time mulling that choice over too. All I've ever seen were positive reviews about them. It sucks not being able to take stuff out for a test drive before plonking the dough. I may have to review my options again. Blargh...

Like with all cans you're gonna need to 'learn' them really well.  Quite a few people I know mix with them including myself, I can also understand the reasons why some would prefer not to mix in them.

But it's like I was alluding too earlier that there will normally be as many recommendations as there are people recommending them which is why I was surprised to see a sort of consensus appearing here of just a few candidates.

The best course would be to try them out for yourself either by getting re-assurance from your dealer that you can return the ones you don't wan't or actually trying them out in-store, because we're all different.

I like the 280's particularly because they are more like anything that I've gotten used to over the last 35 years for tracking (and I've usually made a lot of noise while doing so) so I learned them to mix with which is something I've only been doing for the last 5 years or so.  Which kind of shows up why 'personal recommendation' will only tell you part of the story.

But you'll be able to mix with any of the recommendations on this page provided you 'learn' them well and the 280's would and do certainly figure high every time on an 'all-rounder' list.

bitflipper

Which brings me to my own question for you all: what under-$500 headphones would you recommend for pleasure listening? Not critical listening for mixing and diagnostic purposes, but just to kick back and be enveloped by nice sound. I've auditioned some Sony headphones that sell for around $500 that sounded quite luscious, but my personal boycott of Sony is still in effect.  

Sennheiser HD600. These are what I use on the non-DAW side of the room when listening in the songs forum or tutorial vids. Form my mp3 player while on the go, I use my Sennheiser IE6 buds.

FastBikerBoy
I did once buy a pack of their CDs that were on sale for a £1 though. 

Did the ear pads fall off?

Good morning, all. Thanks for the thoughts. IDK... I've been pretty hell bent on getting the HD280 Pros for at least a few months but if they are just out and out missing bands of frequencies I'd imagine there is no amount of "learning" that can be done. However I may be stuck with this decision... partially out of cost restrictions and partially out of foolhardy stubbornness. When it comes right down to it they'll definitely be better for mixing than anything else I've ever owned and even with a frequency gap I'll still have the monitors to double check stuff. Not to mention my two big old stereos, two sets of computer speakers and a couple of TVs I can route audio to to get other reference points (wish I still had access to bar PAs).

That said maybe I'll pick your brains on the other two options I was looking at before settling on the Sennheisers. I decided against them because of various poor reviews but perhaps they are worth another look...

Funnily enough looking back at my research the Audio Technica ATH-M50s were on my list... http://www.amazon.com/Aud...&qid=1327443079&sr=1-1

Sadly I don't think I can afford them just yet. They're gonna be at least an extra $50 (probably more up here in Canuckerland) and pathetic as it may sound on top of everything else I just don't think I can swing it this month but I need something NOW. IDK... I'll think about starving myself a little longer or something. :-(

The other pair are the Shure SRH440... http://www.amazon.com/Shu...&qid=1327444091&sr=1-2

These are less expensive than the Senns but I also have a feeling that is gonna translate into significantly poorer quality. Anyone ever tried them for tracking/mixing/mastering?

Either way I have to make a decision within the next couple of days (actually should probably decide by tomorrow so I can see what my retailer has in stock) as I'm making an order this week.

Sucks being broke and having to scrounge the lower price brackets for stuff. Cheers.

Well bitflipper did say his were old. I THINK I remember seeing people talk about the model being updated. One thing pretty much everyone said was that the bottom end filled out a bit after letting them burn in for about 50 hours. But that brings us back to the burn in debate from a few days ago. Maybe that stuff is different than with monitors. Many of the people using the HD280s said they were checking the tone after first opening the package, plugging them in with tunes cranked for a couple days and rechecking so there wouldn't be the same "getting used to the sound" effect that was being brought up in the monitor thread. It would have to be a purely psychological phenomena. Screw it. I'll just get the HD280s for now and if I run into some cash down the road I'll revisit the issue and maybe grab the Audio Tecnicas. That way I'd have even more reference options.

But you can't learn what you can't hear. If a pair of headphones have a very poor response over 6KHz or below 100Hz, for example, they're going to have limited applications.

If you sweep with a band-pass filter through those frequency ranges you'll actually find little you can't hear, IOW little you can't learn...  The response over 6KHz is fine, I concede it may be better/different on others but that's different to saying there ain't enough full-range consistency to work with.  I've got so used to them, and how they are going to translate now I'd probably find it difficult using anything else.  Likewise if I was coming from a pair of M50's or anything else I may not like them because I'd got used to those.

Below 60Hz is the only area I have to employ some methodology to measure the actual energy down there rather than trust my ears. For example if a sub 50hz rumble is coming from a Piccolo patch it ain't likely to be anything that I'd want.  So in actual fact you can even learn procedurally to counter what you can't hear.  So the idea of a/ not being able to learn what you can't hear AND b/ these particular 'phones aren't adequate enough to learn are both spurious claims...  I can however understand when IF one has a choice they may not be the best choice out of a set of alternatives but I'd merely venture they are one of the better all-rounders in the given price range.

Granted they are not ideal but what pair of cans is?  Certainly nothing sub 100 quid.

Being as the original question here was actually:

Best studio headphones for under £100?

Not to have included the HD280's would have been a glaring omission IMO.

So I've had the HD280's for a few days now. I like them. They were kind of disappointing at first (sounded very hollow and thin" but I blasted Alice In Chains "Dirt" through them then walked away. After that they came right to life. Best headphones I've ever owned. I think I'll pick up some of those ATH MT-50s at some point though. Then I'll have two decent sets and perhaps use the Senns for tracking and the ATs for mixing. That won't happen for another year or so though.

@codamedia... Yeah, man. I'm really liking them. As soon as I loaded up my little test project I immediately heard some undesirable noise on one of the tracks that wasn't apparent before. Exactly what I wanted. Now I can get right into the tunes and fix stuff like that. Cheers.

I was looking at those as well but they are semi-open which I didn't really want just in case I ever need to record drums again at some point. They do look very nice though and were highly recommended by my retailer.