[darkswordsman17]

Get some tak and try dampening various parts of the headphone and see if you can get the sound you're looking for. This will be really cheap and reversible. You might also try stuffing the earpads or one of the other simple mods that generally work on every headphone.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raez /img/forum/go_quote.gif OP, if I were you, completely disregard what people are calling 'warm' and 'cold'. That is common head-fi speak, and if I were to imagine, most people don't even understand what that means when they are saying it. I suppose you could equate cold to dry or analytical, warm to lush or involving. IMO, it's rather absurd to describe a headphone with a temperature...

Sure, yours dry vs. wet gives a much better perceptive.

And on a serious note, warm/cold take is more after color temperature scale. Blueish being colder and reddish toward warm side of the spectrum. For me personally it applies to sound spectrum as well, cold as blue and warm as red.
Not sure if that could help but nonetheless from http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/des...ssary-220770/:
Quote:

Cool- Moderately deficient in body and warmth, due to progressive attenuation of frequencies below about 150Hz. Warm - Good bass, adequate low frequencies, adequate fundamentals relative to harmonics. Not thin. Also excessive bass or mid bass. Also, pleasantly spacious, with adequate reverberation at low frequencies. Also see Rich, Round. Warm highs means sweet highs.

Or, as previous poster suggested, you can disregard all that as we really have no idea what we are talking about, esp. on Christmas Eve.
Merry XMas to everyone!

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Warmer does not mean *warm*. There are different degrees of warmness, HD650 on one extreme of the scale and something like SA5000 on the other. W5000 would be just a notch or two not as cold as Sony.

Point well taken.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, in terms of soundstage depth (one aspect that's always disregarded but still very important), the DT880 is rather flat but not totally flat. I've had the '03 DT880 and tbh, even the midrange of the DT880 '03 feels recessed compared to the 600ohm DT880. If you got a decent enough amp to properly power these (at least a Little MKIV / MKV or equivalent quality at the very least), the DT880/600 are a significant step up from all the other DT880's.

Amping really can make or break a headphone.. I never thought the Depth of the DT880 05 was lacking.. Never seen it as a flaw.. I liked the smoothness of the DT880 05, almost planar like IMO.. I'm sure the 600 ohm is even more so..

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catharsis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, this must be opposite day! Did you listen to the 2003 version of the DT880 by chance? To my imperfect human senses (much like us all), the DT880 has a flat midrange, and the SA5000 actually has a recessed midrange. FWIW, headroom graphs also provide an objective perspective to these specific observations.

The biggest flaw of the SA5000, was the sometimes plasticity tone, & at times, wonky mid range.. DT880 has sweet treble, SA5000 harsher treble.

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kostalex /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes.

+1

 

[Sieg9198]

Another route I would suggest is to keep your SA5000, and get a Luxman P-1u

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raez /img/forum/go_quote.gif OP, if I were you, completely disregard what people are calling 'warm' and 'cold'. That is common head-fi speak, and if I were to imagine, most people don't even understand what that means when they are saying it. I suppose you could equate cold to dry or analytical, warm to lush or involving. IMO, it's rather absurd to describe a headphone with a temperature...

Haha how very true... but it could also be related to emotional response. Language seems to lack many words in which to accurately describe sound. Sight is dominant in our culture, and thus our in language. You are very right though, impressions and temperatures are hard to go off, but I do not tend to like what people call warm, so I used warm an cold to try and facilitate descriptions.

 

[sokolov91]

Well first things first: Merry Christmas to all, or your respective celebration!

I really appreciate all the feedback I am getting, and am enjoying reading everyones impressions. I now see why forums are so addictive ahaha.

I did some major listening the past few days. Well... Grado 325i and AKG 701 can go. Grado just seems to keep losing its value. I mean it is a 300$ can, but it just can't keep up, and has a worse soundstage than the SA5k.

AKG 701 doesn't catch my attention. Just does its job well... I guess this is good and bad.

So like I said in my post before, I am stuck with the HD 600 and the SA5K and wanting a combination of their respective strengths.

The HE-5 looks very intriguing... on par apparently with the HD 800 and ~1/3 as expensive??? seems like my kind of can...

There seem to be skeptics, but the beyer 880/600 seems to be getting a good bit of recommendation.

I am wondering if a tube amp would help with the SA5K because tubes, by nature, are warm from what I have read...

My girlfriend bought me a pair of Ultrasone Proline 750 (I chose the right girl!)... I have read some very positive reviews, but there are few. Supposedly a faster, more detailed HD 600? I would open it, but the store probably won't accept a return for "hygiene" reasons. Apparently they don't trust me to wash my hair...

 

[sokolov91]

As far as all the comments on the SA5K cable.... what's the big deal? its like 6N copper... It is a bit microphonic, but I don't dance whilst listening to it... I highly doubt at this level, a cable will make or break my headphone. I am not really convinced on cables anymore. I recently transfered ALL of my aftermarket cables to my humble speaker set up, and I have honestly not noticed much of a difference... But, then again, I have been listened less frequent with my headphones lately.

The SA5K is hardwired, and this makes me even less likely to recable it.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif So like I said in my post before, I am stuck with the HD 600 and the SA5K and wanting a combination of their respective strengths.

Check out IronDreamer's review here
Audio-Technica ATH-W5000 Reviews :: Headphone Reviews
Should be very helpful. He also put a very nice SA5000 review on the same site.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Check out IronDreamer's review here Audio-Technica ATH-W5000 Reviews :: Headphone Reviews Should be very helpful. He also put a very nice SA5000 review on the same site.

Thanks a lot for the link. I think you maybe have hit the nail on the head. Seems exactly like what I am looking for! Very pricey... I think I will have to wait until the summer when I work full time to get them as I wouldn't feel comfortable selling my other headphones before hearing them... and cannot audition them -_-.

Gives me something to look forward to! Do you currently own then? I am wondering if my little dot MKV will be a good match. I also have an asus xonar STX which is pretty damned good for what it is at driving phones...

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you currently own then?

Yep, the crown of my collection, you can check profile for others.
They pop up for sale here in $500 range.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yep, the crown of my collection, you can check profile for others. They pop up for sale here in $500 range.

Which is a steal.. I read Iron Dreamers SA5000/W5000 review.. & seems that the W5000 really corrects all the SA5000 flaws.. I always wanted to try a pair..But I really want the HD800/T1 if I had that type of money.. But 500 for one of the best closed headphones in production is a great deal.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as all the comments on the SA5K cable.... what's the big deal? its like 6N copper... It is a bit microphonic, but I don't dance whilst listening to it... I highly doubt at this level, a cable will make or break my headphone. I am not really convinced on cables anymore. I recently transfered ALL of my aftermarket cables to my humble speaker set up, and I have honestly not noticed much of a difference... But, then again, I have been listened less frequent with my headphones lately. The SA5K is hardwired, and this makes me even less likely to recable it.

It goes beyond improvement.. When people say the cable sucks, they mean, chances are you would need to recable it in a yr or 2.. Alex from APS has told me, it's one of the worst cable designs he has seen..