A Concise View of Why The ATH-M50 is No Longer King - Page 28

The HD600 is pretty neutral. 

The album The Paisley Reich by Times New Viking is a pretty harsh recording. The song Modern Kicks by The Exploding Hearts is too. Maybe both bands wanted it to sound that way but it is still coloration that is harsh on anything I own including speakers. 

 

Have you heard the HD-580? Some may think i'm nuts, but I think that's closer to neutral. I know you probably would disagree since it's using a plastic grill , but it even sounds clearer. Not due to excessive treble. Same driver too.

 

I would say the HD-600 could be very neutral if it has a tad more treble and less of a mid-bass hump. Still pretty close to my ears. Strangely the HD-598 sounds more balanced, yet it does have more forward mids. I think it's treble is close to neutral. I think the Sennheiser guy here said the HD-600 had more treble, but i'm just not hearing it.

 

You can do a mod to reduce the mid-bass of the HD-600 without actually changing the rest of it's signature (someone measured it), but i'd probably blow up the driver. Actually, not really, but could be risky.

 

I actually think one reason the HD-600 is muffled sounding is due to it's mid-bass. That's probably why I love the HD-580 even more.

 

I must be the only person here who is more bothered by mid-bass humps than upper mid and treble peaks.

Not the only one. I'm very sensitive to mid bass humps. I'm quite surprised that the Pro 900s didn't bother me. Hell, I found the UR40 (like a poor man's HD650) to have mid bass that made me weep. That's why I greatly prefer sub bass emphasis over mid bass. The DT770/600 I owned was the bass heavy version, and it was also painful for me.

Even the Q701 at times bothered me with it's mid bass, that was a rare occurrence.

I'm a weird, mild basshead.

I don't mind upper mid or treble peaks. Hell, DT990 fan here.
Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 8/10/12 at 1:30am

M50 is still one of the more natural sounding isolating closed headphones at $110. And it's built well and looks good. Why all the hate :). 

HFI580 is only a side grade due to its strange timbre, while SRH840 is priced a bit above. I haven't tried the KRK.

 

ZX700 is at $75 is the other one I can think of that can beat the M50 in terms of price/performance ratio.

Haters gotta hate, as they say. They can't get through a day without it. I guess their friends have deserted them, so all they're left with is forums for headphone nerds like us

I'd like this, if we were on facebook.

I'm a fairly new user to these forums, but I can say the m50's are getting more hate than they deserve. They do sound quite alright, I find them to a  bit too sibilant, but honestly, it's still quite a decent choice (especially at $110). There are probably somewhat better choices though, but the m50's are certainly still very solid.

I'm too lazy to search for an answer, but do the M50s burn-in? If so, about how many hours does it take and what the heck changes? A lot of people that don't like them seem to be giving a straight-from-the-box review.
 

 

 

This!!!

 

I don't get the hate either. 

 

I sold my M50s and bought a pair of HFI580s.  I like the stronger bass of the 580s, but I appreciated a lot of the things the M50 did right. 

 

The HFI580 is definitely for bassheads, no doubt about it.    The M50 is a better all-around headphone than the HFI580, yet I prefer to listen to the Ultrasones...go figure.  Yes, the HFI580 is a side grade at best.

Couldn't have said that better.

Yea Its like -What headphones do you have? oh the M50's well you should try The sennheiser HD650 there so much better
-oh i might but as long as your comparing them how much is the price difference? Oh twice as much? maybe you shouldnt be comparing them
 

lol, hd650 is one nice headphone, I can tell you that 

I do find the ATH-M50S LE to be nice cans but I definitely wouldn't consider them the best things ever. I've owned a pair of Sennheiser HD 439, HD280Pros, and SRH440s and I'll say I like bits and pieces of all of those cans.

 

Example:

The HD 439 were by far the most comfortable cans with all around great sound. Good bass, mids, and not too sparkly trebles.

The HD 280Pro has fantastic, punchy bass. 

The SRH440 sound pretty neutral (which I love) and the bass is punchier, more ... crisp? 

The M50s LE have the best treble of the bunch with some very sparkly highs. They're comfortable, don't clamp too tightly (like the SRH440) and they don't get as warm or comfortable as the HD 280Pro... Plus these have the best soundstage of the bunmch.

 

Personally, I tend to reach for the comfortable HD439's the most when I'm listening to music in the office... but the M50s LE come in 2nd if I'm really trying to focus and feel like I need to isolate the outside world.

 

Personally.. I'd love to own a pair of SRH840 to see how those compare but being married means the wifey knows all my purchases... Oh noes!

tl;dr: ath-m50s degrade in value over time just like every other electronic device.

 

Jesus christ, you are a genius.

Edited by Gensou - 9/2/12 at 9:03pm