I have to ask, will you add the AKG K550?
Since the price globally went down to around $200 I don't see why it shouldn't be here.   (because from the front it looks smaller on your head than a PSB M4U2 )

hmm, from your review I divine that you prefer colored sound.

gzeminem - how come?

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gzeminem said:

hmm, from your review I divine that you prefer colored sound.

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From what I know of his preferences, MH very much opts for neutral sound...but I guess it's our own opinion right ?

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dairyproduce said:

gzeminem - how come?

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Headphones in this review that I have tried are dt1350, Sony 1R, Beats Executive, Beats Studio and Momentum. 
 
Being a beyer fan and having owned quite a few beyer phones, dt1350 is the only one that has above average transparency and resolution. In another words, in my opinion, the other four all fail in this regard. They sound muffled and veiled to my ears. Having read quite a lot reviews, now I understand this is actually liked by some people and is described as "colored". Correct me if this is wrong.
 
I think transparency and resolution are the two most important requirements for a good headphone.

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gzeminem said:

Quote:

dairyproduce said:

gzeminem - how come?

Click to expand...

 
Headphones in this review that I have tried are dt1350, Sony 1R, Beats Executive, Beats Studio and Momentum. 
 
Being a beyer fan and having owned quite a few beyer phones, dt1350 is the only one that has above average transparency and resolution. In another words, in my opinion, the other four all fail in this regard. They sound muffled and veiled to my ears. Having read quite a lot reviews, now I understand this is actually liked by some people and is described as "colored". Correct me if this is wrong.
 
I think transparency and resolution are the two most important requirements for a good headphone.

Click to expand...

That is not what coloured means.
When we say coloured, we mean that certain frequencies are emphasised or favoured over others.
Transparency is often difficult to judge especially when most people perceive the greatest detail through treble and a headphone that emphasises treble can easily be mistaken to be a more detailed or transparent headphone.
The Momentum for example is a very resolving headphone but has quite early treble roll-off which can give the impression of a lack of transparency, but it's all there, I guarantee. 

I had a quick listen to the KEF M500, pretty darn nice! And they are not pro orientated design, I don't want to monitor I want to be involved, give me the music not the sound! That's why I'm on the lookout for T51p impressions, since Beyer Dynamic found the desire to rework the driver and launch an update to the T50p sound. 

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greq said:

That is not what coloured means.
When we say coloured, we mean that certain frequencies are emphasised or favoured over others.
Transparency is often difficult to judge especially when most people perceive the greatest detail through treble and a headphone that emphasises treble can easily be mistaken to be a more detailed or transparent headphone.
The Momentum for example is a very resolving headphone but has quite early treble roll-off which can give the impression of a lack of transparency, but it's all there, I guarantee. 

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Your explanation of coloured makes sense, thank you!
 
However, as to transparency and resolution I beg to differ. I normally use Birdy's "skinny love" and World of Warcraft OST to test it. I can definitely and clearly hear the difference between my T70p and Momentum (1R is even worse). If you by any chance have the flac version of these songs ("Orgrimmar" in particular in WOW OST) at hand, please listen to them and I believe you will perceive what I said.
 
I really liked the look of 1R but eventually did not buy it after many auditions in store for this reason.

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gzeminem said:

Quote:

greq said:

That is not what coloured means.
When we say coloured, we mean that certain frequencies are emphasised or favoured over others.
Transparency is often difficult to judge especially when most people perceive the greatest detail through treble and a headphone that emphasises treble can easily be mistaken to be a more detailed or transparent headphone.
The Momentum for example is a very resolving headphone but has quite early treble roll-off which can give the impression of a lack of transparency, but it's all there, I guarantee. 

Click to expand...

Your explanation of coloured makes sense, thank you!
 
However, as to transparency and resolution I beg to differ. I normally use Birdy's "skinny love" and World of Warcraft OST to test it. I can definitely and clearly hear the difference between my T70p and Momentum (1R is even worse). If you by any chance have the flac version of these songs ("Orgrimmar" in particular in WOW OST) at hand, please listen to them and I believe you will perceive what I said.
 
I really liked the look of 1R but eventually did not buy it after many auditions in store for this reason.

Click to expand...

Well I'm not surprised. The T70p is one of Beyer's best studio headphones. Sometimes I can't hear a noticeable difference in resolution between the Momentum or my DT990 (original 1988 version).
Before you were making comparisons with the DT1350 so I assumed we were still on that track. 

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greq said:

Well I'm not surprised. The T70p is one of Beyer's best studio headphones. Sometimes I can't hear a noticeable difference in resolution between the Momentum or my DT990 (original 1988 version).
Before you were making comparisons with the DT1350 so I assumed we were still on that track. 

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Ahh, my apologies for being not clear. I did compare every one of them individually with my T70p. Therefore the conclusion of dt1350 being more transparent and having higher resolution than the rest of those was not drawn from direct comparison of them. My first impression on dt1350 was that it is just another typical thin-sounding beyer phone, but to be honest I could not hear much difference in these two aspects so I have always borne in my mind that dt1350 is as clear as t70p. 
 
I am quite surprised to see that your DT990 does not have more clarity than Momentum although I have never tried any 1988 version. Did you hear both on portable system or full size system?

Quote:

gzeminem said:

 
Headphones in this review that I have tried are dt1350, Sony 1R, Beats Executive, Beats Studio and Momentum. 
 
Being a beyer fan and having owned quite a few beyer phones, dt1350 is the only one that has above average transparency and resolution. In another words, in my opinion, the other four all fail in this regard. They sound muffled and veiled to my ears. Having read quite a lot reviews, now I understand this is actually liked by some people and is described as "colored". Correct me if this is wrong.
 
I think transparency and resolution are the two most important requirements for a good headphone.

Click to expand...

 
Quote:

greq said:

That is not what coloured means.
When we say coloured, we mean that certain frequencies are emphasised or favoured over others.
Transparency is often difficult to judge especially when most people perceive the greatest detail through treble and a headphone that emphasises treble can easily be mistaken to be a more detailed or transparent headphone.
The Momentum for example is a very resolving headphone but has quite early treble roll-off which can give the impression of a lack of transparency, but it's all there, I guarantee. 

Click to expand...

 
All of these headphones on MH's list do have some coloration to them. Momentums, MDR-1R, KEF M500s, Beats, etc. Haven't tried the Beyer or a couple of others but I can say that I find the PSB M4Us more "balanced" than most of the others in the list. Momentums are kind of dark, wonky mid to highs transition to my ears. MDR-1R are fatiguing to me due to their upper-mids... could only listen to them at low volumes. KEF M500s are SUPER dark and surprisingly bassy and it's actually my favorite from this list but I already have the Mad Dogs with work mostly better (and are more comfortable)... and on and on.

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gelocks said:

All of these headphones on MH's list do have some coloration to them. Momentums, MDR-1R, KEF M500s, Beats, etc. Haven't tried the Beyer or a couple of others but I can say that I find the PSB M4Us more "balanced" than most of the others in the list. Momentums are kind of dark, wonky mid to highs transition to my ears. MDR-1R are fatiguing to me due to their upper-mids... could only listen to them at low volumes. KEF M500s are SUPER dark and surprisingly bassy and it's actually my favorite from this list but I already have the Mad Dogs with work mostly better (and are more comfortable)... and on and on.

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Agreed.
 

gzeminem said:

Ahh, my apologies for being not clear. I did compare every one of them individually with my T70p. Therefore the conclusion of dt1350 being more transparent and having higher resolution than the rest of those was not drawn from direct comparison of them. My first impression on dt1350 was that it is just another typical thin-sounding beyer phone, but to be honest I could not hear much difference in these two aspects so I have always borne in my mind that dt1350 is as clear as t70p. 
 
I am quite surprised to see that your DT990 does not have more clarity than Momentum although I have never tried any 1988 version. Did you hear both on portable system or full size system?

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Both. I use a PA2V2 for my portable rig, and an ODAC and O2 Amp at home.
 
EDIT - fired up some flacs on foobar and did some A/B'ing between the two and the DT990 portrays the initial impression of giving more detail because it is more neutral (Momentum has more bass), but when I listen very closely to certain sounds they exist perfectly clear on both headphones.
It's a very close call - if I had to pick one over the other for critical detail listening, it would naturally and easily be the DT990 for it's closer to neutral presentation, but technically they dig up about the same level of detail, just with a different sound signature.

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greq said:

I have to ask, will you add the AKG K550?
Since the price globally went down to around $200 I don't see why it shouldn't be here. 

 (because from the front it looks smaller on your head than a PSB M4U2 

)

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I can add it as I've heard it several times. But I don't feel comfortable doing that as I really want to get it home and use it for a few days first. I'd like to give it a fair chance as my initial impressions were less than stellar with it. All the headphones here I've bought and paid for with my own money and my original post is just a blog of my journey to find a really good pair of portable headphones.
 
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kothganesh said:

From what I know of his preferences, MH very much opts for neutral sound...but I guess it's our own opinion right ?

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Exactly. I do prefer neutral sound. My SR-009s are my favourite headphones of all time and they're as neutral as I hear it. That said, I can enjoy coloured sound too when done right like the TH-900s or Momentums.
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gelocks said:

 
 
All of these headphones on MH's list do have some coloration to them. Momentums, MDR-1R, KEF M500s, Beats, etc. Haven't tried the Beyer or a couple of others but I can say that I find the PSB M4Us more "balanced" than most of the others in the list. Momentums are kind of dark, wonky mid to highs transition to my ears. MDR-1R are fatiguing to me due to their upper-mids... could only listen to them at low volumes. KEF M500s are SUPER dark and surprisingly bassy and it's actually my favorite from this list but I already have the Mad Dogs with work mostly better (and are more comfortable)... and on and on.

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Exactly. The least "coloured" would be the KEF M500s and PSB M4U 2s IMO. 
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ajheadfi said:

The Beyerdynamic T51p could dominate here. The T50p isn't here either 

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Sorry, I don't consider these headphones as "portable" as they are either too big or require serious amping to get them to sound their best. All of the headphones above were mostly trialed directly out of my iPhone 5 or iPad. I've owned many portable headphone amps through the years (see my profile for the listing), but I find with portable headphones (that aren't as transparent as some of the Summit-Fi gear) the improvements in sound quality don't justify the loss of portability with an LOD and portable amp/dac. That said, my favourite portable headphone amplifier (for sound / size / construction) was the HeadAmp Pico.
 

kothganesh said:

The second coming of David Mahler for portable headphones. Way to go 

 

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Thanks man. But really my good friend David's review was spectacular and one of the very best I've ever seen. This pales in comparison and is just documents my search for a good pair of portable headphones as a result of my 41 year old ears not working well with IEMs anymore and some major home renovations that made me put my main dynamic/stat headphone rigs away for the summer.

I liked the ESW9 enough to want to demo the ES700, ESW10 and ESW11. Not same thing as buying, that would just be crazy

Very Well done MH.  Glad you found something to suit you in the portable space.  I kind of had a similar journey yet picked the Sennheiser Amperiors (sadly, now discontinued) over the Momentums because of the more forward upper mids.  I must get to try the Kefs soon, from your words they look like a great headphone.
 
cheers