Monitoring / Mixing Headphones, Shure Srh840 Or Audio Technica Athm50

General Discussion
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heya one and all. i have finally managed to squeeze out a few bucks that i can use to get some better 'phones for monitoring / mixing.

after lots of reading and garnering of recommendations i’ve narrowed my choice down to the Shure SRH840’s or the Audio Technica ATHM50’s.

unfortunately i live way out in the sticks and don’t know if i’ll be able to wangle a trip to somewhere civillised to listen to both anytime soon, so, can anyone here comment knowledgeably on either of these sets of 'phones?

oh, and before the “you need to spend at least a squillion bucks on some…” or “for just blah hundreds more you should get…”, thanks, i know. there are good reasons i’m not gonna go into here why my budget for this (and in general) is so limited (these are both in the AU 200 to 250 range), and either of those 'phones will be a big step up from what i’m using now.

of course my next step is to scrape together twice as much or so for some small studio monitors, but it’ll likely take ages before i can line up to be told what a deluded cheap-ass i am for only spending that much on those. :D

anyhoo thanks in advance for any replies. ;)

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/me updates me. i’ve also put this query on kvr in case it’s a bit too specific for the smaller community here…

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Best forum I’ve found for headphones and portable audio gear.

Not personally had experience of either of those cans. Their price seems very similar to the Sennheiser HD-25, which is my preferred headphones for most use and as you’re looking at rugged style headphones I guess you mean DJing by mixing, which they are pretty much the industry standard for. The Sennheiser HD280Pro also seems to get good words said about it for around that level home use mastering/mixing purposes…

Frequency response of all 4 mentioned.
Clicky linky
(For some bizarre reason seems .png images aren’t allowed on this board. Why?)

From the very useful site: http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php

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thanks for the reply kazakore, no i meant home studio by mixing and both those pairs supposed to be pretty decent flat response. they’re both closed because i need that to cut out the sound of the tv in the other room sometimes while i’m doing my thing in here…

i know of the hd-25’s aren’t they fairly bass heavy more for dj-ing? anyway, i’ll check out the links thnx.

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hmm, reading on that site, and generating some pretty graphs including a few other pairs of cans i was considering, the ATHM50’s really seem like the way to go for bang for my buck for my purpose and price point.

thanks for the link i hadn’t stumbled across that site. ;)

i’ll do some more research and opinnion seeking, but i think those audio technica’s are looking good for what i have in mind.

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the M50’s are really good and I recommend them BUT I do want to point out that they are enclosed (I think thats the proper word). having closed headphones is really good if you record vocals for example, or if you dont wanna disturb your sleeping spouse. however, this gets more tiresome for the ears cause the press harder against your head, can get kinda uncomfortable after a while. and they dont give the same stereo image as headphones that are “open”. the shure I see are also enclosed so they will have the same “issue”. I myself own the M50s and while I like them, I would like to have another pair.

maybe check these out, everyone has them it seems

these are the semi-open ones I think, there is a model that is fully open aswell.

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woops didnt catch that, wrote my reply in kind of a hurry, sorry. but I still feel I should adress that they can sit very tightly around your head.

one great thing about them though is that you can rotate and twist the phones around, which is great if youre dj’ing.

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the uadio technica is a bit boomy in the bass and not that much accurate. it’s really good for dynamic though

the shure is for me the best for the buck you can can get now. and if you make electronic music it go really low without being boomy like the athm 50

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I have the sennheiser hd25 cans. Originally bought for DJing 10 years ago they also work great and are what I use all the time for production. Sound is nice and clear with a balanced response, not overly bassy. The pro Sony DJ headphones that were around at the time were too bassy and not so clear, never liked them. Only downside to the sennheisers is that they are uncomfortable if you are wearing them for a long time.

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thanks thanatos, some comments from folks who’d used both was definitely what i was after if possible. i’ve been told this same thing by a few people now, so now i’m leaning heavily toward the shures since i definitely want generally “accurate”, and good but not boomy or enhanced bass.

wish somewhere i could get to easily had both pairs so i could do an a/b, but several recommendations and quite a few reviews giving the shures the same adavntage will probably help me decide now.

i don’t think i’ll be dissapointed in any case, especially compared to what i’ve been using. :)

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i never own any of those but i’ve tried tested them into some store with tune i know pretty well. i own for now the beyerdynamic DT880 and will probably change soon for the shure 840 or even (if i get the money) 940 that is even better