new Pioneer flagship? SE-MJ591

Haven't heard anything, but they look gorgeous, and the hard case and flat collapse are sweet. Would be a great addition to your portables review thread.

Just ordered a pair from UK, as they're only available in EU and Canada atm, so I pretty much paid retail with shipping to US. I will not be able spend that much time with them as they are an xmas gift for my sister. I also ordered a pair of AKG K550s for myself and can hopefully trade for a while with my sis for the Pio's to spend some time with them and provide some feedback. I am currently using HDJ2000 for portable with a ZO or E11, and am hoping that the new Pioneers sound at least as good, if not, you will see them in the fs forum, as the HDJ2000's are sold for cheaper, there would be no reason to keep an inferior model, also, shipping back to UK as a return for refund would suck.

Hopefully I will provide some basic impressions by early Jan, or at least a compare vs the HDJ, as I am not very good with describing sound as accurately as most on here, plus my music tastes may not appeal to all.

Will do. I actually picked up the HDJ 2000s based upon your input, especially since I already had the TMA's and you pretty much did a comparison of the two. So thanks for that

These do look very tempting i must say !

I love them, the memory foam, the metal, the way they fit, honestly not sure why I waited so long to get them. I did see your mod, but I use them mainly with the ZO and they pound, not sure if your mod will help them extend lower, but at this point with the cups vibrating not sure what I can possibly gain? Since both my ZO's are out of commission ATM (v1 headphone jack only does right chan, and v2 being updated to rev.3) I have been using the SRS iwow (iPhone/iPod LOD plugin) and it does the job, just a tad bright sometimes. I also got a 3ft. Black dragon cable (as the coiled cable for portable use is a bit too much), I have noticed a bit of an improvement but not that much, then again, I've only had about 20-30 hrs burn in on it. In hindsight, I should've gotten a double helix cryo copper one, as at the same price: it looks better and is a lot more flexible, then again, if I was handy I could've just put together a mogami cable, but I am not :/

On another note, just received the AKG K550, and first impressions out of the box, they are way too bright for me, however, with the ZO, they're great. It was an impulse buy, and were meant as portables, unfortunately they are going back, as the non detachable cable is VERY long, and they are HUGE, I would say somewhere between the xb700 and 1000. The craftsmanship is very nice, but aesthetically, I'm not sure what they were thinking when they marketed these as portables ? And at this price, I think I will pick up a pair of MDR-Z1000/7520 instead.

Sorry to derail with the above. I emailed the UK shop (iheadphones.co.uk) about my MJ591 order being shipped, and unfortunately they have not gotten back to me as of yet, I am really hoping that they will land here by Xmas as they were meant as a gift
Am also hoping that Pioneer followed the example of the HDJ's and made these new portables as outstanding, but I am a bit worried, as the HDJ 2000 were a lot more than $300 msrp when they were first introduced and of course can be had for a lot less now, so not sure what that says for the MJ591s.

Not sure if you are aware/ a fan or not of the Digizoid ZO, but personally I can no longer listen to music without it. And by music I mean primarily dnb and dubstep, not sure how well it would play with acoustic of any genre, but I would highly recommend for anyone to try it out, IF you're after some unreal bass.

Don't mean to resurrect a dead thread, especially as a new member here, but I recently had a chance to purchase these, so I did. I had high hopes as they look really nice, feel solid, and are made by Pioneer which is a company I respect, however I was disappointed.

 

After listening to them back and forth between my SRH840, I have to say, they're not quite as good as the significantly less expensive SRH840. They seem to have slightly more of a bass-punch and maybe a tiny bit more bass detail, but the mids are quite muddy, and the highs sort of veiled. The highs are definitely less fatiguing than the SRH840, though. As for the soundstage, there's just something "off" about it. It doesn't seem to be any smaller than the SRH840, but overall the soundstage seems less detailed and explicit.

 

It's a very clear headphone that is sturdy and fits nicely, but it has a very distinctly colored sound that makes it easy for some of the clarity to be lost. I wouldn't say it's anywhere near as "flat" as they try to describe it. I also don't like the fact that it sits halfway-on the ear rather than around it. I'm going to be listening to these a lot more in the coming days, and if I don't have a more positive review of them soon I'll be returning them.

 

Anyone else heard these and care to comment? I find it difficult to directly compare headphones sometimes and would like some other people to contrast or confirm my findings.

Edited by Sephious - 1/8/12 at 1:35am

Don't apologize for writing a review of a headphone pretty much no one has had a chance to hear yet! Thank you very much. It's an excellent review, IMO -- to the point and descriptive without being too analytical. Any further impressions would be much appreciated, after the signature has had some time to settle in.

 

Welcome to Head-Fi.

I finally had a chance to steal these from my sister (gave her the TMA-1for the time being). And yes, I concur, they sound very disappointing. To me it seems like the mids are the only thing there. As for the soundstage, I am not sure, although my sister mentioned that some of the tracks she listened to had the backup singer come out stronger than the main, and that just very wrong. I've thrown a lot of bassy stuff at it, and the bass is barely there, it can be heard but very slightly. Same thing with the highs. The cups are pretty small, from the pics it looked like a bigger can. The fit is ok, the headband arches out instead of following the head, so for people with glasses this will be a plus, for me personally it looks goofy. Although the single entry cable is detachable, it seems to be proprietary, as the lead that goes into the ear cup has a thinner section that lets it slide all the way into the jack. A simple cable swap that can be done to the TMA-1s and most other single entry 1/8 headphones cannot be done to these Pioneers. The reason I mention this, is for the TMA-1s I purchased a replacement beats cable, before AIAIAI introduced their own, and it fit fine, sounded the same but added a mic and remote functions for iPod/iPhone.
For the price I paid, I feel like these are an insult. Unfortunately I cannot return them, as they were purchased and shipped from UK, so I will have to sell them at a loss. This is again disappointing, as they were a gift, but after hearing them, I can't let my sister keep them, as much higher quality sound can be had for less, looking directly at the HD25-1 or even the vmoda m-80 as a replacement.

 

After reading your review of them and listening to mine some more, you're definitely right about a few things. The bass is fairly anemic, but no more so than the SRH840. It definitely has a presence, whereas the highs are just about non-existent. After EQing my receiver for a significant boost to treble, they still seem fairly light on the treble side. EQing the bass definitely gives them a bit of bass punch, so they're not nearly as lacking in the bass as they are the treble. They are quite clearly a mids-dominated headphone.

 

I'm going to do some more comparisons between these and the SRH840 later in the week, as my girlfriend currently has my SRH840, but at the very least after EQing, these are enjoyable to listen to.

 

I'm going to attempt to break them in a bit over the course of a few days to see if they get any better pre-EQ, but it's doubtful.

 

It's too bad, too. I got them for a steal since I work at Future Shop, but unfortunately Future Shop doesn't have a great selection of good headphones so I'll probably have to pay full price for a different pair somewhere else.

 

EDIT: After burning them in for at least 20 hours now, and listening for probably close to 10, I'd say that the mids might have settled down a bit, but the highs and lows are still very weak, highs especially. After EQing they sound great, but when other, cheaper (for most people) headphones are available that perform as well without EQing, there's little point. I'm going to return these as soon as I get my SRH840 back, or as soon as my new V-MODA M-80 get here.

 

EDIT2: After listening to them back and forth between my SRH840 again, I've come to my final review. The mids on the MJ591 are about the only thing that you can hear without EQing. The bass that is there is as tight, if not even a little tighter than the SRH840, but the amount of bass there is definitely lacking. The highs are almost non-existent until EQed, and it takes quite a lot to bring them out to play. Even after EQing both the lows and the highs, there still exists the mids, which are seriously overblown and sound muddy at best compared to the more airy feel of the mids on the SRH840. Color me not impressed overall. They're going back tomorrow, and I hope to have a more favorable review of the M-80's when I get them.

Edited by Sephious - 1/10/12 at 9:04pm

I love my HDJ-2000 so much so I decided to get this too. I should have it in a week. Stay tuned for my unboxing and impressions.

I've found that it tends to sound much better with an amp than without.  Sadly, the only time I actually listen to mine is when I'm on the go.  They are portable cans after all.  And since I don't have a decent portable stack right now, I pretty much have to listen to them as-is.

 

That having been said, it's not at all bad for what I listen to most of the time, which happens to be chillout (vocal, Ibiza, etc.).  There's a little weirdness in the signature somewhere between the mids and the highs, as if a narrow band of frequencies are far more recessed than the rest.  Its a bit hard for me to describe, but its more like a hollow, distant sound rather than a veil.

 

As for the build quality, its fantastic!  And the little aluminum bits and fittings are all of excellent quality.  I'm not about to engage in any desctructive testing on it, but I get the distinct feeling that it would hold up much better than most cans.

 

BTW HiFiGuy528, approx. 40 hours of burn-in did almost nothing to mine.  So I think the way it sounds when you first open it is probably close to the way it will sound forever more.