Sennheiser Amperiors? - Page 56

:0 AUD is currently 1.04 USD... not sure how that works >_> 

Yep although the US price doesnt include tax and AU does it still doesnt add up. I have no issues with voting with my feet and buying overseas (non AU). There was a recent senate estimates comittee investigation in AU on companies gouging including Apple iTunes

They sounded just fine out of the box, but at first I thought the bass was somewhat loose and boomy, and that it creeped up the mids a little bit. They have improved over time, now I feel the bass is very tight and does not interfere with the mids.

 

I know how you feel, I'm from Guatemala so one has to be careful with purchases. I absolutely love this things, I carry them everywhere, really great all-rounders and portable solution.

follow up:
After that listen that I had at apple store and finally getting a pair, they play very, very loud , I guess apple had a limiter on it. Paying through my iPhone 5 and they are excellent. I can only compare them to Westone UM2, the bass is excellent and very tight, vocals are awesome and they are very clear.
Leonard Cohen, Hallejuah (he originally wrote this song), his deep voice sounds soo good. I'm very, very happy with this purchase. Now I need to upgrade the cable

My Amperiors came in, and although I need to spend more time with them, my initial impression is that I love these things.  I definitely had more of an "Aha, THIS is the sound I was looking for in a portable" than I did with either the DT1350 or M-100.

 

With my Leckerton UHA-6s II amp, the Amperiors have the clarity that I feel the M-100s and DT1350 sorely lack.  They're also punchier, crisper, and more exciting to me than the DT1350, with a better tonal balance (especially in the bass) than the M-100.  And they seem less picky about fit and placement than the 1350.

 

I bought them to use as my "beater" can for listening to high energy music on the go, and they seem sturdy enough to just throw in my bag without a case.  Has anyone picked up any scratches on their cups?

Edited by dj nellie - 1/15/13 at 5:25am

The cups on these are awesome. Sturdy, solid and cool to the touch. Although I found that the plastic material on the headband scratches quite easily but I imagine if anything real serious happened you could just replace the headband. I think the cups would be pretty difficult to scratch up.

Personally I would have liked to see an upgrade in the overall construction that matched the quality of the cups.  It just doesn't feel like the rest of the HP was made for these cups, then again, they weren't. 

I love this can, even driven from a samsung galaxy s2. Its a wonderful balance between fun (bass punch, energetic upper mids, sparkly yet at times overemphasised treble) and refinement (mids have good weight, warmth, tonal accuracy and clarity). Their imaging is really very good for their soundstage size and contribute greatly to their genre versatility. While I wouldnt use them greatly for large orchestral and classical music because they lack air, electro-orchestral music is tremendously fun on these. I actually prefer their presentation here to the Fostex Th900, which feels a bit less present and energetic in the mids, drawing more attention to the often unnatural sounding treble in this genre of music, despite having a smoother treble itself.

Their major disadvantages are the added weight and clamping force from the hd-25. They become quite uncomfortable after 1 hour on my head, and the cable being fat and unwieldy at the top while scrawny and prone to unintended seperation at the bottom.

The best thing about them is being able to enjoy your music at volumes loud enough to ignore the noise of the morning commute to work yet still be able to hear the world around you thanks to their combination of isolation, intimacy and liveliness. This is an outdoor can; great in concentrated bursts like a shot of esspresso in the morning.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by the cable being unwieldy "at the top", do you mean the wide connector on the right cup? 

 

I'm also thinking that the Amperior's main drawback seems to be the cable design, but my issue is with how there are exposed prong connectors at the tops of the cups.  Although I like the fact that the cable is user-replaceable, the location of the prong connectors makes it so that everytime I adjust the length of the headband, I end up bending and pressing on the prongs.  I think this will eventually cause the prongs to bend and warp the internal connectors.  Was this also an issue with the HD-25s?

 

Aside from that, I'm really loving these things.  They have the energetic presentation I want in a portable without sacrificing too much tonal balance or detail.  There seems to be a slight bump in the upper mids/lower treble, but it's not bothersome as long as I keep the volume down.  The soundstage is surprisingly wide for a closed portable--I'm pretty sure it's better than the DT1350s I have (I'll do a direct comparison soon) and, from memory, also the M-100s I returned.

 

I haven't heard of this issue.  In fact they appear to be very solidly held.  I can't remove the right cup cable.  Worried I might break something if I try. 

Guys, check this out:

 

Special snake version Amperior. Only published in China to celebrate the coming chinese snake year. Only 88 will be manufactured, but much more expensive than the normal version, around US$593, but it really looks AWESOME!!!

 

http://www.sennheiser.com.cn/the-news/companynews/901-the-amperior-chinese-new-year-edition-

http://shop.sennheiser.com.cn/Infor/NewsDetail_556.html

 

More pictures here:

http://sound.zol.com.cn/slide/349/3496619_1.html

Edited by stevenliu0717 - 1/21/13 at 4:42am

Some very interesting observations throughout this thread... Skimmed the whole thread over the past few days and it boggles my mind how different we actually hear things as individuals. And, on top of that, how individual opinions can change from day to day about these products. I mean, some folks don't like them, then like them, then don't like them again. Very strange indeed!

 

Anyway, I have been auditioning different cans and iem's over the past month or so, probably to the tune of some 20-30 different sets of phones. I sold my secondary 2 channel stereo rig due to lack of use and I figured, why not try some nice headphones to see if I will use them more often. The versatility of a good headphone is very appealing.

 

These Amperior's stand out among the best for me. Very solid throughout the entire range, and no real weak spots. Great with any genre as well, which is very rare in my experience. If I could find any single fault, it would have to be the slightly smaller soundstage. But, that's to be expected from such a small portable can like this, am I right? I auditioned them for about two hours at the Apple store last week and walked out very impressed. I placed my order that night! They didn't have any available in store. :-( Should get them tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

Btw, to give you an idea of what I have been listening to over the past month, I will list as many of them as I can remember here: M4U2; DT990; DT880; DT1350; M50; HD 25-1 ii; Momentum; Amperior; HD558; K550; Q701; D2000; D600; P3; P5; SRH940; S4; IE80; PFE232, and some other Sony, Beats and Bose stuff that I can't remember the models, and don't really care to. My only criteria was that they had to be closed style, so basically no sound going out. Isolation was a factor as well, but much less so. I have since purchased 3 sets from the list above to cover me at home and on the go. I chose the K550 for home, the Amperior for at home and on the go, and also the PFE232 for at home and on the go. This should cover me for what ever mood and style of listening that I want to do. Obviously, the ones I chose are the best for me, but if I was to group them it would look something like this:

 

Very Good: K550; Amperior; PFE232; D2000; SRH940.

 

Good: Q701; P5; IE80; Momentum; HD 25-1 ii; DT990; DT880; M50; HD558; D600.

 

Not So Good: M4U2; DT1350; S4; P3

 

My biggest disappointment was BY FAR the M4U2. I'm not really understanding all the love for the M4U2 in this thread. Those cans were a muffled mess to my ears.

Edited by BRAC - 1/21/13 at 8:46am

M4U2 sounded pretty terrible to me too

I auditioned the M4U2 at the same time as the K550, DT880, DT990 and Q701. Switching to the K550 after the M4U2, it was like a thick blanket was removed. The difference in clarity was incredible! It was kind of funny, because I had gone into this particular shop for the sole purpose of auditioning the M4U2, based on all the great reviews online. Needless to say, I walked out with the K550. The 2 Beyer's and Q701 were fairly good as well, but I only listened to them for the sake of comparison, since I was only looking for a closed headphone.

 

The K550 really is a great headphone if you can get a good seal. I know many have had problems getting a good fit on the K550, and that seems to directly correlate with the quality of sound being heard. Consider me one of the lucky ones I guess. :-)

Edited by BRAC - 1/21/13 at 9:44am

Just got the amperiors for £150 and I am absolutely in love. I don't want to take them off. Incredible details, crisp highs sweet (but not overbearing) bass is perfect for me. I am no audiophile just an enthusiast but even I can tell that these blow my Philips L1s, akg k451s and
bowers p5s out of the water. OK they don't look anywhere as good as the bowers or l1s but I don't care because the Amperiors are simply sensational. The sound signature may not be to everyone's tastes but personally I can't stop smiling. I can finally sell off my collection.