- Austrian Audio - Making passion heard
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- Austrian Audio Hi-X 20s
- Voiceover headphones
- Best headphones for podcasting
- Audio engineering headphones
- Pro Audio Suite podcast
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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
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Thanks to Tribooth.
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Don't forget the code to get 200 US
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dollars off your Tribooth.
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That's T-R-I-P-A-P 200.
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I'm still trying to work out what the
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PAP stands for.
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Anyway, and also Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
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And don't forget the competition.
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If you'd like to win a preview pair
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of those headphones, just go to theproaudiosuite.com
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win.
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And you can enter by doing a mix
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for us judged by the people at Austrian
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Audio.
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Now, I've already given this away, but we're
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going to look at these today, because these
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are the brand new headphones from Austrian Audio.
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They're the Hi-X 20s.
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Welcome.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hello, everyone.
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To the Pro Audio Suite.
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These guys are professional, and motivated.
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With Tech the VO Stars.
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George Wittum, founder of Source Elements.
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Robert Marshall, international audio engineer.
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Darren Robbo Robertson.
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And Global Voice.
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Andrew Peters, thanks to Tribooth.
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Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
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Source Elements.
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George the Tech Wittum.
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And Robbo and AP's international demos.
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To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
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.com.
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Yeah, it's the show and tell day.
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We're doing a video show.
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We haven't done one in a while, and
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this was a perfect opportunity to show off
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some goodies.
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And boy, do we have goodies.
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I put on my best beard just for
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today, too.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, we've got goodies galore.
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So, goodies galore.
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Tell us about the new Aussie headphone.
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Austrian, I should say.
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Not Aussie, but Austrian.
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Yeah, it'd be good, wouldn't it?
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Australian Audio.
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But Austrian Audio have come up with the
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Hi-X 20s.
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And what they've done is like the ones
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that George and I are wearing at the
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moment, which are the Hi-X 15s.
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They got feedback from people who bought the
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15s.
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And they decided that they'd take that feedback
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on board and tweak the 15s and then
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relaunch them or launch the Hi-X 20s
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with those tweaks.
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And it's interesting, actually, because I've sort of
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been flicking stuff backwards and forwards to George.
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And I know Robbo's got his views on
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these as well.
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I find them more detailed than the 15s.
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They're not as top heavy.
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When you say detailed, is that more of
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a mid-range note?
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Are we talking about mids?
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It's really hard to...
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I keep changing headphones.
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You're going, what am I hearing?
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What am I hearing?
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It's so hard, yeah.
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Yeah.
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I find them...
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they're actually similar to the 55s.
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Okay.
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But they're obviously not as detailed as the
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55s.
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I mean, they're very forensic.
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These are just a subtle version of the
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55, if that makes any sense.
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Does that make sense?
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Is that like a Goldilocks between the 15s
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and the 55s?
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I think, yeah.
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That's what I'm hearing.
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What are you hearing with yours, Robbo?
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Well, I haven't heard the 15s, so I
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don't have a pair of those, so I
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don't know.
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But look, I live in the 65s, which
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are the open-back version of the 55s,
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and I love them.
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So I'm hearing less top end in these,
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and I kind of feel like there's a
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bit of hype in the bottom end.
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Maybe that's just because I'm not hearing as
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much top end.
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I haven't worn them enough to kind of
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figure out what's going on there.
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But I mean, for me, absolutely.
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If I was a voiceover artist, I'd be
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more than happy to wear these, and I'm
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more than happy to wear them now on
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the podcast.
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They're really comfortable.
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Interestingly, I gave them to Tanay, who's my
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wife, who's a voiceover artist, and she's been
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wearing a crappy old pair of Sennheisers that
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I bought specifically to take to Fiji on
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a flight because I didn't have a pair
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of headphones, and I just went to JB
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Hi-Fi and grabbed the sort of cheapest
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sort of headphones with a reasonable sort of
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name that I could find that I thought,
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okay, well, they'll do.
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So she's been wearing those, and she put
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them on, and she did one session, and
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she brought them back down and put them
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on my desk, and she said, look, I
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love them.
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I really like the sound of them, but
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I can't wear them for now because I'm
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hearing things that I haven't heard before, and
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it's putting me off.
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So she wants them once I'm sort of
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done with the whole pro audio suite side
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of things.
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She wants to wear them, but it sounds
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like she's going to have to wean herself
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onto them to get it going.
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So yeah, so that was some good feedback.
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Well, that was the same as when I
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got the 55s initially.
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I was like, oh my god, these things
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are brutal, like really, really hard, and I
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remember we had pulled Strickfurter and George.
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We did a video together, the three of
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us, and he said the same thing.
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It was like initially, it was like, oh
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my god, these things are terrible.
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They sound awful, but they don't sound awful.
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They actually sound accurate, and no one likes
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to hear things that are too accurate, I
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think.
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You have to get used to it because
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you're hearing stuff you've never heard before.
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Headphones for pros and engineering and analytic audio
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are a different animal than headphones for, let's
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say, pleasure listening, you know?
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Yeah, yeah, that's the whole idea.
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It's not about pleasure.
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It's about accuracy.
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I kind of feel like maybe that's a
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bit of what they're aiming for here, maybe
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a bit of the consumer market as well.
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I don't know.
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I mean, the thing...
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Well, price point.
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Are these supposed to be closer to the
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15s in price point?
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I think they're 150 US.
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Yeah, they're just a little bit more than
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these, so they wanted to differentiate them from
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these.
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They didn't go flashy with red color, so
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they wanted them to look more subdued, so
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maybe more of a studio can.
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I think that's the whole thing about these.
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I mean, if you look at the 15s,
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they look more pro-seamer, where these look
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more pro.
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I mean, it's not like a fashion item.
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You're not going to sort of walk down
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the street with these things on.
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They look much more studio, much more professional.
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And to me, they'd sound that way as
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well.
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There's a three meter cable on them, so
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if you're walking down the road, you could
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be using it as a skipping rope as
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well, so that would be interesting.
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You can get fit while you're listening to
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stuff.
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That's right, exactly.
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But I mean, the things I've noticed is
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like, these are my 65s, right?
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So the nice thing, you've got your nice
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gold plugs, you've got the nice big chunky
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sort of connector and all that sort of
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stuff, and you've got the, if your lead
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stops working, you can undo it, change your
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cable over.
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But given the price point, I mean, that
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only stands to reason.
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I mean, it's like the OC-16, same
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thing.
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It's like the entry level microphone.
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Yeah, you got to have price points that
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meet different markets.
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So what I'm wearing is the prosumer headphone
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or the consumer headphone.
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I'll be honest, I think my ears are
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just more tuned to consumer or prosumer headphone
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EQ.
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So when I wore the 55s, when they
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came out, they were, to me, were just
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too forward.
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They were just too much mid, too far
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out.
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It just was so different from anything I'd
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had, and I just wasn't ready to invest
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the, should I just say the ear time,
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you know, to learn them and get used
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to them.
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And the 15s were more familiar to me.
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They were more like maybe my Audio-Technica
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ATH-M40s that I've been wearing for a
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long time.
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So these were easy to adapt to quickly.
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So the 20s would be an interesting thing
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to compare because there'll be, you know, just
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a little bit more leaning toward, I don't
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know, accurate or revealing or transparent or whatever
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you want to call it.
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I think for you, George, I remember sending
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you a message when I got these and
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said, I think you really like these because
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they just, they just take the 15s to
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just another level.
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I mean, the comfort of these, I mean,
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guys, we're talking about things that we're receiving
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free copies of.
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So, you know, take that with a grain
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of salt if you need to.
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These were my absolute daily drivers through and
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through these 770s, right?
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And I have just found myself wearing these
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more and more and more.
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They're just so light and so comfortable and
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they're, they sound good.
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And, and what I've been doing a lot
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more at this desk is talking into the
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mic.
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You know, I've been doing a lot more
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content and I much prefer wearing these when
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I'm doing tapes, doing videos, doing how-tos
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and webinars, everything.
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I much prefer to wear these because I
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like the sound to myself through these more
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than these.
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These might be more flat or more accurate,
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maybe, I don't know.
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But these are just harder to monitor myself
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on as well.
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Like these, I can, it just works better
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as a monitor when I'm recording.
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So, you know, the only, the only criticism
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I have, and it's not to do with
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the headphones particularly, but I mean, I really
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like these, but if you listen to, if
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you were using a 41.6 and with
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these on, you really hear the 41.6.
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So these kind of push that upper mid,
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that the 416 is already kind of pushing.
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So yeah, it's almost too much of that
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frequency band.
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Because when I first put them on, I
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was, I had the 41.6 open, I
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was using that.
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And then I thought, hang on a minute,
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that's probably a bit silly.
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So the mic's hyped.
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So I went to the 818 and then
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listened to them and compared the 55s and
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the 20s.
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And yeah, beautiful.
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Then you put up the 416s through these
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with the 4k button on.
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And you were like, okay, man, that's enough.
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Yes, that's right.
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Yeah.
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Yikes.
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But yeah, so in conclusion, my conclusion is
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I reckon these are actually fabulous.
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I think for voiceover artists, for podcasters, you
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know, anybody who wants a good pair of
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headphones that are at a reasonable price, I
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reckon they're on a winner with these.
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I really like.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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There was a three metre cable.
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So if you're a muso and you're sharing
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a headphone amp in a studio, that's perfect.
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It's like just it goes on and on
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forever.
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Yeah, a studio cans can have a long
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cord and this pair of cans I have
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has a short cord.
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So depending in my particular use case, the
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short cord is actually great because I don't
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need, it's only going to my desk, it's
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going three feet, you know, but there are
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occasions where I'll do something and I yank
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on it because I go, oh, this is
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a short cord, you know?
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So it's the longer cord.
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I appreciate it.
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I would imagine that they will sell you
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those cords too, probably.
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Probably.
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I didn't check, but there should be no
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reason why they're not interchangeable and, you know,
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you could change the longer or short.
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Yeah.
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But I'm the same as you, George, because
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when I'm sitting at this desk, I've got
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the short cord because the, you know, interface
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is just sitting next to me.
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So I don't need the long cord.
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You don't want to roll over it with
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your office chair, you know?
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Haven't we all done that?
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The days of radio where all of a
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sudden your headphones pack up because you just
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run over the cord and snapped it, you
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know?
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I mean, what was the first headphone that
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anybody really used with a replaceable cable?
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I mean, there weren't many for a really,
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really long time.
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You know, the first I can think of
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was Audio-Technica maybe that had that.
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I have no idea.
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I don't remember seeing them.
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AKG maybe did.
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Came with one that Undid, I seem to
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recall.
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I don't remember that.
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First time I'm thinking that's pretty cool.
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Yeah.
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That's a big deal.
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I mean, that's what gets the most abuse
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and destruction.
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Well, especially with short cords.
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Yeah.
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The 20s fit the same as the 15s?
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Yeah.
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So you can interchange.
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They feel thicker and more padded for me
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than the 55s and the 65s.
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It feels like there's more padding.
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That's because they're lighter, I think.
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Yeah, it could be.
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They're much lighter.
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Yeah.
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Could be.
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So these are to wear for long sessions
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too, maybe.
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They're lighter, definitely lighter because there's different plastic
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that they've used and all that sort of
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stuff.
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Very nice.
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I can't wait to try one myself.
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Thumbs up.
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Well, you'll be getting them soon, I'm sure.
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But in the meantime, if you'd like to
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win a pair, don't forget the competition.
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Go to theproaudiosuite.com slash win and show
00:11:49
us your mix and you could be wearing
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a pair of these.
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Nice.
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Well, that was fun.
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Is it over?
00:11:55
The Pro Audio Suite.
00:11:57
With thanks to Tribooth.
00:11:59
And Austrian Audio.
00:12:00
Recorded using SourceConnect.
00:12:02
Edited by Andrew Peters.
00:12:04
And mixed by Vudu Radio Imaging.
00:12:06
With tech support from George the Tech Whittam.
00:12:08
Don't forget to subscribe to the show and
00:12:10
join in the conversation on our Facebook group.
00:12:12
So leave a comment, suggest a topic or
00:12:14
just say good day.
00:12:15
Drop us a note at our website, theproaudiosuite
00:12:18
.com.