[kstuart]

Quote:

(Un)fortunately I have already ordered a pair of SRH1840s on the day before yesterday, but probably you have seen that post as well, just didn't pay attention to it.
I will share you some of my impressions, when they arrive.
Maybe I will write my first review.

Be sure to let then break-in before coming to any conclusions.

I was ready to get rid of mine when I first heard them, but then I hooked them up to a player for a couple of days - just as "due diligence" because I was planning to write a review - and my opinion changed entirely when I tried them again afterwards.
 
(By the way, this is contrary to the theory "break-in only seems to work, because your brain gets used to the sound" - because I never listen very much prior to the break-in, so there is no time for my brain to get used to anything.)

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
(By the way, this is contrary to the theory "break-in only seems to work, because your brain gets used to the sound" - because I never listen very much prior to the break-in, so there is no time for my brain to get used to anything.)

 
If you don't listen much prior to break-in, how do you really know or remember what they originally sounded like?
 
And your brain is getting used to you owning them, having them in the house, in your possession. People never seem to factor this in. 

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

 
If you don't listen much prior to break-in, how do you really know or remember what they originally sounded like?
 
And your brain is getting used to you owning them, having them in the house, in your possession. People never seem to factor this in. 

 
How do you figure this affects the sound?

 

[John In Cali]

Quote:

 
How do you figure this affects the sound?

By quite a huge margin. Just an anecdote. I started my head-fi journey with the XB500, listened to it every day for half a year, at which point i got my K240. I read a lot about the K240's slight bass emphasis, but when listening to it, it completely lacked bass, i could not hear ANY bass from it. Two months later i got my 940, listened to for a week strait, listening to nothing else but it. As you may know, it is a bass light headphone. Well i listened to my K240 at the end of the week, and as you may guess, i found it to be bass heavy, i suddenly found that bass hump people were talking about, and completely stopped listening to my XB500 as they were way too bass heavy for me.

 

[Asr]

I decided that I had to get my own pair of the SRH1840 after reading the raving about it from the various experienced Head-Fiers in this thread. They know who they are.

 
I'll cut to the chase: I've already decided that I'm going to return them. They're just not good enough for me to consider keeping, and they definitely don't fill any voids in my dynamic headphone system. They're also uncomfortable to wear for long listening sessions - too much clamping pressure directly on my ears that causes soreness after about half an hour. An uncomfortable headphone that doesn't sound that good to me = a headphone on its way out.

 
This is definitely the last time I ever buy a set of supra-aural headphones. I officially hate supra-aural headphones now. Well with the exception of my Audio-Technica headphones, of course....

 

[kiwikid]

                                                     fair enough ^ these feel like a breath of fresh air on my head!, especially compared to my lcd2, mybe stick to iems...hehe anyways just got labkable cable, terminated ibasso  connection.... now they shine!!!!!!!!

 

[zenpunk]

I am confused now. I was going the give a go to the 1840 but didn't realise until now they were supra-aural, which I also can't stand. Wouldn't those be circumaural if you have medium size ears??
 
Edit: just checked the Shure website and they are described as circumaural. 
@Asr, what size are you ears?

 

[gelocks]

Yeah... I don't know what Asr is talking about. They ARE circumaural... (unless Asr is an elf?!?!?!!??!!?)

 

[MuppetFace]

Uh... yeah, these are circumaural. The earcups are also quite large. With the Sony Z1000 for instance I can see how someone with larger ears would use them as on-ears, but the SRH1840 and SRH1440 are huge! You must be the BFG lol.

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
(By the way, this is contrary to the theory "break-in only seems to work, because your brain gets used to the sound" - because I never listen very much prior to the break-in, so there is no time for my brain to get used to anything.)

 
If you don't listen much prior to break-in, how do you really know or remember what they originally sounded like?
 
And your brain is getting used to you owning them, having them in the house, in your possession. People never seem to factor this in. 

To answer the first question, I generally use the same set of tracks to review anything, because I know what they sound like.   Immediately, out of the box, the SRH-1840 sounded shrill, harsh, and lacking sufficient bass.  I wanted to write a review, so I did the break-in for "due diligence" while I was thinking fondly about the idea of trading them for something I had not heard like the HE-500.   After the break-in, they had lost the harsh and shrill quality and gained some bass (although the "cotton balls" mod was what really fixed the weak bass for me).
 
Yes, it is certainly possible for people to spend $8,000 on an audiophile component and then feel positive about it because they have spent all this money.  (In the same way that people feel positively about their Ferraris as they drive them at 10 miles an hour in freeway traffic.)
 
But that wasn't the case here - I would have been just as happy getting rid of them, if they had continued sounding shrill.

 

[dweaver]

Definitely over ear for me too.

Having said that I did notice a bit more pressure on my head from the 1840 as compared to the 1440 and mentioned this in my shoot out thread. But I also noticed a small difference in the pads from the 1840 to the 1440 that is the likely cause. In which case a person could order the 1440 pads for the 1840 and see if that helps remove some of the stress. I will see if I can test this out before I ship off the 1840's back to their owner.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Definitely over ear for me too.
Having said that I did notice a bit more pressure on my head from the 1840 as compared to the 1440 and mentioned this in my shoot out thread. But I also noticed a small difference in the pads from the 1840 to the 1440 that is the likely cause. In which case a person could order the 1440 pads for the 1840 and see if that helps remove some of the stress. I will see if I can test this out before I ship off the 1840's back to their owner.

 
 
Heck,  I have the 1840s on right now - going on 3 hours.  I feel no stress at all.  In fact they are way more comfortable than the HD650s on my head.  These things are really comfy.

 

[jtinto]

Quote:

 
 
Heck,  I have the 1840s on right now - going on 3 hours.  I feel no stress at all.  In fact they are way more comfortable than the HD650s on my head.  These things are really comfy.

I agree with you preproman. We must have something, maybe ear or head shape in common 

 
The  SRH1840 is a bit more comfortable long-term than the HD650, which are both more comfortable than the RS1i

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I agree with you preproman. We must have something, maybe ear or head shape in common 

 
The  SRH1840 is a bit more comfortable long-term than the HD650, which are both more comfortable than the RS1i

 
 
The only Grado I had on my head was the GS1000i - with the big bowl pads.  They where fine.  I do want a pair of the RS1i thought.

 

[BrainBlown]

Thanks for the lowdown.  The headphones are ones I've been waiting for, but, GULP, $700 is pretty pricey. 
I'll be doing more research for some in the $4-500 range. 
Any suggestions?
I currently have the Bose Q15 headphones.  I do need over ear.