How To Choose A Pair Of Headphones

I got into headphones around 2000 and choosing was a bit easier than now because we have a LOT more options these days. I find the market over saturated to be honest and I don't try and get the "best" anymore because those are VERY expensive. Also what you get for your money now is better than what it was before. Plus you get a wider variety of looks and even sounds.

Let's go through the different types of headphones in terms of function.

• Production mixing. This is what I'm going to generally focus on here not necessarily just enjoying music. They are quite different tasks. Although they could be done on one and the same headphones, the ergonomics could be different.
• Field recording. I prefer some kind of noise reduction / isolation here as I want to hear what the mic hears not the actual real life sound through my own ears.
• Listening to music. It's up to personal taste what works here as everybody's ears are different and if could be music dependant also. e.g. EDM may prioritize bass and since some sounds are synthetic, it doesn't need to sound natural.
• Watching movies. Spaciousness, voices, and big bass could be a factor in choosing something for this use case.
• Sports. These should be more rugged and have some sort of resistance to the elements like water.