Pioneer SE-A1000 (Sennheiser HD 650 for $45?)
Aug 1, 2014 at 1:14 PM Post #901 of 1,082
I currently own Beyers DT990 PRO and these Pioneers. They both sound great on my Fiio X5. It's actually difficult to compare them, DT990 gives much more bass. After EQing 990s down a bit, making it sound more like 880s, all I can say Pioneers do their job perfectly. They sound less harsh, more soft, gently, but not lacking in precision at all. Airy would be a good word to describe them. There is no weakness vs. Beyers. They always play what they are supposed to play, even if there are many instruments in the background. You can keep track of every single of them, they never get lost because of sounds overload or anything. Comparing them to K701 is an absolutely right thing to do, having listened to these as well.
 
Aug 1, 2014 at 6:23 PM Post #902 of 1,082
It's no surprise given that DT990pro and K701 are quite disadvantaged out of portable equipment.
 
Aug 2, 2014 at 4:11 AM Post #903 of 1,082
Any scientific reason why would that be? 250 Ohm is enough to be sure Fiio doesn't run out of current. What it really needs is voltage. If It can't give more voltage, it simply means they won't play louder. The problem would be a very low impedance headphones - they obviously need little voltage, but a lot of current, exceeding the capability of a portable player.
 
Aug 2, 2014 at 2:10 PM Post #904 of 1,082
Any scientific reason why would that be? 250 Ohm is enough to be sure Fiio doesn't run out of current. What it really needs is voltage. If It can't give more voltage, it simply means they won't play louder. The problem would be a very low impedance headphones - they obviously need little voltage, but a lot of current, exceeding the capability of a portable player.


I recommend comparing out of a desktop unit to find out for yourself. The explanations are probably around here somewhere if you want the details.
 
Aug 4, 2014 at 1:00 PM Post #905 of 1,082
Hey guys!
 
Just coming to update you guys.
 
I haven't had much time burning in the HTF600s yet, but unless I am playing something that requires heavy low bass I will still be using my SE-A1000s. I have been trying to condition my ears to listen at a lower listening level, which they are so clear at any level that I play them at.
 
Also if you are a drummer I have been having some awesome results with some IEMs with Comply buds, with some industrial noise cancelling earmuffs over them. Great way to isolate yourself away from the world. :)
 
Aug 25, 2014 at 11:12 PM Post #906 of 1,082
Received my pioneer se-a1000....wow. just wow. Even for double the rrp these are great headphones let alone for under 60 bucks!! Love hidden gems like this.
 
Sep 14, 2014 at 1:11 PM Post #907 of 1,082
Just ordered my pair.  I've probably paid over the odds, but the best deal I could find was a used pair at $60 shipped to the uk from ebay.  I also have a pair of Sony MA900s on the way too.  That should be an interesting comparison.  2 pairs of interesting headphones that slipped under the radar..
 
Sep 21, 2014 at 1:37 PM Post #909 of 1,082
Can anyone tell me how these compare to the sony MA900s?  I have just received these and am blown away by them. My Pioneers are coming in the next week or so.  Both to be played through an HRT Microstreamer..
 
Nov 1, 2014 at 12:19 PM Post #910 of 1,082
Bump.
 
Nov 4, 2014 at 7:44 PM Post #911 of 1,082
The MA900s win.  The Pioneers are very good, but there is some sharp treble spike that I find noticeable and distracting from what is otherwise a great and engaging sound from such a cheap headphone.
 
Dec 10, 2014 at 6:37 AM Post #912 of 1,082

Had to share two modifications that seem to have resulted in (7), identifiable changes for the positive with the A1000 hp.
 
First mod is the Bluecell ATH-AD400/700/900 earpad, which runs $7 and change online. Big difference in comfort here, no more slippage as with the stock ones, and ears are much happier!  Some impressions…
 
The bass seems to be extended another 5Hz, and there is much more of a tactile response within the cup, on leading-edge transients, and synthesized bass has a slower decay, giving the impression of more bass. Focal Lab sine waves at 31Hz are flat relative to the midrange, and trails off quickly 25Hz and below.
2)     
The softer inner material of these pads seem to have tamed the somewhat forward treble, and as a consequence, the midrange is now unreal! Details in familiar songs have been brought forward, and even at volume levels of 80%+, the stridency, and edge that fatigued before has been tamed significantly.
3)     
External noise rejection… definitely improved, during some pauses in between songs and what-not, I noticed I was not hearing the fan of my laptop nearly as clearly as I usually do. Was happy to see this added bonus with the cups.
Second mod was the damping of the drive baffle (see video) with Van Aken Plastalina, runs $10 or less online, I bought the earth tones one. Impressions here are…
 
1)      Less resonance with bass heavy material, in a good sense, quieter hp? maybe too?  May even contribute to the cleaner midrange and top end due to less internal reflections? This is just a subjective guess.
2)      Forgot to note the damping of the headband ‘cups’ that attach to the baffles, not sure if this is even needed, but while I was in there, I hit them anyway.
 
Listening was done late in the evening, and early morning, with an average background level of Leq(C) of <38dB… in other words, very quiet. Source was my Toshiba i3 laptop running JRiver MJ14, USB out to a Soundblaster 1095, and RCA from there to a Schitt Magni (possible the best $100 I have ever spent).
 
Tracks (most of them) used for this comparison, as pulled from my ‘A1000’ playlist in MJ14 are… [see Google doc]...
 
Video... /watch?v=u8vAGWlX5I4 / Full review... https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8VKWw5stc_CSmNDQ1ZTNk9pcnM/view?usp=sharing

 
Word seems to have copied the objects from MJ14, instead of the text to this, so if you can open them, great, otherwise, you can search for these online, as most were FLACs from torrents.
 
Hope this brief synopsis helps out. I have to say, I cannot wait to get the Philips X2, as per Tyles review, the “accentuation of all frequencies” by those is how I would characterize the Pioneers with these two, relatively simple, as-well-as inexpensive (not cheap, IT ! J) mods. The HD600 needs to be head-to-head’d as-well, for the sake of thoroughness.
 
Happy listening!
 
/Matt/
 
 
post script... posting from Word has screwed with the formatting, some things are not displayed, others are mis-displayed, sry... just hit me up with any questions.
 
Dec 10, 2014 at 2:47 PM Post #913 of 1,082
   
Had to share two modifications that seem to have resulted in (7), identifiable changes for the positive with the A1000 hp.
 
First mod is the Bluecell ATH-AD400/700/900 earpad, which runs $7 and change online. Big difference in comfort here, no more slippage as with the stock ones, and ears are much happier!  Some impressions…
 
The bass seems to be extended another 5Hz, and there is much more of a tactile response within the cup, on leading-edge transients, and synthesized bass has a slower decay, giving the impression of more bass. Focal Lab sine waves at 31Hz are flat relative to the midrange, and trails off quickly 25Hz and below.
     
The softer inner material of these pads seem to have tamed the somewhat forward treble, and as a consequence, the midrange is now unreal! Details in familiar songs have been brought forward, and even at volume levels of 80%+, the stridency, and edge that fatigued before has been tamed significantly.
3)     
External noise rejection… definitely improved, during some pauses in between songs and what-not, I noticed I was not hearing the fan of my laptop nearly as clearly as I usually do. Was happy to see this added bonus with the cups.
Second mod was the damping of the drive baffle (see video) with Van Aken Plastalina, runs $10 or less online, I bought the earth tones one. Impressions here are…
 
1)      Less resonance with bass heavy material, in a good sense, quieter hp? maybe too?  May even contribute to the cleaner midrange and top end due to less internal reflections? This is just a subjective guess.
2)      Forgot to note the damping of the headband ‘cups’ that attach to the baffles, not sure if this is even needed, but while I was in there, I hit them anyway.
 
Listening was done late in the evening, and early morning, with an average background level of Leq(C) of <38dB… in other words, very quiet. Source was my Toshiba i3 laptop running JRiver MJ14, USB out to a Soundblaster 1095, and RCA from there to a Schitt Magni (possible the best $100 I have ever spent).
 
Tracks (most of them) used for this comparison, as pulled from my ‘A1000’ playlist in MJ14 are… [see Google doc]...
 
Video... /watch?v=u8vAGWlX5I4 / Full review... https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8VKWw5stc_CSmNDQ1ZTNk9pcnM/view?usp=sharing
 
 
Word seems to have copied the objects from MJ14, instead of the text to this, so if you can open them, great, otherwise, you can search for these online, as most were FLACs from torrents.
 
Hope this brief synopsis helps out. I have to say, I cannot wait to get the Philips X2, as per Tyles review, the “accentuation of all frequencies” by those is how I would characterize the Pioneers with these two, relatively simple, as-well-as inexpensive (not cheap, IT ! J) mods. The HD600 needs to be head-to-head’d as-well, for the sake of thoroughness.
 
Happy listening!
 
 
 
 
post script... posting from Word has screwed with the formatting, some things are not displayed, others are mis-displayed, sry... just hit me up with any questions.

 
Sweet!
 
Dampening the baffle with heavy material kills vibrations.  We can't feel them, but the driver is sensitive to them and the vibrations contribute to a "dirtier" sound with increased treble peaks, harshness, and poorer bass control to some degree or another depending on the headphone.  Grado headphones are a more extreme example of how resonating/vibrating plastic is bad for the sound.  Their treble harshness and shrillness is entirely caused by the plastic vibrations, so people who modify the headphones add Dynamat, blue tack, or rehouse the drivers in wood and see the problem disappear.  Dampening also helps Grados sound cleaner, and bass improves in depth and control.
 
A1000 isn't exactly high-end or close to, so there will definitely be room for sonic improvement with modifications.
 
 
Copy the way I quoted your post if you want, I removed all the Word formatting arguments that were in there along with the indentation settings, you can see it all when clicking on Source in the corner of the text box when editing your post.  Head-fi dropped support of a lot of HTML and CSS code stuff, otherwise you would see more than "misplaced" text in your post.
 

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