HD595's vs ATH M50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Takomasan 

What are your thoughts on both of these and which do you think is the best for genres overall

M50's hands down...

These are my two primary headphones, and really they are very different.  I'd say the M50 is a little more versatile overall, and if I had to live with just one of these two as my only phones I'd pick those.  Part of that decision would be based on them being closed so they can be used in slightly noisy environments.

Having said that, if the house is quiet and I'm going to listen to some jazz or maybe some ambient music, I'll grab the 595s every time.

M50 is the best overall phone I have so far for enjoying anything I throw at it.  Mine is balance modded so that helps.

I think it's hard to say, since M50s are closed-back, while the HD595 are open-air. eric0531 pegged it with his last comment, "...if the house is quiet...", in my opinion. It's hard to use open-air when the surrounding area is loud without getting outside interference. My preferences, when it comes to music, are that open-air headphones generally beat closed-back headphones in the same price-range when it comes to accuracy and neutralness.

The only exception when the M50s excel against the HD595, in my opinion, is perhaps electronic music or rap and hip-hop with exaggerated beats. Even then, some people prefer a cleaner, more accurate bass than heavy, boomy bass. I personally like the bass coming from M50 and similar closed-back headphones when it comes to those two genre, but that's just me.

while the hd595 never did anything wrong per se, i never found anything i really liked about it.

it was... um....  boring.

that's something you can't say about the M50.  not boring.

man...half hour too late!  Not a big 595 fan at all...find them to be very harsh in the upper ranges, not particularly musical for lack of a better word.  They were my first set of high end cans though.  Out of sheer curiosity, why did you limit yourself to just those two?

I love the AD700s for mid-fi open shells (wearing a set right now actually :D).  What is your price ceiling btw?  There are several other options in there, like the FA-003s, or the Shure SRH840s.  I just never liked the 595 phones, found them to be really boring for lack of a better word.  The m50s are very nice, not as detailed, but good lf extension and punch.  It will help if you tell us what genres you like, what your price ceiling is, your source material on average (like mp3s or FLAC, etc) and amped vs unamped (guessing the latter). 

don't sweat it if you ordered the hd595s.

we all have different ears and different tastes.

and, honestly, the only way to tell if you're going to like a pair of cans is to hear them.