I've had these headphones for about 4 years now and they continue to be my go to headphones. Not only do they do a great job of isolation, they also have a great sound quality. They are perfect for drummers who want to hear a click track both live and while recording. I've had a ton of drummers use them in my studio and I have heard nothing but how much they love these. They are also great for anyone recording in a studio that wants to use a nice pair of headphones. I have a few other cheaper sets of headphones and looked into buying a more expensive set (Sonys, Sennheisers), but I kept coming back to these. A few things I don't like however is the framing for them - although mine is still intact, it seems they could break pretty easily. Also, if you wear them for a long amount of time they can become uncomfortable but that really happens with all headphones for me. For this price I think you get a great deal for a very nice pair of studio headphones.

I've used my Sennhesier MD 421 II only in the studio and mostly on tom drums and guitars. These are classic dynamic mics and I've seen very few studios without them. Although I have only used them in the studio myself, I have heard they are also great in a live setting on any application that a dynamic is traditionally used on, especially on vocals (as seen in the Concert of Bangladesh).

I've used the Neumann TLM103 strictly in the studio on everything from vocals to banjo to acoustic guitar. It is great for any and all applications that you would typically use a large diaphragm condenser mic for. The only thing I wasn't happy about was that with the regular model (not the Anniversary edition) I had to purchase a separate shockmount; however, the clip that comes with the mic works fine as well if you don't care about having a shockmount for it.

The Universal Audio LA-610 channel strip in my opinion is the best channel strip you can get for your buck. Both the pre-amp section and the compressor section are extremely useful. Most of the time I will record using the compression straight to Pro Tools, but many times I'll go back and use the compressor on previously recorded things. It has XLR inputs and outputs and is it rackable.

In terms of ease of use, it doesn't get much easier. The pre-amp has a bunch of equalization options as well as gain and a leveler. The compressor is only two knobs, like the LA-2a which it is based off of. I haven't had a need to use the manual, it is easy enough to use if you have any sort of experience with recording and compressors.

I couldn't be happier with overall sound this thing produces. It sounds great on vocals (I'm using a Neumann TLM103) as well as on guitars and drums. For bass I just plug directly in...I have no need for my direct boxes anymore when recording keys or bass, I just use this. The pre-amp is pretty transparent if you run it with no EQ, but I love having the options of boosting or cutting using the pre's EQ.

- Comp / Limit / Exp
- Analog (Transistors)
- no
- Jack / XLR
- yes

- yes
- yes
- no need of manual, just need good ears and experience.
but for manual lovers :
http://support.symetrixaudio.com/cgi-bin/symetrix.cfg/php/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=9mSi5ZWi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_tbl=9&p_id=452&p_created=1138911074&p_olh=0

- for the price yes.
- percussions, overhead, hihats, rides, cymbals etc...
- lack of efficiency in bass frequencies, very good in medium and high medium, good on high frequencies.

I've used these headphones for 2 years now, they are comfortable, good-looking and, more important than all, they DO sound really good. They helped me make better home studio mixes through revealing some frequencies that usually remained hidden with "usual" (non-professionnal) headphones or speakers. The impedance is very high (600 ohms) compared with most other headphones, so with the same settings the general volume will be lower on these ones than on most other headphones. They also tend to saturate early in the lower part of the sound spectrum (DeeJays, stay away! ), which may help if you have a tendency to overload your mixes with low frequencies. Listening to (and rediscovering) some old records with them can be a real pleasure too...

It is a pity this model is no longer available (it was replaced by the K 240 Studio which has a lower impedance seems to favor low frequencies and thus shall be less trustworthy for mixing purpose).