KRK KNS 6400 review (vs ADAM A7X studio monitors)

After my friend has had some success mixing on these, and after stunning FR graph I saw on innerfidelity (yes, I know it's not all about FR, but still), considering money they cost, I just had to test them.

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/KRKKNS6400.pdf

Guys from one pro audio store made me a favour and ordered them from another city. To be even better, when I came there, they had threated (or semi-threated) room with several monitors put on testing too, so I could A/B them. Choosed the most expencive ones on the desk, ADAM A7X, which are pretty decent. I wish more guys who have studio monitors would do that in their reviews.

Comfort: I'll be very short, because I'm the least demanding person comfort wise. I mean, I loved comfort of my HD 250 II and K400, but for me, headphones have to be scullcrushing to call it uncomfortable, I can wear even SR850 (which are horrible) and KSC75 for hours. For me, they are comfortable enough, not the most comfortable headphones ever, but, as I said.

Look: I think when you're choosing mixing headphones, the look should be the last thing that matters. At least it is to me. So nothing special here too.

Before I start you should know these are straight out the box headphones, no burn in applied, and speakers/headphones volume is matched by ear.

Sound: Finally. How do these sound? I found them very flat, they even a bit reminded me of K240DF. I couldn't run sine sweep, but from what I've heard, no nasty peaks, or deeps. When I test headphones, I use music that I know really well, (I listened from neurofunk drum and bass to Daft Punk's RAM) and some of my raw mixes, that I know they're not good in some area. For example: mixes with too loud drums, or too light drums, too much information on 3KHz, to bright etc. you get it. And shockingly, these flaws were exposed on this headphones unlike on many other! Now, I will review bass, mids and highs in comparation to A7X, I think that's the best way.

Lows: They are not very punchy, 100-200Hz they sound pretty much like A7X, just flat, tho big decline of bass <100Hz is very noticable. You'd need another set of headphones or good analyzer like IXL or SPAN to mix low end on these. 3db+ <100Hz shelf really helps, but in general, you'd need some help.

Mids: Very, very detailed. More detailed that their price would suggest. Mids are a bit more pronounced than on A7X. They are not really mid centric, better description would be neutral leaning to midcentric. I, who hate midcentric headphones for mixing, wouldn't mind at all mixing on these, so hope that gives you an idea.

Highs: High frequencies are good on these, not really good, but decent enough for mixing. A7X have more pronounced, and much cleaner highs. I noticed that KNS6400 might have roll of in the air region, either that or lower highs in general compared to A7X, and that also could be one of the reasons why their mids sound more pronounced. (Maybe A7X are a bit bright? I've seen people write it on gearslutz)

Overall: I think these are really, really good budget mixing headphones. They are not for casual listening, they sound cold, analytical and boring, but for mixing, I think I would be able to nail mix with them from 100Hz to the top, or more honestly from 300Hz+ to the top for sure. If you choose them you should know that you'd need a lot of referencing, (tho you need that most of the time even with much better equipement), analyzers, and checking on other systems, especially for the low end. Wish I was able to test them with crossfeed, but think this is sufficient. All in all I definately recommend them.