SRh1840s seem to have a lot of distortion and I find their sound "pleasant", "full-sounding" (probably because of said distortion and basically confirmed by purrin also), and a pleasure to listen... (just not worth $600
). So main point...
IT MAY measure bad but IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT X-specific headphone is bad sounding!!!
Anyway, my initial impressions have not really changed:
At this point (after 1 week), sub-bass is still the same, Midbass sounds the same, and sometimes highs sound wonky... BUT it is not a bad listen at all. The graphs Tyll showed and commented on mentioned lack of highs, I actually find them a bit bright and highs extends well to my ears so I don't know about that... Not to Shure levels of course, but they are present.
Are they better than the D5000s?
Depends on what you want!
If you want a decent sound with good quality bass, good isolation and no sound leakage, then the D600s might be up your alley.
If you don't care about leakage, isolation and like a strong sub-bass (even if a bit uncontrolled bass) with good mids and highs, then go with the D5000s.
Which one I prefer between these 2? The older gen one... but again, the D600s is NOT bad sounding. But now the question becomes, is there anything else better than the D600s on that price range? And the answer is ... yes.
But as everything, we go back again and have to talk about what the user would want regarding not only sound quality, but comfort, sound leakage, etc. etc.
Right now I'm using the Mad Dogs (and also have the D600s here beside me) and I'm enjoying the Mad Dogs very much... They don't have as good a punch as the D600 in the midbass/bass and maybe not enough sub-bass either BUT across the board they sound more pleasing (and highs don't sound "wonky"!
).