Headphones Roundup: Can It!

Smooth and comfortable, Extreme Isolation EX-29s are ideal for recording in the studio where higher-than-average levels of gain are required in the headphone monitoring setup. The EX-29s have a relatively muted top-end when compared to other headphones in this review group, making them ideal for monitoring at louder volumes where top-end sizzle can quickly fry your ears. Whether you’re drumming or playing guitar, singing or conducting an orchestra, they’re also good for blocking out more than the average amount of external information, allowing your headphone mix to be controlled at the console rather than dominated by the loudest sounds around you. This also makes the EX-29s ideal for drummers who want to be able to play with the kit turned down around them, or for that matter, turned up. The EX-29s, like all the other models reviewed here, are circumaural in design, meaning they completely cover the ears in much the same manner as a set of earmuffs from the hardware store.

Unlike the previous model Extreme Isolation headphones I reviewed back in Issue 35 (I knocked my head off several times during a drum tracking session due to their enormous size), the EX-29s aren’t quite so bulky. They’re much more comfortable to perform in and far more refined in both width and style, making them versatile in the studio for all manner of tracking, not just the loud stuff. Furthermore, wearing them will no longer make you feel obliged to wave at passing jets with ping pong bats between drum takes…

The hard external shell and inner foam dampening of the EX-29s are great at reducing the bleed from headphones into the mics (29dB – hence the name) especially when vocals or soft instruments are being replayed loudly in the cans – the perfect recipe for headphone bleed. The earpieces are also removable to allow the cans to be freshened up once in a while by considerate studio owners respectful of the fact that some musicians don’t like the smell of other musicians!

The sound of the EX-29 is relatively refined; a little dull, and certainly one of the more physically claustrophobic of the models reviewed here. But overall, for drum tracking, or in any situation where a soft recording is being captured with a loud headphone monitoring setup – a whispered vocal, a delicate acoustic guitar overdub – they’re a great option, and reasonably priced too.

With a published frequency response of 10Hz – 39.8kHz and a reputation for headphones that’s world renowned, AKG’s flagship open-backed K702 reference headphones have big shoes to fill. The K702’s lightweight design and comfortable fit combine with an extreme high fidelity that creates the illusion (within certain musical styles, at least) that you’re not wearing headphones at all – in a way that only open-backed headphones can.

The soft velveteen earcups, leather headband and open-backed design make the K702s extremely comfortable to wear and give the headphones a luxurious overall look and feel. The cable connects via a single mini XLR that services both ears via the left earcup (which some musicians don’t particularly like for tracking as it can make the headphones feel unbalanced on your head). But arguably – and certainly according to the manufacturer’s intention – the 702s are not a tracking headphone. They’re certainly not the kind of headphone you’d liked to see tossed nonchalantly onto the deck after an overdub by an impatient musician keen to hear his or her performance back in the control room. They seem far too good (and possibly too fragile) for that. Suffice it to say, the 702s lean more towards mixing, mastering and broadcast duties.

They’re extremely detailed in the top end, providing a super transparent soundstage that reveals true three-dimensional space whenever well-produced recordings allow it. But, as with most headphones of this ilk that expose extreme detail in recordings, the 702s have a tendency to become too bright, especially over extended listening periods or with more intense, less dynamic recordings. Personally, I found the sound of these headphones a conundrum: a little tonally ‘lightweight’ and bright at times, particularly when things got loud and instruments were crammed into a mix, and yet gorgeous on simpler, less aggressive music – an old recording of Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto, in particular, sounded incredible on these headphones. The bottom end reproduction is smooth and clear but, if anything, I think the designers might have become too preoccupied with top-end fidelity at the expense of overall balance. It’s a fine line the 702s tread and possibly a line call I’d rather refer to Hawkeye for a final decision.

The AKG K240 MKII is badged as the heir apparent to the well known and widely acclaimed AKG K240M (a model that’s no longer manufactured, to the chagrin of many).

The circumaural semi-open K240 MKII is itself the direct descendant of the K240 model (perhaps not surprisingly), inheriting the almost archetypal looks and design features that AKG headphones have become renowned for. Its specific points of interest include a comfortable lightweight semi-open design that allows you to wear them all day if necessary and a balanced coherent tone that’s lively in the bottom end, clear in the midrange and controlled up high.

The headphones come with two unexpected extras: a set of velour fabric earpads and a long coiled five-metre cable that connects to the left earpiece via a mini XLR, making it easily replaced should the cable suffer damage. The connection is secure and reliable, the solid ‘click’ instilling confidence in the design every time you make the connection.

The AKG K240 MKII is a bit of an all-rounder. Its tone is both refined and mature, offering a broad range of frequencies in good balance and proportion. They are, in fact, quite difficult to describe: neither bright nor boomy, with a dynamic response and tonality that would satisfy most players during a tracking session regardless of their instrument. The semi-open design puts them somewhere in between the spectacular ambience of fully open designs (that also spill sound liberally into the outside environment), and the more claustrophobic and protective closed designs (that hold sounds in and keep sounds out).

In close proximity to a large diaphragm condenser and with monitoring levels up reasonably high, the 240 MKIIs have a tendency to spill into the mic and generate feedback. For tracking, I’d argue they were better for electric guitar and bass overdubs than soft tabla and marimba parts, for example. For mixing and sound referencing, however, they’re perfectly capable headphones that tick all the right boxes.

These are well made, competitively priced, comfortable and tonally impressive headphones well worth checking out.

With a published specification of 5Hz – 35kHz, the bandwidth of the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro also appears to include Schumann’s resonant frequency of planet earth, although there remains some conjecture as to precisely what this frequency is – some say it’s 7.1Hz, others contend it’s 7.83Hz, while others still argue it moves around and is thus difficult to determine.

That quackery aside, the DT770 Pro is a closed-back circumaural headphone that fits comfortably on the noggin and connects via a coiled cable that is theoretically three metres long, though I’d wager if it were stretched this far the headphones would fly off your head and out the studio window as if launched from a medieval catapult. The cable is, in a working studio environment, little more than about 1.5 metres long in practise. Beyond this distance, the headphones start to pull against your head like an impatient dog.

The DT770 Pro is a versatile headphone. The hard plastic outer casing of the earpieces – which give the 770 Pros a somewhat dated appearance these days – makes them well suited to tracking and mixing duties. Spill is greatly reduced by the external shell, as is the sound from the outside world while you’re laying down loud acoustic performances on instruments like drums. If forced to choose between their performance as either tracking or mixing headphones, I’d definitely lean them towards recording. The 770s have a somewhat reluctant midrange, making them feel a touch scooped and unbalanced sounding, making them less than ideal for mixing duties. They still feel relatively informative, but not quite as flat sounding as their open-eared counterpart, the DT990 Pro (more on the 990 later).

Tonally, the DT770 Pro is a detailed headphone. The top-end is quite pronounced, though not harsh or distorted, and similarly the extreme bottom end isn’t shy in making its presence felt. For a closed-back design the DT770 Pro actually sounds quite open, more like a semi-open backed design. Its large earcups keep the drivers slightly off your head to minimise any claustrophobic sensations that a tight-fitting, closed design can often induce.

They’re not the most glamourous looking headphones on the market but, in their defence, they’re not a brand new model either. The overall build quality, however, remains very good and these have already proven to work well in track laying or broadcast environments.

One of the greatest improvers in headphone design in recent times has been Audio-Technica. The company has come up with several well made, very good sounding headphones for audio professionals and DJs alike, offering a good mixture of quality performance and irreverent design aesthetics, some of which I’ve reviewed in previous issues of AT. So it was with some interest that I donned a pair of the company’s new ATH-A2000X headphones for the first time, expecting to be hit for an Adam Gilchrist 20/20 one-handed six.

But oh, how disappointed I was. These headphones try very hard to look slick, sound slick and be high-end in every respect, but their failure is as dramatic as their looks. The large brushed titanium circumaural enclosures are connected via a svelte double-banded metal headband that cannot be adjusted in any way. So why does it exist at all? Directly beneath this band are two pads designed to A: presumably look cool, and B: hold the cans in place. But though these might look groovy to someone’s subjective eye, they’re almost incapable of holding the cans in place… and there’s nothing groovy about that. It’s a basic flaw in the design that simply cannot be worked around, unless of course you have an enormous head. I spent most of my time in these cans instinctively trying to adjust them so they didn’t slip down to my jaw line, but there’s nothing to adjust! Instead, you’re made to feel like one of the Tins Lids preparing for an ’80s backing vocal session wearing dad’s ‘grown-up’ headphones. The support structure is limp-wristed and poorly conceived.

Then there’s the sound. Bright would be the first word to describe these cans. Like the headphones themselves, the ATH-A2000Xs sound shiny, dominated by a strange mix of top end and a barky midrange, particularly around the 2 – 4kHz mark. So amazed was I by their thin and anaemic low midrange response that I tried them on several other headphone systems with different output impedances, but the result was always the same. To me it’s as is if there are so many ‘signatures’ out there in the wide world of headphone design that Audio-Technica had nowhere left to go with the 2000X but up the garden path. I’m hoping this is simply an anomaly in Audio-Technica’s range rather than a change of tack for the company.

If you’re after something a bit different, and you don’t mind the look of two small air-conditioning units floating on your head, then the more esoteric Stax SRS-2050 MKII electrostatic headphones might be just your style. ‘Budget priced’ at around two grand (with the associated SRM-252MKII power supply/interface), these headphones sit ironically at the bottom end of Stax’s electrostatic range and almost at the top of the price spectrum here, but the sound of these headphones is by no means cheap.

Cutting right to the chase, these open-backed electrostatics offer speed, transparency and detail in equal measure. They produce a beautifully balanced tonality, a silky and deep soundstage where reverbs and studio walls are replicated almost like you’re standing in the recording space, a strong dynamic range and a level of comfort that confounds their ‘blockhead’ appearance. The quasi out-of-head design creates a smooth and decisive three-dimensional picture that’s arguably more akin to the experience of listening to speakers than conventional headphones. They run loud too – reportedly up to 100dB – far louder than volumes I was prepared to listen at.

The SRS-2050 MKII electrostatic headphone system involves a power supply that requires a mains outlet, so you won’t be grooving your way down main street in these babies unless you have an inordinately long extension lead, or your main street is mighty short! The 2050s are unashamedly immobile and clearly aimed at those looking for the ultimate in sound rather than a portable headphone that will wow (and occasionally amuse) fellow pedestrians. For the professional listener, these headphones will be of no use to anyone within cooee of an open microphone, but for mixing or mastering they’re a fantastic option, provided you’re prepared to shell out the cash. My concern for headphones of this quality is that they need to be treated with a level of care that’s possibly beyond the practical realities of day-to-day life in the recording studio.

However, if you are prepared to expose the Stax 2050 MKIIs to control room shenanigans – whether that be at home or in a commercial facility – the system offers an impressive frequency range of 7Hz – 41kHz! And yet even though this specification might imply that Stax is preoccupied with the extreme margins of the audio spectrum, the soundstage of the 2050s is rock solid. Unfortunately, there were no whales or mice around at the time of the review to account for the presence or absence of these sub and supersonic frequencies, but in any case, I remain sceptical about published frequency response specs right across the board. Most recordings I’ve been involved in over the years wouldn’t be replaying such frequencies in the first place anyway, so I’m not sure what the benefit of this theoretical bandwidth would be.

From my perspective, if price were no barrier, these headphones wouldn’t be going back to their supplier.