i purchased the 6400 and i gotta say that i was blown away by the sound quality. The bass is tight and present the mids n highs n smooth and bright. best 100 bucks i ever spent.
Trance88 Yes, I was shocked to find that they make a great pair of home audiophile headphones. To me they sound as if a Sennheiser 555 and Grado 280i had a love child. They have the bass of Sennheiser without the coloured warmth. And they have the detail of a Grado but without the annoying brightness a lot of the Grado's suffer from. (Too much detail in the top end). Great for movies and television. A nice smooth midrange. But not laid back. Just my opinion.
I've always used KRK Monitors even when everyone was rocking the NS10's, and the Alesis Mk series, and My south Florida studio The Purple Room is crowded with 3 different pairs of KRK'S. Today I got to listen to the 8400 and I got them. Can't speak on the 6400,but for production the 8400's are sick. I did notice the the vocals were a little to colorful than when played in the car or on a big system. However you can get a sick mix on your tracks with these babies the bottom end is CRAZY.
These fella's come across so genuine, honest and positive. I mean anyone would think their being paid to say krk's are good. I personally don't like the sound of KrK's monitors, all I hear from them is Bass!
Can we have the headphones hooked up to the interface all the time or should we plug it in only after the system has loaded up and plug it out before turning off the system?
@MrAntHeezie I have the 8400 and an amp is not a must. The bass and the rest of the spectrum is quite controlled as it is. Although with an additional amp, even a Fiio E10 or E11, the soundstage is the most noticeable improvement among all other categories.
does a studio monitor make the sound really clear for like music production and make it so you hear every instrument? or whats the difference between just normal speakers and studio monitors? the sound? price?
If you are working (mixing, editing, producing) with headphones 🎧 and you don’t like the way they sound, it’s because you don’t know how to eq the channels, if you are listening to a song and you don’t like the way it sounds, it’s because that song has bad production and you probably need to ReEQ that song with the board to make it sounds better.. BUT the most important TOOL is to have good ears to work with. 👂
I just deleted my comments (I surely overreacted). Actually when I look back, the worst fitting headphones I ever owned were Sony V700's and furthermore, like you said, I forgot about all the "small ear cup" headphones like HD25's. I also take back the "I have average sized head/ears" - since I'm 6'4" - they probably are a bit bigger than average Joe's (though they fit inside the cup, my ears are slightly squished - I guess, that's the cause). Seems I was born to use "in-ear" :) Cheers!
can you help me out as i was about to buy AKG 240 Studio which is quite popular so how do you compare with that one and any particular model you want to recommend me as i wanna use for the monitoring and for mixing as i am unable to afford studio monitors right now... please do guide me thanks
@stealthis the Beats line isn't really respected at head-fi.org for one, and they are connected with Monster, known for ridiculous markups on cables they make, as well as cables that may not improve sound quality but have lots of glitz. The combination of these two things are not really favorable, and they are known to be a bit muddy/bass heavy. I feel the celebrity promo is kinda gimmicky and telling too.
I use both KRK8400 and Grado open back. They sound COMPLETELY different. I mix on KRK and it sounds shit on the Grado. I re mix on the Grado and it sounds shit on KRK. Which is right? They say that generally, open back are better.
Peter Gull I know exactly what you're talking about. I have owned a pair of Grado 280i and recently the KRK 8400. The KRK are designed for mixing and tracking. The Grado is not. The Grado have WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL IN THE TOP END if such a thing is possible. The Grado's show no mercy when it comes to detail. And that's detail in your: microphones, A/D/A Converter, the analog section (preamps) of your converter, outboard gear, interconnects, digital overs, etc, etc. The Grado's never claimed to be neutral and unbiased headphones. Very musical but....Does Grado make a special pair for studio use? What model is it? They are top contenders for audiophile listening but not for mixing or tracking. I know KRK monitors (mostly the Rocket series) gets bashed on line (and off) a lot but KRK Professional headphones are a different animal all together. To me the KRK 8400 sound like a Grado 280i and a Sennheiser 555 had a bastard love child....Just my opinion. But the KRK are very highly regarded by just about everyone in the industry that has used them. In all honestly...Mixing through cans is a bad idea. They are a few engineers/musicians that mix on headphones but they are mavericks. And they always end up checking their mixes later on full range monitors later. Free advice: A lot of people think a car stereo makes a great check speaker. That If it sounds right in the car then the mix must be good. Big mistake...Don't do it...Trust me. Rush used to think that too....that's how they tested the infamous Vapour Trails album mix. And we all know what happen there. The only Rush album to be remixed because the original album was so bad. Funny how the expensive mastering engineer they paid for didn't hear all that distorted bass. Trust in the KRK if you must mix on headphones. A pair of KRK 8's is $700 Canadian.. Less in the U.S. And unlike the 5 or 6 the 8's will produce the proper amount of low bass (40-80hz) even in an untreated room.
I'm kind of allercic to this whole "the bass is so fat and the highs are so present" thing. I think the representation of the mids is the most important thing and most headphones have almost no mids because the sound has have much clarity and low end for most people and to be honest it just sounds "empty". Is this also the case for these headphones or are they REALLY as linear as monitors are?
Heartbeatzofficial Yes sir. And I was against mixing on headphones for years...and for good reasons. But the KRK KNS 8400 made me a believer. And YES. It's gets the tricky midrange right. But...you will get perfect results with an audiophile headphone amp like the Grado R1 ($450) or something better.
i cant afford a rokit. and i dont wanna settle for some behringer or those m-audio 30 thignies.....my question is that can i buy these instead of a rokit for now?? i love KRK!! please reply.....
Tahmeed Ash I was against headphone mixing for years. But the KRK KNS 8400 made me a believer. Buy them. Yes, you can make great mixes on this. It gets the bass and the tricky midrange right.
@MrChelove Based on what they say the 6400 are more for what I would give an artist in the booth, but the 8400's will spark your creativity. They remind me of the beats by Dre. I wish I hadn't purchased the beats by Dre cause in my opinion I have a much better set of headphones at half the price. You can't mix with the beats and other than the mid range being super colorful these are the way to go, but KRK is known for having colorful mid range so I'm use to that.
I tested the 8400 in a store. I connected them to my mp3 player just to see how they were before buying it but was disappointed by how low(volume) the sound was. The guy at the store got another pair to test just to see if it was the headphones or my mp3 players ( I have 2) but it was the headphones. So my question is how loud are they compared to the beats or bose ae? I tested out the Bose ae2, Beats before and they were LOUD but the sound I was looking for was not there so I did not want those
Dan S Sorry dude the KRK KNS 8400 are not for portable players. They are professional headphones designed for mixing and tracking. I wouldn't plug a Grado 280i into a mp3 player either.
No, the mids are quite clear on these. The high mids specially. A bit 'too' present, because I come from a Sennheiser world and am used to the slightly 'veiled' sound. In any case, these are not "phat bass" or "crystal highs" headphones - they are quite neutral sounding to me. When I am mixing on my M-Audio monitors and put these headphones on, I can almost not tell one from the other (except of course the soundstage is much narrower on the KNS8400).
BlackAera No way. The Sennheiser HD 280 (which I own) are for tracking only. They are not designed for mixing. Don't even think about it! The KRK KNS 8400 (I also own) are designed for tracking and mixing. Sennheiser will outperform KRK at $800. The KNS 8400 ($150) have way more detail the HD 280. Whoever said that has never owned these two headphone models and does not know what they are talking about. If you try to mix with the Sennheiser HD 280 you will make crappy mixes - Don't do it. Trust me. Buy the KRK KNS 8400.
John Morris Oh, good, I’m not TOTALLY crazy, then! lol I had the Shure 440s for a minute and currently have the Senn 280s, and trying to mix with both, I’m just like, “... I think these would be great for TRACKING!” Now, years later, I keep coming back to these. Well, I’m down to deciding between either model of these or possibly the AKG K275, but there seems to be VERY little reaction to those (and frankly, very little PRO reaction to these) so I’m still torn. Thoughts on mixing with these coming out of a Focusrite Clarett? (No way am I buying a separate headphone amp.)
Fat Casual True...Very true. Mixing with cans is normally a bad idea. And I have been telling people for years not to do it. But the KRK KNS 8400 are the exception. You can make perfect mixes with them.
FARGO Let me put it this way. I have been against headphone mixing forever. After mixing with the KRK KNS 8400 I changed my mind. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I ran the mix through the KRK 5 - sounded perfect. Ran the mix through the big home Energy speakers - mix sounded perfect. No matter what I played the mix on it sounded perfect. The bass level and kick that was so hard to get right with any monitor all of sudden was a breeze with the KNS 8400. They mix sounded as if I had mixed on full range monitors in a properly treated room. One stipulation - the KNS 8400 were plugged into the Grado R1 (battery powered) reference headphone amplifier. ($450) You can still make great mixes with these cans but with a good audiophile headphone amp you mix will be even better. I can't beleive I am saying this but...you don't need monitors...Just get the KRK KNS 8400 and an audiophile headphone amp.
I love how M.Donaldson immediately starts by dismissing glitz and glamour when there are multi-coloured lights flashing all around his studio >_< great headphones though. You really gotta burn em in for about 100 hours and the sound just gets better n better (as with most headphones). also, why do people keep comparing Beats headphones to ANY other studio headphones?! they're just not that clear and uber base heavy.
@mrdizzee04 Hey don't go and get beats and bose, been there and done that. The reason might be with your mp3 player in particular. It's probably due to improper pairings in terms of impedance and voltage. Although the 8400's are fairly easy to drive. From my Sansa Fuze (rockboxed) and iPod touch, they get decent volume. Although, if your mp3 player isn't the loudest, pair it with an amp like a Fiio E11. Trust me these are far better then either of what you mentioned, especially in monitoring.
These have been out almost a decade now (apparently! 😳), and “monitors for your ears” is still the dumbest slogan I can think of. And I’m still considering buying some lol/smh My HD280 pair are... fine(?), but I don’t understand why it seems to be so hard to find affordable neutral headphones that AREN’T “flattering” but aren’t “cold” or “brittle” either! And no, it’s not just my mixes - I’m using all sorts of reference tracks, and both the $100 Sennheisers and $100 Shures had basically the same problem. It sounds like not just taking off the Emperor’s New Clothes, it sounds like taking off his new clothes and his first layer of skin with it! 😬... #pleasesendhelp
Personally... I think KRK make KILLER Monitors. But there headphones suck. Coming from someone that works in the studio. Don't get the KRK 6400... Just warning you.
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I only trust Ultrasone as headphones for production , they have been making only headphones since the beggining, i know that KRK are hip right now and is trying to capitalize but most multi-product brands dont do anything 100% ...Speakers yeah although everything sounds similar but people really should go to Ultrasone for headphones. Dont hate me untill u try them everyone ! Cheeerss
Xenzodiak Albert Thank you sir. Curious. If I may ask? Does This company only make headphones for the audiophile market or cans for studio use. Or both?
@musicflowable First of all, $120; second of all, try be certain that the thoughts you express aren't coming from an ignorant place before you say them in regards to "affording". That's a relative term and I'm pretty sure you don't understand the value of good headphones. Depending on your level of perception and intelligence, that doesn't happen if you put on what are claimed to be good headphones for a song or two either. Anyway, think what you want..
KNS-6400 for ocasional listening, songwriters, quick mixing, etc... ALSO FOR DJing! KNS-8400 more power that means more acurate frequency response... if you want to mix and master... the right choice for the studio
