derbigpr
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Jan 19, 2011
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Review and comparison:
Focal Spirit Classic & Sennheiser HD380Pro
1) Introduction:
I've been a member of Head-fi for almost 4 years now. When I first joined, all I had was a pair of already worn out Sennheiser HD212Pro's. I've been in love with music since I can remember, and had pretty decent experience in hi-fi because my father was an audiophile, but at the time, I was not aware of how big and diverse the world of headphones was, you could say I was a speaker guy. Well, that quickly changed. After spending some time on the forum, my interest for headphones as hi-fi devices grew stronger, until I decided to buy the Sennheiser HD558's. Shortly after that came the first soundcard, the first headphone amp, new pairs of headphones, and before I knew it, I owned about 10 pairs. I started selling and exchanging headphones, buying new pairs, trying out various amplifiers and DAC's. Simply put, the old "sorry for your wallet" cliché was quite accurate in my case. I went from owning a pair of 50€ headphones 4 years ago, to owning about 5000€ worth of headphones and associated equipment at the moment, highlights being the Musical Fidelity M1HPAP and M1DAC, Beyerdynamic T1, Sennheiser HD650 and AKG K701, all of which are now irreplaceable in my main listening setup. I wish I could afford a pair of Stax SR-009, something really high end, but being a 24 year old medical student, I really can't afford them at the moment. Also, I believe my experience in the world of headphones is still too small to shoot for the really high end stuff, in my opinion, it's better to enjoy the journey than just rush to the end.
You might wonder why I've decided to compare two headphones that are at a first glance quite different. One is a fairly small around-ear / on-ear headphone, luxurious, designed for home or portable use, and the other is a big around-ear, rugged, professional headphone designed for studio use. On top of that, the price difference between them is quite big, where I live, for the price of Spirit Classic's I can buy two HD380's and still have some cash left. Their differences are what makes this comparison interesting, but they have enough sonic similarities as well, therefore I simply had to spend some time comparing them side by side.
Focal Spirit Classics are still quite a new pair of headphones, and there aren't many comparisons to other headphones out there, those that are available are mostly Spirit Classic vs. Spirit Professional battles. On the other hand, despite being around for quite some time, the Sennheiser HD380Pro is quite a neglected headphone I think, sort of stuck behind the Beyerdynamic DT770Pro and Audio-Technica ATH-M50, which are the obvious top choices for closed back professional headphones in this price range.
I hope this comparison will be interesting enough. The purpose of this is to offer people who are interested in either of these headphones as much first-hand information as possible. It's a very long and detailed review, so I hope you like reading. If not, there's a short summary at the end of each category, so check that out for quick info. I apologize for any writing errors, English is not my first language. 
2) Packaging, accessories and cables:
Focal Spirit Classic
As you can see, the FSC comes in a black cardboard box with a magnetically secured opening flap, covered with a glossy cardboard sleeve that has some basic information on the back and a picture of headphones on the front side. Very minimalistic and stylish. The box itself is intended for storage, it's quite solid, padded with thick soft foam on the inside. Good enough for transportation and protecting the headphones from dust, and to be honest, it looks and feels expensive...for a box. Certainly not as fancy as a wooden or aluminium case you get with Audeze's or Beyerdynamic T1's, but it's up to the standard of boxes you get with top of the line Sennheisers. Dimensions of the box are 26/20/10 cm.
Inside the box you get:
- 1.4 m portable cable with a microphone and a single button remote4 m OFC cable for home usea cloth carrying pouch3.5 to 6.35 mm screw-on adapteran airline adapterbrochures / manual
As you can see on the picture below, both cables are terminated in identical brushed and black anodized aluminium 3.5 mm jacks that fit a 6.35 mm screw-on adapter on the distant end of the cable and a 2.5 mm jack (aluminium on a portable, rubber on a home use cable) that sits snugly into the left ear cup. No fancy locking mechanisms or weird jack shapes here, so an aftermarket cable should be easy to find or make at home.
Both cables feel high quality, soft and pliable, with very little microphonics and a bit of memory to them, so it takes some time to straighten them out at first. The portable cable is 3 mm thick and the home use cable is quite a chunky piece of wire at 2 x 4 mm. Almost as thick as the Beyerdynamic T1 cable, but not nearly as heavy, which is important, because there is none of that annoying feeling of a cable pulling down on the ear cup while wearing the headphones. A lot of people will complain about the 4 meter length, but to be honest, that's kind of like complaining about getting too much food in a restaurant. From the looks of it, both cables should be very durable, especially the big one. Remote on the portable cable feels very standard.
The carrying pouch is made of very soft fabric which looks and feels durable enough and is big enough to comfortably fit the headphones when they're collapsed, but I would not use it for transportation since it offers no protection at all.
All in all, nothing wrong with the FSC in this category, everything you get with the headphones looks and feels high quality enough and fits the luxurious theme that Focal was aiming for.
Sennheiser HD380 Pro
HD380's come in box that is roughly the same size as the Focal box, identical depth, but the HD380 box is 2 cm wider and 2 cm shorter. Visually, the box is a complete opposite of the Focal's minimalistic design, there's a lot of info on here.There's even a magnetically held flap on the front that opens up and shows the folded headphones trough a clear plastic window. Inside the box there are two parts. The upper part, closer to the window is a simple clear plastic mold that holds the folded headphones in place, and underneath that there's a hard-shell carrying case.
You don't get any other accessories apart from a cable and a 6.35 mm adapter, but the quality of the box is very good, it's very solid and headphones are well protected during transport.
A nosy cat for scale
The cable is removable and it's a coiled design, which I usually don't like, but this one is not as tight and heavy as some others I've tried (the Beyerdynamic ones for example), and is certainly a perfect solution for professionals working in a studio. It's very soft and stretches out easily to a length of almost 4 meters. On the distant end it's terminated in a 3.5 mm jack with a 6.35 mm screw-on adapter. The side that goes into the headphone has a unique design with a very small (thinner than 2 mm) jack at a 90 degree angle, it locks into the ear cup very securely, and it takes a lot of force to pull out, in fact, headphones originally come with the cable attached and for quite some time I was afraid to pull it out because of how much force it required. It loosened up a bit after some time. Obviously, no aftermarket cables can be used, and even though the HD5x5 and HD5x8 series cables do fit, they can't be locked in, so they'd fall out all the time.
The quality of the cable is very good, as I said, it's soft, pliable, stretches out easily, has very little microphonics and unlike the Focal cable, there's no tangle memory to it, no matter how hard you stretch out the coiled segment, it returns back to original shape in a few seconds. It's almost 5 mm thick and is heavier than the Focal cable. Certainly heavy duty enough for studio conditions. From experience I know that Sennheiser cables are extremely durable.
One advantage the Sennheiser's have over the Focal's is the hard-shell carrying case. It's more than solid enough to protect the headphones inside your luggage or if you drop the case on the floor. The inside of the case is lined in soft fabric that feels like velvet, there are two soft extrusions that hold the ear cups in place, and there are a couple of rubbery bands on the sides to secure the cable adapters. The bad side? It's a bit too small. 23/20/4 cm in dimensions. Perfect for a backpack, but slightly tight on the inside. I guess Sennheiser designed the case to fit the headphones only, because once the headphones are inside, and it's already a snug fit, it's very hard to squeeze in the fat cable as well. It's possible, but the case should be a bit bigger, especially in terms of depth.
It's hard to determine a winner in this category since both packages offer exactly what they should for the intended use of headphones, although Sennheiser could supply a straight cable, or at least not use a unique jack design in order to enable the use of aftermarket cables, and the carrying case could be a bit bigger. Not a big deal, and perfectly fine for professional headphones, but this round goes to the Focal's by a hair, simply because the whole package feels more luxurious and expensive.
Spirit Classic: 9/10
HD380Pro: 8/10
3) Design, build, comfort and isolation:
Focal Spirit Classic
FSC's are fairly small headphones. Apparently, they're classified as full-sized, but in my opinion, they're closer to being on-ear headphones. They might be a bit larger than typical on-ear headphones, but still, unless you have really small ears, they won't fit inside the ear cups. I have larger than average ears (7,5 cm high), and ear pads sit on top of them. Dimensions of the ear pads are visible on one of the pictures below.
Clearly designed for luxury, the Spirit Classic features a combination of metal, protein leather and a little bit of plastics in the design. The combination between leather and aluminium looks very stylish and tasteful. Entire headband is made out of metal, and so are the earcup hinges. The only plastic parts are the bronze areas on the ear cups, but even that feels cold to the touch and could easily fool you into thinking it's metal. I was worried about the brown color scheme at first, but now I think these headphones look very good, especially in person.
As far as the build quality goes, in general they seem solid and well put together. All the hinges feel good and are made of metal, the main hinges allow folding of the ear cups towards the headband, however ear cups cannot be folded flat. The hinges that allow rotation of ear cups around the vertical axis are very tight. Usually these hinges on most headphones are very loose and easily adjustable, on Focal's they're tight and you actually have to turn the ear cups with your hands until they fit nicely. That is good on one hand because once you put them on your head, they don't move and they sit tight. However, there is some squeaking from those hinges because of the tightness. You don't hear that while wearing them, but when adjusting, they sometimes do squeak a bit. I assume the plastic ball inside the metal socket of this joint is what causes the squeaks. Hinges on the back of the ear cups that allow them to tilt around the front to back axis are a bit loose and they rattle a bit when I shake the headphones, but it's not a cheap rattle, it sounds like metal hitting metal. Again, not noticeable when wearing them, and they seem solid once they're on the head.
Stitching on the headband and ear pads looks very precise, the quality of protein leather is excellent, it feels super soft and smooth, although they did smell of plastic/rubber a little bit when they were brand new. Aluminium parts are nicely brushed and precisely finished, no sharp edges, and the plastic parts, as I said, almost feel like metal as well. No squeaking is present when squeezing the ear cups, or applying pressure to them, which means that all the individual parts fit together perfectly. When wearing the headphones, and knocking on the ear cups, headband or hinges, there's nice, deep, well dampened sound, no cheap ringing like you get from some closed back headphones, which again suggests all parts fit together nicely and the ear cups are properly sealed. Headband adjustment is smooth, there are soft clicks between steps, but the steps are not quite as solid as on the Sennheisers and it takes less force to adjust the headband here. In general, really nice materials and build quality. However, despite being nicely made, these are still headphones that would scream in fear if you were to take them outside. Despite having a high quality and premium feel, I'd never be comfortable throwing them around and I seriously doubt they'd take anywhere near as much beating as the Sennheiser HD380's would. I would not feel comfortable stretching out or twisting the headband on the Focal's. Also, the ear pads are not removable, which is a bummer. They're kinda like an iPhone. The metal and glass feels and looks very nice, but if it falls out of your hand, your heart kinda stops for a moment. Simply put, they're too fancy to be workhorse headphones, they feel more comfortable in a living room or an office.
When it comes to actual wearing comfort, these headphones are a bit of a mixed bag. I'm very picky when it comes to comfort, and to me, comfort is more than just lack of discomfort. I want headphones that completely disappear from my head and I forget about wearing them after some time, I want to be able to move my head freely without the headphones moving, etc. Focal Spirit Classic is not one of those headphones.
Earpads are made out of memory foam which tends to feel a bit stiff in the first few minutes of wearing them, but after they warm up, they get soft and quickly conform to the shape of your head and ears, and then they remain comfortable for some time. Headband is not padded a lot, in fact, there's more padding on the upper side of the headband than the lower side which is actually in contact with your head, where there's only about 2-3 mm of foam underneath the leather. However, it's shaped properly and there is plenty of adjustment available, so there are no worries about comfort of the headband whatsoever, at least I haven't noticed any problems. Focals are fairly heavy at 310 grams (11 oz) without the cable, definitely much heavier than the Sennheisers, but that weight is nicely spread out, so they don't actually feel too bulky on the head. Earpads feel nice, but they clamp quite hard, in fact, they might have a stronger clamping force than the Sennheisers. I can wear the Focals on my head for about 2 hours and they feel ok, but then my ears start to get warm and sore and soon I simply have to take them off because my ears hurt too much. I should mention that I wear glasses, but I've tried wearing them without glasses as well, not a big difference. They simply clamp a bit too tightly. On the other hand, that clamping force means they feel very secure on the head. I would not call these headphones uncomfortable in general, but they're not exactly very comfortable in long terms either. Definitely not as comfortable as the Sennheiser HD380's, and taking the Focals off and putting on some really comfortable headphones, like the Beyerdynamic T1's, is a relief. They never quite disappear from my head or make my forget I'm wearing headphones. They're always present, either in form of weight, or pressure, or heat, usually all three combined by the end of longer listening sessions. I have to mention that out the box, they were much worse than after a few days of use. The clamping force does reduce a bit and earpads do get softer after time. It's also possible to stretch the headband out a bit, although I would not go too far with that.
As far as the sound isolation and leaking goes, they're quite good at it. Strong clamping force combined with leather memory foam earpads is a good combination for a great seal. They leak very little and let very little sound inside as well. Almost as good as the HD380's.
SUMMARY - Focal Spirit Classic
Luxurious design and high quality materials, solid build quality but questionable durability, don't fold flat, earpads not removable, quite heavy, relatively small earcups, on-ear for most people, memory foam earpads, strong clamping force, decent comfort for up to 2 hours, great noise isolation.
Design (esthetics) : 9/10
Design (function) : 7/10
Materials : 9/10
Build quality : 8.5/10
Durability : 6/10 - just an assumption, I might be wrong...
Short term comfort (< 2h) : 8/10
Long term comfort (2h<) : 2/10
Isolation: 8.5/10
Sennheiser HD380Pro
HD380's are the complete opposite of the Focals. They're clearly designed for professionals who could not care less about the look of the headphones and use them as tools only. Don't get me wrong, these are not ugly headphones, they're just very simple and not flashy at all, some would even say cheap looking. It's a design philosophy that puts function above looks, but despite that, in my opinion these are quite handsome headphones in person. On pictures they always look cheap for some reason. The general shape of the ear cups will be familiar to anyone who has experience with HD5x5 or HD5x8 series from Sennheiser. They're identical in shape and size to those headphones (their ear pads are interchangeable), meaning they're quite large. Certainly proper around the ear full sized headphones, considerably bigger than the Focal's. Ear cups are large in all directions, and my ears fit inside perfectly. Dimensions are on one of the pictures below.
So the design of the headphone is very simple visually, but very well thought out functionally. There's also a lot of attention to detail that you might miss after just a quick glance. For example, whereas the Focal ear pads simply have a hole in the middle with some foam covering the driver enclosure, HD380's feature the so called E.A.R. Technology. Some serious engineering has been put into the design of ear cup cavities. Driver is off center and at an angle, there are a lot of little notches, ridges, protuberances all around the ear cup, a very fine, almost silky material covering the protective plastic that is above the drivers, etc.. All in all, if you look at it closely, it looks very expensive and like a lot of effort and knowledge has been put into designing it. Another advantage of the Sennheiser is the fact that ear pads are easily removable, and the whole headphone can be taken apart easily, unlike Focal's which I don't think can be taken apart and then put back together again without permanently damaging them.
Date of production is visible on the driver diaphragm: 12.03.2013.
In terms of materials, they're almost completely made out of black plastics except for the metal reinforcement inside the headband, the part of the hand band that pulls out for adjustment and the main metal hinges that connect the ear cup arms to the headband. These hinges also allow about 120 degrees of rotation around the vertical axis, meaning they can fold flat in one direction only, so that the ear cup openings are facing down. The ear cups also collapse towards the headband, which allows them to have a nice low profile and fit inside their carrying case. Headband has plenty of adjustment with solid and satisfying clicks between steps that give it a really nice quality feel.
The plastics used is of high quality, has a nice silky smooth finish that feels quite scratch resistant and while it's not a fingerprint magnet, it always looks dusty. Plastic is very thick, yet flexible, and in person it looks and feels expensive and very solid. I know from experience that Sennheiser makes very durable plastics. My 8 year old Sennheiser HD212Pro's which have over 5,000 hours of use and, trust me, they went to hell and back, are made out of plastics that feels very similar. HD380's feel and look like they're very well put together, there's no squeaking or rattling no matter what I do to them, and unlike with the Focal's, I'd have no problems whatsoever throwing these headphones around without much care. Like the Focal's, when wearing the headphones and knocking on any part of the headphone, there's a thick, deep and solid thump to be heard, no cheap ringing, knocking or or hollow plasticky sound that would suggest loose parts or a bad seal between components. In a lot of ways, these headphones are like some German cars. VW's come to mind. They look sort of cold and plain at first glance, but as you get to know them, you start to appreciate the attention to detail, hidden qualities and depth of engineering behind those uninspired looks. You might not love this headphone, but I'm certain you will respect it.
Headband has a generous amount of soft padding, and so do the ear cups. Ear pads are about as thick as on the Focal's, but hold their shape better and they're not filled with memory foam, but rather a regular type of foam that feels soft and very springy, and actually behaves a bit like memory foam. If you press them, the air is squeezed out of them trough small holes, and when you let go, it takes quite a few seconds for the foam to suck the air back into it and return to original shape. Because they're so nice to squeeze, they can be used as a stress relief tool as well. Headband and ear pads are covered with an artificial plasticky material, the same as on all other professional closed back Sennheiser's like the HD202/203/205/25/280. It's a very good material, very smooth and soft, and actually feels more comfortable in contact with skin than Focal's fake leather. It also doesn't get anywhere near as warm, and it has no smell.
In terms of comfort, they're quite far ahead of the Focal's. First of all, Sennheiser's are super light, especially considering their size. At only 220 grams (7.8 oz) they're some of the lightest, if not the lightest full sized, closed back headphones out there. They seriously feel feather-light on the head, helped by their very low profile as well, which makes them fit like a glove on the hand. They do clamp quite hard, but because of their design, they never actually touch my ears, and only press the sides of my head, which never gets painful, even with glasses. However, just like the Focal's, these are not headphones that completely disappear from my head either, but at least they don't get uncomfortable after a few hours of use.
In terms of isolation, they're very good. A little bit better than Focal's, and certainly more than good enough, even for professional use. I bet singers have no problems wearing these headphones during their recording sessions, and the sound of headphones doesn't bleed out into their microphone.
SUMMARY -Sennheiser HD380Pro:
Professionally oriented and very functional design, slightly bland looks, durable high quality materials, very solid build, big ear cups with plenty of room for ears of all sizes, can fold flat, removable earpads, replaceable parts, very lightweight, low profile on the head, relatively high clamping force but much more comfortable than Focal Spirit Classic during long listening sessions, very good noise isolation.
Design (esthetics) : 7/10
Design (function) : 9.5/10
Materials : 8.5/10
Build quality : 9.5/10
Durability : 9/10 - again just an assumption...
Short term comfort (< 2h) : 9/10
Long term comfort (2h<) : 6/10
Isolation: 9/10
4) Amplification:
As far as the amplification goes these headphones are not very picky. Focal Spirit Classic features 32 Ohm drivers with 102 dB / mW of sensitivity, while the HD380Pro has a slightly higher impedance at 54 Ohms, but has higher sensitvity as well, rated at 110 dB / mW. My main listening setup in the living room consists of Beyerdynamic T1's, Sennheiser HD650's, AKG K701's, Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm and DT990 Pro's, amped by Musical Fidelity M1HPAp headphone amp and a Musical Fidelity M1DAC. This means that both the FSC and the HD380 are sort of secondary headphones that I use mostly in my bedroom while I'm on the computer or for portable use on occasion, therefore I will review them in that way.
In general, I have tried both of these headphones with the M1 combo, Nuforce HDP dac/headamp, a PC with a high end Asus Essence ST soundcard, an iPhone 4S, a cheap HP laptop and Onkyo A-5VL and A-8820 integrated speaker amps. They sounded very similar, bordering on identical, in almost all setups with an exception of the laptop (still has a Realtek HD 7.1 soundcard with 24/192 support). A drop in quality was present with the laptop which made the headphones sound a bit thin and harsh, with reduced bass extension and some background hissing noise. From all other sources, headphones sounded 90% identical, and all of their characteristics remained the same when switching between setups. They were ever so slightly smoother and more open sounding out of the M1 combo, but the difference is negligible considering the price tag of that setup. They get plenty of power for (too) loud volume levels just straight out of portable devices, with great control and authority. In fact, with some music, I find that Focals sound best when just plugged straight into the iPhone, because the bass is slightly tighter, which makes them sound a bit cleaner and more airy. There's a sense of musicality and liquidity when using them with an iPhone that resembles the M1 combo, but with a slightly brighter feel overall. Might be the ~1 ohm output impedance, might be a touch of brightness from the DAC, I don't know. I can also report that they're not very sensitive to high output impedance (especially the HD380's) because using them with integrated amplifiers made virtually no difference in their performance. Perhaps the bass is slightly less tight and a bit more present out of the integrated amps, but we're splitting hairs here, you'd only notice the differences in direct A-B comparisons. Of course, using them with integrated amplifiers means they can get much louder than unamped, usually way too loud before 9 o'clock on the volume knob, but again, they get more than loud enough straight out of a smartphone. It's also worth noting that in that situation Focal gets a bit louder than the HD380, it's about a one click difference in favor of Focals when using the iPhone, and both are at a pleasant listening volume at 3-4 clicks below maxiumum with majority of recordings.
To wrap it up, from my experience it's not worth spending a lot of money on a DAC/amp to use with these headphones, they simply don't have the resolution and transparency of higher end open-back headphones required to fully show the benefits of higher end amplification / source that costs considerably more than the headphones themselves.
So, from here on forward in the review, know that every listening impression or sonic characteristic I will describe was experienced using the Nuforce HDP (USB), Asus Essence ST or the iPhone 4S. After all, most people who will buy these headphones will use setups of similar quality.
SUMMARY: Both headphones have low impedance and high sensitivity drivers, easy to power, negligible benefits of higher end amps/sources because of lack of resolution and transparency, not particularly sensitive to high output impedance, can be used with a wide variety of devices from smartphones to integrated amplifiers or receivers, they sound excellent with an iPhone 4S, Spirit Classics get ever so slightly louder than HD380's on the same volume settings. A 200-300 dollar amp/DAC or a nice soundcard is the maximum one should spend for either of these headphones to get best value for money.
5) Sound:
Let's get into the really interesting part. As I said in the very beginning, you might wonder why I'm comparing two headphones intended for different purposes and with such a big price gap between them. Well, I found that the performance gap is nowhere near as big as I had expected it to be at first, and it's a much closer battle than one would assume just looking at their price tags. On top of that, both of these headphones share a somewhat similar sonic balance, but are totally different in presentation. More about that later on. In the first part of this review segment I will cover general impressions of each headphone. In the second part, added additionally, I will write down my impressions of these headphones while comparing them head-to-head by listening to a wide variety of music. Before I start, I should add that I have owned a lot of headphones in this 300-400 dollar price range. On top of those open-backed ones I have named in the amplification section, I also have experience with the Beyerdynamic DT770Pro 80 ohm, AT ATH-M50's, Denon AH-D600's and AKG K550's. Unfortunately, they're not around anymore for a direct comparison, but I might add a few thoughts about how the HD380's and FSC's compare to them.
Note that all of the scores in this segment are relative to the price of these headphones and the closed back design. If I give them a 10/10, it doesn't mean they're perfect, it means I feel, based on my experience, that at this time and age, for the same money, there is nothing better on the closed back headphone market.
5.1) General impressions:
Focal Spirit Classic
I've seen a lot of reviews of these headphones, and in general, you see a repeating pattern in all of them. They're linear, neutral with a slightly warm tilt. In general, I completely agree with that. I should also mention that I have no experience with the Spirit Professional or Spirit One.
Now, these are headphones that have a very flat and even frequency response from the very bottom of the frequency range to about 4kHz, after that there's a dip that stretches up to 8kHz and bottoms out at around 6kHz with some -20 dB of difference in relation to the 1 kHz reference level. Above that, headphones return back to -5 dB at around 10 kHz and start to slowly roll off towards the 20 kHz mark. This means that they have a full, thick, lush and warm sound. Vocals, especially male vocals have a thickness and weight to them that can sometimes, depending on the recording, become a bit overbearing. The fairly large dip at 6kHz gives the headphones a very relaxed and smooth character, sometimes even veiled depending on the listening material. These headphones are tuned to be euphonic and pleasant to listen to for long periods of time. In general, they are free of any harshness, and sibilance is very rarely an issue. In that way they remind me a lot of the Sennheiser HD650's. What I can say is that in terms of timbre, or how natural and real the reproduced sounds seem to be, the Focal Spirit Classic is very good. In fact, in this area the Focals might just be the best closed-back headphones I've ever heard, I'd even go as far to say it's up there with HD650's. Of course, Classics don't match them in resolution, but they just sound "right" most of the time. I've seen someone write that these headphones sound as if a lot of recordings were mastered on them. That is close to being true. They're also quite dynamic headphones, the changes in the amount of energy in the sound can be quite dramatic, this is very obvious while watching movies or playing games. Explosions can really startle you, and this also proves that the drivers can handle a lot of volume without distorting.
Just something else to add regarding burn-in. I think these headphones really do benefit from some running in. Out of the box the sounded more muffled and veiled than after a few weeks of use. I don't think it's me getting used to their sound, because they're nowhere near my most used headphones, and for quite a long period of time I didn't listen to them at all, just burned them in with pink noise at a fairly loud level (with 30 minute pauses every 2 hours), 24-7, for about a week.
Might be placebo, but usually I'm not very susceptible to it, and of all the headphones I own, Focal Spirit Classic might one of three or four pairs in which I actually noticed a change.
Lows: When it comes to low frequencies, these headphones are very linear and extend to 20Hz without any roll-off. There are no peaks or dips to be heard and the response is even and predictable, however as I already said, they are tilted towards the warm side, which means that the low frequencies are more forward than what could be considered flat. 20Hz is about 5-6 dB's above the reference 1 kHz level. Don't get me wrong, these are not basshead headphones, but in general there's an impression of slightly boosted low frequencies. When it comes to the speed of the bass, they are pretty good. They don't have the snap and lightning quick attack of open-back headphones, instead they have a more liquid and round bass response with a very slightly soft feel to it...think of HD650's. The bass extends all the way down very effortlessly and in general there's a sense of decent control and tightness, mostly without any major resonances or boominess, however, at higher than regular volume levels, when listening to really bass heavy tracks, or sometimes even just tracks with regular instruments that produce deeper frequencies, the bass does tend to lose a bit of control due to the reflections from the back of the earcup, and it makes it sound like there's constantly some reverberation present at around 70-80 Hz. It does seem like Focal's could use a bit of dampening material in the earcups, but that would probably make them sound bass light in some situations. Besides, this happens with pretty much any closed back headphone I've ever tried, DT770's are the exception, and D600's are the best example, so I guess you can't have it all. HD380's also suffer from the same problem. This all means that the bass does not have the clarity and control of open-back headphones.
However, the bass seems to be tuned perfectly to equally cater to modern music and more classical genres at the same time. It sounds excellent with any dance, electronic, r'n'b or hip hop music because it has enough weight and presence, and sometimes it really does give that chesty punch with a lot of energy and effortless extension, but at the same time it's not overdone for other genres of music.
In terms of detail and texture in the bass region, it is again pretty good. It's not a DT880, but there's enough resolution to properly separate various layers of low frequency sounds and present them all separately without blending them together. For example, a bass guitar and drums won't get in a way of each other like they would on cheaper closed-back headphones, and deep male vocals retain the chesty quality and are presented with proper weight.
All in all, they do not disappoint when it comes to bass and the level of performance is more than acceptable for this price range, in fact, the bass performance is one of the highlights of these headphones in my opinion, and it's what gives them this euphonic, warm and "analog" character.
Mids: Transition from bass to lower mids is done very smoothly and effortlessly, and the whole mid-range remains flat and even until we get to the upper mids. At that point, around 4000 Hz, they slowly start to roll off as they transition into highs. The roll off is quite dramatic as can be seen on the frequency response graphs, but more about that in the next section. In general, mids retain all the qualities that are present in the bass region. Well controlled, smooth, nicely textured, and as I said in the beginning, tonality is just right with majority of recordings. Instruments and vocals sound real and have proper presence. Mids are transparent enough as well. Again, not as transparent as what you get from open-back headphones, but better than most closed-back ones. In terms of transparency, they're above HD380's and about the same as K550's as far as I can remember. Detail is very good in the mids too, every instrument has the right texture, the right amount of sharpness or smoothness to it, however, female vocals do tend to sound a bit too meaty on certain recordings. Just a tiny bit, nothing major. That is caused by the dip in the upper-mids and highs, but to be honest, I'd much rather have slightly overly warm vocals with the right tonality and texture, than sibilant vocals that sound thin or lifeless. In general though, the best way I could describe the mids is...they sound the way the headphones look. Luxurious.
Highs: This is where the Focals get in a bit of "trouble". Whereas the rest of the frequency response is nice and even, highs aren't. There's an almost -20 dB dip at 6 kHz that begins at 4 kHz and stretches up to 10 kHz which is at the same level as the 4 kHz region, and then there's a sharp roll off at about 12kHz that ends up at -25 dB in relation to 1kHz. Above that there are a couple of more peaks and dips. All in all, the treble response is pretty uneven. Does it mean the treble sounds bad? No, no it doesn't, it just doesn't sound as good as the bass and mids. Also, the dip doesn't sound nearly as bad as it looks on the graphs, because the entire frequency range is tilted towards the warm side anyway, it's not like the treble just suddenly cuts off. If you like warm sounding headphones with slightly subdued treble, you'll like this. I don't know if that dip is engineered into the headphones on purpose to differentiate them from the Spirit Professional, but it certainly gives the high frequencies a darker, almost veiled character. To put it simply, even HD650's highs are more sparkly and clear sounding. Maybe this is a bit exaggerated, but taking the Focal's off and putting on almost any other headphone I own, including the HD380's, feels like someone has turned the treble up a bit. HD380's don't have much more treble, but they do sound more airy up top, their treble is also sharper and more sparkly.
However, this treble can be good, because the highs are smooth sounding, there's no sharpness at all, and no sibilance either unless the recording is really terrible. It also makes these headphones a very easy and relaxing listen, and not very sensitive to low quality audio formats. I never felt any fatigue with them, even when listening at high volume levels for an extended period of time. In addition, most new recordings are recorded brightly, which again, makes the treble perfect for modern music, but on occasion, they could use a bit more air and sparkle with jazz, classical, female vocals, or even some older rock. However, with most properly mastered recordings, they sound good and not overly dark once you get used to them. If I take off any other headphone and put the Focals on, they seem a bit dark and veiled at first. When I adjust to them however, and that usually takes 5-10 minutes, they sound good. Highs are never particularly sparkly though, but they don't lack detail, and they don't feel like they lack resolution or transparency. In other words, the quality of the treble is never a problem, the volume of the treble can be. They're definitely NOT perfectly neutral headphones because of this, but no headphones are, and their warm coloration makes much more sense than a bright coloration would, because that would just make them fatiguing.
Soundstage and imaging: The most dramatic effect of the subdued heighs is not what they do to the tonality of the sound by making it a bit dark, it's what they do to the soundstage and the feeling of space and airiness. The soundstage is not small, and headphones don't make me feel like the sound is stuck inside my head, but they definitely don't have anywhere near as much air and openness about them as any of the open-backed headphones at this price range, or even some of the closed-back ones. This is caused by their generally warm and thick sound. Compared to the HD380's, Focals soundstage feels a bit smaller. HD380's feel more spacious and airy. What you do need to know is that even though the soundstage on the Focals is medium in size, imaging and separation, as well as the placement of sounds in that soundstage is very good. Good imaging and good coherence is what makes up for the slightly small soundstage on the Spirit Classics. Sound is presented in such a way that it feels like it's coming from slightly in front of my head in an arch that goes from about 70 degrees from the left to about 70 degrees to the right off center. This is quite different than most headphones, especially those without angled drivers, on which sounds usually appear to be coming from either inside your head, or directly from the left/right side. HD380's can present some sounds as if they come exactly from the side, or even from slighly behind. Even though the vocals and instruments on the Focal don't have as much space around them as they do with the HD380's, they sound very coherent and they feel like they fit together properly. To put it simply, while the HD380's present the soundstage more as bunch of separate components playing at the same time, the Focals present the soundstage as a group of components playing together in harmony. This is a clear difference in philosophy between professional and audiophile headphones. Focals sound more like a good pair of full-range floor-standing speakers, while the HD380's sound like a pair of bookshelf monitors with a small subwoofer.
Resolution, transparency and detail: This is an area that makes or brakes headphones for me. Frequency response and sound balance is not everything. Cheap headphones can have, on paper, a better frequency response than some more expensive headphones, yet, they won't sound as good. Of course it can be the other way around as well. But the point is, you can EQ sound balance, but you can't EQ the resolution or, so to speak, quality of the sound. In this area Focals are pretty good for the money. They're not quite up there with 300-400 dollar open-back headphones like the DT880/990, K701/702, HD600/650, etc., but they are good enough in comparison to other closed-back headphones. Certainly slightly above the level of HD380Pro's, M50's and DT770's, but not quite up there with the AKG K550's or Denon AH-D600's. Take my thoughts about the AKG and Denon with a grain of salt because I'm saying this from memory, and it might be because the K550's and D600's are brighter headphones with far more pronounced upper mids and highs, so they might give off the false impression of higher levels of detail or a bigger soundstage. It's hard to tell from memory. Whatever the case, the Focal Spirit Classic are good enough. They won't blow anyone away with their resolution or extreme levels of detail, but then again, these are not headphones designed to have such a character, I presume Spirit Professionals are the solution for those who want such headphones. They do however have enough detail to not make me feel like they're lacking in that department, and I can still hear 95% of the things on them that I hear on K701's for example, it's just that they don't bombard the listener with detail. They're more subdued in that sense than the HD380's as well.
SUMMARY Focal Spirit Classic:
Bass presence: 8/10
Bass extension: 9/10
Bass speed: 7/10
Bass quantity: 9/10
Bass quality: 9.5/10
Mids tonality: 9.5/10
Mids presence: 9/10
Mids quality: 9/10
Highs presence: 7/10
Highs quality: 9/10
Detail: 8/10
Listening fatigue: 9.5/10
Transparency: 8/10
Resolution: 9/10
Soundstage size: 6/10
Imaging: 9/10
Genre versatility: 9.5/10
Subjective musicality: 9/10
Gaming: 8/10
Movies: 8/10
Sennheiser HD380Pro
Let's get into the HD380's now. I will try to focus more on the differences between these two headphones when describing the sound in this section. As I already said in the beginning, I feel like the HD380's are quite a neglected pair of headphones. There aren't many reviews of it out there, it's even quite difficult to find a frequency response graph. However, these headphones deserve the attention from anyone who's in the market for a professional pair of headphones for studio or home use, and I feel they are quite underrated.
In terms of the general sound signature, HD380's are somewhat similar to the Focal's in a lot of ways, but also completely different in others. They are both slightly warm headphones that can be used for a long period of time without much fatigue, they both have slightly bass-driven sound signatures, so to speak, and both are very pleasurable to listen to, however, they present the sound in a completely different way.
HD380's are not as flat or even in their response as the FSC is. The main difference that I notice when switching from the FSC to the HD380 is the completely different way of presenting the sound, the main difference not being the perception of sonic balance or frequency response, but the soundstage and imaging. Whereas as the FSC's are slightly closed in, as I said, they have a medium sized soundstage, the HD380's have in general a more open and airy sound. This is caused partly by the driver tuning, and partly by the big and spacious ear cup cavities and angled drivers, which allows the sound pressure waves to hit the auricle in a more natural way than they do with on-ear headphones, which in turn makes them sound more similar to listening to a pair of speakers.
In short, I'd describe the HD380's sound as similar to that of a pair of bookshelf speakers with a small subwoofer, both in terms of sonic balance and soundstage, while the Focal's are like a pair of floor-standing speakers in terms of sonic balance, but smaller in size in terms of the soundstage. That's the main difference that I hear between them, and I will describe that in more detail later on. But in short, the Focal's have that almost completely flat frequency response from the very bottom all the way up to 4000 Hz, and that makes them sound thick, full and lush, and it's also what makes them sound so coherent. On the other hand, HD380's are more airy and they separate the sounds into individual components, but they don't sound bright like most headphones with those characteristics do. They are quite unique in the way they present the sound, it's almost as if there's some sort of digital sound processing in them that makes them simulate the sound you'd hear from speakers in a studio. I couldn't find a proper frequency response graph, and those that are available all differ greatly from website to website, so it's impossible to tell which is the most accurate one, but to my ears, using frequency swipes, HD380's sound fairly flat from around 200, all the way up to 2500 Hz. Above that they become uneven with a slightly warm tilt, so that the 10kHz region ends up at a level that's about 5 dB's lower than the reference 1kHz region, and under 200 Hz there's a major boost.
Lows:
Bass is the highlight of the sonic balance with HD380's, just like with the FSC's, but it's very different in character. First of all, you need to understands that these are not bass-head headphones. They don't sound like bass-head headphones, they're simply neutral, warm-ish headphones that are capable of producing staggering amounts of bass when required.
Under 200 Hz, there's a lift in the frequency response that goes down to about 120 Hz, then there's a 4-5 dB dip that extends down to 80 Hz, and under that it shoots back up again and extends deep into the lows. To my ears, it seems like the 40 Hz region is maybe 8 or 9 dB's above the 1 kHz reference level, but since there is no mid bass boost, there's none of that uncomfortable feeling of boominess or thickness that's usually present with bass heavy headphones. This is what I meant when I said that they sound like a pair of bookshelf speakers with a subwoofer. They really do have a bass response that I've never heard in another headphone before. The reason for that is the fact they have a really tight, controlled and fast mid-bass, with a quicker punch and faster decay than the FSC's, caused by that dip from 120 to 80 Hz, but then they also have that round, tight and very well extended sub-bass response, exactly as you get with a good subwoofer. The way these headphones extend into sub-bass is simply amazing. At normal listening levels there's no boominess, resonance or any clue that would suggest lack of control, and there's no drop in energy whatsoever, they just give me that sensation of effortless, extremely deep bass, the kind that would shake the entire house if it was played trough speakers. At very high volume levels, just like with the Focal's, they do start to lose control, but again, it's expected from sealed headphones.
The low frequencies are also well separated from the rest of the sounds. There's no major bleeding into the mids that I can hear, less so than with the Focal's even, and that says a lot. Sometimes it truly sounds like the low frequencies are produced by a completely different pair of drivers than the rest of the frequency range. This is also what makes the bass of these headphones sound very textured, layered and detailed, but sometimes it can also have a negative effect on the music, an effect opposite of what I would consider "musicality".
This is most notable with jazz, blues or similar music, where an upright bass or a bass guitar can sometimes sound like there are two separate instruments playing instead of a single one, because the deeper notes can sound considerably louder and closer to me than the higher pitched notes, so it's harder to focus on the rhythm and it's more difficult to get into the groove of music than it is with the Spirit Classics. Don't get me wrong, this only happens on a rare occasion, they're still very good with all genres of music 95% of the time, and they're not the typical bass heavy headphone that makes everything sound bloated and boomy. They get bass heavy only when the recording asks them to, for example, when listening to modern electronic music genres and hip-hop, where the bass of this pair of headphones really shines and makes them a blast to listen to. Nothing, I repeat, nothing I've ever heard in the world of headphones can "drop the bass" as well as the HD380's can.
In terms of overall quality of the bass, I'd put the HD380's at about the same level as the Focal's. Focal's do have slightly more refinement, detail and texture, but they don't have the ability to deliver the sub-bass of that power and depth as effortlessly as the HD380's do, and they also don't have the mid-bass speed of the HD380's.
Mids:
We get into the most weird part of this headphone now. Mids are quite unique on the HD380's. At first, they sounded slightly unnatural to me, they still do when I don't listen to HD380's for a while,but after getting used to them, they almost make the headphones sound as if there's a reverb, or some sort of digital sound processing that tries to fake the sound you'd get from speakers in a studio. It might have something to do with that Ergonomic Acoustic Refinement technology that Sennheiser boasts about, but I've heard other Sennheisers with the same E.A.R. technology, like the HD558's and HD598's, and the effect was totally different. They really might be tuned that way, since these are marketed by Sennheiser as studio monitoring headphones, maybe they wanted to make headphones that sort of simulate speakers. From 2.5 kHz onwards, apart from the very slightly warm tilt, there are three major features in the frequency response. There are two sharp dips that can be heard on frequency swipes, one at around 3 kHz, and the other at around 5 kHz, both are at about -7 dB's in level compared to the surrounding frequencies. Between the dips there's a 4kHz peak that's slightly above the level of frequencies before and after the two dips. I think these three features are responsible for that feeling of depth and space. In this sense, ironically, the HD380's are not as natural sounding as the Spirit Classics, and therefore not as capable when it comes to monitoring. In fact, taking the FSC's off and putting the HD380's, before getting used to them, makes them sound sort of shouty, like the tonality is off a little bit. However, after getting used to them, they actually sound very fun. It's really quite hard to explain this sound signature, it's as if the mids are distant, but they're not recessed, not lower in volume, they just sound like they're coming from further away than they do with Focal's or other headphones. This is particularly obvious with vocals. Again, they're not recessed in any way, in fact, in terms of volume level, they're where they should be, since the bulk of the vocal frequencies are much deeper than 3-5 kHz, but this slight reverb makes them sound a bit more distant, if that makes sense. Remember, this might sound more dramatic when you read it than it actually is when listening to the headphones, but it's definitely something that some people will hate, and others love. Try taking some neutral headphones and apply the EQ to them in which you reduce the 3kHz and 5kHz frequencies, and slightly lift the 4kHz, you might get a similar result.
Overall, the mids sound good to me, but they're not perfectly natural. However, once I get used to them, I don't care. In terms of refinement, detail, texture, transparency and most of all, timbre, HD380's are not quite on the level of the Focals. Compared to other headphones, I'd say the HD380's are overall above the level of M50's or D600's, and about the same as DT770's when it comes to quality of the mids. Directly compared to Focal's, it's obvious that Spirit Classics's are considerably more expensive headphones, however the difference is nowhere near as big as I would have expected, and it doesn't mean the Sennheiser's aren't fun or pleasant to listen to, because they are. In fact, I used the word luxurious to describe the Focal's mids. Here, I'd use the terms pleasant and easy to listen to in order to describe the HD380's mids, because these are exactly the characteristics that the reverb and the slightly fake sensation of space gives them.
Highs:
Apart from the 5 kHz dip, highs seem to be fairly flat, probably not perfectly flat, but there are no major peaks that make them sound uneven or fatiguing. There's a very small peak at around 10 kHz, and after that they start to roll off more dramatically, similar to majority of other headphones. However, despite the slight peak, the 10kHz region is still at a lower volume level than the 1 kHz region, so it's definitely not a problem. In essence, highs are quite flat. HD380's highs are more present than they are on the Focal's, but they're very similar in terms of character, meaning that they're not particularly sparkly, they're smooth and not fatiguing. Sibilance is not a problem, although HD380's seem to be more prone to showing faults in bad recordings, which is useful in a studio environment. I'm not saying they're more detailed than the FSC's, but they do present the detail in a more direct fashion, which can make them seem like they're more detailed, because the little nuances that are in the background on Focal's are slightly more forward on the HD380's. Overall, not much can be said about the highs, they're nothing special, and I don't mean that in a negative way. They're good enough to feel like they fit properly with the rest of the sound, but they don't grab attention by being overly dark or bright. They're not quite as refined as the Focal highs, and definitely nowhere near as bright as something like the AKG K550 or Denon AH-D600, but for the price, they're pretty much as good as it gets, and much closer to the Spirit Classics than I would have expected. Detail is more than sufficient, they're neutral, smooth, not fatiguing, yet sparkly enough to not feel like they lack resolution. Overall, the slightly higher volume level compared to FSC's makes the HD380's sound more airy and spacious, but that is largely due to the already mentioned coloration in the mids.
Soundstage and imaging:
I already described the soundstage in the mids section quite extensively. It quite large for closed back headphones. Some of it caused by the sound signature, some of it by the large earcups and angled drivers. Whatever the case, soundstage feels more opened and airy than on the Focal's. This is particularly true about the width and height. Depth is something that Focal does slightly better, surprisingly, projecting the vocals in front of me in a more convincing manner, but HD380's have a considerably wider and higher soundstage. Soundstage is also more 3D on the HD380's. Whereas the Focal's go from -70 to +70 degrees in relation to the center on the soundstage, meaning that sounds never come directly from the sides, but always from slightly in front, HD380's have a more round and surrounding presentation. Sometimes they make the sounds seem like they're comping from behind me, but they don't project the vocals and instruments in front of me as well as the FSC's do. Instruments sound bigger on the HD380's, they have more space and air around them, and they're better separated from each other. As I already said, HD380's make the music seem like a bunch of separate sound sources playing at the same time. This is great for studio work, but it's also good for music listening as well, especially live recordings. It's also great for gaming and movie watching. It's very obvious why Sennheiser uses HD380's as a basis for developing their high end gaming headphones.
However, despite being more spacious and having better separation, imaging is inferior to that of Spirit Classic's. Spirit Classic's do wonders with the space they have, and the placement of sound sources is sharper and more precise. I know some of this might seem contradictory to what I said before about how the vocals sound distant because of the reverb coloration in the mids. They do sound distant, but they don't feel like they're coming from in front of me. Their sound has reverberation that makes it sound like it's coming from far away, but the illusion is not convincing enough to make me believe someone is standing in front of me, Focal's come closer to that sensation. The general sense is that HD380's have a more spacious and airy soundstage, with a more 3D feel, but has inferior imaging and forward projection, or depth. Instruments are not as easy to pinpoint despite their larger size and better separation. To put it simply, all the sound sources are very well separated from each other, but they're not as neatly placed in the virtual space around my head as they are when listening to Spirit Classic's. This is sort of like the K701 vs. HD650 argument, where the K701's feel considerably more spacious, but HD650's somehow manage to make a more coherent picture and put all the elements together in a more pleasurable way.
Resolution, transparency and detail:
As I said already in the lows, mids and highs sections, HD380's are not quite on par with the Focal's when it comes to these categories. Obviously, Focal's cost considerably more, and it's expected they will be better, however, HD380's are much closer than I would have believed without listening to them. Neither of these two headphones are resolution or detail monsters, but HD380's are definitely not outclassed in this battle, and they are very good for the money. Currently, in Europe they cost around 100€, which is a bargain in my opinion. In fact, they seem more detailed a lot of times because of their more present higher frequencies and less overall warmth in their sound. Resolution is not quite up there, it's hard to describe, but Focal's just sound slightly more expensive, there's more color and vibrance, more life to the sound overall, like looking trough a window that's slightly cleaner. When it comes to transparency, this might be where Focal's pull ahead a little bit more. Because of the coloration in the mids, in a way, it's hard to call HD380's transparent. However, because they add their "special flavor" to all recordings equally, I guess once you really get used to them, you could call them transparent in terms of how they react to EQ's, changes in gear, etc. Still, they can't match the Spirit Classics, and neither of them can match the open-backed offerings in their price ranges.
SUMMARY Sennheiser HD380Pro:
Bass presence: 9/10
Bass extension: 10/10
Bass speed: 8/10
Bass quantity: 9/10
Bass quality: 9/10
Mids tonality: 7/10
Mids presence: 9/10
Mids quality: 8/10
Highs presence: 7/10
Highs quality: 8/10
Detail: 8.5/10
Listening fatigue: 9/10
Transparency: 7/10
Resolution: 8/10
Soundstage size: 9/10
Imaging: 8/10
Genre versatility: 8/10
Subjective musicality: 8/10
Gaming: 9.5/10
Movies: 9.5/10
5.2) Listening comparisons:
*23.9.2014.* This part of the comparison and review is still in the making, I have some notes already, but they're still not ready for release. It's the most time consuming and difficult part of the review to do properly. I will update this review in a few days with a list of 10-15 songs of various genres and impressions of each headphone, as well as comparisons between the two.
Please feel free to suggest music you'd like me to have a listen to and include in this review.
Thank you for reading and I hope you'll be back for the part two.
Sep 23, 2014 at 11:00 AM Post #2 of 38 
moriez
Headphoneus Supremus
Holy crap! What an incredibly detailed and well written review. I'm impressed. Hats off to you.
If it works out I shall receive a FSC soon. Interested in how it'll do against the HD-600Sep 23, 2014 at 1:44 PM Post #3 of 38
derbigpr
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it, but it's far from being finished.
I find the FSC to be quite similar to HD650's, but slightly less sparkly and more bassy, with a smaller soundstage. It should be a good second headphone to handle the genres that HD600's aren't excellent at, which is mostly bass heavy stuff.Sep 24, 2014 at 2:39 PM Post #4 of 38 A great detailed review/ comparison of these two cans sir.Sep 24, 2014 at 10:10 PM Post #5 of 38 
Interesting review and comparison, derbigpr! Looking forward to part II!Sep 25, 2014 at 4:50 PM Post #7 of 38 
crashtest33
Member of the Trade (Cable maker)
Blimey! I've had my FSCs for months now and hadn't noticed half this stuff! They just sound awesome. LolSep 26, 2014 at 9:55 PM Post #8 of 38 
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Thanks for the great insight. But I think a FSP vs HD380 would be even more interesting!Sep 27, 2014 at 10:05 AM Post #9 of 38 
Brian D
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There is an aftermarket cable available for the HD380.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Replacement-Cable-for-Sennheiser-PXC450-PXC350-PC350-HD380-PRO-Headphones-/281365757947?
http://www.head-fi.org/t/601527/sennheiser-hd-380-pro-cable-options/45#post_10675182
Very happy with mine.Sep 27, 2014 at 2:26 PM Post #10 of 38
crashtest33
Member of the Trade (Cable maker)
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=310980823523
Just bought one of these to replace my silly 4m Focal cable. I'll post my findings.Sep 29, 2014 at 12:46 PM Post #11 of 38 
passionforroxk
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What a review!! Great job!!
A quick question, after having sennheiser momentum, t5p, ultrasone edition 8 romeo, sennheiser hd25 aluminium, beyerdynamic t5p, do you think the Focal spirit Classic is worth buying? Or even just buy one to experience the difference?
Thanks!Sep 30, 2014 at 6:41 PM Post #12 of 38 
Mizodology
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hey,derbigpr.
Great review Very informative Very detailed.
I own a pair of the HD380pro and i really love them, but now i want to upgrade to an open back headphone, what do you suggest for me?
i listen to any kind of music but mostly will be Bass Music (Hip-hop/Rap/Trap), and i will use the phones for gaming also.
my budget is between 150$:250$
headphones i consider:
AKG K702 downside for me=(need amplification)
Audio Technica ATH-AD900X Open-Back downside for me=(nondetachable cable)
SONY MDR-MA900 downside for me=(flimsy build quality)
and may be Sennheiser Urbanite XL (i know it's closed back) but i heard that the sound stage on her is spacious plus the great Bass.Oct 1, 2014 at 3:14 AM Post #13 of 38
passionforroxk
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From what I understand, most of the open back headphones have high impedance so amplification is almost mandatory for the best performance. I think some of the cheap grado's line have low impedance so they may be drive unamp? Also, may I ask why would you preferred detachable cable? Are you planning to upgrade the cable for the headphones? If you are, I would recommend to get an amp before the cable.Oct 2, 2014 at 6:54 AM Post #14 of 38
derbigpr
Headphoneus Supremus
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Hey, thanks for your feedback.
As far as the headphone recommendation goes, it's hard to tell for me, since of all the headphones you've listed, I only have a little bit of experience with HD25's and Momentums. Classics are definitely totally different headphones than HD25's, much more mellow and dark, but they are similar to Momentum's from my memory. I think you should listen to them first, because they sort of are in the same league as the Momentum, at least as far as the sound signature goes, I can't say much more without direct comparisons. Most people do think that Spirit Classic are superior headphones though.Oct 2, 2014 at 7:12 AM Post #15 of 38
derbigpr
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Hey, I'm glad you like the review.
If you need an open-back headphone that will sound great with all genres of music, but also the bass heavy stuff, in a 150 to 250 dollar range, and you want to run them without an amp, then then you don't have much of a choice, since such headphones don't exist, at least I don't know about them.
The only open-back headphones that you could run without an amp, and not totally compromise their performance, would be Grados and Audio Technicas, but they're not exactly known for their bass performance, if you're used to HD380's, they'll sound very bass light (especially sub-bass which is particularly poor on Grados) and extremely bright to you. In other words, they're not fit for rap/hip-hop or similar genres at all, they're more fit for vocal, acoustic, classical, etc.
Other choices might the open-back Sennheiser HD518 or 558, but they're not exactly easy to run either, they have a huge impedance spike at bass to low mids level that goes up to 300 ohms, which makes them sound bass light without proper amplification.
Now, if you decide to get an amp/DAC, then the best open-back headphones for those bass heavy genres (while still sounding very good with everything else) up to 250 dollars would be Beyerdynamic DT990's and Ultrasone HFI-2400's. 990's are available in either the 250's ohm Pro version or the 990 Premium 32 Ohm version (ignore the 600 ohm version, way too difficult to run), both can be used without an amp without sounding horrible, but depending on what you plug them into now (smartphone, portable player?), you might not get enough volume. In other words, both need an amp and DAC to sound best, but you can get something like the Fiio E10, or anything similar for around 70-80 dollars and it will improve their sound greatly. The same goes for the Ultrasone HFI-2400's. I personally prefer the DT990's because of their comfort and more solid build quality (although both are built like tanks), and a slightly more balanced sound, but both headphones can kick like a mule when it comes to bass, while still sounding very natural, airy, spacious, open and detailed with other music genres. Ultrasone is especially good when it comes to soundstage and imaging, some of the best I've ever heard in a headphone regardless of price.
If you can't get a DAC/amp, or at least an amp now, then I'd recommend you to just stick to HD380's until you can afford to get the whole setup, because otherwise you'll end up buying headphones that will sound worse than what you have now. Open-back headphones are very tricky in this price range, because most of them are very picky when it comes to genres of music they excel at, and most go for the bright approach, which means they really don't do the bass heavy stuff.
EDIT: I totally forgot about one more headphone, the Philips Fidelio X1. That might be the ultimate choice for you. Now, I haven't heard them, but from what I've read about them, they do fit all the boxes. They're well made, have detachable cables, are fairly easy to run and sound great with all genres including the bass heavy ones for what. I can't personally recommend them since I have no experience with them, but they might be the best choice.Users who are viewing this thread
