Background: I'm newish at the headphone game. My 'phones for comparison:
- Sony MDR-V600 - Closed back, folding, mid-high of Sony's range 20 years ago
- Bose QuietComfort 35 - Noise canceling, closed back
- Sony & Panasonic mass market IEMs
- JBL TUNE130NC noise cancelling wireless mass market IEMs
I bought these to replace the aging Sonys above. The ear pads are falling apart and I find them lacking in bass response.
I still use the QC35 and the mass market IEMs. I thought I would compliment the closed-back Sonys and maybe still use them from time to time, but that's not gonna happen, now that I got used to the 58x.
For most recordings, I like the sound of these headphones as-is, flat EQ from the source. I listen to classical, dance, electronic, rock and metal mostly, with some old country and folk thrown in here and there.
For classical music: These work right in line with the recordings, but I'm finding even relatively recent recordings from the 90s lack some bass. They can be a bit bright in the highs, but that's easily dialed down with a treble EQ. The string bass, timpani and pipe organ lows can be heard, but they aren't as loud as they should be. I find myself cranking the bass EQ up all the way sometimes.
For rock, metal, country and folk: They are perfect as-is. Sometimes a bit bright, but part of that is just me. I'm sensitive to it. For older listeners, they will be fine, as the high frequency hearing tends to taper off as we age. For folks like me, (46 years old, with perfect hearing) just EQ it down a bit in the treble and it's fine. For those who really like the treble detail, they'll be perfect; it's never really too much, unless you dial up the treble EQ.
For dance and electronic: They again can be bright at times; I guess that's a them. Others haven't mentioned it, so maybe I'm just not used to hearing this level of detail in the treble. It never hurts, but can get fatiguing to me. Bass is always adequate, as these tend to be modern recordings. Ace of Base's music is mixed perfectly. I'm listening to them now in High Quality through Apple Music and using the Dance EQ setting. It's perfect. One song that stood out to me was Madonna's Music. This sounds good flat on these headphones, but through my home speakers (Polk S55 powered from a 75 W/ch integrated amp) I have to turn the bass EQ all the way down for it to sound just OK.
Source Considerations: I didn't know when I bought these if I'd be able to get away without an amp. they have 150 Ω impedance and are 90 dB sensitive The built-in headphone amp in my integrated amp (Onkyo A-9050) powers them just fine. When I plug them into my iPhone dongle/DAP, they sometimes need to be cranked almost all the way up. If you really want to rock from your smartphone, buy an amp. For home listening with my CD player as a source, I bought a Schitt Magni 3+ amp and Schitt Loki Mini+ EQ. It's a perfect set-up, the only time I've found it inadequate was with some classical recordings, where I can't get the bass instruments loud enough, even with the bass and midbass EQs cranked.
Conclusion: None of the Cons mentioned above would be enough to keep me from buying them again. I just wouldn't have the expectation for them to be my endgame cans. I think I'd like another headphone to compliment this and the combination of those with the aforementioned ones I have would hopefully be my endgame.