180501 Update: Added a livestreamed comparison of the Shure SE846 vs Custom In-Ear Monitors from Plunge Audio.
Sony, Audio Technica, AKG, Beyerdynamic, Shure, Bose (don’t laugh!) just some of the headphones I’ve owned over the many years of being a music lover, musician, and audio engineer.
With a growing passion and business of multi-media, I’ve been spending many hours with headphones on and it’s no surprise comfort, fit and sound are top of my mindshare these days.
Why:
I’m NOT looking for the “best” sounding headphones. I’ve had plenty that made lots of things sound great. But for critically mixing audio I’m looking for the most neutral (i.e. uncoloured) set of headphones I can comfortably wear and travel with to create the best media I can.
Current favs:
1. Sony MDR-7506 Great price, great fit and proven track record for years
2. Audio-Technica ATM-M50X Louder but more bass heavy (better for DJ’s than sound mixers)
3. Bose QC20 – Great for plan travel and working in noisy environments – but Bose sound is VERY coloured
4. Shure SE215 – good build quality, user-replacement cables and decent sound. Falls out of ears and not full spectrum
5. Apple AirPods – not perfect in sound, execution, and the audio delay when watching Youtube bugs me, yet I use these daily for everything from listening the podcasts to making calls. I really shouldn’t love them this much.
$1000 headphones: Shure SE846
Holy grail? non-powered, low-impedance IEM that sound great enough for sound mixing on the go. Are these the best in-ear monitors I can buy? Guess I’ll have to see ….
UPDATED after 1 month with the SE846’s:
Or why I went with $1600 Custom IEM’s from Plunge Audio.
Here are a few of the headphones I use as seen in the videos above:
And if you don’t want to lose your favourite things, tether a Tile to it and sleep easier at night.
