Sennheiser 448 vs 438 vs 428 - Page 3

Thanks for all your help but I would like to pick your brain alil more Since I've been liveing without bass for awhile I could stand having lean bass if the price is worth it cause the 438's are 81$ on amazon and the 448's are 99$ straight. and both have no shipping costs so the differance is like a 18$. So are the 448's better to go with than the 438's for the 18$. And to add to it I love Great detailed music like hearing all the inrtuments plus the vocals at the same volume like hearing them right in front of ya. sorry for all the questions but I'm really excited to finally get some good cans for once. I'm hoping the fiio e5 amp will boost these cans to a good volume so they don't sound tiny.

I own the HD448, and I can tell you that they are great headphones. I can't compare the two directly, but considering your musical tastes the HD438 would probably be the best option. With rock, R&B and pop the HD448 seems a bit too lean to my tastes, and with jazz and classical the HD448 really shines. The HD438, with its extra bass would be a more suitable headphone for your wide range of tastes IMHO.

--Eric

what I'm afraid of is the Bass being to big and hurt my ears or at my volume damaging my hearing lol. I live in washington too I'm in seattle. Well I'm really thinking the 448's will be better sounding for some reason just cause thier a step above the 438's in the fact of price lol maybe I shouldn't think that way but the way they say Lifelike stereo is so intriguing.

I wouldn't worry about the bass being too loud on the HD438. It's bass response is similar to the HD595, which is considered more neutral than bassy. The thing to remember about the HD4X8 lineup is that the different models are targeted towards different genres of music and different marketing targets. The 418 and 438 are targeted towards rock, hip-hop and pop listeners while the HD428 and HD448 are targeted more towards jazz, classical and country genres. I doubt the HD448 would sound bad to you, but given your comments on other headphones lacking in bass, I would try the HD438 first. And none of the HD4X8 series will play to deafening levels, as they distort readily before you reach insane levels of volume, and are less efficient than most portable headphones, but efficient enough to play at moderately loud volumes on newer generation ipods without an amp. Also, the HD438 is slightly less efficient than the HD448, so chances are you would be hurting your ears more with the HD448 because you would be turning up the volume more in order to get the bass you want, but instead reaching their limits and damaging your hearing in the process. As the HD438 has a more flat bass response (vs. the rolled off bass response of the HD448), you wouldn't need to turn the volume up as loud to experience adequate bass quantity.
--Eric

hmmm Well Thanks again man You've been more than helpful sounds as though the 438's are the way to go and i should order them and pray noone looks at them and say wth are those lol. The bling on them are funny rather than disgusting haha. I wish I could repay you for your knowledge but The only thing I can do is Say " I appriciate everything you've helped me with and for pointing me into the right direction". You have some good luck now and hopefully I can get these and be really happy with them.

Take the HD438 and be happy. I prefer the HD418 to HD448 which I compared directly to each other, and the HD438 is kind of improved HD418, with better cables and audibly better controlled bass.

I finally got my HD 438's in today on my doorstep I ordered directly from amazon.com and got free 2 day shipping. I instantly cut open the box and yes it is a B!*^%$ to get off lol but I plugged it into my fiio e5 amp and plugged the amp into my zune 30gb brick and listened to some Metallica:All Nightmare Long it was the first song to come up on shuffle haha it sounded a bit light and had to turn the sound all the way up on both the amp and zune to get right below what i'd normally listen to like I listen to Very Loud and this is set on Loud only just to make you understand. My first impressions are that I was expecting wow and got ok lol I like the sound placement and the bass is not boomy but flat and clear insted of distorted boom sound and the clarity at the volume I have is good I had to also put it on a eq to get it even louder but since this level is decent enough I hoping for the burn in to really make these shine insted of slightly sparkle. I know I was expecting to much cause of alot of reviewers saying how good they are right outta the box and better with burn in but I was thinking since I payed 82$ for them I would notice a big differance between my sony noise canceling 24$ ones and these 82$ ones. On another plus side the velor pads on these are really comfortable and really nice even when walking lol I love the comfort I give it a 10 for comfort I will in like a half a month Set up a proper review of these when I think they have had proper Burn in cause I'm definitly awaiting the greatness of Sennheiser hopefully I'm not dissapointed.

If they are anything like the HD448, they will take around 50 hours or so to fully "open up" in their sonic presentation. The HD448's were a bit congested when I first got mine. Actually from your description it sounds like the HD438's were what I should have purchased, as the bass is light and somewhat loose and indistinct on the HD448.

--Eric

lol u would liked them I think But like you said they do crackle but only if I put bass boost on my fiio e5 with the eq setting I curretnly have. But I am planning on getting a new player and am thinking of the samsung P3 cause of the custom eqs and the surround sound effect they have. Maybe that would make them better cause headphones are only as good as the hardware playing through them. I will try these on my X-fi card on my pc and see the grand splender of them. And I do agree they sound alil congested and wish for more open sound. Hope the burn in is as great as i think it will be.

I would actually look into this player: Nationite S:Flo2 16GB 3.5 Touch Screen + Beta Brainwavz [sflo2_16GB] - $179.50 : MP4 Nation!, :: Low Priced MP4, MP3 Players and the latest scoop on the newest MP4 Player It has a better amp section and way better converters than most Portable audio players and better quality analog components as well. It would probably be a good upgrade from your fiio for the HD438's as it has enough output current to drive the HD438's properly. There's a $40 cheaper 8GB version as well on that site and both are expandable through micro SDHC cards.

Thanks

SO this player has everything you stated Wow never heard of it the battery life is not so great but damn sound better than most players I've seen and it has enough power to represent sennheiser properly and is cheaper along with expandable memory I'l def get it after I check out some reviews and detailed specs on it.

I'm getting one next month as an upgrade to my iPod Touch. More recent reviews of the unit have been positive overall (the firmware had some hiccups in it initially).

--Eric

I was thinking of gettin it too

DO you know how to put music in it like is it drag and drop or has a music program like the zune?

I doubt it has a music program. I have to do some research on it though in that regard, as I have a Mac, and many of these players wont work with Macs I would post a thread in the portable players forum asking about that though, as several head-fi'ers have had this player. Also, the battery life is around 9 hrs, so that may be a consideration.

--Eric

thank god I got Vista Ultimate 64 bit but am gonna convert to Windows 7 professional 64 bit soon. Hopefully the drag and drop is better on this even though it supports album art i doubt i wanna do it for the 3000 songs I have lol the visuals should be a good thing though hey hit me up with anything else you pick up upon them cause now I'm really interested