Trust in your monitoring is a deeply personal feeling for every sound engineer. We spend years “merging” with our monitors, learning their character, and reading between the lines of what they tell us. But what to do when the ideal control room is unavailable? When the deadline is tight, and you’re working in a hotel, late at night at home, or in a studio with unfamiliar acoustics?

Realphones was created exactly to solve these problems — a software suite in the form of a plugin and a system application that turns professional headphones into a full-fledged and, most importantly, reliable mixing environment. For those unfamiliar with Realphones, it operates on two key principles. First, the plugin corrects the frequency response (FR) of your headphones, removing their inherent sound “coloration” to deliver neutral and honest sound.

Second, Realphones transports you from the unnatural “inside-the-head” space to a virtual, perfectly calculated acoustic environment. You get the ability to work in professional recording studios, switching between near-field, mid-field, and far-field monitors. But most importantly — it’s not just working in ideal conditions. Realphones provides an effective tool for mix checking: without taking off your headphones, you can instantly hear how your track will sound in a car, club, laptop, smartphone, or ordinary consumer speakers. This lets you catch mix translation issues early and be confident in the final result.

We constantly analyze how sound engineers worldwide use our software. Today, we are ready to share our statistics — the top 6 headphone models our users most often select as the basis for working with Realphones. This is not a theoretical ranking but real data about what headphones are being used for mixing right now.

Construction and comfort: A studio classic. These open-back headphones provide the widest stereo panorama and natural “breathing” sound, hard to achieve with closed models. Made in Germany, they are famous for their “indestructible” build. The spring steel headband and massive metal yokes holding the ear cups make all parts replaceable, making them nearly eternal. They fit snugly but comfortably. Moderate clamping force and soft headband padding distribute weight well. The main advantage is large, fully ear-encompassing velour ear pads that are incredibly soft and breathable, allowing all-day wear. The open design with perforated cups ensures natural ventilation. The non-removable coiled cable is both a plus and a minus: sturdy and tangle-free but may pull the left cup slightly. Many enthusiasts mod these headphones to add a detachable cable jack, reflecting how attached users are to perfecting them.

Native character: Their signature sound offers high detail and “air,” especially in the treble. The open design creates an amazing sense of space where each instrument is clearly heard—ideal for acoustic, orchestral, jazz, and ambient music requiring spatial nuances and reverb decay. Within the legendary Beyerdynamic 770/880/990 trio, the DT 990 is the most “airy” and treble-analytic. While DT 880 Pro aims for neutrality, the 990 emphasizes detail, helpful for hearing compression artifacts and reverb tails. Their Achilles heel is a famous high-frequency peak which, if unmanaged, may lead to mixes lacking “brightness.”

Transformation with Realphones: Realphones acts as a surgical corrector here, precisely equalizing the notorious “Beyer peak,” turning it from a potential problem into a pure advantage. You still hear minute details without risking misleading treble and muffling the highs in the mix. Studio space emulation compensates for the natural lack of “weight” in the lows typical of many open models, enabling accurate dynamic and bass density control.

Amplification requirement: Their 250 Ω impedance is not just a number. Connected to weak outputs (like a laptop jack), the sound loses dynamic range, becoming “flabby,” and the bass becomes uncontrolled and muddy.

For proper Realphones performance on this model, a quality headphone amplifier is not a recommendation but a requirement.

Construction and comfort: A workhorse designed for an active lifestyle. Durable mostly plastic body withstands touring rigors. Hinges fold for transport and rotate cups for single-ear monitoring. The fit is tight with noticeable clamp pressure, providing excellent sound isolation. Faux-leather ear pads snugly block outside noise but can be warm over long sessions. A known weak spot is the durability of ear pads and headband padding, as synthetic leather tends to peel after heavy use.

For maximum Realphones calibration accuracy, it is critical to use the manufacturer’s original ear pads, because the correction profile is based on them. Alternative pads may degrade reference sound accuracy.

Native character: The M50x owe much of their immense popularity to the YouTube producer era, becoming the “gold standard” for home studios. They present music in an exciting and engaging way, great for arranging and beat-making but can obscure objective balance assessment. Their V-shaped FR with energetic bass and bright highs suits modern electronic, hip-hop, and pop music but masks midrange details.

Transformation with Realphones: Realphones takes this colorful character and puts it at the service of accuracy. Software correction equalizes frequency balance, making the sound neutral and honest. The assertive bass becomes controlled and articulate, and the previously “missing” mids come forward. Room emulation combats the main flaw of closed models — “in-head” sound — creating a virtual control room line in front of you.

Hidden features: The proprietary bayonet lock on the detachable cable securely fixes it but means you cannot use just any standard 2.5 mm cable. You will need to find an original or compatible cable.

Construction and comfort: Essentially the closed-back version of the 990 with the same reliability philosophy — steel headband, sturdy yokes, legendary comfort. Despite being closed, they share large velour ear pads (in 80 and 250 Ω versions), offering surprisingly high comfort for isolating headphones. Clamp force is slightly higher than 990s for better isolation but still comfortable for long sessions. This is an industry standard for vocal booths.

Native character: DT 770 are known for powerful, deep sub-bass that remains fast and detailed. Combined with detailed highs, they’re popular for electronic music, rock, and metal. Like other Beyers, they have a prominent treble peak that helps artists hear themselves when recording but may cause fatigue or mix mistakes.

Transformation with Realphones: Realphones delicately calibrates the high frequencies, removing harshness but keeping information. More importantly, it radically changes space perception. Room acoustic emulation and crossfeed break the claustrophobic closed design, allowing accurate evaluation of panorama, width, and depth.

Versions and durability: Understanding impedance versions is important. The 32 Ω is for mobile, 80 Ω for recording (with a bass emphasis liked by drummers), and the 250 Ω is considered the most balanced and precise, favored for mixing. Correction profiles differ accordingly. Common aging issues are headband padding wear (easily replaced) and velour ear pad dirtiness (washable by hand).

Construction and comfort: A classic with nothing superfluous. Light but durable plastic with metal grilles on cups. Known for near-perfect ergonomics. A known “feature” out of the box is fairly strong clamp pressure, jokingly called the “Sennheiser death grip.” This eases up after a couple of weeks of use. Huge elliptical ear pads fully cover ears without touching and velvety velour adds cozy home comfort. Made for wearing all day.

Native character: HD 650 is an audiophile icon praised for incredibly natural, warm, and musical midrange. Vocals and live instruments sound so realistic they create presence. It’s an evolution of the older HD 600, a neutrality benchmark. The 650s are a more “musical” and “rich” version with slightly warmer bass and smoother highs, called the “Sennheiser veil.” Their character makes them a standard for vocal, jazz, classical, and acoustic mixing.

Transformation with Realphones: Realphones gently lifts the veil without damaging the velvety sound foundation. Correction “opens” the upper register, adding air and sparkle, and slightly tightens the lows for clarity and focus. The sound becomes perfectly balanced.

Scalability: These headphones “grow” with your system. They sound good on budget interfaces but connect to a high-end amp and DAC to hear dramatic improvements in resolution, speed, and control. Realphones fully unlocks their potential but requires quality hardware.

Construction and comfort: A decades-old unchanged design focused on function. Lightweight, foldable, with thin headband and non-removable coiled cable. A no-frills tool, not comfort accessory. Fit is snug but shallow; faux-leather pads sit on ears rather than surround. Not ideal for long sessions but excellent for fast, accurate diagnostics.

Historical context: A living legend design derived from the 1985 MDR-V6. Became broadcast standard not for musical fidelity but because the sharp midrange suits monitoring speech and detecting tape/radio defects. Their famous treble peak is a purposeful design feature. Realphones softens this trait and adapts it for music.

Transformation with Realphones: Realphones turns this surgical scalpel into a full monitoring system. Correction softens the treble sharpness, balancing the sound and reducing fatigue. It also adds weight and body to the lacking low end. You still hear all artifacts and problems but in the context of a balanced mix and virtual control room acoustics.

Wear and repair: Their weak points are the thin non-removable cable and fast-wearing pads, both easily replaceable at low cost. This is a true consumable tool.

Construction and comfort: The pinnacle of Beyerdynamic engineering. Impeccable build quality with premium materials felt in every detail. Despite substantial weight, they are surprisingly comfortable due to well-thought ergonomics and balanced weight distribution via a wide headband. A major advance over classics is the removable cable with a reliable mini-XLR connector, showing Beyerdynamic’s response to professional community requests.

Native character: DT 1990 Pro with “Tesla” drivers deliver phenomenal resolution and speed. Their ultra-strong magnetic system allows membrane movement with incredible accuracy minimizing distortion. They reveal the subtlest mix nuances, making them versatile. Their native character, especially with analytical pads, retains the signature Beyerdynamic brightness demanding engineer attention and habit.

Transformation with Realphones: If DT 1990 Pro is a super-high-resolution microscope, Realphones is its stabilization system. Correction perfects their excellent sound towards near-perfect linearity, resolving final high-frequency questions. The full Tesla driver potential is unlocked here: switching between studio emulations reveals how your mix will translate with stunning accuracy.

Pad nuances: Important to understand the difference between included pairs: “A” (Analytical) with more perforations for a flat, almost linear sound — the ideal base for Realphones calibration. “B” (Balanced) with fewer perforations slightly boost lows for a “heavier” sound, good for arranging, but analytical is preferred for final mixing.