M50's slowly dying - Recommendations on replacement? (<$200 Please!) - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRSxIgnition 

 

I've heard that they don't have the metal inside the band like the M50's do. Do they feel weaker (build quality wise) for it? 
 

 

They feel more solid than the m50's.

The straight cable is about 125cm long, and the coiled cable is around 130-135 when it's not stretched out. The straight cable has a small plug that fits portable units etc, and the coiled one has a small plug + the screw-on "big" adapter you know from the m50. The weird thing is that the straight cable hasn't got any threads on it to screw the adapter on to it.

I got mine from amazon so can't help you with the price :)

You could perhaps look at M-Audio Q40, seriously underrated headphone and it has solid build quality (foldable but with metal hinges and) besides the pads which are typical low quality pleather (but on the other hand they don't get sweaty whatsoever even after hrs of use and with M50 it could get sweaty after like 1hr of use which I hated about those). They even have detachable cable so you can swap out the cable for any length you wish, the default one that is included is more intended for studio use with 3 meter in length but yea it's using standard stereo 1/8" connectors so wouldn't cost you much to buy a pair of 1.2 m cable or whatever that you find suitable for portable use.

Sound wise they have quite boosted bass response (more so than M50) but it doesn't show much until it gets amped but if you don't look for a huge bass response that wouldn't matter anyway. They have very accurate textured punchy bass that's well controlled and very nicely separated from mids and excellent bass extension. The mids and highs sounds very neutral, before burn-in I noticed a slight peak around 8kHz so lowered 2 steps on the EQ but after 50hrs or so of use I thought they started sounding too dark like that and resetted the EQ and everything sounded great & balanced, like the most well balanced mids and highs with a seriously boosted bass response I've come across so far, no noteworthy annoying peaks or dips anywhere to talk about. 

Soundstage is also better than M50, it's slightly vented so it's not fully closed which I believe M50 based on its isolation, the isolation is better on M50 but it still isolates a fair amount on Q40 as the venting consists of very small 2 or so holes tiny holes with like 1 mm in size in I don't remember if it was 2 or 4 locations so they won't really leak any noteworthy amounts either. They look also very nice to me but they are slightly on the bigger side, M50'ish or so: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudiophileQ40.html

I love audio technica myself, and really wanted to go with the anv model, but the "normal" pro700's can be had for as little as 149 (http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=ATATHPRO700MK2) so I figured the gold trim isn't worth twice as much ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRSxIgnition 

I've heard the cable on the q40's is very stiff, and I do value isolation.
Are there any other headphones I should be thinking of? How do the Etymotic hf5 earphones compare to the M50's?
EDIT 1: If it's my best choice - I'll definitely be going with these as a replacement.
Those have both looks, cable length, and sound quality, and from what I hear, build quality.
EDIT 2:
Damn, the price is way over the MSRP of $299... Anyone know where I could order one that's normally priced...? Is $399 shipped for the limited edition forth it? I really love Audio Technica 'Phones

Why not the ATH-PRO700MK2 model then?