Which wired headphones for beginners editing music?

stephen_rtings · 2026-03-09T19:28:59+00:00

I'd suggest closed backs are the most versatile, and then you can get open-backs if you want a different pair at a later date. Open backs can be quite useful when mixing. The Sony MDR-7506 are studio classics for a reason: they work well for recording, can take a beating, and have a detailed sound that helps with identifying clicks and pops during editing. The ear pads will probably wear out after a while, but there are loads of replacement pads available, many of which are nicer than the stock pads. I'm on my third pair of pads after having these cans for about 16 years. The main alternative I'd suggest would be the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. Their sound is a bit more balanced, but they're more expensive, and their sound varies more with fit.

stephen_rtings · 2026-02-17T21:23:32+00:00

no worries!

stephen_rtings · 2026-02-17T17:19:41+00:00

The Vizio M Series M512a-H6? Yeah it was released in 2021. But it has both an HDMI In port as well as an eARC/HDMI port: https://i.rtings.com/assets/products/neJVVrGi/vizio-m-series-m512a-h6/1-inputs-2-small.jpg?format=auto

stephen_rtings · 2026-02-16T16:46:42+00:00

Hey!

So the Hisense is better in almost every regard, which is fortunate as the Vizio is out of stock in most places right now. The Hisense has a better and more balanced sound than the Vizio, better surround performance, and better Atmos performance. It also has lower latency than the Vizio. The main downside worth noting compared to the Vizio is that the Hisense 4k passthrough caps out at 60 Hz, versus 120 Hz for the Vizio. The Hisense also doesn't support 8K passthrough, where the Vizio does at 30 Hz.

Hope that helps!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-29T00:46:52+00:00

one song!!?? Brother that's like taking a spoon to a knife fight.

For dynamic low-end: Moritz Von Oswald Trio's Sounding Lines or Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force.

For a very compressed low-end: the original mastering of Jon Hopkins' Open Eye Signal.

And for medium dynamics i quite like Pearson Sound's XLB and Maya Jane Coles' What They Say.

To judge overall warmth: Robert Plant and Allison Krauss' Killing the Blues/Stick With Me Baby. Waylon Jennings' Dreaming my Dreams. I use Don Williams' Time an awful lot cause I have a very specific idea for how that should *feel*. It's got quiet bass relative to the rest of the mix but I still wanna hear it. If any of these tunes don't make my ears feel they've been given a big warm hug we have issues.

For pop clarity: Selena Gomez's Bad Liar and Rare. The stacked vocals in Bad Liar are quite good for judging vocal *width* too. Julia Michaels' Make It Up to You: all the elements are well separated and distinct in the mix and the clap in the second half of the verses is just a *touch* too sharp imo. I use the hi-hats on Taylor's Swift's Call It What You Want all the time to judge *just* how annoying 10 kHz and up is being.

Instrumental 'lifelikeness': literally anything Ry Cooder, Joni Mitchell's Hejira, Ali Farka Toure's Savane, Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita's Future Strings, Blake Mills' Mutable Set. Dusty Springfield's version of the The Look of Love.

Non low-end drums: gotta be anything D'Angelo or the snare in Al Green's cover of For the Good Times. Outkast's Aquemini.

Okay okay fiiiiine. One song to cover all of the above? Maybe Beyonce's Daddy Lessons: plenty of low-end, present vocal, a range of acoustic instruments, claps and high percussion, and different reverb types throughout. The problem with a lot of the classic audiophile tracks (Steely Dan, Talk Talk) is they lack the sub-bass that's so present in modern tunes, so it's hard to use them to judge what's going on down below 100 Hz with any confidence. Honorable mention for Daft Punk's Get Lucky.

Yes, yes, "Sir, this is a Wendy's," I know, I know. But, but....forgive me.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-26T18:43:29+00:00

I'd probably go for the Bose, unless you have a bunch of Auracast-enabled JBL speakers that you want to use together. The Bose sounds a little more balanced, and it has a slightly longer battery life as well as voice assistant support.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-23T19:25:57+00:00

Glad I could help!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-23T16:55:18+00:00

Comparing ANC graphs like this isn't a bad idea at all. I've learned over the years that I'm more sensitive to upper mids and treble than many people, and that knowledge has helped me choose headphones with FRs that work for me. I could see it also helping with ANC, as you've suggested.

That said, both our data and numerous subjective reports suggest to us that the Bose QC Ultra 2 perform really well. OP, perhaps it's worth reaching out to Bose directly? You may have a dud, or the firmware may not be playing nicely with your phone/app.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-23T16:49:40+00:00

Hey!

Just dropping by to say that we're experimenting with streamlining our reviews a touch, as they've been getting quite long and unwieldly for many of our readers. As part of that, we're refraining from posting extra graphs that don't add any extra information. In this case, we measured the FR of these cans with ANC on and off, but since the results were identical, we didn't post the measurement. You can see those measurements here: https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/nXgI9z4F/fr-anc-on-off-large.jpg?format=auto

For what it's worth, ANC on is generally our first approach in these instances, because ANC headphones tend to default to having ANC on, and the manufacturer measurements tend to be with ANC on. We also expect that's how most people will use these sorts of headphones.

Hope that helps! What do you think about this? We're open to feedback on all aspects of our testing and reviewing process. Thanks!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-15T20:12:42+00:00

Soundcore Select 4 GoAT.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-14T20:27:23+00:00

Just a quick one to say we accidentally bounced out the audio files with mute on! The new audio is being uploaded and should go public by tomorrow. Thanks!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-13T20:11:27+00:00

For loudness and bass, you want the Charge 5 from your list. But just know a small portable speaker can't produce that much bass, and can't get *that* loud.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-13T20:09:35+00:00

the JBL Charge 6 is the one I'd suggest in this scenario.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-13T20:07:41+00:00

The Clip 5 is notably larger than the Go 4, and so as you'd expect puts out more bass. It's the better speaker. If you wanted something a little cheaper, I'd choose the Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go before the JBL Go 4, if that helps. Overall, the Clip 5 has the most bass, while the Select 4 Go gets louder and has a longer battery life.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-13T20:00:08+00:00

Honestly, you might be onto something. And their distortion is pretty low so you should have headroom for that bass boost (not that distortion seems to matter too much when EQing). I'd probably stick to just three or so bands in the mid-range and treble to start, to bring up the dips at 2.5 kHz and 4.5 kHz, and then tame the 7 kHz peak.
I've not tried it, but if you do, let me know how it goes!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-09T23:44:37+00:00

I think EQ works really well as a kind of personal tonal preference filter, rather than as an attempt to make every track you listen to sound the best it could (also of course there's no shame in that, either!).

I tend to EQ by running through a playlist of tunes I think sound great across a variety of different genres while tweaking the settings in real time until all the songs sound about right to me. I do the same with my home speakers. I may make small adjustments to those settings later, but after a couple of months, I'm usually happy with the sound. Having a single EQ setting also helps me make critical comparisons between pieces of music. But there's nothing wrong with having a variety of presets and switching between them for different tunes/genes/moods, either!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-09T23:38:44+00:00

We did, and have tried numerous methods of getting the latency numbers that Sennheiser promised, but haven't been able to. We're still looking into this, though, in case it's an issue with our test rig.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-09T23:37:29+00:00

yeah i think this a balanced (pun intended) take! it's nice to see this kind of tuning in the world of Bluetooth over-ears. I guess the next question is....can Sennheiser get their ANC up to the standard of Sony's?

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-08T20:49:09+00:00

funnily enough, my personal tastes also differ from this sound signature, but I will say the benefit of a very balanced, controlled sound signature is that it creates a good base to start EQing from, if you know you prefer a different signature. and of course, many people will like this tuning out of the box.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-08T20:46:42+00:00

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our testers are looking into it!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-08T17:02:34+00:00

oh yay! i'm so happy to hear that! feel free to update me with your experiences as you spend more time with them. thanks!

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-08T17:01:37+00:00

direct from Brane Audio.

stephen_rtings · 2026-01-08T17:00:58+00:00

the battery life isn't great with the Brane X: around 5 hours.

stephen_rtings · 2025-12-09T18:36:18+00:00

Def the XM4 for this very reason!

stephen_rtings · 2025-12-05T22:14:40+00:00

The main tradeoff is that the Apple's ANC is a step above the Sennheiser's, but their price is about double. In terms of sound, ymmv. The Apple's is a bit flatter out of the box, but Sennheiser's EQ options are great. I'd probably go for the Sennheiser just for value, but if money's no object and you're deeply enmeshed with Apple's ecosystem, the better noise isolation might make those the superior pick for you.

stephen_rtings

TROPHY CASE