Which Sony headphones are actually the top choice for professional studio mixing and monitoring right now? I'm finally getting my home setup in Chicago together and need something for serious critical listening since my room acoustics are pretty garbage at the moment.
I did some digging and everyone keeps pointing to the MDR-7506 as the gold standard but then I read a bunch of reviews saying they have this annoying peak in the highs that makes your ears tired after like an hour of mixing. I also saw the MDR-MV1s getting a lot of hype for being super comfortable and good for spatial audio but they're open-back so I'm worried they're gonna leak sound like crazy if I try to track vocals with them.
My budget is around $400 and I need to make a decision by next week before I start on a local band's EP. Is it worth stepping up to something like the MDR-M1 or even trying to find those Japanese MDR-CD900ST imports people talk about? I just need something honest that wont hide mistakes in the mids or blow out my eardrums with fake treble...
I've been at this for years and I'm honestly super happy with the Sony MDR-M1 Professional Closed-Back Monitor Headphones. I used them for a 12-hour mixing marathon last month and they were a dream compared to my old gear.
> I'm worried they're gonna leak sound like crazy if I try to track vocals with them. Yeah, open-backs are a nightmare for tracking, honestly. Ive been satisfied with my closed-back setup for years because of that exact issue. Are you looking for a single do-it-all pair for the whole project, or would you consider splitting the budget so tracking wont be an issue? Also, what kind of interface are you driving these with?