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Battle Of The Flagships (57 Headphones Compared) UPDATE: Ultimate Ears UERM added (4/14/13) - Page 48

post #706 of 3794
11/9/12 at 12:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wazzupi View Post

if you had the choice to listen to the he-500's or hd650's which one would you choose specifically if you want to catch the emotion of the music.band ex: mars volta, at the drive in, tool etc

That's a very tough question to answer because it's asking about specific artists.  A lot will depend on my mood.  The HD650 is tamer and more romantic. In this sense it may remove some aggression from the music.  If that aggression is what makes the music an emotional experience for you then I would say the HE500.  What the HD650 will do though is it will give the music a sense of depth, bottom and a lush quality that can stir the emotions in other ways.  The HE500 will yield more detail and will feel quicker by comparison.  If you experience emotion from detail and speed, then the HE500.... I hope this helps. 

 

Depending on my mood, I would choose one over the other for these artists.  I think personally, I may reach for the HD650 more often because I personally like the added lush quality it gives aggressive rock music.

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post #707 of 3794
11/9/12 at 12:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler View Post

That's a very tough question to answer because it's asking about specific artists.  A lot will depend on my mood.  The HD650 is tamer and more romantic. In this sense it may remove some aggression from the music.  If that aggression is what makes the music an emotional experience for you then I would say the HE500.  What the HD650 will do though is it will give the music a sense of depth, bottom and a lush quality that can stir the emotions in other ways.  The HE500 will yield more detail and will feel quicker by comparison.  If you experience emotion from detail and speed, then the HE500.... I hope this helps. 

Perfectly put. I owned the 650 for several years before the HE500's and although I can still understand why some peeps would prefer the 650's over.. well any headphone, I found the extra PRaT of the HE500's a welcome step up for my preference. I think its a perfect upgrade for peeps who like the 650 but are always looking for the perfect amp to drive them a little more out of themselves.  

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post #708 of 3794
11/9/12 at 1:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler View Post

Thank you all for the wonderful compliments. I'm already starting consider adding a few into the mix. Need a bit of time, but I will!! :)
Quote:
...Sorry, I missed this one....

 

And in the event you missed one I brought-up a few pages back hoping you have an opportunity to give your golden-ears a little time with the Focal Spirit One.  Let me know if you'd like a loaner if you don't have access to it; I'd miss it dearly but would be willing to part w/it to see where it stacks-up in your opinion.  (nor would I be upset if it's deemed 'pedestrian', but I don't think it will.)

:D

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post #709 of 3794
11/9/12 at 1:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by m8o View Post

 

And in the event you missed one I brought-up a few pages back hoping you have an opportunity to give your golden-ears a little time with the Focal Spirit One.  Let me know if you'd like a loaner if you don't have access to it; I'd miss it dearly but would be willing to part w/it to see where it stacks-up in your opinion.  (nor would I be upset if it's deemed 'pedestrian', but I don't think it will.)

:D

I DID miss that one:) 

That is a very kind offer, and I will certainly let you know:)  One of the keys to my evaluations is that I really want to hold on to all the headphones so that I can always refer to them for comparison.  So for instance, let's say I review the Focal Spirit One and then a year later I review new headphone at a similar price, with a similar sound; unless I have the FS1 to compare, I will be comparing based strictly on memory.  Hopefully, I will pick up an FS1 at some point so that I may include it.  It looks like an Ultrasone, a nice Ultrasone at that :)

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post #710 of 3794
11/9/12 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler View Post

That's a very tough question to answer because it's asking about specific artists.  A lot will depend on my mood.  The HD650 is tamer and more romantic. In this sense it may remove some aggression from the music.  If that aggression is what makes the music an emotional experience for you then I would say the HE500.  What the HD650 will do though is it will give the music a sense of depth, bottom and a lush quality that can stir the emotions in other ways.  The HE500 will yield more detail and will feel quicker by comparison.  If you experience emotion from detail and speed, then the HE500.... I hope this helps. 

 

Depending on my mood, I would choose one over the other for these artists.  I think personally, I may reach for the HD650 more often because I personally like the added lush quality it gives aggressive rock music.

that actually helped me a lot in my decision thank you for your insight. 

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post #711 of 3794
11/9/12 at 2:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler View Post

That's a very tough question to answer because it's asking about specific artists.  A lot will depend on my mood.  The HD650 is tamer and more romantic. In this sense it may remove some aggression from the music.  If that aggression is what makes the music an emotional experience for you then I would say the HE500.  What the HD650 will do though is it will give the music a sense of depth, bottom and a lush quality that can stir the emotions in other ways.  The HE500 will yield more detail and will feel quicker by comparison.  If you experience emotion from detail and speed, then the HE500.... I hope this helps. 

 

Depending on my mood, I would choose one over the other for these artists.  I think personally, I may reach for the HD650 more often because I personally like the added lush quality it gives aggressive rock music.

 

Actually, I think that at least in some ways HD650 is more aggressive than HE-500. I think the treble on HD650 is not as smooth as that of HE-500 and comes off sounding hard at times by comparison. I also feel that electric guitars have more edge to them with HD650 and drums sound more forceful as well due to added mid to upper bass emphasis compared to HE-500, making HD650 more lively sounding with, say, rock music. So I don't think I can agree that HD650 is necessarily tamer. To me HE-500 sounds softer on attack and seems more forgiving overall than HD650. HE-500 doesn't make me notice flaws in my sources and recordings as much as HD650 does. However, this doesn't mean that HE-500 is less detailed. In fact, I hear more detail with HE-500. but the details are better integrated into the musical whole resulting in a smoother sound and probably making the details less noticeable than they are with HD650 because of this.

 

With that being said, HE-500 clearly sounds fuller/thicker than HD650 and more forward overall, so you could say that it's more aggressive in a way. HE-500 has more presence in the mids and its soundstage is closer and more intimate than that of HD650. HE-500 tends to be more lively sounding with pop and acoustic music than HD650 because of this. For rock, techno, trance, rap, stuff like that, I feel HD650 tends to be the more aggressive can.

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post #712 of 3794
11/9/12 at 2:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pianist View Post

 

Actually, I think that at least in some ways HD650 is more aggressive than HE-500. I think the treble on HD650 is not as smooth as that of HE-500 and comes off sounding hard at times by comparison. I also feel that electric guitars have more edge to them with HD650 and drums sound more forceful as well due to added mid to upper bass emphasis compared to HE-500, making HD650 more lively sounding with, say, rock music. So I don't think I can agree that HD650 is necessarily tamer. To me HE-500 sounds softer on attack and seems more forgiving overall than HD650. HE-500 doesn't make me notice flaws in my sources and recordings as much as HD650 does. However, this doesn't mean that HE-500 is less detailed. In fact, I hear more detail with HE-500. but the details are better integrated into the musical whole resulting in a smoother sound and probably making the details less noticeable than they are with HD650 because of this.

 

With that being said, HE-500 clearly sounds fuller/thicker than HD650 and more forward overall, so you could say that it's more aggressive in a way. HE-500 has more presence in the mids and its soundstage is closer and more intimate than that of HD650. HE-500 tends to be more lively sounding with pop and acoustic music than HD650 because of this. For rock, techno, trance, rap, stuff like that, I feel HD650 tends to be the more aggressive can.

 

interesting perspective you guys love to make it hard on us haha, I decided to purchase the hd650's since I get them at a very good price and maybe down the road purchase the he-500's(as long as there isn't another wow headphone in this range that blows the he-500s away) but right now I think owning the hd650's with the q701's might be a really nice duo of headphones and getting the he-500's would be my hat-trick so to speak. 

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post #713 of 3794
11/9/12 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wazzupi View Post

interesting perspective you guys love to make it hard on us haha, I decided to purchase the hd650's since I get them at a very good price and maybe down the road purchase the he-500's(as long as there isn't another wow headphone in this range that blows the he-500s away) but right now I think owning the hd650's with the q701's might be a really nice duo of headphones and getting the he-500's would be my hat-trick so to speak. 

 

Q701 is a fantastic headphone too. In fact, I wish I could add one or a K702 to my collection because I just love the AKG presentation. Too bad I ain't got the $$. I think these flagship AKG cans are comparable to HD650 in sound quality and maybe fall a bit behind HE-500, but not by much.

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post #714 of 3794
11/9/12 at 3:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pianist View Post

 

Actually, I think that at least in some ways HD650 is more aggressive than HE-500. I think the treble on HD650 is not as smooth as that of HE-500 and comes off sounding hard at times by comparison. I also feel that electric guitars have more edge to them with HD650 and drums sound more forceful as well due to added mid to upper bass emphasis compared to HE-500, making HD650 more lively sounding with, say, rock music. So I don't think I can agree that HD650 is necessarily tamer. To me HE-500 sounds softer on attack and seems more forgiving overall than HD650. HE-500 doesn't make me notice flaws in my sources and recordings as much as HD650 does. However, this doesn't mean that HE-500 is less detailed. In fact, I hear more detail with HE-500. but the details are better integrated into the musical whole resulting in a smoother sound and probably making the details less noticeable than they are with HD650 because of this.

 

With that being said, HE-500 clearly sounds fuller/thicker than HD650 and more forward overall, so you could say that it's more aggressive in a way. HE-500 has more presence in the mids and its soundstage is closer and more intimate than that of HD650. HE-500 tends to be more lively sounding with pop and acoustic music than HD650 because of this. For rock, techno, trance, rap, stuff like that, I feel HD650 tends to be the more aggressive can.

It's very interesting to me that you find the HE-500 more forgiving than the HD650, and that it allows you to hear flaws in your source more easily than the HE-500. I agree that the drums more impactful with the HD650 due to the extra bottom.  However, by tamer, I don't mean to insist that music sounds suddenly tame; I mean that the decay of the HE-500 sounds quicker and the treble is more forward and thus the energy of the sound is tighter and more aggressive.  By comparison, the HD650, sounds to me more subdued and mellow.

 

This is not an attempt to argue on my part.  Your post adds to the proof that my evaluation is only one man's opinion, and that even down to a simple duet-headphone comparison, two people can feel significantly different about the sound.

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post #715 of 3794
11/9/12 at 4:16pm

I think you guys are both right and don't necessarily contradict each other.

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post #716 of 3794
11/9/12 at 5:23pm

dunno what they^ are talking about but it sounds great :)) i mean the vibe.

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post #717 of 3794
11/9/12 at 6:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by purrin View Post

I think you guys are both right and don't necessarily contradict each other.


^ I was thinking the same thing.

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post #718 of 3794
11/9/12 at 6:24pm

Could you post your personal audiogram along with this review? (Ask the audiologist to test in 1dBHL increments instead of the standard 5dBHL)

 

This is a serious request. What you perceive as neutral may not actually be neutral. I'm asking because you are 29 years old and hearing begins to decline before age 20. If you can take the time to detail your entire setup down to the interconnects and pricing of out-of-production items, I'm sure you have the time to go to an audiologist for an extended hearing test. Thank you.


Edited by colgatetotal - 11/9/12 at 7:47pm
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post #719 of 3794
11/9/12 at 7:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by colgatetotal View Post

Could you post your personal audiogram along with this review? (Ask the audiologist to test in 1dBHL increments instead of the standard 5dBHL)

 

This is a serious request. What you perceive as neutral may not actually be neutral. I'm asking because you are 29 years old and hearing begins to decline before age 20. If you can take the time to detail your entire setup down to the interconnects and pricing of out-of-production items, I'm sure an audiologist would be more than willing to administer an extended hearing test. Thank you.

I'm not saying its a strange request, but its definitely unique.  I don't recall ever seeing a reviewer post a personal audiogram in any review.  It seems in the way you asked me to do so, that you take issue with my review, or at least my perception of neutral.  If and when I have my hearing tested again, I will ask the audiologist to supply a sheet for me to take home.  Another way to assess my review is to consider any headphone I reviewed and utilize your perception of that headphone from your own ears as a point of comparison.  So if you hear a headphone which I describe as bright, as neutral, then you can have a sense of what other headphones may sound like.

But anyway, if I remember correctly, the last time I had my hearing tested was very late last year or early this year.  It was either in 1 or 2dBHL increments (not 5). I didn't take home a chart with me.  My hearing was close to flat on both ears, though I believe my left ear is slightly better at hearing low mids, while my right ear is better at highs...we're talking about a max of 2 db differences.  Overall, I recall my audiologist saying that my hearing was especially good for my age.  I have also confirmed that I can hear frequencies up to about 20khz.

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post #720 of 3794
11/9/12 at 8:41pm

lol

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