Headphone Comparisons

Have you been confused trying to determine if you can mix or master your music using headphones? Having a great sounding room with great speakers may be way outside of your budget. Can you get good results with just headphones?

If you have had similar questions, you're not alone!

I have a good selection of reasonably priced headphones, both for music listening and more critical studio monitoring. But recently, I gained access to a pair of really high-end headphones designed expressly for studio work. I thought it would be interesting to compare them against my modest ones. This headphone, the Audeze MM-500, was developed based on the input from the well-known studio engineer, Manny Marroquin. Here is the link to the specs if you're interested: https://www.audeze.com/products/mm-500

To replicate the equipment that a typical home recordist might have, I used the following equipment to do the comparisons:

• Apple iMac computer

• Focusrite 18i20 Audio Interface

• Sterling Audio SHA-8 Headphone Amplifier

I compared the following sets of headphones:

• Audeze MM-500 ($1699)

• Sony MDR-7506 ($99)

• Bose Quiet Comfort Noise Cancelling ($349)

• AKG K52 ($69)

I chose the other headphones because I've seen them used frequently in a number of professional studios, or by people in their home studios. There was a HUGE range of price ranges and models to choose from, but I chose these models because they seemed to show up the most (except the Audeze!). I have personally used the Sony MDR-7506s for many years. While they aren't great for general listening, they do a great job while editing, doing rough mixes, or monitoring during a performance.

While it might not seem like a fair comparison based on price, I was more interested in the actual sound/performance differences, not how much they cost. Also, the Audeze are open-back, while the others were closed-back. That alone can make a huge difference, but I could only test what was available at the time.

I started the process by sending a 30-second loop of Pink Noise from Audacity, which was running on the iMac, to the Focusrite 18i20 interface. The Focusrite's Main balanced outputs were connected to the A-channel of the Sterling SHA-8. I used my iPhone 13 and the dB Meter app to set the sound level of each headphone to 90 dB measured 1/2 inch from the interior surface of each headphone. While too loud for my taste (and hearing safety!), 90 dB of Pink Noise gave an overall level of 80-85 dB on the music I used for testing.

While I could have used a calibrated measurement microphone, I thought it would be more appropriate to use a tool that most home recordists might own. For this type of test, the differences should be minimal.

Below are the frequency distributions for each of the headphones. The gray background behind each graph is the cumulative (peak) totals for the previous tests. The Audeze had the flattest overall response, so I started with that one. When looking at the subsequent charts, remember that if the red section is near the top of the gray background, it is probably the headphone that created that peak level.

Audeze MM-500	Sony MDR-7506	Bose Quiet Comfort	AKG K-52

As can be seen in the chart above, the Audeze headphones is smooth and fairly flat. There is a smooth roll-off on both the low and high frequencies. Also, there is an interesing 'plateau' in the 12kHz to 20kHz range, but my hearing up in that range is not very good, so I can't comment on it having any effect.

The MDR-7506s had a pronounced dip centered around 200 Hz and rolled-off more than the MM-500s at both ends of the spectrum.

The Bose had the most 'interesting' response curve with a pronounced peak around 1 kHz.

The K-52s had a small dip in the 150 Hz range, and a fairly sharp peak at 1 kHz, but overall, it had an even response curve.

Listening Test

Without changing the level used in the initial setup, I listened to a variety of source material in different genres. Some of the material came directly from a CD, others came from Apple Music, but I only used 'lossless' versions. My personal impressions and opinions are shown below. Warning: your impressions and opinions may vary!

Having mixed a couple of multitrack songs with the Audeze headphone over the past couple of days, to prevent familiarity bias, I started listening with the AKGs and randomly jumped around between the 4 sets. I looped the selections and compared the same sections on each headphone. The process was repeated on a number of different pieces of music. After going through the initial set of selections, it became clear that while the measured output of Pink Noise was consistent between the different headphones, my subjective volume responses were quite different. I then went back and evened out the subjective volumes, using only the headphone amp controls, and repeated the same listening tests. This prevented my natural response of thinking the louder version sounds better from swaying the results.

Listening Impressions

AKG K-52

While having a reasonably flat response, the AKG K-52s had a 'boxy' sound compared to the others. By itself, it was not that noticeable on most music, but in certain vocal sections, it was quite pronounced. The large, round earpads along with the large interior space around my ears probably had some affect on the boxiness.

There was also some resonances in the sibilance regions on a couple of the louder vocal passages. When I lowered the volume, these resonances dissappeared. The Sony's also had similar resonances in the same areas.

Bose Quiet Comfort

On their own, the Bose headphones are easy to listen to, and seem to have a well-balanced response. But when looking at the response graph, that is clearly not the case. Compared with the others, the Bose seemed dull, but even. They are easy to listen to for longer periods without causing ear fatique.

While not particularly detailed, which is not good for editing and mixing, they are pleasant to listen to. Sony MDR_7506

Each time I switched to these headphones, I was immediately struck by how bright and detailed they appeared compared to the others. However, the low-end was lacking. This corresponds well with the measured response curve.

As with the AKGs, there was a sharp resonance on certain vocals in the sibilance area. This was especially noticeable on Steely Dan's recording of Babylon Sisters.

In a way, these headphones are a bit like the Yamaha NS-10 studio monitors. They don't sound great overall, but they let you hear the things that are important while editing and mixing.

Audeze MM-500

These headphones are noticeably heavier than any of the others, but the headband and ear pads made them very comfortable. They are also open-back. This allows ambient room sounds to be easily heard. You need a quiet area to use open-backs! Overall, these headphones are very even and detailed throughout the spectrum. Even when driven harder than I would normally, they did not exhibit any noticeable side effects. While difficult to describe, these headphones sounded 'airy', but not 'thin'. While not exactly like listening to actual monitors in a well-treated room, they come pretty close.

Conclusion

In actual working situations, I had found that mixes done with headphones can be 'passable' if the person using them knows them quite well. But generally still some 'tweaking' in an actual studio environment.

I would not recommend the Bose Quiet Comfort for any sort of mixing or mastering, but they are nice for just listening to your favorite tunes.

The MDR-7506 will definitely get you started, but the results will need to be checked on real monitors and in other environments. You may also find them fatiguing and causing some external ear discomfort after only a short time.

While not sounding great, the AKG K52s (and its newer siblings) are definitely useable as monitoring headphones for musicians during the sessions. Their low cost makes them an easy choice if you need headphones for every member of the band.

The Audeze MM-500 is definitely a well-built, high-quality set of headphones. As I mentioned above, I did two full mixes with them and I'm very happy with the results. Should you invest in headphones that cost 17 times the cost of the MD-7506s? If you don't have the space for a well-treated room with quality studio monitors, then the MM-500s might be your solution.