Audio-Technica Professional Professional Over-Ear Headphones ATH-R70x

Several months ago I bought a pair of the ATH-R70x headphones because I was going to spend 2 months traveling India and I wanted to be able to mix while I was traveling without dragging my Genelec 8020s all over the country. The clarity and frequency response of these headphones is incredible. They are so comfortable that I can spend 3-8 hours mixing music without getting any symptoms of ear fatigue. I initially thought when I opened them up and held them for the first time that they were going to break because the swivel joints looked so frail - but lo and behold they are constructed of such strong and light materials that after 2 months of deserts, dangerous bus rides, and other perils they are the same now as they were when I bought them - so the build quality is top notch. There are only 2 things buyers need to be aware of when purchasing a pair of ATH-R70x headphones: 1) The ohm impedance is such that these headphones are quiet if you are just plugging them into your laptop's headphone jack and if you are somewhere with some ambient noise (like a cafe) they may be too quiet to work with so you'll want have some kind of audio interface or DAC that will amplify them to a more appropriate level (and no, putting a utility on your master channel and cranking it isn't going to give you the clarity you need with the amplification you've achieved - use a sound card or a DAC). 2) These need to be used with Sonarworks Reference 4 to "truly" achieve a flat frequency response. Before I used Reference 4 I was finding that when I would mix on the R70x's and then check them on the Genelecs the high frequencies would be too harsh and the low end would be lacking - after mixing with Reference 4 I have no problems when I jump on the Genelecs - everything sounds as good on the Genelecs as they do on the R70x's! Long story short: These are great, I recommend them to everyone who needs to do critical mixing on the road. These will last a LONG time and oh my, they sound great

I tested about 8 sets of 'phones in the $400-1000 range (see image), including AKG, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Fancy Planars, etc. and selected these based on a mix of best sound and most comfortable. I use correction filter software (Sonarworks), and these also needed the least tuning of all. My only negative is the cable and plugs, which are difficult to replace. If you want open-backs, these are them.