# Headphone choice? AKG 701 vs. Senn 650's vs. Grado SR 80



## booboo (May 14, 2009)

I have a main studio outside of my house, but I want to have a small setup in my house in order to work near my family.

The house is pretty small, so a monitoring system is not the best way to go. 

What are everyone's headphone preference here? The material will generally be film scoring - orchestra with synths, rock elements, etc. 

I'm mainly looking at the AKG 701, the Sen HD650, or the Grado SR80 (considerably cheaper than the other two, but I hear are amazing if not better).

Recommendations?


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 14, 2009)

I don't know the AKGs or Sennheisers, but the SR80s are designed to sound good like living room speakers rather than for total clinical accuracy. At one point I had a pair of the Grado headphones, and I liked them.

Now I use three: for studio monitoring I have a couple of pairs of the standard AKG K250Ms and for general listening I use a pair of B&O iPhone/iPod ones.

And when I'm on the plane I have the best toy you've ever seen: Bose Quiet Comfort 3. Those things totally change what it's like to go on long flights - the noise canceling really works (whether or not you're listening to anything) so you can continue to sleep and not wake up with a start when the stewardess screams that the captain has fastened the seatbelt sign and you may not go to the toilet, or the captain tells you that the lights of E. Bumsen are off to the right (when you're on the left and the shades are drawn anyway)...and you can while away the hours listening to music that isn't drowned out by the engine noise, or you can actually hear what they're saying in the crappy movie.


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## dkristian (May 15, 2009)

I love my K701s. They are comfortable, sound great, and are the closest thing to speaker replacement headphones I have ever owned. I used to be a Sennheiser freak, but the K701s chaged my point of view. the Grados also sound great, but are uncomfortable to wear over long periods of time. That's definitely one thing you won't notice in the store while trying them out.


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## Shantar (May 15, 2009)

I really like my HD650s. They´re damn comfortable to work with and don´t fatigue your ears.


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## synthetic (May 15, 2009)

Of your suggestions, I think the Sennheisers are the only closed-ear phones that will block outside noise. The other two are open ear, so you'll hear the rest of the house while you're working.


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## Shantar (May 15, 2009)

The Sennheisers are open.


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## NedK (May 16, 2009)

If you're thinking of going Grado, the original SR 225 is going for $149.00 (inc. shipping) from B&H photo. Some serious cans for the money IMHO. 
I found them uncomfortable during long sessions at first, but got used to them after a while. They don't bother me now. At least no more than any of my other phones do. 
Come to think of it, At some point I switched to "flat pads". They might be more comfy than the stock pads.


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## Dynamitec (May 16, 2009)

I have the AKG 701 and I'm very happy. The mix translates very well to my Sentry 100EL monitors.

Here is the Frequency Response of the three headphones you mentioned:
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=353&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=703

You can see that the AKGs has the flatest reponse of all three.


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## Frederick Russ (May 16, 2009)

I love my AKG 701s. Superb detail and match my studio monitors well. They do require a burn in time of approximately 423 hours. Most high end headphones do require a burn in time to get to optimum sonic fidelity. 

For burn in files, check http://www.burninwave.com/

edit: and yeah, the Senns are open.


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## PolarBear (May 16, 2009)

Dynamitec @ Sat May 16 said:


> I have the AKG 701 and I'm very happy. The mix translates very well to my Sentry 100EL monitors.
> 
> Here is the Frequency Response of the three headphones you mentioned:
> http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=353&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=703
> ...


I actually have a hard time believing that the frequency response of the Senns are +/- 8db over their working range... (20Hz - 20kHz) how do you explain these vast differences from their tech specs? And what's the reason that all these cans with different technologies have these major ditches in the exact same frequency areas?


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## Dynamitec (May 16, 2009)

You'll find the answer here:
http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/how-we-measure-headphones/
http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/how-to-interpret-headphone-data/

To make it short: they use a human head model to peform the headphone measurements. And the frequency peaks & valleys are because of the way our ear is build (due to reflection cancellations in the folds and ridges in the outer part of the ear). I'm pretty sure that Sennheiser and other firms simply measure the ideal world FR for their marketing.

Actually, I have some of the headphones (AKG 701, Sennheiser HD25-SP II, Sennheiser HD 25-1) they tested there and their test results exactly matched my experience with those cans. The HD25-1 has a high peak at 10kHz which is not bad for tracking, since you clearly hear any noise in the material. The frequency response clearly shows this peak. The HD-25SP for example has a very strong bass and is great for checking ultra deep basses and the frequency response shows a +10dB in the bass area compared to the HD-25-1. The FR they measured clearly shows what I always "felt". And compare to both Sennheisers the AKG 701 really sounds very flòÿm   ¡îÿm   ¡ïÿm   ¡ðÿm   ¡ñÿm   ¡òÿm   ¡óÿm   ¡ôÿm   ¡


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## PolarBear (May 17, 2009)

Dynamitec @ Sun May 17 said:


> You'll find the answer here:
> http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/how-we-measure-headphones/
> http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/how-to-interpret-headphone-data/
> [...]
> And compare to both Sennheisers the AKG 701 really sounds very flat/even and almost like my monitors (if you minimize the stereo spread).


Actually that's what I was wondering about... flat sounding and flat measurements is a completely different thing with their setup then... actually these results are adjusted for head-related transfer of sound... I'd be interested in what the "ideal" curve what look like. From there it would be easier to display the difference from the "ideal" for each phone to better understand and evaluate differences of different cans.


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