Quote:
too bright, sometimes harsh
extremely colored
poor synergy w/ solid state amps
emphasize source weaknesses
bad presentation of vocals, especially female
less bass than the competition
outdated and soon to be replaced |
I feel i have to defend here.
Too bright, sometimes harsh
I wasn't worried about this one when i read up about the cd3ks, but when i first tried on these cans, i just thought OUCH. It is bright. But now it seems normal; i cannot see why others still seem to find them bright, though the cans are fatiguing and i do sometimes just want to stop listening unlike with the senns. They are a more enjoyable experience then the senns though.
emphasize source weaknesses
I can't comment on this greatly, but source as in the formats of the media (cd and mp3), definately. The detail is brought out more and sounds smoother to my ears then what the senns do.
bad presentation of vocals, especially female
Rubbish. Compared to the senns, it is MUCH more accurate. The treble rolloff seems to be what attributes to this on the senns...its as if the upper tones of the voice are just missing. Not the case with the sonys.
rolled off highs
When i started comparing these headphones, i found it unbelievable how much of a chunk of the upper end the senns was missing. If Sennheiser do anything to the next HD in the 580-650 series, they need to solve the treble rolloff. IMO, its unacceptable in an 'audiophile' headphone.
ety-like detail
Listening to my music now is like a new experience. I am hearing so much that i never heard with the senns. The sony's really bring everything out. This could be said as the music sound separated on the sony's rather then all jumbled together on the senns.
less bass than the competition
Agreed. The senns go down further and much more prevalent on tracks then the cd3ks. The cd3k's have more slam though, for those hard house tracks
At the moment, i'm finding it hard to find some music sounding good on the senns. I compared the phones with a classical album, and its signature material was beaten by the sonys. Quite simply, the instruments do not sound anywhere near real once you have heard the sony's.
I don't understand it though, the phones are so much better for positioning and generally overall in counter-strike than the sony's unlike in music. I am going to test it some more, but right now, the Sony's don't come close in overall for accuracy of positioning in gaming! I also love the fit and feel of the Sony's. The CD3000s can't touch the senns for comfort and fit. The senns clamp onto your head comfortably. The sony's are loose and do not seem to distribute the weight evenly over the top and side of the head like the senns, they dump all the weight on the top of your head.
Well thats all the crits i have for the Sony's but otherwise, they are the better phones. I read for a long while having the Senns about the Sony's and knew it was what i wanted, my kind of sound. Now i have them, it is exactly that. Head-fi just seems to go through phases, at the moment i think its the hating cd3000 phase
I hope that helps in your quest for the better headphone