communic
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2005
- Posts
- 255
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- 14
Bass lovers do not particularly enjoy huge midbass humps. Especially for hip hop, you need, and I mean NEED, the sub-bass to be potent. Hip hop basslines are in the 45Hz and below region, with quite a heavy amount of bass-heavy trap/drill rap sitting down around 30Hz (and I have several tracks in my collection that go into the 20s). I really don't know who could possibly enjoy that big midbass boost.
A midbass hump of some sorts for that warmth is definitely preferred for hip-hop if going by anecdotal evidence. It would be to sterile otherwise. Hard rap is a different story.
My first thought was also broken headphone but after asking around on internet the X1 is said to be a dark and not that clear headphone. There was users that said that my reaction to X1 sounded correct based on coming from bright headphones. The X1 I got was brand new and a faultet headphone that just did not played as clear seems a bit farfetched, its a lot bigger risk that a element is faulted or somthing more obvious like that.
Yes the HD598 is not a vary clear headphone, not compare to the DT880 or the DT990 but one of the top ranges(mid or trebel) did bring a bit more clearnes then the X1 did. The X1 seemed more "balanced" in mid and trebel (same muffled setting).
Coming from a bright headphone is one thing. A direct compare to the 598 is another.
While I didn't have the benefit of a direct compare I can say that they were definitely 'muddier' than the X1's. I wouldn't have sold them so shortly after purchase if they weren't. They definitely had a large hump which encroached not only the midrange but lower bass as well making it impossible to analyse heavily layered basslines.
The X1's didn't exhibit this flaw though didn't possess the prominent midrange the 598's had (which didn't bother me as vocals could get a bit 'hot' at times). Could it be this that bothers you as someone who may prefer brighter cans?
Rhetorical question in any case as it is clear we are definitely not hearing things the same way!