Why aren't m50s considered basshead headphones?

I don't think it's analytical at all.

 

There is no disputing their use in studios around the world ~ from Rihanna <shudder> to Foo Fighters in the

studio, these 'monitors' are seen around some prominent necks.

 

That said, I cannot hear for the life of me how you would prefer one over let's say a HD600 for recording

purposes.

 

Perhaps, they're a good tool for final playback assessment ~ it sounds ok on the M50's, it will

sound ok out of most $100-$150 i-Pod stereo docks from 'best buy'. 

Are you sure about that? Maybe it's for marketing purposes because it is no way near neutral. I remember a studio engineer advertising the TF10s and saying it's their backup monitors. 

 

In any case, if it were a marketing campaign ~ it would make it one of the most successful headphone campaigns.

 

I agree, it's nothing special as a headphone, certainly not neutral, clear, extended nor does it separate all that well.

 

For me it's strongest suit lies on the outside ~ build quality.

The M-50 are bassy, but there is more bassy, boosted, overpower bass hps out there. 

They do have good amount of bass, but the whole sound 'composition' makes it more as a neutral headphone... and there are other headphones that are bassier than these.

I don't find them overly bassy at all, but that may have something to do with my destroyed pads.

Edited by alv4426 - 11/25/11 at 2:51am

I don't listen loudly enough for them to shake the whole headset, but I find the bass region from 20 to 200 more satisfying through the M50s than through the 840s (owned both). It contains more musical information / depth / ability to portray the power of the frequencies and their role in anchoring the rest of the spectrum. Perhaps the graph below gives a good representation for comparison. I'm also a big fan of the coax cable mod on the M50s, which increased the comfort level quite a bit and contributed to a greater sense of space or depth to the sound.

 

The M50s aren't overly bassy. They're definitely not neutral, but they're "natural". I read this somewhere and I quite agree with it, but the M50s have a lot of sub bass which is the whole rumbling feeling and can keep up that power (based on the square wave graphs). For midbass however, a lot of headphones actually have more, such as your shure 840s, even some AKGs.

 

 

I thought the M50 had too much bass for me. I preferred the bass of the Shure 840. Which still isn't neutral. I think if Shure could split the difference between the bass of the 840 and the 940 they'd be almost spot on. Most of the bass impact I hear from both the M50 and the 840 is mid bass thump that is over boosted.


That's just my take on it.

For me bass response was weaker than I was looking for but I'm a spoilt basshead though that seems unlikely to become cured anytime soon haha. But I still don't think M50 has that huge bass boost but maybe I got a weird sample (I bought it 2nd hand) as out of one of my sources the left driver sounded like it was broken, horribly distorted.

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 11/25/11 at 6:51am

Heya,

 

The M50 does decent enough bass. But at it's price point, there are simply better headphones that do the bass, and everything else, better.

 

Very best,