Looking for headphone recommendations

[Sir_Shreddington]

I've been using AT ATH-M50 for over a decade, and I'm pretty satisfied with them. They are pretty flat sounding and will get you a decent enough representation how your project will sound outside of your DAW without really breaking the bank.

 

[c7spheres]

I second the ATH-M50's . I have the origianl cord attached pair. They are as others have described here. The fake leather does flake off after much use. Took about 5 yearsfor mine to start flaking off, but it's an easy fix. I just wrapped a piece of fake lather around the headband with some foam blocks inside. Now they fit real tight and I can almost head bang with them without falling off. The ear pads can be replaced easy too
- They will make mixes slightly bass heavy but once you learn their energy/push it's all good. Inexpensive in comparison to others and really good sounding for all types of listening. They can pump and get loud too if wanted. After about 10 years one of my drivers is showing signs of blowing out but that's my fault for pushing bass too hard doing the eq sweep thing. They are great and hard to go wrong with them. Anything you get will have a learning curve. There's eq curves out there for all types of headphones to try making them more flat, and they work a little but I'd recommend with any pair to just maybe look at the eq offsets you can find with those frequencies in mind but don't apply them to any mix buss. Just learn them and do a bunch of mixes to get familiar with them so yo udon't have that perma curve on everythingis better, imo.

 

[Frostbite]

If you want IEMs, Truthear Hexa. Slightly bright with a little sub bass. Helps show spicy treble. Useful as a one of many kind of collection.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Maybe something like the Sennheiser HD6xx? I watched some Buster Odeholm mix videos and noticed he was wearing some Sennheiser HD6 series, I believe it was the HD600 or HD660S. The HD6xx would be a good budget version of those headphones.

The HD6xx is flatter sounding than the 600 or 660 from what I saw on the Sonarworks charts. I personally love my HD6xxs. They're very comfy and pretty durable (mine are constantly getting banged around or dropped). The only thing is that I had to buy a replacement cable for them after about 2 years. Not a huge deal since I use them everyday.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Have found myself looking for a pair of open-backs just to try something different

Open-back headphones will tend to sound more natural, open, dynamic and detailed. Closed-back headphones tend to have punchier, beefier bass. Obviously closed-back headphones are better for noise cancelling and are less disruptive to others (i.e. more suitable for using on public transport or in an office, which is probably why they have become fairly standard).
^Just adding this to the general discussion, rather than assuming this is news to you.

I currently use open-back Grado headphones. They are far superior to the closed-back Beyerdynamics that they replaced (can't remember the model, but the Beyerdynamics were definitely lower-end than Drew's DT770s).
I've only purchased headphones on the basis of what sounds good for listening to music, so have never worried about how flat they sound. I can't explain why, but I really dislike playing guitar through headphones - so much so that I'd rather use a modelling amp turned way down, when playing late at night.