Thank you all for the DT 1350 amping feedback.  May have just saved me some money. 

Armaegis, would you be interested in auditioning a pair of Phiaton MS400 for your review? If so I would willingly loan you mine; they are up for sale but nobody is biting, and I'd love to see how they stack up against the crew you've assembled.

I used to have the MS400 actually. I have separate reviews for it here...
http://www.head-fi.org/t/495667/review-phiaton-ms-400
http://www.head-fi.org/t/523079/review-comparison-phiaton-showdown-ms-300-vs-ms-400-vs-ps-500

Ah I remember this! Your review was actually one thing that convinced me to buy them initially

How would you say the M80 stacks up to the MS400 as far as bass impact and warmth go? I love my MS400, the bass texture on them is way beyond other headphones I have heard, but the impact just doesn't stack up without amping and eqing (even then it just doesn't feel right, even before I hit distortion levels it starts to lose detail)and I am underwhelmed by their rolled-off highs. Do you think the M80 would slake my need for in-your-faceness, or would I be better off with the HD25?

If you're underwhelmed with the MS400's rolled off highs, I dare say you may not be impressed with the M-80's highs. They're polite and purposely non-fatiguing - not as accentuated as on the HD25. If you have no problem with a narrow soundstage, you should pick up a pair of HD25s. But I can tell you that the M-80's tonality overall is more accurate than the MS400. All three are great cans for different reasons, but if you want some crispier highs the HD25 is the way to go IMO. If I were you, I would try hearing both before making a decision (J&R should have some HD25s to audition and I'm sure you should be able to find the M-80s more easily).

The MS400 is warmer in tone than the M80 and rumbles a bit more, but it doesn't really impact. The M80 is slightly better here, but it too is on the more polite side of things. Treblewise, the M80 extends more than the MS400 and offers some more detail, but both share a the once again more polite presentation.

Quote:

gilly87 said:

How would you say the M80 stacks up to the MS400 as far as bass impact and warmth go? I love my MS400, the bass texture on them is way beyond other headphones I have heard, but the impact just doesn't stack up without amping and eqing (even then it just doesn't feel right, even before I hit distortion levels it starts to lose detail)and I am underwhelmed by their rolled-off highs. Do you think the M80 would slake my need for in-your-faceness, or would I be better off with the HD25?

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Yeah I agree the Ms400 really lacks impacting bass, but I do loveeeeeeee  the mids. The HD25 has nice highs less harsh than most but still more harsh than the MS400s, which are veryyyy laid back similarly to the laid back M50's, HD25 has good impact, but not strong bass so more you hear it than anything as people are telling me M80 bass is bass you can feel. Oh and MS400 mids are a touch better than HD25 mids imo cause they are relaxed,but HD25 has much better treble and everything is more articulate and clean. 

I like the mids on the MS400 much more than the HD25. The Senn easily wins for energy and thump, but sometimes you just want to kick back and relax. Then there's the far end with the TMA-1... I've described the MS400 as like chocolate for your ear, but the TMA-1 is more like molasses. 

Quote:

armaegis said:

I like the mids on the MS400 much more than the HD25. The Senn easily wins for energy and thump, but sometimes you just want to kick back and relax. Then there's the far end with the TMA-1... I've described the MS400 as like chocolate for your ear, but the TMA-1 is more like molasses. 

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I think it's safe to say the TMA-1 is the stoner headphone of the group. To my ears that thing was so dark and laid back it was almost overkill. Good headphone if you like dark sounding rumbling bass that goes DOOOOFFF DOOOOOOFFF DOOOOOFFF. Armaegis it's to bad you don't have a heavy bass centric amp. It would be a hoot to see just how strong and deep that rumble could go.
 
@Gilly87
The M-80 is all about mids and bass. If you want clean sparkling highs you won't get it from the M-80. The HD25 has a mid bass hump which will boom at you and sparkly highs but the mids will feel slightly recessed. The HD25 is also known for a lusher sound while the M-80 is more of a cleaner liquidy sound. Hope my choice of words makes sense.

Yeah the MS400s definitely feel almost sleepy to me...the sound is great, and even though the mids are a tad recessed they do make male vocals stand out; females not so much but still solid. The bass sounds good, but its kind of...wimpy. With the MS400 I find myself wanting to turn them up even when they're loud, and not even just for the bass...they are just so laid back that sometimes its just not engaging. Awesome for Massive Attack; not so much for Infected Mushroom. Beethoven is an interesting experience with them, not as passionate as I'd like to hear but very nostalgic sounding on some tracks, it kind of takes me back to when I was a kid listening to Beethoven Lives Upstairs while trying to fall asleep. If headphones were greetings, the MS400 is a warm, familiar hug. I love hugs but I expect my friends to be up for the occasional chest bump XD Although I have to say, talking about their strengths makes me want to hold on to them... Something tells me I will wind up owning all 3 of these...d'oh...

Great review. 
 
Thanks for the contribution !

A bit more fooling around with the M80.. this was my previous mod: some bluetack in the cup, vent untouched, some felt inside behind the driver, and a very thin foam under the plate.


 
 
 
Here's the current one: replaced the foam under the plate with some thin vibration dampener (scribbled some black marker near the bottom so you wouldn't see the blue under the vents), poked some holes in the material with a pin so I could still screw the plates down; replaced the felt inside with a chunk of open celled foam, no foam over the vents (no pic of that unfortunately).


 
 

How does it sound?

So did it clean up the highs without taking away from the mids and the bass?