Mid-Fi Closed Portable Headphone Battle 2012 Discussion V3 [FINAL] - Page 12

Hm, well, can someone with the m100 listen to this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoLJJRIWCLU

And tell me how it was?

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

I'm really curious about the K267 as well.

 

Tyll's review of the Momentum makes me curious to try it out even though people who have heard both the M-100 and the Momentum seem to like the M-100 more, despite its more recessed midrange, more "sibilant" treble, and overwhelming bass response for accurate listening sessions.

I had both and I won't say that I prefer the M-100 over the Momentums despite me selling it off to a fellow Head-fi member. I agree with Tyll that the Momentums are more general purpose 'cos it's U-shaped signature is somewhat more uniform U rather than the M-100's reverse J. For my ears the treble is forward but not sibilant. My biggest problem with the Momentums was that it sounded congested and in the end the M-100's bass rendering made it too likeable to give up.

Whereas the Momentums are good generic headphones, I opted to sell and try the Ultrasone Signature DJ's instead. In my eyes (I know this is mid-fi rather than hi-fi), I'd personally put the Signature DJs or Signature Pros as my personal best closed-back isolating headphones.

These are my brief notes of the Momentums when I owned them (again draft, never made it to review quality) :-

Sennheiser Momentums

The Momentums are somewhat more generic headphones that cater for a wider variety of genres. They are overall quite pleasing giving a more intimate presentation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

I'm really curious about the K267 as well.

 

Tyll's review of the Momentum makes me curious to try it out even though people who have heard both the M-100 and the Momentum seem to like the M-100 more, despite its more recessed midrange, more "sibilant" treble, and overwhelming bass response for accurate listening sessions.

 

I had both and I won't say that I prefer the M-100 over the Momentums despite me selling it off to a fellow Head-fi member. I agree with Tyll that the Momentums are more general purpose 'cos it's U-shaped signature is somewhat more uniform U rather than the M-100's reverse J. For my ears the treble is forward but not sibilant. My biggest problem with the Momentums was that it sounded congested and in the end the M-100's bass rendering made it too likeable to give up.

 

Whereas the Momentums are good generic headphones, I opted to sell and try the Ultrasone Signature DJ's instead. In my eyes (I know this is mid-fi rather than hi-fi), I'd personally put the Signature DJs or Signature Pros as my personal best closed-back isolating headphones.

 

These are my brief notes of the Momentums when I owned them (again draft, never made it to review quality) :-

 

 

Sennheiser Momentums

 

More supra-aural than circumaural. Isolation is decent. Extremely comfortable but as with other headphones can be warm.

Bass is decently deep but can be a little loose.

Mids are neutral. Decent rendering to the vocals, clear & detailed.

Trebles are also somewhat more forward but not bright or harsh. Has a nice airy touch. Percussions seem to be rendered quite accurately with detail.

Overall, the Momentums feel rather tonally balanced with a slight U-shape.

The soundstage is average for a closed pair of headphones. At times the instruments can sound congested.

Seems to be higher impedance?? Benefits from an external DAC/Amp. Sounds "fuller" & richer.

 

The Momentums are somewhat more generic headphones that cater for a wider variety of genres. They are overall quite pleasing giving a more intimate presentation.

Ah okay. Thanks for posting your impressions/thoughts. I might give the Momentum a try down the road, though the congested soundstage doesn't sound too appealing to me; I find the M-100's soundstage to be narrower and less spacious than other headphones I've tried.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

Ah okay. Thanks for posting your impressions/thoughts. I might give the Momentum a try down the road, though the congested soundstage doesn't sound too appealing to me; I find the M-100's soundstage to be narrower and less spacious than other headphones I've tried.

Interestingly Lourdes seems to think otherwise. I can tell you that is not my finding. However your findings is the M-100 having a narrower soundstage than other headphones you've tried...what kinds of headphones if I may ask? To me they are quite good for it's price. Headphones with larger soundstage have been pricer (e.g. the Signature Pros & Signature DJs, which unfortunately doesn't quality as mid-fi for this thread).

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

 

Interestingly Lourdes seems to think otherwise. I can tell you that is not my finding. However your findings is the M-100 having a narrower soundstage than other headphones you've tried...what kinds of headphones if I may ask? To me they are quite good for it's price. Headphones with larger soundstage have been pricer (e.g. the Signature Pros & Signature DJs, which unfortunately doesn't quality as mid-fi for this thread).

It seems like miceblue is developing a bias against the M-100 as he is now comparing them to $60 Sonys and (I am paraphrasing) that the M-100 is only marginally better than those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigster75 

It seems like miceblue is developing a bias against the M-100 as he is now comparing them to $60 Sonys and (I am paraphrasing) that the M-100 is only marginally better than those.

Whos $60 Sonys?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

Ah okay. Thanks for posting your impressions/thoughts. I might give the Momentum a try down the road, though the congested soundstage doesn't sound too appealing to me; I find the M-100's soundstage to be narrower and less spacious than other headphones I've tried.

 

Interestingly Lourdes seems to think otherwise. I can tell you that is not my finding. However your findings is the M-100 having a narrower soundstage than other headphones you've tried...what kinds of headphones if I may ask? To me they are quite good for it's price. Headphones with larger soundstage have been pricer (e.g. the Signature Pros & Signature DJs, which unfortunately doesn't quality as mid-fi for this thread).

Shure SRH940 (~$275 USD nowadays), Denon AH D7000 (I'm not sure what the price tag on those are nowadays since they're discontinued, but I believe they were around $500?), Sony MDR-V6 (~$70 nowadays), Monster DNA ($200). I've compared the M-100 next to all of those headphones, except for the D5000 (I'm basing the soundstage by memory, and what I wrote in a local meet thread).

I haven't posted this anywhere else, so you guys are the first people to read it!

I use both stereo recordings and binaural recordings for my soundstaging tests. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" is one of the test tracks. When the "kids" shout "hey! teacher! leave those kids alone!" the spread of their voices in my head is an indication of the width of the soundstage. I use a similar process to determine the depth of the soundstage; how far away do those "kids'" voices sound in relation to where I am?

This process is enhanced with binaural recordings because the binaural recording technique actually utilizes a 3-dimensional space. Of the 4 headphones I have with me right now (MDR-V6, M-100, SRH940, Sennheiser HD238), the M-100 sounds the most boxed-in in terms of width, and the deepest in terms of depth. I have a hard time identifying where exactly instruments are in the "sound space" in my head with the M-100, especially in the lateral, horizontal position. I was listening to Ottmar Liebert's "Up Close" album as an example.

Visually, this is what I "see" in my head when I listen to music:

The M-100 is on the left, other 3 headphones on the right (of course each of the 3 headphones has a different sized "sound space", but the shape is more or less similar). The red X is where the listener is in the "sound space". θ1 is the angle at which sounds are projected to the listener from the M-100. θ2 is the angle at which sounds are projected to the listener from the other 3 headphones. If you can't tell by the drawing, θ2 is larger than θ1.

Because of what I "see" in my head, I keep saying that the M-100's soundstage is more deep than wide. My thoughts on this soundstage have been consistent throughout my use with the M-100, ever since the first post where I posted my initial impressions.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by miow 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigster75 

It seems like miceblue is developing a bias against the M-100 as he is now comparing them to $60 Sonys and (I am paraphrasing) that the M-100 is only marginally better than those.

Whos $60 Sonys?

My friend's Sony MDR-V6. I find the midrange of the Sony's to be much clearer than that of the M-100, as well as the width of the soundstage, which might go hand-in-hand with instrument separation. Timbre-wise, the M-100 is better, especially in the treble and bass regions, but the lack of clarity of the M-100's midrange really shows when compared next to each other. The upper-midrange of the V6 in particular seems to have much more clarity than the M-100 despite the M-100 having a boost in that area of its frequency response.

I can understand micblue's opinion about the D7000's soundstage over the M-100 but I'm not familiar with the other headphones. May give them a listen after my holidays.

The D7000 is actually quite a very nice headphone but in a different league from the M-100. It's able to present a wide soundstage 'cos of it's non-isolating leaky seal - very much like the TH-900. I've daren't make any comparisons between my M-100 & the TH-900.

Not knowing the Shures SRH940 and Sony V6, I can't make any comments if they're fair comparisons or not.

To me, for the price of around the $300-$350 new (not much point about comparing new vs 2nd hand prices) the M-100 is pretty much delivers value for money. Of the various headphones I've heard (Momentums, MDR-1Rs', Mad Dogs), I think in my mind only the Mad Dogs would be a serious competitor, purely SQ-wise, against the M-100. But for one to fully benefit the Mad Dogs, I think one has to have a decent amp to drive it.

I'll check out the Shures SRH940 & V6 when I get back to Tokyo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceblue 

My friend's Sony MDR-V6. I find the midrange of the Sony's to be much clearer than that of the M-100, as well as the width of the soundstage, which might go hand-in-hand with instrument separation. Timbre-wise, the M-100 is better, especially in the treble and bass regions, but the lack of clarity of the M-100's midrange really shows when compared next to each other. The upper-midrange of the V6 in particular seems to have much more clarity than the M-100 despite the M-100 having a boost in that area of its frequency response.

Interesting. Thanks bud ; )

BRS, what turned you off the M-100s?

also, will we be able to have some K267 impressions before the end of the year? I might be able to get a pair from someone traveling, but they return on January 13.

Please, do everyone who lives in other countries a huge favor and don't take too long to review the K267. Also, please add comparison to M-100.