Mastering headphones - trying to decide between two and would value some opinions

[moid]

Hi everyone

Last week my AKG K99 headphones died; I have been using them for 15 years and despite my best attempts with a soldering iron and new cables one of the speaker drivers is dead and AKG do not sell replacements anymore So I need some headphones to enable me to check my recordings.

I have been looking at two possible replacements but don’t have access to a shop where I could try either of them and can’t really afford to make a mistake when buying them… I am having to wait until I get paid just to think about buying anything! So if any of you have experience with the below headphones I would love to hear what you thought of them. I am looking for headphones that do not colour the sound - just let me hear things as clearly as possible.

I am considering the Beyer Dynamic DT 990 Pro or the Sony MDR 7506. I can’t spend more than the Beyer; I am aware that there are more expensive solutions but that’s the absolute top end I can afford right now. Both seem to have excellent reviews but looking at the frequency responses both have areas that make me slightly worried - the Sony headphones appear to have a strong bass boost, while the Beyer ones have a weird dip in some of the mid high frequencies

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/revie ... dt-990-pro

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sony/mdr-7506

I am mentioning this because I have a lot of hearing loss and have to wear hearing aids, so I have a neutral setting on them to help me with music and need to make sure the headphones I have are as neutral as possible. Thanks for your advice!

[dubkitty]

the Sonys are considered the gold standard for recording studios. i’ve used them or their equivalent for decades, and recommend them with my whole voice.

[Blackened Soul]

I’ve also used the sonys and liked them.. currently using Ollo audio

[moid]

the Sonys are considered the gold standard for recording studios. i’ve used them or their equivalent for decades, and recommend them with my whole voice.

Brilliant thanks dubkitty; they happen to be cheaper than the beyer ones so that really helps!

[moid]

I’ve also used the sonys and liked them.. currently using Ollo audio

Thank you Blackened Soul, two good reviews means I will buy the Sony headphones. I looked at the Ollo ones and… ouch! I think I will have to politely decline them (they do look cool though)

[moid]

Thanks both of you for the recommendation. Got the headphones yesterday and they seem great! The only downside is I think I can now hear odd bits of quiet distortion in some previously mixed tracks that I couldn’t hear before… so that means they are working well! I’ve been using them today to work on a soundtrack to one of my students’ animations… and they really show up the difference between some of the low quality sound effects and the better quality ones, so much so that I may have to change more audio than I thought!