Sennheiser MOMENTUM Review - Page 45

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Any1 else thought these lacked a lot of detail & resolution especially midrange? I was quite underhelmed for their price, personally prefer how my M-Audio Q40 for $120 sound over these. 

 

"Subjective pricing value":

 

Q40: 200~$225

Momentum: 120~$150

 

I also demoed for example: AKG K272 HD, Sennheiser HD25-II and HD598 and thought all those had better sound quality (soundstage, microdetail, bass quality) than Momentum. But maybe Momentum is particularly picky about amp/source used.

Used them through a Clip Zip. At first I thought that, they sounded muddy. Then I realized that they actually had great texture and speed, although not exactly great on the microdetail part. I think it's mainly a question of the sub-bass masking the detail from the upper frequencies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LizardKing1 

 

Used them through a Clip Zip. At first I thought that, they sounded muddy. Then I realized that they actually had great texture and speed, although not exactly great on the microdetail part. I think it's mainly a question of the sub-bass masking the detail from the upper frequencies.

I don't know about the texture part, to me the big prob was how the bass was portrayed, midbass lacked tightness and overshadowed the midrange slightly and the midrange was somewhat recessed sounding to begin with which certainly doesn't make the matter better. But yea the hollow midrange vs slightly too bright and at times thin sounding treble and closed soundstage made me not possible to listen to the Momentums for more than a minute or two, it just sounded so boring and to me not very natural.

I also found them to sound very closed but I believe it's a source issue as I only had my Samsung phone + FiiO E5 amp (but for example AKG K272 HD sounded very open and very impressive to me out of this config to the point I had to stand there listening through my collection for a good ~15 mins and remember I concider myself a basshead which K272 certainly doesn't measure to be but somehow I found it perfectly satisfying), couldn't test it with another source but the Sennheiser HD25-II which should be relatively closed sounding was more open sounding that was hooked up to a demostation, actually suprisingly so (to the point I got curious what source the demostations were using). The HD 598 sounded also very impressive and could go very loud out of this demostation so it probably was not the worst source possible at least. I thought I'd never be able to enjoy any Sennheiser HD5xx open headphone but yea I was suprised how great I enjoyed the classical track on the demostation on those HD598.

I will reserve any further judgement as I haven't been able to hook up Momentums to some proper source/amp but yea the first-hand impressions were a little lackluster. But I also learnt exactly how much forward midrange means for me these days as all the other headphones had a very midrange-focused sound so I learnt I'm not so much of a basshead anymore as I used to be and getting more and more a "midhead". 

What Tyler review are you refering to?

And to the person above me what amp where you using?

I don't understand why people are talking of amping these headphones when they are perfectly power driven by most eDevices. The whole point of these headphones.

Also, have you tried EQing the midrange and seeing how the headphones cope? I don't think I've ever listened to any headphone without EQing them to some degree anyway. I personally found nothing wrong with the midrange.

Finally, why are people always comparing these headphones with other headphones from a completely different class (e.g. Sennheiser 598/650). I have the 598's as well as the momentums and there is no way I ever thought the sound was 'inferior'.

How well these can be EQ'd?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

I don't know about the texture part, to me the big prob was how the bass was portrayed, midbass lacked tightness and overshadowed the midrange slightly and the midrange was somewhat recessed sounding to begin with which certainly doesn't make the matter better. But yea the hollow midrange vs slightly too bright and at times thin sounding treble and closed soundstage made me not possible to listen to the Momentums for more than a minute or two, it just sounded so boring and to me not very natural.

I don't understand what you mean by 'thin sounding treble'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

I don't know about the texture part, to me the big prob was how the bass was portrayed, midbass lacked tightness and overshadowed the midrange slightly and the midrange was somewhat recessed sounding to begin with which certainly doesn't make the matter better. But yea the hollow midrange vs slightly too bright and at times thin sounding treble and closed soundstage made me not possible to listen to the Momentums for more than a minute or two, it just sounded so boring and to me not very natural.

 

Response Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

Something sounds very wrong here.

Agreed - this is almost totally opposite of my experience with these headphones over the past week. 

I find these don't lack detail, just a little treble volume. Also these headphones are never bright. If anything they're borderline dark/neutral. Also I find these to be one of the most open-sounding closed headphones up to the price point, which is primarily why I purchased them. (listen through my PA2V2 and vintage Fisher stereo amp)

Also contrary to comparison opinion I find the HD25-II to be one of the most over-priced headphones around, and absolutely dislike it's sound presentation in almost all respects. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

I don't understand what you mean by 'thin sounding treble'.

Emphasized highs vs recessed mids tend to sound like that, it lacks the substance added by the mids. Mids in general make music sound thick, highs sound thin in comparision, the more emphasized highs vs the more recessed mids generally the thinner sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

 

Emphasized highs vs recessed mids tend to sound like that, it lacks the substance added by the mids. Mids in general make music sound thick, highs sound thin in comparision, the more emphasized highs vs the more recessed mids generally the thinner sound.

The highs are not emphasized. In fact they are a little rolled off.

The mids is not recessed either in the vocal range. It is close to neutral.

Thickness in the music is governed by the lows and the low-mids which is ever present on the momentum.

The FR graph of Momentum vs HD598 shows that the 598 has got more treble presence and the Momentum is 'fuller' sounding due to its more emphasized lows relative to the highs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Any1 else thought these lacked a lot of detail & resolution especially midrange? I was quite underhelmed for their price, personally prefer how my M-Audio Q40 for $120 sound over these. 

 

"Subjective pricing value":

 

Q40: 200~$225

Momentum: 120~$150

 

I also demoed for example: AKG K272 HD, Sennheiser HD25-II and HD598 and thought all those had better sound quality (soundstage, microdetail, bass quality) than Momentum. But maybe Momentum is particularly picky about amp/source used.

I also felt that the Momentum lacked mid-range detail.  While I have not listed to the K272, I have listened to the Amperior and the HD598.  The Amperior is a more accurate headphone with a little more bass punch, though less overall bass.  I refuse to compare the HD598 to the Momentum.  An closed portable will likely never sound like an open-back "home" headphone.  

Something we don't have yet for the momentum are THD measurements. I think they'll be pretty good based on what I'm hearing but it's possible that an elevated distortion in the lower frequencies would make bass sound even thicker and more pronounced and that won't show on the FR graph.

Personally, I think the bass is quite good. it's not boomy or muddled to my ears and it has extension. The treble is recessed a relatively large amount so it's a dark sounding headphone but it still sounds clear. Compare this back to back with the B&W P5. that one should sound a lot murkier in comparison.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpippel 


When you take the leather and stainless steel construction of the Momentum into account I don't think they're that overpriced at all. A $300 price point would be better, but at $349US it's far from a rip-off. The other headphones it's being compared to in this thread are mostly plastic.

I agree.  Especially the HD25.  I know they ARE quite durable, but they FEEL like a cheap POS.  My chief complaint with the Amperior is that the overall build and materials didn't change with the huge price increase. The cups by themselves were not worth $150 IMO.  Personally this is one of my favorite things about the Momentum, though I feel that they could have gone with aluminum ear-cups for the price.  The little Sennheiser logo's on each cup should have been metal as well.  I don't think they(plastic logo's) will hold up well over time.  Overall the headphones have a very solid build quality and use great materials.    

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Any1 else thought these lacked a lot of detail & resolution especially midrange?

Personally no. I find them to have just the right balance of treble energy with detail and resolution, though the midrange is a tiny bit recessed. But as I've said before, my expectations in portable audio are somewhat reduced -- I neither expect nor want my portable to sound like my HD800s.

in noisy situations where the Momentums are designed for i find myself equing the bass reigons about +5db because the noise is really bad for bass presense, so in fact this warm curve is ideal for noisy public envoronments, and yes a HD800 in public would sound like a bassless, tinny and sharp headphone

(note i use the MS1 in public, not a closed back so it may differ from your experience a little, but the theory is still the same)

I replaced my pair of Momentums with the Amperior; being a long-time HD25-1-II user I couldn't get use to the loose, slightly woolly sound of the Momentums when driven by a portable source, though I suspect I'd favour them for home use when driven by a full-size amp with a bit of EQ applied.

The Amperior have an addictive PRAT and better midrange detail although can be prone to sibilance. While the mids are warmer than the HD25, that 10K treble spike can seem even more apparent than on the HD25s since the HD25 feels generally brighter overall; the ears adjust to that level so that spikes in the treble feel less abrupt.

I would never regard the Momentum as being bright; I have no idea how some people like Craigster75 find them bright unless they are listening to brightly mastered music at loud volumes. For me, headphones such as the Logitech UE6000 (with NC off) with its shelved treble sound very closed in with bad imaging despite having a bigger soundstage size than the Amperior, I am acutely aware that I am listening to a closed headphone that lacks air and has hard limits on the left and right sides of the sound stage where the sound simply cuts off. Violins and massed strings sound a lot more convincing and energetic on the Amperior, which has enough air and refinement to often make me forget about its limited sound stage.

Its still definitly overpriced though, along with the Momentums. Oh well.