u/memoryman89

Have a line on a minty RE-20 (no box) locally for about $115 USD and am tempted. I'm just wondering if folks are still digging these and if it's worth picking up in 2026 with all the great tape emulators, and not to mention the RE-2 and RE-202 out. Is the 2000's RE-20 still a banger in 2026?

I'm by NO means well-versed in headphones.

I'm a musician... singer-songwriter, guitar player, some bass + synths... and while I've got an, I think, decent ear, I've never really been obsessive about whatever I listen back to music on.

Granted, I've had some nice speakers over the years, first some Audio Engine A5's, then the Neumann KH120's I've had for over a decade now. Those are my baseline which I remain so happy and content with- I've done my best listening on those things.

Well recently I was getting more and more into recording, got some nice mics, etc., but totally glossed over the fact I need some headphones for tracking, DUH- silly me.

I tend to be somewhat of a gearhead and often find myself spending (way) disproportionately to my super modest income, so didn't want to 'just' settle for some more-than-adequate headphones for my simple purposes, but wanted to get something a little "better". I know there's still plenty of headphones at way higher price-points.

Anyways, I'm no technical reviewer or anything, but I settled on the newish Sennheiser HD 480 Pro's and am just spent my first few hours listening on them, probably way louder than I should, and just wanted to say how blown away by them I am so far.

I haven't done any tracking yet, I've no doubt they'll fair just fine in that context, but was super keen to listen to some of my favourite artists, and am just smiling ear-to-ear, still doing so as I write this, currently listening to Boards of Canada's new Inferno album for the 30th time since release, hearing all sorts of new details. Loads of IDM stuff tonight... Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, some trip hop... Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Tricky, Portishead... Everything has sounded dynamite.

Also, from a physical standpoint, I was shocked by how much lighter they are than I'd anticipated, while somehow still retaining a very high quality feel. I guess I'm often conflating weight with quality, but yeah, this is very much the opposite of what I'm used to in that regard. Incredibly comfortable, honestly can barely tell I'm wearing headphones, they're so light.

It's super refreshing to me to now have these great headphones I'll be able to tackle countless tasks with... listening for enjoyment, tracking, mixing...

I'm hoping to learn more about the proper terminology in the weeks/months to come, as well as to do some comparisons, so that then I can offer up a more proper review, but just wanted to until then jot down some thoughts.

I genuinely couldn't be happier with these.

P.S. I forgot to mention, I'm just plugging straight into my Apogee Duet. I know it's not a dedicated headphone amp, but keep in mind my initial purpose for these was as tracking headphones, and for that the Apogee is "good enough". If you can recommend any good separate headphone amps, I'm all ears!

I don't really feel I'm missing anything with my Austrian Audio OC818, but I also don't know how much better other things can get. There's not really any store in my city where I can audition all this stuff at will, so I'm mostly left to online reviews, demos, testimonies, etc.

The Gefell stuff fell on my radar a few months back and I've kind of been obsessing over it, particularly the UMT70S and M92.1S.

I know the ideal solution would be to keep my OC818 and also get whichever Gefell, but I can't afford that- I'd need to sell the OC and put that coin towards the new mic.

I'm just wondering whether you guys would personally sell the OC and put the money towards the UMT70S, or potentially M92.1S. Will I be getting a worlds better mic?

I'm only using the mic on myself at home- recording vocals and guitars (acoustic + electric) 99% of the time.

I just posted the below in the general photography sub, but also wanted to post here, as I consider this my "home sub" kind of. Some of you might recall my posting similar such threads in the past... sad to report nothing has changed, but am really, really, intent on make major changes moving forward, effective asap, so am hoping for your help. Some of you know me somewhat personally and are even in my city, so feel free to reach out if you have any advice. And sorry to those of you who cringe at my posts/work (trust me, I do too, but am trying to improve). Hoping this is the last time I make this type of post and only share nice images in the future. Anyways:

Hi,

I've been shooting "professionally" on and off for over 15 years now, and have really, really, come to detest my work. I think the images are serviceable, but what I really hate is the stagnation- I began to merely coast probably up to a decade ago. I stumbled on this aesthetic I liked/gravitate towards and have just stuck with it. It's so safe (boring) and the editing is just awful and too heavy-handed.

Yet this many years doing it, I feel like a train glued to the tracks, and what might seem an easy solution to you- "just experiment more"- seems literally impossible for me, if you can believe it. I literally don't know how to do anything other than this thing I've done for so long- I have tried, but the results are so out of whack with what I've come to expect of myself that I just revert to the tried and true.

Physical injuries and some medical conditions have only compounded this stagnation, but that's mostly a cop-out... truth is, I very easily could've and should've been doing more, but comfort is the easy road and the one I've taken. And the crazy thing is, I give so much of myself to my shoots and my editing, it drains my life force, yet I hate it all. Such an incredibly weird place to be.

When I was starting out in my late-teens/early-20's, my work was so much more fresh, you could see the youth and excitement, wasn't afraid to experiment. Now, yeah, just the same over and over and over again, session after session, year after year. Frankly, I couldn't care less if it means I have a style or that people like it enough to hire me or whatever- this stagnation is the opposite of what I'm about, what I want + expect of myself... yet I just cannot break these habits- I wish there was a restart/reformat button for this type of thing... it's a lot more difficult to break out of your own self-imposed shackles than it seems.

Just curious if anyone's experience this kind of self-loathing, laziness, etc., and if so, how you eventually broke out of it. I've made threads like this in the past, but nothing's changed- I'm SO beyond ready for a damn change now. Any advice would be tremendously appreciated.

As I'm sure people will ask.

Also, since this is a more pro/gear-heavy sub, I'd love to know what your favourite sources for learning new/different lighting setups, about modifiers, etc. are, as I believe that's at least one large bit of my problem- I use the same one-light setup for literally everything I shoot... I enjoy the results of my natural light location shoots more, but don't want to be a hack and just hope weather is on my side, etc.- I want to actually have control over the scenes and really be a creator of images.

Hi,

I've been shooting "professionally" on and off for over 15 years now, and have really, really, come to detest my work. I think the images are serviceable, but what I really hate is the stagnation- I began to merely coast probably up to a decade ago. I stumbled on this aesthetic I liked/gravitate towards and have just stuck with it. It's so safe (boring) and the editing is just awful and too heavy-handed.

Yet this many years doing it, I feel like a train glued to the tracks, and what might seem an easy solution to you- "just experiment more"- seems literally impossible for me, if you can believe it. I literally don't know how to do anything other than this thing I've done for so long- I have tried, but the results are so out of whack with what I've come to expect of myself that I just revert to the tried and true.

Physical injuries and some medical conditions have only compounded this stagnation, but that's mostly a cop-out... truth is, I very easily could've and should've been doing more, but comfort is the easy road and the one I've taken. And the crazy thing is, I give so much of myself to my shoots and my editing, it drains my life force, yet I hate it all. Such an incredibly weird place to be.

When I was starting out in my late-teens/early-20's, my work was so much more fresh, you could see the youth and excitement, wasn't afraid to experiment. Now, yeah, just the same over and over and over again, session after session, year after year. Frankly, I couldn't care less if it means I have a style or that people like it enough to hire me or whatever- this stagnation is the opposite of what I'm about, what I want + expect of myself... yet I just cannot break these habits- I wish there was a restart/reformat button for this type of thing... it's a lot more difficult to break out of your own self-imposed shackles than it seems.

Just curious if anyone's experience this kind of self-loathing, laziness, etc., and if so, how you eventually broke out of it. I've made threads like this in the past, but nothing's changed- I'm SO beyond ready for a damn change now. Any advice would be tremendously appreciated.

As I'm sure people will ask.