whitemass said:

Since I've decided to reset my headphone listening experience.
The MDR-7506 I've been wooing over.
The K550 is something I dearly want, but I want to treat myself with it.
Either the MDR-7506, or something of similar style and sound would do me for now.
K550 are my next step, I'm not generally into headphones like them, and something about the K550 touches me the right way, so I'm promising them to myself.

Now, opinions on grabbing the MDR-7506, and when would it be appropriate for me to grab the K550s?

Click to expand...

if you have a limited budget, i would recommend just getting the k550. amazing sound stage for a closed headphone, deep bass extension, very crisp treble. as long as they fit your head & you do not require portable usage, the k550 is a stellar pair of headphones for home usage. very neutral sound signature.
 
I don't really see the reason to own both the mdr-7506 and the k550 as they both have a neutral-oriented sound signature. I really loved the k550 as well when I owned them.
 
do note that both headphones on your wish list will have a lot less bass quantity than the v-shaped ath-m50 and they will be a pretty significantly departure in terms of sound signature. yes, people here often recommend neutral-oriented sound signature headphones first, but it may not be exactly what you are looking for... really dependent on personal tastes & musical preferences what sound signature fits you the best. have you gotten a chance to try these headphones to see if their sound signature is actually appealing to you? I would recommend demoing some options first to see whether you prefer something more 'fun' like the ath-m50 or if you would like to move to something more neutral.

money4me247 said:

if you have a limited budget, i would recommend just getting the k550. amazing sound stage for a closed headphone, deep bass extension, very crisp treble. as long as they fit your head & you do not require portable usage, the k550 is a stellar pair of headphones for home usage. very neutral sound signature.

I don't really see the reason to own both the mdr-7506 and the k550 as they both have a neutral-oriented sound signature. I really loved the k550 as well when I owned them.

do note that both headphones on your wish list will have a lot less bass quantity than the v-shaped ath-m50 and they will be a pretty significantly departure in terms of sound signature. yes, people here often recommend neutral-oriented sound signature headphones first, but it may not be exactly what you are looking for... really dependent on personal tastes & musical preferences what sound signature fits you the best. have you gotten a chance to try these headphones to see if their sound signature is actually appealing to you? I would recommend demoing some options first to see whether you prefer something more 'fun' like the ath-m50 or if you would like to move to something more neutral.

Click to expand...

To give an opinion on that, I actually can't stand a ton of Bass.
I know the K550 is considered a hybrid in some fashions. Being a closed ear headphone, with open ear sort of sound.

Lastly, if I had a place around here for demoing, I would.
Unfortunately that doesn't exist.

edit: if you are looking for something for only home listening (non-portable usage) and do not require noise isolation, I would suggest looking into open options.
 
the open akg k7xx available on massdrop is an amazing sonic value at $200 and will technically outperform most of the other closed sub-$200 headphones. the only caveat is that generally open headphones tend to have less bass, but the k7xx is tuned very well with a neutral sound signature not does not lack in the bass department at all (in comparison to the q701 which as a bright sound signature that some people may find lacking in the bass or even the k550 which some people find not to have enough bass quantity - this depends a lot of the fit of the headphones, how well the earpads seal on your head).
 
a lot of experiences & impressions on this website is subjective and personal, so your mileage may vary. would highly recommend trying out some options yourself and trusting your own ears over other people's impressions that may be influenced by other subjective preferences that you may not share.
 
hope this is helpful.

whitemass said:

To give an opinion on that, I actually can't stand a ton of Bass.
I know the K550 is considered a hybrid in some fashions. Being a closed ear headphone, with open ear sort of sound.

Lastly, if I had a place around here for demoing, I would.
Unfortunately that doesn't exist.

Click to expand...

I understand that you say that you cannot stand a ton of bass, but the ath-m50 are traditionally considered to be pretty heavily bass-boosted with a v-shaped sound signature.
 
therefore, I imagine that your point of reference of some of the subjective terms such as bass-heavy or neutral may not be accurate compared to other people's impressions around here who have experience with a lot of different sound signatures.
 
the k550 does have one of the best sound stages and most open sounds for a closed headphone, but if you want an open sound, i feel like it makes the most sense just to get an open pair of headphones. (if you do not require noise isolation... if you do, then I think your short list of really open sounding closed headphones would be like the k550, mr. speaker's line-up, and the fostex th600/th900). for home listening, people generally just choose an open pair of headphones.
 
places for demoing are quite hard to find, but generally best buy's with magnolia home entertainment centers, guitar center, or actual dedicated audio dealers will have a great selection of headphones you can try. you can always find a place with a variety of headphones to try, though the headphones may not be the ones you are interested in, it can help you develop a reference point of sound signatures that you can use when asking about other headphones you are interested in.

money4me247 said:

edit: if you are looking for something for only home listening (non-portable usage) and do not require noise isolation, I would suggest looking into open options.

the open akg k7xx available on massdrop is an amazing sonic value at $200 and will technically outperform most of the other closed sub-$200 headphones. the only caveat is that generally open headphones tend to have less bass, but the k7xx is tuned very well with a neutral sound signature not does not lack in the bass department at all (in comparison to the q701 which as a bright sound signature that some people may find lacking in the bass or even the k550 which some people find not to have enough bass quantity - this depends a lot of the fit of the headphones, how well the earpads seal on your head).

a lot of experiences & impressions on this website is subjective and personal, so your mileage may vary. would highly recommend trying out some options yourself and trusting your own ears over other people's impressions that may be influenced by other subjective preferences that you may not share.

hope this is helpful.

Click to expand...

I drug my M50s' everywhere I went.
Another reason K550, & MDR-7506 appeal to me.
If I had them both, they'd have similar applications.
Plus I don't own an amp, and/or anything that could power the K7xx.
I don't really care much for the style either. The only reason the AD900X appealed to me was.particularly because I've heard they were just like M50 in an open can.
Call me a Hipster if you must, but I love the look of 80s' designs.

Is it even safe to have preference over style when gazing for headphones?

So, we done here, have we come to a verdict?
We discusse:
ATH-AD900X
They're great, but Nothing in comparison to K550 by my standards.
Brainwavz HM5
I did more research, I seen things that I personally disagree with. And that don't fit my "Style Palette".
Mr Speaker Mad Dogs
Cool. Style is awesome. But I have nothing to drive them with, and I don't think I'd bother paying the $300 Tag.
MDR-7506
I've pretty much fallen in love with.
They fit what I was looking for. And expectations value hasn't fully won me yet, so I'm still expecting a M50 type headphone with more emphasis.
K550
Read above.


Also meant to add, I had a guy at new of our local Guitar Shops keep bombarding me onto the Shure SRH840.
After I mentioned everything I had mentioned on here.
I've had about 15 people recommend the same can.
All from different areas.

Any last bits of feedback?