I know this is subjective, but I’m looking for advice on which pair of the headphones below will give me the most accurate representation of what my profiles actually sound like. 95% of what I use my Kemper for is live gigs, so I always check my final profiles at gig volume during soundcheck to see if they’re useable. But I like to use headphones to dial in initial drafts of my profiles at home.
For the last two years I’ve been using a $50 pair of Audio Technica ATH-M30x headphones. They’ve sounded fine, but they’re the only pair I’ve ever had. So I wasn’t sure if I’ve simply grown used to that sound and accepted it as “good”. Today, I decided I’d splurge and buy the DT-770 from Beyerdynamic. They sounded great in the store listening to mixed music. I plugged them in to my Kemper expecting to be blown away, and the sound I got was very different than the ATH-M30x. The volume was lower, and the high end seemed to be dialed back more than the ATH-M30x when listening to my profiles that I’ve been using live. I’m afraid to boost the high end of the profiles to make them sound better in the DT-770s because my live sound through our PA shouldn’t have any more high end added to it.
So my question is, in your opinion, which set of headphones below produces the most accurate representation of what your profiles truly sound like?
1. AudioTechnica ATH-M30x
2. Beyerdynamic DT-770
3. Sennheiser HD 300 Pro
4. AudioTechnica ATH-M50x
I haven’t tried options 3 and 4 yet because the newest Guitar Center is about a 45 minute drive for me. So I’d like to see what you all think is the best option. Are these Beyerdynamic headphones better suited for studio mixing than for dialing in Kemper profiles? Or are these the headphones I should be using for editing profiles and my ears have just gotten used to the sound of the cheaper ATH-M30x?