Sennheisers for Recording / Home playing?

[el murdoque]

Hi all,
since my SO and I currently have vastly different work schedules and I want to spend the time we got together with something else than playing bass, most of my practicing takes place when she's asleep. My barefaced rig is a bit loud for her preference, which is understandable. When playing at home, I don't really like to mess around with my IEMs, those are Shure 535s with custom molds. I keep them in their case and never let them lying around, so it's a bit of a hassle, plus the cable is not that long.
That's why my main headphone for home playing is a Sennheiser HD25 II. They stay connected to my mixer and hang on the back of my bass stand, so I just turn on the power, sit down, take the bass from the stand and pop on the phones, which is quite comfy, but the cable is acting up a bit and the fit of these never was perfect.
I'd like a larger pair.

The HD650 is something I liked a LOT when I tried them for listening music to, but I have no idea how they perform when playing bass - and they are an open design and I have no idea how much the outside world will participate in my bass playing. Are there other offers from Sennheiser I should consider? I have personal ties to that brand and would prefer to take their cans, unless something vastly superior exists at a much better price.

 

[DirtDog]

Sennheiser HD2xx would probably work well for you.

I use the HD600 (similar to the 650s) and yes, there’s lots of sound bleed. Probably not enough to disturb someone in the next room, though.

Another option is the A-T ATX50X. I’ve used these for tracking bass and listening for quite a few years. Not nearly as comfortable as the Senn HD600s though.

 

[el murdoque]

Sennheiser HD2xx would probably work well for you.

I use the HD600 (similar to the 650s) and yes, there’s lots of sound bleed. Probably not enough to disturb someone in the next room, though.

Another option is the A-T ATX50X. I’ve used these for tracking bass and listening for quite a few years. Not nearly as comfortable as the Senn HD600s though.

Do you use the HD600 for tracking bass ? Does it work for that?

 

[DirtDog]

Do you use the HD600 for tracking bass ? Does it work for that?

My intended use case was for mixing, but they seem to be good for tracking and listening as well. I can wear them for hours at a time; the open back doesn’t seem to be an issue…

 

[Bob_Ross]

For years my main pair of headphones in the control room were the Sennheiser HD250 Linear II. Not sure if those are still available, but they sounded wonderful for bass, were accurate enough to mix with, easy to drive with nearly any headphone output, and were quite comfortable. The cable was long enough, but prone to becoming intermmittant; fortunately replacement cables were available both from Sennheiser and from some third-party companies who made a much more robust version.

 

[KeepItMoving]

Longtime HD650 owner here, and yeah, they work great for tracking bass. Very full and smooth, while also letting the rest of the mix come through. As @DirtDog notes, the open-back design of the 600/650s does result in some sound leakage but it shouldn't be much of an issue for the situation you're describing, and I wholeheartedly agree that they're very comfortable to wear for extended periods (with all the usual cautions about being careful with volume levels, taking ear breaks, etc.).

I can understand the appreciation for Sennheiser. They generally make very good stuff, including a bunch of their microphones. If you were on a tight budget I'd say the AKG K240s would be worth a look; for the price charged these days they're a great value, but the HD650s are in another league for detail, accuracy, smoothness, and comfort. I don't think you'd ever regret having them around.

 

[Ryan in PDX]

For practicing bass at night, I would choose almost entirely on comfort. If they're not going to leave the house or be used for critical listening, then durability and accuracy wouldn't be as important to me.

That said, I have been using my HD280s for ten years of tracking (including bass), late-nite mixing and bass practice, and even some general listening. They're decently comfortable for me, but your skull and earlobes may vary.

I wouldn't use an open-backed headphone for tracking with condensers, but that doesn't sound like an issue for you. The bleed won't be any louder than the level of your closed-back headphones if you were to remove them while playing. The acoustic sound of my solid-body bass guitars is louder than that.

Since you already like the HD650, they seems like a no-brainer if you've got the coin and don't need isolation. I've only demoed them in stores, but they were very comfy and sounded great.

 

[SteveCS]

I've had a pretty good run over the last 4 years with HD 280 PRO, which seem to work well in all applications - tracking, mastering and live monitoring (Jamulus). The bass response is particularly transparent with accurate pitch rendition.

 

[GreyBeard]

I use a pr of HD650's with an Ampeg preamp DI. I haven't had any complaints.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD518's that my wife bought for me after my fist set of Bose headphones died. They have great sound, are full over-the-ear headphones, and are light and comfortable, but they don't seem to reduce ambient sounds at all. I can easily hear any conversation in the area. AND, when I first got them and started listening to some songs I was considering playing, she would always raise her voice from the living room and say, "Dan, would you please put on your headphones?" I would tell here I have them on and she'd ask me to turn them down, which really meant, "wait until I go into the bedroom to listen to your music."

So I contacted Bose to see if they could fix my old headphones. They said no, but they gave me a real good price on a set of their AE2's which replaced . When those came in, I rolled up the cord and stuck them aside. The Bose had/have really good isolation and my wife can never hear any music coming out of them. So when you're looking at the various Sennheiser headphones, be sure to find out if that have good isolation or if you can easily hear ambient sounds when you're wearing them. Mine are nice headphones, but they are pretty useless to me in the small in-laws apartment where we live. Don't fall into that trap.

 

[brianrost]

I've also been happy for years with the HD 280 Pro.

 

[DirkP]

Happy HD650 user, but I have to say, I use them mainly for mixing. When playing bass, I prefer closed headphones. Maybe I just like a tighter fit, when I'm playing and moving around a bit. I use AKG Tiesto K267 for this purpose, but they aren't available anymore and were overpriced, but very comfortable and I like the different bass settings.

 

[Jogobass]

I got the HD 569. it's very loud with only 23 ohms. comes with a short cable for the phone or laptop and a long one for bigger equipment that's 3 meters long. they are closed back so you don't hear them on the outside. they kind of seal around the ears which makes them immersive imo. outside noise coming inis dimmed a lot as well.

 

[BAG]

My intended use case was for mixing, but they seem to be good for tracking and listening as well. I can wear them for hours at a time; the open back doesn’t seem to be an issue…

The problem with open backed or on-ear headphones as opposed to sealed over-ear sets is, if you are tracking vocals, acoustic guitar or any quieter instrument that requires a mic close to you, and you have playback or a click-track in your headphones you will most likely get bleed into the mic.

 

[NOVAX]

The problem with open backed or on-ear headphones as opposed to sealed over-ear sets is, if you are tracking vocals, acoustic guitar or any quieter instrument that requires a mic close to you, and you have playback or a click-track in your headphones you will most likely get bleed into the mic.

Oh yeah! That's rock n' roll baby!
Lil' bleed is whatcha need!

 

[ProdigalBassman]

Another option is the A-T ATX50X

I've gone crazy ordering and returning headphones lately! They sound good connected to my phone but once connected to the headphone jack of my Yamaha MG10XU mixer, or the headphone jack of either my Ibanez Promethean P300H or TC Elec RH450 heads, my bass licks have a buzz. I've made sure to keep the gain down well below the clipping threshold LED. I'm talking moderate volume here.

My daughter has the AT ATH-50XBT which are very highly rated but they too buzzed. I changed my bass cord, tested all 7 basses, active / passive - same thing.

Today I just received Phil Jones Bass headphones. They have the cleanest buzz free sound I've heard in headphones (under $200 , I can't speak about truly high end cans). BUT... The PJB cans are very light weight, have zero isolation, and use a modified 3.5mm audio connector in the headphones themselves !! The cable that comes with them must cost them $0.10. It is the cheapest cable I've encountered with headphones yet! I don't mind a cheap, standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable because I can replace it with another I already have. But where do you find a replacement cable for headphones that have, what? maybe 0.1% market share?

The search continues! I may have to shell out for V-Moda next.

Joe

 

[W_R]

To the OP’s price interest, I recently picked up a pair of these from drop.com
MASSDROP X SENNHEISER HD 6XX HEADPHONES

They sound good with my Line 6 Helix feeding them, guitar and bass. My first open back headphones, good so far, I don’t feel overly isolated from my environment with these and not much of the world intrudes in my case.

Reviews are easy to find. It’s an option to consider…

 

[DirkP]

To the OP’s price interest, I recently picked up a pair of these from drop.com
MASSDROP X SENNHEISER HD 6XX HEADPHONES

They sound good with my Line 6 Helix feeding them, guitar and bass. My first open back headphones, good so far, I don’t feel overly isolated from my environment with these and not much of the world intrudes in my case.

Reviews are easy to find. It’s an option to consider…

Got my HD650 from drop - former massdrop - too and can recommend it.

 

[promdates]

Anyone who has a pair of the HD6xx open backs, can you do a video of what it sounds like in the room when you use them? I've been worried about picking a pair up because my wife is usually in the same room as me.

 

[W_R]

Same room, it’s audible like a small radio… or like a cell phone that’s not on speakerphone with the volume on high or like a laptop on low volume.