Replacement Buds for Mx 500's

I've finally given my beloved MX 500's to my wife and now i'm after a replacement. I don't want to spend to much so i've been looking at the MX 660 or AKG K317. The AKG is double what the MX 660 so does anyone know if its worth double the price? Or if anyone could recommend me any other bud in that price range it would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys. I didn't know there was a new range out! Just had a look on Amazon and the MX580's are there for £27. This range isn't even on the Sennheiser website yet?! Do you know why? Just noticed the MX980 on Amazon for £135!! That must be some Bud!

So Jant would you recommend the MX580 over the MX760 andK317? How much better is the MX580 than the MX471? or is it just that the MX580 has a volume control that makes it more pricey?

Cheers James.

Went for the MX580's. £27 from Amazon. Out the box they are pretty impressive. I've got them burning in at the moment but even if they don't improve i'll still be well satisfied. Only listened to them for 20 mins but first impressions are they blow the socks off my MX 500 and CX 300II! I'll go into a bit more detail after burn in.

Ok they’re fully burnt in now and to be honest it’s made little or no difference. But as they sounded great out the box that’s not a problem. First of all my setup has been either my Ipod Nano connected to a Fiio E5 Amp via a Line out or an Archos 5 with a Fiio E5. The files on the Archos are either Flac or WMA VBR highest quality. The files on the Ipod are mainly WMA VBR 96-128kbps or MP3 128kbps. I’m useing my MX500’s and CX300 II’s as a reference.

Comfort – Pretty similar to the MX500’s. Quite comfy but if you position them slightly wrong they’ll begin to hurt after a short while but no real complaints.

Sound:-

Bass – Snappy, punchy, detailed. Bass, as i expected is good. The bass impact isn’t as large as the CX300’s but the extension and the quality is there in abundance. They definitely have more range in the bass department than the MX500’s and the quality is better than the CX300’s. At high volume with the Ipod the bass can become muddy and a bit uncontrolled but i would expect that with low quality compressions.

Mids – Again plenty of detail a vast improvement on the MX500’s but still suffering with a low quality source.

Highs – Great detail although can be a little shrill with dance music and a low quality source. Easily corrected with a tweak of the equaliser though.

Overall they are typically Sennheiser. Nice warm sound and not tiring at all. Plenty of detail with a slight emphasis on bass. For headphones aimed at ipod use they’re fairly neutral. One negative is that they do show up a poor quality source which i didn’t expect at all. The MX500’s are better at hiding poor quality which is surprising as they have a higher ohm rating. Through the Ipod and with low quality compression the overall sound can become congested, the separation between sounds becomes blurred and the Soundstage narrows, particularly with rock and Soul. Dance music doesn’t seem to suffer as much. With Flac files through my Archos the Soundstage is good, not massive but still impressive for a bud. Separation is also good with fine detail being picked up. Stevie Wonder ‘Part Time Lover’ sounds awesome and incredibly clear even at high volume.

Now onto value. £27 for a set of quality Headphones isn’t massive and i did believe i got value. I paid £15 for my MX500’s 4 years ago and £18 for my CX300 II 3 months ago and these are definite step up in overall quality from both. That was until i bought my wife a pair of MX 271’s for £9! There is no way my MX580’s are £18 better. She’s only had them a day but i managed a good 30 minute listen to them and although the overall quality is a slight step down (i.e- less detail, marginally less bass quality, less bass extension, smaller soundstage) they actually hide a poor quality source better and seem slightly comfier. I'll reinterate that i've only listened to them for 30 mins, maybe a longer listen will reveal their flaws to me but at the moment for £9 i'm really impressed. Maybe a good compromise would be the Mx470’s which if they can come near the 580’s detail and soundstage and match the 271’s ability to hide a poor source will be a steal at £18.