Do most multi-fx units sound bad through headphones?

scarry67 · June 2023

I’ve never really enjoyed any multi-fx units through headphones. I’ve got a little Blackstar Amplug that does sound pretty good but my Pod HD Bean doesn’t and nor did previous newer units. Alright, the headphones only cost £15 but is this just a given?

mrkb · June 2023

No, my fractal axe fx III sound amazing through sennheiser hd650 headphones.

fretmeister · June 2023

I get my PodXT sounding lovely through headphones.

My helix is nevertheless a lot better.

Good headphones helps, but above £50 and diminishing returns and / or studio spec issues come into it

Voxman · June 2023

If you are using mp3 music headphones, especially cheap ones, it's unlikely you'll get a good sound because the frequency response is designed for mp3 music, not guitar effects and you won't get good quality drivers with better frequency response with cheap headphones.

To get the best out of your MFX via headphones, you really need studio monitoring headphones. Two of the most popular at a reasonable & similar price are the Audio Technica ATH m50x (these are mine) and the Beyerdynamic 770 Pro (80 ohm). Studio monitoring headphones have a wider frequency response and are 'sort of' like 'FRFR' powered speakers (Full Range Flat Response)

Also, older MFX units and even amps typically won't sound as good through headphones as modern MFX simply because headphone quality never used to be a 'biggie' and the headphone 'circuit' often weren't particularly good. e.g. my Vox Tonelabs SE (2004) and LE (2007) sound 'OK' through headphones, & ditto with my Vox Valvetronix AD120VTX (2004), but through my Line 6 Pod Go the m50x sound brilliant.

MagicPigDetective · June 2023

I use Audio Technica ATH-M30x headphones with a HX Stomp and it sounds glorious

scarry67 · June 2023

Interesting - I’ll keep an eye out for some lightly used studio ‘phones. I had read that the frequencies are very different between digital music/songs, say, and an fx unit. Thanks.

Nikc · June 2023

My Atomic Amplifier Box Mk2 sounds pretty good through headphones - I do use decent headphones mind

scarry67 · June 2023

Yep. The recommended Audio Technica ones aren’t cheap…

Voxman · June 2023

scarry67 said:

Yep. The recommended Audio Technica ones aren’t cheap…

The m50x are £129, the m40x £95, the m30x £65 and the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 ohm are £109. All prices from Amazon.

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Audio Technica ATH M20X here sound good with most stuff

Grumpyrocker · June 2023

The Zoom G3 has an effects block called Air designed to widen the stereo image and make it seem more like an amp in the room rather than phones. It's not super convincing, but it makes for a really good headphone experience.

Better than many newer units I've used.

CarbonCopy · June 2023

I would be surprised if anything sounded good through £15 headphones.

Musicwolf · June 2023

I use AKG K702's and they are fine. Just a word of caution - Neutral headphones, ones which don't 'colour' the sound, tend to be open backed design and therefore no use if you are hoping for 'silent' practice.

Danny1969 · June 2023

I have loads of headphones from isolating drummers cans to proper Beyerdynamic studio cans but my favourite cans for playing guitar are a set of £25 Phillips.
What you are looking for is something that doesn't sound fatiguing and often that can mean not a flat studio response but something a little softer in the upper mids.

The devices headphone output makes a difference too. Some are fine at driving high impedance cans cleanly although might struggle for voltage level if you like it loud but will sound harsh driving into low Z cans as they need more current. Some have a class D headphone output which drive most things well enough but it's more digital shit on top of something that's already digital.

Always look in charity shops for headphones. I once scored a £120 pair of Sony cans for £2.50 ... people don't know the difference in what these things are worth and some of the older designs are lovely to use for guitar practice.

TheBigDipper · June 2023

I can't claim to be an expert here, but I do know that many closed back headphone designs that are used in studios for laying down tracks are not the same thing as open-backed headphone designs used for listening to mixes and neither are either of them like open-backed designs used for listening to high-quality sounds at home. The headphone amps in MFX units are generally not that good at driving headphones of wildly-varying impedances.

mrkb · June 2023

Rephrase that to “do all guitars sound crap” when you’re using a £15 pickup in your rickenbacker.

the pickup and headphones are the two transducers in the music reproduction chain, why skimp on them?

Danny1969 · June 2023

TheBigDipper said:

I can't claim to be an expert here, but I do know that many closed back headphone designs that are used in studios for laying down tracks are not the same thing as open-backed headphone designs used for listening to mixes and neither are either of them like open-backed designs used for listening to high-quality sounds at home. The headphone amps in MFX units are generally not that good at driving headphones of wildly-varying impedances.

I tended to use my Phillips cans for editing, specially long boring editing like audio books, podcasts and game audio. Most of the time we listened on speakers but you can't beat cans for detailed edits.
In terms of speakers we had 4 sets. Large Sanyo floor mounted for tracking because they weren't fatiguing over long tracking sessions. Goodmans 1C100 and Yamaha NS10's for general mixing and HK computer speakers for checking mixes on laptops.

There's often a general belief that the expensive stuff is always the best stuff for the job but in reality anything acoustic and mechanical, like a microphone, speaker, set of headphones etc will tend to excel at some applications but not all.
Always be guided by your ears is my motto and accept your age. A person of 45 or older doesn't have the ears of a 25 year old. Not only does your frequency response fall away from a theoretical 2020 you also hear mid frequencies slightly different, some will be more harsh and jarring to the older listener.

Headphone amps are indeed another area where things can fall down. I know a bit about this because I've designed a lot of them over the years for my various IEM devices I've made and sold. To a lot of manufactures the headphone output is an afterthought and they will often use a simple opamp circuit which just isn't capable of driving cleanly into low Z cans. Many cheap mixing desks, multi headphone amps will have just that. Normally the same opamp they have used everywhere else in the device because it keeps the BOM simple. You can normally improve on this by using a standalone headphone amp between the device and the cans. Some people might think what's the point of that, the audio still goes through the bad headphone amp ... however now that cheap opamp headphone amp isn't loaded by the cans. It's feeding into a far higher impedance which it can drive cleanly.

So your headphone experience depends on a lot of factors really. There's no device that will sound excellent to everyone on every device in the same way there's no microphone that excels at everything. Which makes sense because headphones are microphones used in a reversed direction.

Sassafras · June 2023

I've got a few headphones kicking around but these vintage Pioneer ones are my favourites for guitar playing:

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/43/20/1e/43201e6ad854da87776aa68af7da8c78.jpg

Image: https://www.fryderykdanielczykstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/122-800x516.jpg

Clecko · June 2023

fretmeister said:

I get my PodXT sounding lovely through headphones.

My helix is nevertheless a lot better.

Good headphones helps, but above £50 and diminishing returns and / or studio spec issues come into it

I still massively rate the Superlux headphones that you recommended to me years ago. My Helix sounds ace through them. Better for that purpose IMO than my Sony XM3s. Only £30! You do really need to buy replacement earpads for them, though.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003JOETX8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

scarry67 · June 2023

Like the look of those, Clecko.

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Do most multi-fx units sound bad through headphones?

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