Battle Of The Flagships (57 Headphones Compared) UPDATE: Ultimate Ears UERM added (4/14/13) - Page 74

Originally Posted by ADD 

Thanks for the clarifications David. Prior to your review, I had shortlisted the Beyerdynamic T70 and Shure SRH1840 as replacements, since they fitted within the budget, are premium models and have been reported as being good for classical, which I listen to exclusively. Unfortunately, given the country I live in, it isnt possible to hear the Shure prior to purchase, though in recent weeks I had felt this was probably going to be the best phone to have. I have had the PXC300 for about 5 years now and it's main weaknesses are the hiss (and slight increase in distortion) due to the noise cancellation circuit (unfortunately the phones are voiced to work only with it turned on) and a slight thin-ness to the sound. On the other hand, their incredible speed - right up there with electrostatics - and clarity at lower volume levels have seen them win out over and over again as I have auditioned some well regarded premium phones over the last couple of years.

 

I have had quite a lot of experience with the HD600 and whilst I think it is tonally extremely good, it has a distinct disadvantage compared to the PXC300 in terms of transient response and clarity at low volume levels and long term listening fatigue. I pretty much have to listen about 8 - 10 dB higher on the HD600 than I do the PXC300 to get the same proportion of scale and thus listening satisfaction in a classical work, and the sluggishness of response of the HD600 in comparison does not help. You'd think it would be easy to find a replacement for a headphone that wasn't anywhere near the top of the Sennheiser range 5 years ago and even though they cost me $400 back then, I have never found a substitute. I was going to bite the bullet and go with electrostatics, but I have two wonderful and excellent sounding Musical Fidelity XCan V8 amps in perfect condition (and a few spare pairs of expensive Mullard CV4009 tubes) and I would prefer not to see these amps go to waste so to speak. I'd have to sell them to afford the electrostatics and even then there is no guarantee I would prefer the result to a very good dynamic in any case.

 

So I though the Shure was a "safe" route to navigate, but I was put off by your comments about it's weaknesses. Then again, given your clarification, if you feel the Shure has less grain than the PXC300 and comparable "speed", then of course it is unlikely that I would find the Shure to be weak in this regard. As I say, were it not for the fact that the HD600 is very slow on it's feet compared to the PXC300 and needs a significantly higher listening level, I think it would have made a nice phone, but I have been there done that with phones that are not super-fast in the way they respond and I have never been able to live with them for more than a couple of months. The modest PXC300 though, I have lived happily with for 5 years. It is now only that my source and transport have now improved to the point where I have been able to further decrease listening volumes (since more detail is revealed) that the hiss has become an issue. I might even have given the Amperiors a go, but I am almost certain their impedance will cause hiss problems with the Musical Fideliry (plug a Shure SE215 into it and it hisses like crazy).

 

To make matters more difficult, I suffer from chronic pain in my upper body and heavy phones are a problem. That is another great thing with the PXC300 - you don't even know you are wearing them, though I don't think I have had issues with the HD580 for example. I even thought about the in-ear Stax model, but I have very sensitive ear canals. the Shure Olives work fine...not sure about anything else though.

 

One other point though - I listen exclusively to audiophile vinyl that I have digitalised. To my ears, this has a noticeably less grainy presentation to pure digital recordings. It might be interesting for me to send you a few examples from my transcriptions - perhaps a couple that I consider to be totally devoid of any grain and a couple that I consider borderline (i.e I hear grain with the PXC300 but it is just at the threshold of tolerability). I would then be interested to hear how the Shure copes with these.

Originally Posted by stacker45 

 

First i'd like to commend you on a very well written, exhaustive comparison, even if i did own multiple headphones brands and models, i wouldn't have the patience to embark on such a journey.

 

That beeing said, i'm sure you'll be the first person to recognize that, no matter how objective you try to be, they're are many variables that influence our final decision when it comes to buying new headphones, or any other component for that matter, we all hear differently, we have different sound systems, and musical tastes, just to name a few, so,  i'm sure you encourage peoples to do their own experiments, and to take your views with a grain of salt.

 

I ''only'' own four pairs of headphones,three of them would be considered high end they are all Grados, yes i'm a Grado fan,but i don't consider myself a Grado fanboy, i have heard great sound from Stax, Audeze, Hi-Fi Man, Sennheiser etc...mine are GS/PS/HP1000s, and i find i have a beautifull problem when it comes to having to choose one for a listening session, so i can't begin to understand how it must be like for you.

 

Finally, i used to own HD-600s, and i tought they sounded very good with my Musical Fidelity X-CAN V2.

 

 

Again, job well done.

Originally Posted by linglingjr 

Hey David, you know Christmas is coming up... You should let me borrow your electrostats for like a month I'll cover shipping both ways lol 

Originally Posted by lamsalgado 

I agree with you fully ! A sensational thread, and on top of it very informative, with opinions by a (VERY) knowleadgeable commenter. A true "Tour de force"! Bravo #DavidMahler !!!!!!! And many, many thanks for such an incredible job, which I keep going back to it and rereading. BRs for all árt of this wonderful community  Lou -

Originally Posted by tiga3mata 

I thought that I will never read the equivalent of Darthnut's legendary review. I am glad to be proven wrong. What he did for depth of review, you matched with width. Thank you for the incredible dedication and generosity!

Originally Posted by Kendoji 

My wallet is very worried thanks to threads like this one.  It's not long ago that I declared myself a 'mid-fi' guy who would never want to spend megabucks, and now I'm seriously considering a 3,000 EUR rig (LCD-2 or HE-500, Violectric V200 and V800).  What's even more worrying is that thanks to all the people here who spend way more than I ever could, I no longer consider that to be a lavish setup!  

Originally Posted by Lunatique 

*Clap Clap Clap*

 

That was epic. Even though my headphone journey ended a while ago, I still read the whole thing. Thank you for all the hard work and sharing so openly with everyone. 

 

There are many things I agree with in your reviews, although overall I find that my taste is closer to Tyll's. Generally, I find that you're maybe a bit too forgiving of excessive bass and treble. Common peaks around 10KHz doesn't seem to bother you as much, as well as the common mid-bass hump around 125Hz. For me, they mess too much with the clarity of instruments like double-bass in jazz, or the naturalness of cymbals.

 

I'm curious about something: I don't know if this has been asked already, but is performing as a musician and being an audio engineering your full-time job? As a fellow audio/music guy (composer, songwriter), we all know that music doesn't pay that well unless you are extremely famous at what you do (be it as a performer, creator, or engineer). Or are you independently wealthy (stocks, real estate, inheritance)? All that gear costs a mind-boggling amount of money, and if this question haven't been asked, I'm sure many are wondering the same thing. 

Originally Posted by Lord Soth 

 

Epic Indeed!

 

Anyone ever seen the "Epic Rap Battles of History" on Youtube by any chance?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX_1B0w7Hzc

 

This helped me make my decision on Nov 6, 2012.

Originally Posted by r3dMuGeN 

tl;dr

is this a downloadable document? or are things added on as time goes by?