M-Audio Q40 Impressions (long w/pics) - Page 60

 

I had to return mine too. I had them for over a week and the clamp was just too much. The pads looked and felt cheap. They hurt my head after 45 minutes of use. The mids seem recessed/nasally to me. Bass is about the only thing these headphones do well. I tried to like them, but I they are just too uncomfortable and the mids lacked clarity to me.

 

 

I could not disagree more. The mids on these are anything but nasal imho. These have the rare quality of being at the same time engaging, warm AND revealing. I cannot explain exactly how they do this but they definitely do all of this at once. Everybody seems to be interested in the bass on these..which is nice and tight, but I found mids and highs to be extraordinary. They compare very well to my Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm. And they leave my Audio Technica M50 in the dust.

 

What music are you using? Try some properly enocoded FLACs, good masters. Get hold of some XRCDs or some DCC golds. Listen to some chamber music or jazz, the mids are amazing on violas, cellos and saxophones. Good masterings will show on these. Bad masterings will sound like the crap they are. Also use a minimum of good amplification and sources. I'm using a HRT Headstreamer or alternatively a HRT MSII+ feeding my Harman Kardon amplifier. Amazing.

 

Also: I have a big head, and only found these mildly uncomfortable for the 1st week. Then they adapted perfectly and I can use them for hours. The pads: everybody is repeating the same old story, the pads are bad, the pads are bad. They are not. They're nothing special, but they're not worse than anything else you get in headphones at this price. Sure, my MD880 have better pads, but the difference is not that big. 

 

I think these are atm the best value in headphones you can get in the UK. 

Edited by blacknile - 2/23/13 at 6:10am

blacknile> I perfectly agree with you but I believe a lot of people aren't hearing the full potential with the Q40 like you and me.

 

- Q40 is picky about amping, it sounds a lot better amped than unamped, especially midrange improves greatly in quality 

- Q40 improves with burn-in, at first it's slightly V-shape sounding, later on the 9kHz spike settles in and it becomes a little more warmer sounding but also more transparent

- Stock cable is very bad (high impedance), I heard a difference when changing to Monoprice 8323 DJ headphones bundled cable as well as the typical FiiO bundled or other portable amp bundled thin stereo cables, the stock cable tends to smear up the midrange slightly

 

I personally then modded also the stock pads by stuffing a very thin layer of household paper underneath the stock pads, but I can't stress this enough, the layer should be very thin (I used a 1/4 - 1/3 of a piece of paper towel and rolled up to 1cm wide roll and stuffed underneath) or the distance between the driver becomes too big at which the midrange takes a step backwards, having the ears closer to the driver provides a better mids & highs balance why I personally would be vary about testing DT770 pads which are typically paired with Q40 without having auditioned them with stock pads as well.

 

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 2/23/13 at 6:30am

I've never liked using paper as stuffing underneath pads. I find cotton balls work well, or gauze which doesn't have the fluff get stuck all over the place.

 

I listened with 320kbps mp3s, flac files, and was using an O2 amp. IMO, the bass was overpowering the mids/vocals, making the vocals less clear to me. This is comparing it to some other more expensive headphones such as A900X, K550, and HE-400. I know it's unfair to compare them but I feel that the mentioned headphones are better overall for my use. I will say the Q40s are good for bass heavy music though.

 

I tried swapping the earpads to Hifiman pleather pads. I would say they improved the comfort but didn't change the sound that much.

 

 

Edited by cheuh - 2/23/13 at 3:45pm

 

Yes, it definitely makes little sense to compare the Q40 with headphones that cost 10x their price (at least in the UK). And again, I have to disagree - bass heavy music is really not good on these imho: I think these do a far better job with music were the bass is not heavy already in the mix. I was frankly surprised by how well these communicate the texture of acoustic double bass in jazz hybrid Analogue Productions SACDs, as well as cellos in classical quintets and quartets (for example AliaVox SACDs). Bass in electronica and ambient can be rendered a bit too heavy in my experience.

Edited by blacknile - 2/23/13 at 5:52pm

 

More like 3x - 4x the price, not 10x... even better if you can find used or refurb deals on this site. I agree with you bass in electronica/edm/trance songs can be a little heavy, thus making vocals less clear.

Edited by cheuh - 2/23/13 at 7:13pm

Sorry to sound pedantic, but the HE-400 costs 400 pounds in the UK, vs 59 for the M40, so my estimate is more realistic. As for the AKG 550, I'm a big fan of AKG (have had a 240 MKii for a long time, nice open headphone) but don't like this particular one you mention, at 3X the price of the M40 is not 3X better imho.

 

I too love my Q-40's, very comparable to my DT770's. I went with Beyer velour pads but liked the 'sound' better with the stock pleather pads, which I agree are comfortable. Clamp is fine for me as well. These were a fantastic value for $126. Clearly. Double amped, they handle the power flawlessly, without bass crapping out. Thumpers they are.

I don't know much about amps, but am considering getting the FiiO E6. Can anyone tell me if that will be enough power to drive my Q40's? Or recommend another portable amp that's similarly priced?

I've got an E-6 along with all my other stuff.  I think it would drive them pretty well.  I'd spend the $40 extra and get an E-11 and for SURE they will drive better.  The E-6 is a great little portable amp that I use for running on my armband fed via LOD from my iPhone or iPod.  Fiio has good stuff for the various applications. 

 

My latest trick is literally using 1/2" nylon ROPE under the stock pads.  It made them fit better and the clarity of all levels better.  Strange but true.  Just tucked it up inside the pads, cut length to fit so it's completely encircled, like an o-ring of sorts. 

Cool. Does an LOD make a big difference compared to the standard ipod audio port connection?
 

 

Huge.  It bypasses the amp in the source and goes straight to the external amp such as your E-11 or ZO or, in my case, both.   Improves quality and clarity. 

Awesome, thanks for the help.