vkvedam
Headphoneus Supremus
Ever since I saw the first post by Jude (The Admin) about the announcement of Shure’s new professional series of headphones I’ve always wanted to purchase one from this line up. I thought of 440s at first, but when I had a look at their respective prices I decided and made up my mind to go for the 840s given the arguably best price for such a set of cans. Then I’ve waited for these things to show up in the real world and was a constant follower of the ‘Leak’ thread here at Head-Fi. Finally the time had come for these to show up and I saw this thread. When I saw Quinto’s impressions I’ve finalised my purchase at the expense of parting my HD 600s off to another responsible owner.
The Way They Make Me Feel:
These things aren’t kind of eye catchers or head turners when you first look at them. They don’t look as cool as 780s either. To be honest they reminded me of HD 280 Pros I used to own in appearance (Nowhere near the SQ wise though). As far as the comfort goes these things feel quite heavy compared to the 780s. At first I felt as if I had an evenly distributed dense monster over my head and I even felt a bit dizzy as ‘The Marching Mule’ quoted in his impressions earlier, but soon that feeling disappears. The ear pads are sort of super comfy compared 780s or any other closed ones I’ve had experience with apart from Denons and Bose Triports. The spare ear pads and detachable cable are a real nice touch and I’ve always wanted my 780s to have the same. The only ‘Con’ I’ve got in my point of view is the alien cable on top each ear cup that goes into the headband. I feel that thing to be a bit fragile compared to all the other things which are on the ‘Pros’ side.
The Sound:
I have done all the testing with my Sony D-171 PCDP and a bit through iPod just for source comparison sake. To start with the source has been loaded with a beautifully re-mastered compilation CD of Neil Young’s Greatest Hits. What a start that would be to start auditioning a nice and balanced sounding rig (To my ears). The track ‘Down By The River’ which starts with a bit of noisy background (Vinyl conversion may be) the strings will start to strum in such a way that your mind wobbles and would start to appreciate how good a guitar can sound and how wonderful a piece of an instrument that would be. The SRH840s have a great prowess in delivering the nuances that are associated with the string strum whereas the 780s had the similar sort of authority but looked a bit of out of balance. There is another track ‘Old Man’ which can be used to test the actual balance of the entire spectrum where the vocals (mids) will start to pick up along with the opening of great guitar strum. I felt the 840s had a great tonal balance compared to the 780s when rendering the string laid vocals.
To test the full potential of any pair of headphones you’ve got to test them across all genres:
To achieve this I have loaded my player with Bill Evans’ ‘Waltz For Debby’ and boy wasn’t I surprised over these cans ability to deliver. This particular CD sounds as if it’s been recorded in binaural. I am not sure about this. They have delivered each and every piece and participle of this particular recording in a superbly refined manner. 780s sound great with Jazz as well but the 840s have shown more versatility handling this particular master at work kind of recording from the great Bill Evans. 840s proved themselves that they have got the upper hand in delivering the detail with a sort of rich tonal balance compared to the 780s. People chirping, talking and coughing in the background have been handled in an outstanding way compared to the 780s.
Afterwards I’ve decided to reload my source with Rock and this time it’s ‘The Mothership’, Led Zeppelin’s compilation of their greatest hits. The first track I’ve played was ‘Achilles Last Stand’ and this particular track starts with a lot of bang and strum. And the vocals will start to pickup straight after the grand opening. The thrash of cymbals has got more texture compared to the slightly harsh and eardrum piercing texture of 780s. That doesn’t mean that 780s aren’t enjoyable, they have got their own slam and pace attack, but 840s have got better pace and the way of controlling & defining things.
Well after this much of intensive comparison I’ve decided to load the source with Diana Krall and Alison Krauss to have a measure at these cans capability of handling female vocals. I wasn’t disappointed at all. They made me so excited over the great reproduction of female vocals that I had goose bumps all over in more than one instance. With regards to vocals they deliver them in such a way that each and every word becomes more audible. I’ve never seen this phenomenon with any other cans I’ve heard so far with such a detail (Could be because of their outstanding tonal balance).
To finish off this exhausting assignment I’ve finally decided to load some random mixture of genres with trance, hip-hip, techno and electronica. The underlying string bass-line reproduction is outstanding with 840s. For instance if you’ve ever listened to Tony Toni Tone’s ‘Let’s Get Down’ you’ll notice that part where it’s played throughout the track in the background. With 840s you don’t have to search for the detail whereas 780s would make you run for the detail. If I’ve to give a single line description for both these cans’ attitude towards reproduction I would say:
HFI-780: ‘Come and get me to get served’
SRH840: ‘Stay here and I’ll serve everything’
Thanks for the read and sorry about creating another thread for the 840s. I felt this would get lost and would be a little big to blend into the Quinto’s impressions thread.
Ven
The Way They Make Me Feel:
These things aren’t kind of eye catchers or head turners when you first look at them. They don’t look as cool as 780s either. To be honest they reminded me of HD 280 Pros I used to own in appearance (Nowhere near the SQ wise though). As far as the comfort goes these things feel quite heavy compared to the 780s. At first I felt as if I had an evenly distributed dense monster over my head and I even felt a bit dizzy as ‘The Marching Mule’ quoted in his impressions earlier, but soon that feeling disappears. The ear pads are sort of super comfy compared 780s or any other closed ones I’ve had experience with apart from Denons and Bose Triports. The spare ear pads and detachable cable are a real nice touch and I’ve always wanted my 780s to have the same. The only ‘Con’ I’ve got in my point of view is the alien cable on top each ear cup that goes into the headband. I feel that thing to be a bit fragile compared to all the other things which are on the ‘Pros’ side.
The Sound:
I have done all the testing with my Sony D-171 PCDP and a bit through iPod just for source comparison sake. To start with the source has been loaded with a beautifully re-mastered compilation CD of Neil Young’s Greatest Hits. What a start that would be to start auditioning a nice and balanced sounding rig (To my ears). The track ‘Down By The River’ which starts with a bit of noisy background (Vinyl conversion may be) the strings will start to strum in such a way that your mind wobbles and would start to appreciate how good a guitar can sound and how wonderful a piece of an instrument that would be. The SRH840s have a great prowess in delivering the nuances that are associated with the string strum whereas the 780s had the similar sort of authority but looked a bit of out of balance. There is another track ‘Old Man’ which can be used to test the actual balance of the entire spectrum where the vocals (mids) will start to pick up along with the opening of great guitar strum. I felt the 840s had a great tonal balance compared to the 780s when rendering the string laid vocals.
To test the full potential of any pair of headphones you’ve got to test them across all genres:
To achieve this I have loaded my player with Bill Evans’ ‘Waltz For Debby’ and boy wasn’t I surprised over these cans ability to deliver. This particular CD sounds as if it’s been recorded in binaural. I am not sure about this. They have delivered each and every piece and participle of this particular recording in a superbly refined manner. 780s sound great with Jazz as well but the 840s have shown more versatility handling this particular master at work kind of recording from the great Bill Evans. 840s proved themselves that they have got the upper hand in delivering the detail with a sort of rich tonal balance compared to the 780s. People chirping, talking and coughing in the background have been handled in an outstanding way compared to the 780s.
Afterwards I’ve decided to reload my source with Rock and this time it’s ‘The Mothership’, Led Zeppelin’s compilation of their greatest hits. The first track I’ve played was ‘Achilles Last Stand’ and this particular track starts with a lot of bang and strum. And the vocals will start to pickup straight after the grand opening. The thrash of cymbals has got more texture compared to the slightly harsh and eardrum piercing texture of 780s. That doesn’t mean that 780s aren’t enjoyable, they have got their own slam and pace attack, but 840s have got better pace and the way of controlling & defining things.
Well after this much of intensive comparison I’ve decided to load the source with Diana Krall and Alison Krauss to have a measure at these cans capability of handling female vocals. I wasn’t disappointed at all. They made me so excited over the great reproduction of female vocals that I had goose bumps all over in more than one instance. With regards to vocals they deliver them in such a way that each and every word becomes more audible. I’ve never seen this phenomenon with any other cans I’ve heard so far with such a detail (Could be because of their outstanding tonal balance).
To finish off this exhausting assignment I’ve finally decided to load some random mixture of genres with trance, hip-hip, techno and electronica. The underlying string bass-line reproduction is outstanding with 840s. For instance if you’ve ever listened to Tony Toni Tone’s ‘Let’s Get Down’ you’ll notice that part where it’s played throughout the track in the background. With 840s you don’t have to search for the detail whereas 780s would make you run for the detail. If I’ve to give a single line description for both these cans’ attitude towards reproduction I would say:
HFI-780: ‘Come and get me to get served’
SRH840: ‘Stay here and I’ll serve everything’
Thanks for the read and sorry about creating another thread for the 840s. I felt this would get lost and would be a little big to blend into the Quinto’s impressions thread.
Ven
