AudioNovice
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2010
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It's a combination of what type of music you listen to, what you're used to hearing, brain adjusting to the sound, and the infamous Grado "quality range".
My wife has this set of cheap crappy Sony's that were $35. But at some point in time, they were the only option I had... at first they sounded terrible, no detail or highs, humongous/stuffy/bloated bass, but after a few weeks, I actually got used to them and thought they sounded decent. Brain adjusted.
Then I got the MS1s and thought "sheesh, no bass, these things are way too bright", but then I considered that cheap crappy systems (headphones, car systems, whatever; cheap usually = huge bass) usually over-emphasize the bass in an effort to give you some fun in an otherwise crappy sound, so I just gave the MS1s a chance, fiddled with the equalizer a bit, let 'em burn in (ie let my brain adjust) and within a week it wasn't even a contest, and even now I can put those Sony's on and think, "wth was I thinking when I thought these sounded good?"
So, lesson here --- if yer used to bass-heavy cheapies, there's gonna be an adjustment period when you listen to something that's actually good. You may really be hearing a difference in bass --- those cheaps probly have the bass cranked and the MS1s are probly closer to a "realistic" bass, but they're gonna sound very light since you're "used" to the cheaps. Just gonna take some time.
My wife has this set of cheap crappy Sony's that were $35. But at some point in time, they were the only option I had... at first they sounded terrible, no detail or highs, humongous/stuffy/bloated bass, but after a few weeks, I actually got used to them and thought they sounded decent. Brain adjusted.
Then I got the MS1s and thought "sheesh, no bass, these things are way too bright", but then I considered that cheap crappy systems (headphones, car systems, whatever; cheap usually = huge bass) usually over-emphasize the bass in an effort to give you some fun in an otherwise crappy sound, so I just gave the MS1s a chance, fiddled with the equalizer a bit, let 'em burn in (ie let my brain adjust) and within a week it wasn't even a contest, and even now I can put those Sony's on and think, "wth was I thinking when I thought these sounded good?"
So, lesson here --- if yer used to bass-heavy cheapies, there's gonna be an adjustment period when you listen to something that's actually good. You may really be hearing a difference in bass --- those cheaps probly have the bass cranked and the MS1s are probly closer to a "realistic" bass, but they're gonna sound very light since you're "used" to the cheaps. Just gonna take some time.