Of all pieces of gear in your studio, one of the most helpful things you can own is a good pair of studio headphones. I recommend most people start out with a basic audio interface and one pair of headphones for a reason: they are an affordable and practical way to monitor, edit, and mix your material. Even as you grow your skill and eventually add a pair of studio monitor speakers to your arsenal, you need a good pair of headphones as part of your process.
Today I’m reviewing a pair of headphones from one of my favorite “new” companies, Editors Keys (www.EditorsKeys.com). I’m already a fan of their USB mics and portable vocal booths, so I knew I would be in for a treat with their entry into studio headphones. In a nutshell, the SH10s are a pair of closed-back, over the ear headphones that are great for tracking purposes as well as mixing. Let’s take a quick look at how they perform in both arenas.
Tuning Out The Noise
When recording with headphones you ideally want two things to happen: be able to hear your self and the recorded tracks clearly at a comfortable volume, and at the same time not let much if any of that bleed out into the microphone(s) in front of you. The SH10’s closed back design is perfect for this as it doesn’t let much sound leak out.
I recently recorded a project and brought these headphones along for the ride along with my usual “go-to” tracking headphones from AKG. I told the drummer to try out both pairs of headphones when recording and tell me which pair he preferred. The second he put on the SH10s he was sold. Never went back to the other pair. His reasons: “They just feel so comfortable and I can hear myself better with these.” Bingo! That’s what I want to hear as an engineer and producer. If the talent is not comfortable and is struggling to hear themselves, you won’t get a great performance. So having the right tracking headphones is a must.
Revealing In The Mix
Although many people will tell you not to mix in headphones, for some it is their only option: and it can be a good one. I think mixing in headphones is given too much bad publicity and not enough praise. Granted the reasons for choosing to mix on monitors in a nicely treated room are justified (more accurate stereo imaging, less ear fatigue, proper bass response), there are a lot of reasons to mix on headphones as well, reasons I don’t have time to cover today.
But when you want to mix with headphones you don’t want an over hyped sound. Unfortunately many headphones are tailored to boost the bass response and upper frequencies to make your music sound more exciting. This is not useful to a mixer. Ideally you want to hear your music as flat as possible so you can make accurate mix decisions. What I’ve found with the Editors Keys SH10 headphones is a relatively flat frequency response, but with an audible bump in the mid range. At first I thought this made things sound a bit thin, but what I realized was I was actually able to better distinguish parts in that mid-range (guitars, vocals, snare) and I was putting mixes together much quicker.
Perhaps it’s a similar effect to many engineers’ experience with the classic Yamaha NS-1o monitor speakers. Supposedly a very “thin” mid-rangy pair of speakers but always used during the mixing process because “if it sounds good on NS-10s, it’s good.” Either way, the SH10s have now become an invaluable tool in my mixing workflow and I trust them.
Final Thoughts
All in all, the SH10s are an affordable monitoring/mixing solution for many home studio owners. Coming in at about $65 US they aren’t out of reach for most people and should seriously be in the running if you are considering a pair of studio headphones in the sub $100 category. And honestly, you have nothing to lose with these puppies as Mark over at Editors Keys is offering a 100% money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with them. You don’t see that with many other manufacturers!
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
I used this to decide what headphones to buy 😀
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/technical/build-a-graph.php
u can compare frequency responses between different headphones and some other stuff 😀
Very cool site!
Hi, Unfortunately I was not impressed with these headphones at all. First off, I opened the box and removed the headphones, only to find the the sticky soft pad underneath the headband of the phones had fallen off, I stuck it back on but it is still not that secure.
In terms of audio quality, I was very underwhelmed. I mix game audio and contemporary music in my own home and found these headphones to sound no better than a cheap pair of headphones, and I mean CHEAP.
I didn’t expect a lot from £40 but after reading this review, I bought a pair for maybe at least tracking, possibly a bit of mixing. But that is impossible.
These headphones are NOT HD quality. (whatever that actually means)
These headphones lack bass and treble, they are not even flat, they sound like a telephone speaker. I played a drum loop through them and couldn’t actually hear a certain hi-hat sound that I could clearly hear through my speakers.
I could go on for ever but BOTTOM LINE: DO NOT BUY THESE HEADPHONES unless you want a cheap pair of headphones to just track on. Even then they arn’t even that great for that.
I’m am really surprised at some of the stuff you stated in this review, I really like the Recording Revolution but after reading this review, I am now questioning your knowledge. Or, maybe you are just a bit pally-pally with Editor Keys now they gave you free stuff.
Sam – appreciate your comment. Sorry you don’t like the headphones and that it was my review that lead you to the purchase.
Keeping in mind that speakers, headphones, etc are very subjective (some people swear by a certain brand, others bash the exact same product, etc) you are totally entitled to your opinion, and I appreciate you sharing that here. I stand by my review that these are perfectly good headphones for tracking and mixing, but like I mentioned in a previous post, you need to learn your speakers, headphones, and room in order to make good mix decisions. No headphones are perfect.
http://therecordingrevolution.com/2010/09/27/learn-your-studio/
Hey Graham thanks for the many many insights in all your posts. Which headphones would you blindly recommend on a 200 dollar budget (more if unavoidable) for mixing and recording. P.S. I live in a noisy area so I guess open backs are out. Going a little nuts figuring out which one is ‘the one’. Thanks!
My personal favorite these days are the KRK KNS 8400s. $149 new.
Got it thanks.
Graham, what are your views on this impedance business. My Apogee Duet headphone outputs 32 ohms and the KRK 8400s are 36 ohms. Is that a perfect match. Some people say the amp should be 1/8th the headphone. Others say a 32 ohm amp like the Duet won’t be able to drive, for example, the 250 ohm or even the 80 ohm Beyer DT 770s. I of course (like a lot of others, I suspect) am mostly clueless 🙂 Would love to get your perspective.
Wow. Never paid any attention to that 🙂
Inside the top ten of my favourite posts, thanks!
Hey, Graham, I appreciate your review on SH10 Studio Headphones. I was lucky enough grab this at a discount rate. It delivers the ultimate in treble and bass, at the perfect frequency I’ve ever heard.