— A Manifesto
Everything
mixing on
headphones.
They told us it could not be done — that professional mixing belonged to monitors, treated rooms, six-figure studios. Three billion streams later, we have a different story to tell.
Filed by
Emrah Celik
Multi award-winning mix & mastering engineer
Paul Third
Audio researcher, co-host
The Cover Story
33
Episode No.
Does this prove that closed-back headphones are useless for mixing?
An obsessive, 21-minute investigation. We put five flagship closed-backs through the only test that matters: do they translate? The results were not what we expected — and they may change how you think about your studio.
In This Issue
From the archive.
Headphones · 48 min
Are Audeze headphones overhyped & overpriced for mixing?
DACs & Amps · 35 min
Topping DX5ii: the budget DAC/amp that crushes the $4000 Lynx Hilo 2.
Headphones · 1 hr 02 min
The ultimate Hifiman tier list for mixing on headphones.
DACs & Amps · 23 min
FIIO K19: the endgame DAC/amp for mixing & mastering.
Plugins · 33 min
Can you really mix & master professionally on Slate VSX?
Essay
Why headphones,
and why now.
Eighty-seven percent of music listeners consume audio through headphones. If the overwhelming majority of your audience will hear your work through cans, it makes sense to mix where they listen. But the case goes far beyond audience habits.
Studio monitors are only as good as the room they sit in. A pair of $3,000 monitors in an untreated bedroom will lie to you in ways that no amount of experience can fully compensate for. Headphones eliminate the room entirely. The sweet spot is always at your ears.
There is also the matter of cost. A complete professional headphone rig — flagship cans, a clean DAC, a powerful amp, the right calibration — runs a fraction of acoustically treated monitoring. And it travels.
The science is settled. The gear is here. What is missing is honest, careful guidance. That is what we publish, every week.
The Byline
Two engineers, one obsession.
Emrah Celik
Mix & Mastering Engineer
Multi award-winning. Three billion streams. Roughly 95% of his catalogue mixed on headphones, often from the smallest of rooms.
Paul Third
Audio Researcher · Co-host
Audio enthusiast turned researcher. Obsessed with target curves, transducer physics, and the science of how headphones translate.
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