Topic by Jake Johnson

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Topic: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

I noticed the new headphone posting after I had just looked back over previous posts about the same subject. Maybe it's wise to just ask which headphones are used by the developers, so we can all have an absolute reference point. Monitors may vary in the sound they give in different rooms, but with headphones, we should be able to expect consistency. So...

Which headphones are used by Modartt?
With a headphone amp? If so, what model?

Thanks for any information. (I do remember Niclas saying something about AKG, but I wonder if all of the developers still use this one brand...)

Last edited by Jake Johnson (17-11-2009 18:01)

Reply by Niclas Fogwall

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Hi Jake,

Yes, we still use AKG and also a few Sennheiser and Sony models. No headphone amps as far as I know.

www.modartt.com

Niclas Fogwall's Website

Reply by Glenn NK

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Fogwall wrote:

Hi Jake,

Yes, we still use AKG and also a few Sennheiser and Sony models. No headphone amps as far as I know.

Niclas:

Do you have a specific model that you'd recommend?

Glenn

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Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Some very recommendable headphones:

Sennheiser HD200 (closed, great for recording vocals)
Sennheiser HD555
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro
Most any Ultrasone or Grado.

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Reply by NeilCraig

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

I wouldn't recommend the Grado Supra-aural cans.  I had some GR80s and they were incredibly uncomfortable after even a few minutes, not to mention that the non-detatchable cable's insulation cracked through use and necessitated a rather unflattering repair.

Sennheiser (I use HD590s) > AKG > Beyer would be my preference.  I also have some AKG K1000s which look ridiculous but sound fantastic, provided what you're replaying is midrange-only.

Reply by Glenn NK

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

NeilCraig wrote:

I wouldn't recommend the Grado Supra-aural cans.  I had some GR80s and they were incredibly uncomfortable after even a few minutes, not to mention that the non-detatchable cable's insulation cracked through use and necessitated a rather unflattering repair.

Sennheiser (I use HD590s) > AKG > Beyer would be my preference.  I also have some AKG K1000s which look ridiculous but sound fantastic, provided what you're replaying is midrange-only.

Neil:

After reading your post, I realized I should have been more specific.  I have two Sennheisers (HD340 and HD570, the 340's being about 15 years old, the 570's about three or so).

The 340's are open and very comfortable (have worn them for more than four hours) while the 570's are closed and good for about 15 minutes - then off they come.

But I'm still very curious as to what Modartt use when developing Pianoteq.  I believe that what one hears depends as much on the system and one's ears than what fpx is being used.

Glenn

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Reply by sigasa

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

AKG K 240 headphones are used in most professional studios. There is now a MKII version of the same cans. Check them out guys!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-K240MK2-K-2...amp;sr=1-4

Last edited by sigasa (18-11-2009 19:21)

Reply by Glenn NK

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

sigasa wrote:

AKG K 240 headphones are used in most professional studios. There is now a MKII version of the same cans. Check them out guys!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-K240MK2-K-2...amp;sr=1-4

Thanks for the information.

I'll look into them.

Glenn

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Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Importation tax in my country is 60% now.    :-(

A top quality headphone, that cost 285 dolar in USA, costs about 1250 reals in stores of Brazil (720 dolars if re-converted after taxs shipping and profits of stores).

Reply by Niclas Fogwall

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Glenn NK wrote:

But I'm still very curious as to what Modartt use when developing Pianoteq.  I believe that what one hears depends as much on the system and one's ears than what fpx is being used.

Glenn

We have several AKG K 240 in our team for analysing piano sound. They can be regarded as our reference headphones because we use them quite often.

Other headphones we use:
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
Sennheiser PXC 450
Sennheiser HD 25
Sennheiser HD 600
Sony MDR 7506

www.modartt.com

Niclas Fogwall's Website

Reply by Glenn NK

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Fogwall wrote:
Glenn NK wrote:

But I'm still very curious as to what Modartt use when developing Pianoteq.  I believe that what one hears depends as much on the system and one's ears than what fpx is being used.

Glenn

We have several AKG K 240 in our team for analysing piano sound. They can be regarded as our reference headphones because we use them quite often.

Other headphones we use:
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
Sennheiser PXC 450
Sennheiser HD 25
Sennheiser HD 600
Sony MDR 7506

Niclas:

Thank you very much.

My "favourite" music store has some AKG K240 Mark II on order and are expecting them in a couple of weeks.  They have put my name on one of them.

The quoted price is $199.00 CAD (their website quotes $219.00).  I found them for $149 US on a website, but after one adds shipping and brokerage, it's not worth the hassle to order them online.

Glenn

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Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Try a experiment:

Get a really very cheap phone, like the ones used for chat, with mic included, and plug in a digital piano or good piano library or pianoteq.

You will notice the phone limitations more than anything, and also get more distortions and vibrations. You notice much more than just listening usual music, or playing games...
Piano have the greater tessitura (sound range) among instruments, deep bass to deep trebble, and also strong sounds.

If you want to text a phone, even than you do not play piano, a digital piano is the best way. A low quality phone we always fail, to trebble or for bass, since they can't get both right.

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

I just got a idea for a adjust to help enhance phones sound quality.

Just a simple left right seletive adjust. We would be able to adjust bass and trebble selectively, for left or right phone-speaker.

For example if your speaker it's very good for trebble, but leaft you to desire in the bass, you would increase the bass signal just for the left phone-speaker. Or increase the trebble in the right phone-speaker if you headone left to desire in the trebles.

Just as a saimple option in the binaural interface window.

Perhaps this could be applied even for sub-standard stereo speakers too, but just for stereo mode option.

Last edited by Beto-Music (22-11-2009 22:31)

Reply by Michael H

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

As far as the AKG K240 headphones, I'm wondering if the K240S ($99US on Amazon.com) would have similar sound characteristics to the MkII model. Can anyone comment on that?

Thanks,
Michael

Reply by Glenn NK

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Michael:

Probably the best source for headphone information is:

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/

If you snoop around, you can find output charts of the 'phones.

Glenn

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Reply by Michael H

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Glenn,

Thanks. I looked where you recommended and saw charts for the K240 MkII, but not for the K240S, so I'll probably need to search elsewhere.

Since they're basically the same model, I would think that specs are similar, but there has to be a reason that they're less expensive also.

Regards,
Michael

Last edited by Michael H (20-05-2010 17:05)

Reply by etalmor

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Just ordered the K240S after reading this thread. Didn't investigate the difference between the S model and the mkII, but I guess it will be good enough for my modest needs.

Thanks guys for the info.

M-Audio Profire 610 / Roland Fp-3 / Reaper / PianoTeq!
www.myspace.com/etalmor

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Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

I bought Beyers DT-880 Pro half a year ago and I couldn't be happier. Nothing else really compares, except 3-4 times more expensive Senn HD800!

Hard work and guts!

Reply by Bluebeep

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Re: What headphones are used by Modarrt?

Headphones generally make the low-mids and reverbs stand out.

Here's an article that describes the topic:
http://www.rhythmic.ca/music-tutorials/...hones.html

There's something on the same site about Crosstalk as well. So you'd have a Stereo Imaging problem with headphones if sounds are stereo pan effected.

I'm curious now... Does Modarrt solely use headphones? What's the process of defining a standard Piano sound?

Last edited by Bluebeep (12-04-2012 21:38)