paulears
Veteran
The words professional make me squirm sometimes. I have no issue with professional meaning we do it for a job, or meaning we do a quality of work worthy of being professional, or even behaving in a professional manner, but it seems that professional equipment is sometimes a bit different.
DeWalt make professional power tools. They are well built, reliable and expensive, not something an amateur is likely to buy unless they want/need the same features a 'professional does'. So that would seem to be the qualification for a power tool. However, many professionals also buy budget, cheap equipment, grind it into the ground, scrap it, then buy another. So would that make the cheap one not a professional tool, but an amateur one? My son, buys - as do his friends, Dr Dre Beats headphones. They are tough, reliable, have replaceable parts, neat features such as 3.5mm plugs on both ends of the cable, so you can replace the lead when it gets damaged. These things cost far more than some so called pro headphones. HD25s - often praised as professional headphones started life as a consumer product, and only became 'professional' because many pros liked the sound, the style and the weight.
I never use a product because it's professional, I use them if they allow me to do my job properly. I'd like to think that after all my years of using all sorts of headphones I could determine for myself if they sound accurate. Every time we make an eq decision, it requires us to have ears. So you stick on the headphones and listen to something you know well. If they reveal things you didn't hear before, like the Led Zepplin, then this for my money says they are accurate and perfectly suitable for a professional to use.
There's so much snobbery about video and audio that says X brand is not a professional product, but Y is. Sometimes the reasons are very important, but here we're talking about what they sound like. It's very nice to have a professional say they sound good too - but headphones and loudspeaker monitoring are so much a personal preference. Rick says he has never been impressed with the 280s, but I love them, yet I never got on with the Sonys.
I also firmly believe that with practice you can learn to monitor on speakers or headphones that are not ideal - but normally, you just find something that suit your hearing and lets you hear what you need to hear with a colour that you like.
I wear Beyer DT100s/108 and 109 headphones all the time and can easily adjust to that kind of sound. what I have never done is adjust to the unpleasant feeling you get wearing them when you find your ears sweat so much they go red!
Those Dr Dre Beats are to my ears not that special - but I've noticed younger people have no problems using them for professional audio - because they do what they need them to do.
DeWalt make professional power tools. They are well built, reliable and expensive, not something an amateur is likely to buy unless they want/need the same features a 'professional does'. So that would seem to be the qualification for a power tool. However, many professionals also buy budget, cheap equipment, grind it into the ground, scrap it, then buy another. So would that make the cheap one not a professional tool, but an amateur one? My son, buys - as do his friends, Dr Dre Beats headphones. They are tough, reliable, have replaceable parts, neat features such as 3.5mm plugs on both ends of the cable, so you can replace the lead when it gets damaged. These things cost far more than some so called pro headphones. HD25s - often praised as professional headphones started life as a consumer product, and only became 'professional' because many pros liked the sound, the style and the weight.
I never use a product because it's professional, I use them if they allow me to do my job properly. I'd like to think that after all my years of using all sorts of headphones I could determine for myself if they sound accurate. Every time we make an eq decision, it requires us to have ears. So you stick on the headphones and listen to something you know well. If they reveal things you didn't hear before, like the Led Zepplin, then this for my money says they are accurate and perfectly suitable for a professional to use.
There's so much snobbery about video and audio that says X brand is not a professional product, but Y is. Sometimes the reasons are very important, but here we're talking about what they sound like. It's very nice to have a professional say they sound good too - but headphones and loudspeaker monitoring are so much a personal preference. Rick says he has never been impressed with the 280s, but I love them, yet I never got on with the Sonys.
I also firmly believe that with practice you can learn to monitor on speakers or headphones that are not ideal - but normally, you just find something that suit your hearing and lets you hear what you need to hear with a colour that you like.
I wear Beyer DT100s/108 and 109 headphones all the time and can easily adjust to that kind of sound. what I have never done is adjust to the unpleasant feeling you get wearing them when you find your ears sweat so much they go red!
Those Dr Dre Beats are to my ears not that special - but I've noticed younger people have no problems using them for professional audio - because they do what they need them to do.
Very very true!