vkalia
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2013
- Posts
- 600
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- 116
Everyone should have a pair of portable, on-ear headphones, IMO - for times when you dont want the isolation of IEMs, but cannot carry full-sized headphones.
I initially bought a pair of V-Moda M80s after the great reviews it gets on Head-fi and its inclusion in the Head-fi Summer Shopping Guide. I also picked up a pair of ESW9s off Amazon and recently, after reading some fantastic reviews of the DT1350, got one as well, in an effort to figure out my One Portable Headphone to Rule Them All.
Finally sat around and did a comparison of the 3 recently.
My sound preferences: I use the sound of live instruments as my reference. I like a rich, full-bodied sound, high on PRaT, with a tight/deep bass (not boomy!) and smooth highs. Bright/shrill highs make me cringe. I am very sensitive to accurate reproduction of timbre. I listen primarily to classical music (orchestral works, mostly - especially the Romantic era symphonies and the Russian Five), with a good mix of heavy metal, rock and occasional EDM, rap and jazz thrown in.
For the purposes of this comparison, I used 3 rigs:
1/ iBasso DX50 - Alo National
2/ iPod Classic - CLAS -R - Continental V3
3/ AK100 - Meier Quickstep
Let's get one thing out of the way. The DT1350, or atleast my sample of the DT1350, is a complete and utter POS. It sounds as though the voice is emerging from a long pipe. There is no bass. The highs are present but the sound is lacking in air. The overall sound is congested and artificial. Guitars were unnatural, there was no bass in bottom 2 octaves, horns were missing the brassy body, voices sounded very distant. Pretty much everything sounded terrible. That's about the summary of the DT1350.
On to the ESW9 vs M80s - the distinction between the 2 is quite clear. The M80s have a lot more treble presence, while the ESW9s are warmer and with an apparent upper bass/lower mid bump, which gives them more presence in the mids. Music on the M80s sounded a little treble-forwards compared to the ESW9s.
This wasnt always a bad thing, mind.
For classical music, this is a matter of preference as to which sound you pick. I preferred the ESW9's presentation on Dvorak's 9th (Solti/CD rip), but actually preferred the way the M80s presented the 3rd movement of Saint Saen's #3 (Munch/HD Tracks).
With rock, it is also a matter of what sound you preferred. The opening guitars of "Wish You Were Here" (Floyd/CD Rip) sounded really, really good on the M80 - the timbre was reproduced near-perfectly. However, the vocals sounded better with the ESW9s. On "Paranoid" (Black Sabbath/HD Tracks), the ESW9s did a much better job with Ozzy's voice - the M80s made it a lot brighter/treble-forward than it is. Also, the overall track had more drum/upper bass impact with the ESW9s. By comparison, the M80s brought forward the guitars and also had better PRaT.
With vocals - ESW9s were a better bet, both with male and female vocals.
On EDM - listening to some house mixes I have, I was surprised to find that the ESW9s did a really good job. The M80s came across as a little too bright - which may sound good on the stereo but does not remind me on any club I have ever been in. The ESW9s also had more bass impact. That being said, neither of these headphones really reproduce deep bass - we are only talking about mid to upper bass here, not the 20-40Hz range, which is the province of much bigger drivers.
In summary - the ESW9s and the M80s are both very good headphones. I prefer the ESW9 over the M80s b/c of my own listening preferences, but i can see people with a different sound preference liking the M80s more for rock. Given the price the ESW9s go for on Amazon, they are an absolute steal!
As for the DT1350s - what the heck? I dont even want to sell these to someone else, they are so bad!
I initially bought a pair of V-Moda M80s after the great reviews it gets on Head-fi and its inclusion in the Head-fi Summer Shopping Guide. I also picked up a pair of ESW9s off Amazon and recently, after reading some fantastic reviews of the DT1350, got one as well, in an effort to figure out my One Portable Headphone to Rule Them All.
Finally sat around and did a comparison of the 3 recently.
My sound preferences: I use the sound of live instruments as my reference. I like a rich, full-bodied sound, high on PRaT, with a tight/deep bass (not boomy!) and smooth highs. Bright/shrill highs make me cringe. I am very sensitive to accurate reproduction of timbre. I listen primarily to classical music (orchestral works, mostly - especially the Romantic era symphonies and the Russian Five), with a good mix of heavy metal, rock and occasional EDM, rap and jazz thrown in.
For the purposes of this comparison, I used 3 rigs:
1/ iBasso DX50 - Alo National
2/ iPod Classic - CLAS -R - Continental V3
3/ AK100 - Meier Quickstep
Let's get one thing out of the way. The DT1350, or atleast my sample of the DT1350, is a complete and utter POS. It sounds as though the voice is emerging from a long pipe. There is no bass. The highs are present but the sound is lacking in air. The overall sound is congested and artificial. Guitars were unnatural, there was no bass in bottom 2 octaves, horns were missing the brassy body, voices sounded very distant. Pretty much everything sounded terrible. That's about the summary of the DT1350.
On to the ESW9 vs M80s - the distinction between the 2 is quite clear. The M80s have a lot more treble presence, while the ESW9s are warmer and with an apparent upper bass/lower mid bump, which gives them more presence in the mids. Music on the M80s sounded a little treble-forwards compared to the ESW9s.
This wasnt always a bad thing, mind.
For classical music, this is a matter of preference as to which sound you pick. I preferred the ESW9's presentation on Dvorak's 9th (Solti/CD rip), but actually preferred the way the M80s presented the 3rd movement of Saint Saen's #3 (Munch/HD Tracks).
With rock, it is also a matter of what sound you preferred. The opening guitars of "Wish You Were Here" (Floyd/CD Rip) sounded really, really good on the M80 - the timbre was reproduced near-perfectly. However, the vocals sounded better with the ESW9s. On "Paranoid" (Black Sabbath/HD Tracks), the ESW9s did a much better job with Ozzy's voice - the M80s made it a lot brighter/treble-forward than it is. Also, the overall track had more drum/upper bass impact with the ESW9s. By comparison, the M80s brought forward the guitars and also had better PRaT.
With vocals - ESW9s were a better bet, both with male and female vocals.
On EDM - listening to some house mixes I have, I was surprised to find that the ESW9s did a really good job. The M80s came across as a little too bright - which may sound good on the stereo but does not remind me on any club I have ever been in. The ESW9s also had more bass impact. That being said, neither of these headphones really reproduce deep bass - we are only talking about mid to upper bass here, not the 20-40Hz range, which is the province of much bigger drivers.
In summary - the ESW9s and the M80s are both very good headphones. I prefer the ESW9 over the M80s b/c of my own listening preferences, but i can see people with a different sound preference liking the M80s more for rock. Given the price the ESW9s go for on Amazon, they are an absolute steal!
As for the DT1350s - what the heck? I dont even want to sell these to someone else, they are so bad!
). 
