[Pianist]

M50 has excellent soundstage and imaging for a closed can IMO. But Shure SRH840 is in a class above - it can do everything M50 does, but better. The biggest difference is in the treble - the Shures have a very natural, refined and open sounding treble like that of a good open can, while M50 has a thin, metallic treble that lacks air by comparison. Also, SRH840 has much better textured bass and mids with a lot more micro-detial. I never heard AD700, so can't comment on those.

 

[hottest]

i'm new here and i'm recently interested in getting a headphones

it seems that the 840s seem to do quite well, but the price seems to be a little more expensive(~50USD) than the other two.
or has the MSRP drop but amazon has not updated it?

 

[swbf2cheater]

amazon and other retailers havent caught up to the prices on ebay yet, ebay would be your best bet, hope someone authorized is near you or has a great seller feeback rating

ive never heard of or seen a fake 840, so odds are 99.99999% you will get a real one regardless of who you buy from

 

[morphon]

I own both the AD700 and SRH-840. They are nearly opposites. I reach for different ones depending on the genre and recording - I really don't think either is obviously better than the other because they're like apples and oranges.

AD700 bass is actually pretty good, you just have to let it burn in. SRH840 bass tightens up after burnin as well. They are both great headphones, highly recommended.

 

[Chuke]

You can't be serious....You could burn in the AD700s until 2011 and you'd still have no low end. Stereophile rates them Class A which is a total joke. I used to think these were decent, then I got some Denon D2000s and found out what mid-bass was supposed to sound like.

 

[morphon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuke /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can't be serious....You could burn in the AD700s until 2011 and you'd still have no low end. Stereophile rates them Class A which is a total joke. I used to think these were decent, then I got some Denon D2000s and found out what mid-bass was supposed to sound like.

There's a difference between no low end (out of the box) and a present, but weightless low end (burned in).

For the SRH840, there's a difference between muddy low end (out of the box) and a punchy, responsive low end (burned in).

BTW, Denons have the reputation of being the king of awesome bass (in every sense of the word, not just volume). Probably every other headphone will come up short in that department when compared with its equivalent Denon.

Thus, if you are a bass-head, Denon is the FIRST place to look. AD700 is intended for a different audience, naturally.

 

[Chuke]

I'm not a bass-head at all. Do you own the D2000s? Can you compare through experience?

I owned the AD700s before the D2000s and the AD700s ARE thin and weightless - period. Listen to Diana Krall's Love Scenes LP...track 11 - My Love Is. Christian McBride's bass sounds like a live bass with the D2000s. With the AD700s, it sounds like someone hitting an open E on a classical acoustic guitar. It's not "bass head" versus neutral sound - it's accurate reproduction versus "I can't reproduce any frequencies below 100 hz."

 

[robjrock]

Ha ha - as you can see there is rarely any consensus on anything on head-fi. What is light, airy and spacious to one person is thin, weightless and empty to another person... different strokes for different folks...

It might be worth noting the D2000s are quite a bit more expensive then the AD700s I think.

 

[meticadpa]

I've got AD700 and Shure SRH440, which are very, very similar to the SRH840.

The SRH440 are much more "fun" for most genres of music, and they cover pretty much everything better than the AD700, which are pretty bass anaemic and only really good for classical music and gaming due to their fairly good highs/mids and amazing sound stage.

Not to say that gaming on the Shure SRH440 is bad, it's just not a patch on the AD700s.

I'd say for you to try the AD700 out, most people on other forums (admittedly, they're audio noobs) are satisfied with them, but I wouldn't use them for something like Dubstep or metal.

 

[K_19]

Personally to me, SRH840's trounce AD700 for music listening. I still have the AD700 for gaming purposes and LOVE it for that use (and will likely never leave my side, unless I quit gaming), but I never really liked it for music at all. Too grainy and mids sit back too much for my liking (keep in mind that I like forward mids more than most people; such as SE530, ESW10JPN). I don't feel like they lack TOO much bass as some people do, but they do fall bit short of what I define as neutral bass. 840's don't get the mids right either to my ears, but they do other things more right than AD700 IMO (highs, bass). M50 I've only tried here and there for minutes at music stores so I'll reserve my judgement on those.

 

[3DCadman]

Regarding the bass on the 840: I have played Rickenbacher, Fender Precision, and Fender Jazz basses and I can confidently say that the 840s reproduce the real sounds of those instruments very well. All the tone and timbre of those basses really come through faithfully. It may not be subwoofer type bass, but it is very accurate and clear with plenty of weight just like the real thing.

 

[hottest]

sadly my local retailers seem to overprice items.
200+SGD for a ES7 (which is nearly 150USD).
the price is totally insane!

looks like i would go down to try test the AD700s and SRH840s before pulling the switch xD (on ebay or amazon)

 

[morphon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuke /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not a bass-head at all. Do you own the D2000s? Can you compare through experience? I owned the AD700s before the D2000s and the AD700s ARE thin and weightless - period. Listen to Diana Krall's Love Scenes LP...track 11 - My Love Is. Christian McBride's bass sounds like a live bass with the D2000s. With the AD700s, it sounds like someone hitting an open E on a classical acoustic guitar. It's not "bass head" versus neutral sound - it's accurate reproduction versus "I can't reproduce any frequencies below 100 hz."

Hmmm, not sure what to say, bro. I think the D2000 is really amazing, and I said so in my post. They (and other Denons) do bass SO CRAZY WELL that if that's the part of the music you like best (nothing wrong with that), you should run - not walk - to your nearest Denon dealer and hear their stuff because it's awesome. It isn't messy or yucky or fatiguing - it's just awesome.

Obviously, the AD700 is meant for a different audience. I listen to a fair bit of metal and generally don't listen on the AD700 because the stuff I like isn't recorded in a way to take advantage of the AD700's strengths. For example: Wall of sound brickwall = no soundstage = AD700 virtues are wasted. On the other hand - minimalist recordings of Jazz trios are quite impressive on the AD700, so that's what I do with 'em.

And again, bass on the AD700 is more present after some burn-in time. It will NEVER be as powerful or weighty as the D2000. Some people care, others don't. Fortunately there are headphones for everyone.

 

[jmkarthi]

I was under a similar dilemma sometime back.. and bought both AD700 and SRH840 thinking I would return the one I didn't like, but ended up keeping both. They sound a lot different and cannot be compared head on.

To me personally AD700 are a delight for movies and some live music recordings. SRH840 are wonderful for Music.

Good luck shopping.

 

[earfonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mochan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did recabling the M50 and elminating the crosstalk help with soundstage? Did it get any wider?

After listening some tracks for sometime, A-B comparing recabled M50 with another M50 with original cable, I can confirm that recabling M50 with starquad cable, not only reduced the crosstalk significantly, but also 'slightly' widen the soundstage. The M50 with starquad Canare L-4E5C has a more transparent treble, and sounds more open & relaxed than the M50 with original cable. The M50 with original cable sounds a bit veiled & 'cramped' compared to M50 with starquad cable. The difference maybe subtle, but the more I listen, the more I convinced. So, the starquad cable is indeed improving the sound quality