The Soundstage Head Club - Page 6

A word of warning about Ultrasones. Their demo CD has binaural tracks that makes the soundstage appear big. Some people get confused and thinks that the soundstage is huge on their headphones.

Binaural recordings should belong on the OP too.

Hi guys, I am looking for an entry level iem or headphone that has a good amount of bass and also wide soundstage. Can you all give me some recommendations? I can spend up to 50-70$. Thank you in advance.

For the money you might wanna go with something in the headphone range of products. Soundstage usually is something you'll get better results with better gear, which also costs $$$ so headphones will probably give you more bang for your buck as IEM's that are good with Bass and Soundstage will most likely cost more than $50-$70. Headphones usually have the driver a bit away from your ear (further than an IEM) and that helps get you some depth and openness to your soundstage. 

 

Wish I could help you more, but take a look on the first page of this thread at the IEM's and Headphones. I see some MEElectronics M9's are on the list. Not sure how they fair with bass, but Head-Fi makes a great tool for research

Sony MH1C has really great soundstage with awesome depth and is a great allrounder. if you want even more bass, look at brainwavz r1.

when it comes to headphones in this pricerange, only koss prodj100 and sennheiser hd439 have some good soundstage.

 

I do like the Dt 880, nice open sound ,^^ although I demo'd the Pro Dj100 and it sounded VERY small to my ears... the Dj 200 sounded bigger and better, but with less bass and $60 than the 100. How are the iGrados... currently Grado's cheapest can... considering getting these and sound stage is what would kill them for me, as I hate small sound stage

The DT880 was my first real experience with a properly balanced soundstage. My first experience with a soundstage of any kind was the SRH440, and then I tried on the M50 and it was noticeably wider than the former. Both, however, have that sort of "tubular" soundstage to my ears, which is reasonably wide but not particularly deep. The M50's soundstage in particular seemed almost entirely a straight line, and I had trouble forming a center image, something that eventually drove me batty and resulted in a return.

 

The DT880 doesn't have any of these problems, though being open it probably shouldn't. I don't think its soundstage is huge, but it's definitely spacious, well rounded, and uses every bit of its space to spread out sonic elements, and I have no trouble getting a center image.

any idea how does a HD598 soundstage compare to the DT880 soundstage? haven't had a chance to hear the latter

everything sounds congested compared to the hd598. especially depth is exceptional.

I spent some time with the 595 (which I understand is a bit different), but I would say the MDR-F1, MDR-SA5000, and to an extent the K701, are superior in this regard. They all cost more and are harder to find though.

595 has nowhere the same soundstage. i compared the k701 and hd598 excessivly and found, that the ss on the k701 expands a little wider but the hd598 wins in depth hands down. they actually sound like you are sitting in front of some speakers instead of wearing headphones.

I'd agree with the K701 being somewhat artificially wide, the Sonys (especially the F1) can very accurately do that "speaker-like" thing though. Your post makes me wanna compare them, but its mostly cans I don't have anymore. *shrugs*

only one way to find out: buy them again 

I've bought the SA5000 enough times for one lifetime, and lived with the 701 for two lifetimes. I might just try to find a BB/Magnolia with the 598s and settle for that. Lol.
Edited by obobskivich - 12/12/12 at 1:11pm

I know, I was listening to a song and there was a "horn in it" well the first time that horn entered the song...

 

I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR AND RAN TO THE DOOR THINKING "OH CRAP PARENTS ARE HOME".... dang sound stage making me think I'm hearning stuff from outside my walls >.>