[eggsnbacon1]

As far as "studio monitors", you should know that a quality set of over ear headphones has better sound reproduction than any speaker. I used to be involved in the pro audio scene, until I realized this.

Its impossible to eliminate echo and stereo bleed with speakers. If you try to EQ a room using mics you will see this clearly. You might get close building an anaerobic chamber, but headphones are still better.

If you're on a budget don't waste money on expensive speakers, just use headphones

[jasonwatkinspdx]

Cross ear perception of the other speaker is actually desirable, unless you're specifically mixing binaural for headphones. Crosstalk is key to localizing the apparent acoustic image in front of the listener instead of "inside the skull."

If you mix purely on headphones, you can just put a quick filter inline that does a reasonable job of simulating it. Without this you'll have difficulty mixing things well for playback on speakers.

[blub]

What filter do you mean? I'm aware of hardware which simulates it, but it costs around 2000 EUR.

[radiowave]

This only works if you either have a guarantee that everyone else is also going to listen to your work on headphones, or total disregard for anyone who isn't.

If you expect people to listen to it on speakers, you need to listen to it on speakers.

[scarecrowbob]

TBH, I am mixing an album this weekend in a pair of HD280s, but a) I have been using this pair of headphones (well, everything but the drivers have been replaced at least once) for almost 15 years and b) I have mixed quite a few albums.

And I wouldn't choose to do that if I weren't stuck in an apartment or had the budget to rent a studio for a couple of days.

Echo and stereo bleed create frequency, amplitude, and phase cues that are important to listening, and while the room reflections or speaker deficiencies can cause a whole lot of problems, most folks are probably better off mixing on a home stereo if they had the choice.

[gagege]

I agree, but one problem with headphones though is that you don't feel the low tones. The bass will end up too loud if all you ever use is headphones. At the very least, you need to listen to the penultimate mix on speakers. There's also the old trick of making sure it sounds good in your car speakers.

[defterGoose]

| better sound reproduction than any speaker

Aside from the comment below regarding bleed as desirable, this just simply isn't true. Yes, you can spend an order of magnitude less for "good" headphones, but the advantage of a cabinet for tuning the driver will always beat what can be done right near your ear.

[FPGAhacker]

It was probably autocorrect, but the term is anechoic.