It's a frequency response graph for the HD280pros. You know, your favorite headphones. I can see the reasons why I never liked them for mixing but for general listening they're pretty fantastic. That little dip/spike/dip at 100hz always makes my mixes come out boomy. http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompar ... =0&graphID[]=533

Copy and paste it, it won't come out properly.

Found it here: http://www.headphone.com

They're definitely shy in the low mids, comparatively, and that's somewhere I'm always fighting with in my mixes. The speakers I generally monitor on are definitely more present there, so it's been interesting trying to find a balance between the two.

I'm currently listening on AKG K240s and... they sound totally different, I'll put it that way. Definitely more low mid content.

I used to use them to reference whenever I was mixing on my Logitech Z-2300s, which compared to just about anything, had NO low mids. They helped a bit in that regard.


Nowadays, with the HSM80s I'm using for monitoring these days, the HD280Pros are a bit shy in that area, comparatively. The HD280s are a touch more detailed than the Yamahas, though. That's a huge plus for them.

I'm re-reading this and I found it interesting that the Sennheiser cans are more detailed than the Yamahas... I've heard nothing but good things about the HSM80s- and not that I think this reflects poorly on them, as the Sennheisers are very detailed!- I just find it interesting how they compare. I've strongly considered the HSM80s when my gear budget wasn't so prioritized.

I've found it's easy to make a boomy, bassy mix on the HD280Pros because of the low end response. It's smoother across the lows than most; yeah, there's the low-mid dip to be aware of and compensate for, but there's no bass hype or distortion either. Just loads of clear bass down looooooooow, which is a favorite trait of theirs to me. My initial impression many years ago was that they were lacking in bottom end. Until I put on stuff where I had difficulty making out detail in the bass on a normal system, or records that had megabassybass... and realized exactly what the bass was doing, all the way down.

They're great for that, and the isolation during tracking- especially vocals and acoustic guitars- is fantastic. The soundstage is narrow compared to an open 'phone, and they are very... clinical sounding. But they're a tool with a purpose. I'm also the sort of sick bastard who likes listening on flat-ish, neutral sounding systems for... just regular listening. I remember looking up my Polks some time ago and discovering something similar about them, though kinda the reverse of the low-mid thing. ('Course, I run a sub with them most of the time, which compensates somewhat, with the crossover.)

The highs on the HSM80s are more detailed, but the midrange isn't. Not that the HSM80s aren't detailed in that range, the HD280pros are just a little almost negligible bit more detailed in that area. The low end on the HD280pros and the HSM80s are comparable, but the HSM80s have more of it.