It’s not just about avoiding angering your neighbors (or significant other) with late-night tracking, mastering, or mixing. Quality headphones for your studio efforts are a must-have. Here are 10 solid options between $100 and $300.
ATH-M50x
These headphones have contoured earcups for superior sound isolation and minimal bleed, and feature durable yet comfortable materials for long sessions in the studio.
HD 300 PROtect
Featuring highly sensitive transducers and precision diaphragms, these headphones also offer Active Gard technology to protect hearing from sound pressure levels above 110 dB.
DT 770 Pro
Intended for critical sound monitoring, these headphones were designed to provide a neutral listening environment with excellent isolation and impulse response.
SRH1440
Designed for mastering and critical listening, these professional open-back headphones are reported to provide full-range audio with detailed highs and rich bass.
K702
These reference studio headphones boast accurate response and spaciousness, which is achieved through their flat-wire voice coils and a patented Varimotion two-layer diaphragm.
MDR-7510
Offering high power handling capability, neodymium magnets, and oxygen-free-copper voice coils, these headphones utilize polyethylene terephthalate diaphragms for their 50 mm drivers.
Listen Professional
The design goal of these music-production headphones is to keep all the dynamics from an original track, while accurately reproducing every detail on the entire audio spectrum.
MPH-4
These monitoring headphones provide an over-ear, noise-isolating design, and feature 50 mm drivers with extended frequency response as well as plush ear cushions for extended comfort.
T60RP
Featuring Fostex’s proprietary Regular Phase technology diaphragms for high accuracy in monitoring, these headphones also offer mahogany housings and low-repulsion ear pads.
DL4 MkII Delay Stompbox Modeler Special Edition 25th Anniversary Silver
Delivering legendary delays, the green DL4TM modeler has been ubiquitous on pedalboards worldwide since launching in 1999. Designed to continue inspiring creativity, the limited and collectable 25th Anniversary DL4 MkII, in a special edition silver, boasts all the same powerful features as the DL4 MkII, but also comes with a hand-numbered label, a keychain, and a DL4 MkII product sticker.
Not only is it more compact than the original DL4, it offers 15 legacy and 15 new delay effects drawn from the HX® family of amp and effects processors, plus bonus reverbs, all derived from the latest Line 6 sound design labs. Looping, SD card expansion and a host of I/O options aim to carry the DL4 legacy forward.
For over five decades, audiences worldwide have marveled at Baxter’s inimitable and instantly recognizable guitar playing and generational songcraft. His output spans classic records as a founding member of Steely Dan and member of the Doobie Brothers in addition to hundreds of recordings with the likes of Donna Summer, Cher, Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, and many more. During 2022, he initially unveiled Speed of Heat, showcasing yet another side of his creative identity and introducing himself as a solo artist.
On the Storytellers Edition, his fascinating commentary pulls the curtain back on both the process and the message of the music. This version traces the journey to Speed of Heat and its core inspirations as shared directly by Baxter in the form of detailed anecdotes, candid stories, and insightful commentary on every track.
The 12-songalbum, co-produced by Baxter and CJ Vanston, is a riveting and rewarding musical experience that features a host of brilliantly crafted originals co-written by the guitarist and Vanston, as well as inspired versions of some of the great classics. Along the way, Baxter is joined by guest vocalists and songwriters Michael McDonald, Clint Black, Jonny Lang and Rick Livingstone. Baxter notably handled lead vocals on his rendition of Steely Dan’s “My Old School.” Other standouts include "Bad Move" co-written by Baxter, Clint Black, and CJ Vanston, and “My Place In The Sun”, sung by Michael McDonald and co-authored by McDonald, Baxter and Vanston.
As one of the most recorded guitarists of his generation, Baxter’s creative and versatile playing has been heard on some of the most iconic songs in music history, including “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.
The stunningly diverse collection of material on Speed of Heat presents a 360-degree view of the uniquely gifted musician.
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If 3 Were 6
With six times the controls found on the 1 and 2 versions (if you discount the original’s on/off slider switch,) the LPB-3’s control complement offers pre-gain, boost, mid freq, bass, treble, and mid knobs, with a center detent on the latter three so you can find the midpoint easily. A mini-toggle labeled “max” selects between 20 dB and 33 dB of maximum gain, and another labeled “Q” flips the resonance of the mid EQ between high and low. Obviously, this represents a significant expansion of the LPB’s capabilities.
More than just a booster with a passive tone, the LPB-3 boasts a genuine active EQ stage plus parametric midrange section, comprising the two knobs with shaded legends, mid freq and mid level. The gain stages have also been reimagined to include a pre-gain stage before the EQ, which enables up to 20 dB of input gain. The boost stage that follows the EQ is essentially a level control with gain to allow for up to 33 dB of gain through the LPB-3 when the “max” mini toggle is set to 33dB
A slider switch accessible inside the pedal selects between buffered or true bypass for the hard-latch footswitch. An AC adapter is included, which supplies 200mA of DC at 9.6 volts to the center-negative power input, and EHX specifies that nothing supplying less than 120mA or more than 12 volts should be used. There’s no space for an internal battery.
Power-Boosted
The LPB-3 reveals boatloads of range that betters many linear boosts on the market. There’s lots of tone-shaping power here. Uncolored boost is available when you want it, and the preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.
“The preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.”
I found the two mid controls work best when used judiciously, and my guitars and amps preferred subtle changes pretty close to the midpoint on each. However, there are still tremendous variations in your mid boost (or scoop, for that matter) within just 15 or 20 percent range in either direction from the center detent. Pushing the boost and pre-gain too far, particularly with the 33 dB setting engaged, can lead to some harsh sounds, but they are easy to avoid and might even be desirable for some users that like to work at more creative extremes.
The Verdict
The new LPB-3 has much, much more range than its predecessors, providing flexible preamp, boost, and overdrive sounds that can be reshaped in significant ways via the powerful EQ. It gives precise tone-tuning flexibility to sticklers that like to match a guitar and amp to a song in a very precise way, but also opens up more radical paths for experimentalists. That it does all this at a $129 price is beyond reasonable.
Electro-Harmonix Lpb-3 Linear Power Booster & Eq Effect Pedal Silver And Blue
