Headphone question


I generally do not use headphones for listening, as I prefer my loudspeakers.  However, I do a lot of digitizing of my LPs (a long-term ongoing project).  For the last few years, I have been using Grado SR-60s to monitor the recordings I make on a Marantz pro-sumer CD recorder.  While these are very pleasant sounding headphones, they are a tad euphonic, warming up the mid-bass, and rolling off the treble.  This makes them great when listening for pleasure, but using them as monitors for recording tends to result in recordings that are too hot on top and too rolled off in the bass.  So I am thinking of looking for a new set of cans, one that would be more of a professional-style sonic balance, very revealing, and very flat in frequency response.  Sonic beauty is not the goal here; I want to hear everything being burned onto my CD-Rs, warts and all.  The headphone equivalent of studio-monitor loudspeakers is what I need.

I prefer over (around) the ear designs.  I do not need isolation, nor is bleed into the room an issue for me.

My ears tend to get sweaty with closed-back designs, so unless there is a closed-back design that avoids sweaty-ears, I would prefer open-back designs. 

Also, since I have a connection to a certain retailer, I can get big discounts on the brands this retailer carries, so I want to restrict my choices to one of these brands.  Also, since my budget for new cans is limited, I need to restrict my choices to headphones that have a street price of about $200 or less (less being better).

Here is a list of the brands from which I can choose, with most models from these manufacturers being available to me:

AKG
Sony
Sennheiser
Audio Technica
Shure
KRK
Fostex
Roland
Ultrasone
Grado
V-Moda
Direct Sound

Any adice would be very much appreciated!  Thanks.

bondmanp

Showing 1 response by r_burke

I'm with mapman on this as well.  Grados are listening headphones not recording or studio type headphones.  I've owned Grados, Audio Technicas, Sennheisers and a few customized sets of headphones.  IMO you would be best served by Sennheiser, but go to a Musical Instrument store and try some pro audio/studio type headphones and see what works best for you.