A bit disappointed with M50's
Jul 5, 2011 at 1:36 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 22

Bartmasta

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My M50's arrived today, been listening to some music. I think I only burned them in for 4 hours but so far:
 
Some songs sound mind blowing, but then again some songs sound worse than my 201's which is really disappointed. I listen to electronic music 95% of the time, which is what these headphones are recommended for, but they are really lacking for vocal trance. Like you don't get chills down your spine with some of the vocals from trance songs. The vocals just seem a bit dimmed down, and this really bothers me.
 
Help?
 
Thanks in advance.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 1:45 AM Post #2 of 22
Your ears, it must be your ears theyre broken. jk jk... Yea I get what youre saying but I didnt really get it until I heard something better so kudos to you. You could try to get an amp or use an eq. 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 2:03 AM Post #3 of 22
I have my M50 running through a FiioE7/E9 combo and with a tiny mid/upper mid adjustment in the EQ of Foobar brings the vocals up really nicely. I find my M50 really lively and love them even more than my DT880s for vocals.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 2:11 AM Post #4 of 22
1. The highs that hit you, are crackling. The right amount of highs should warm and move into you, not hit you.
 
2. 40 hours, then decide
 
3. EQ, try Foobar2000, it has great EQ settings
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 2:33 AM Post #5 of 22
are they a real pair?  Where did you get them from?
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 4:25 AM Post #6 of 22
 
Quote:
My M50's arrived today, been listening to some music. I think I only burned them in for 4 hours but so far:
 
Some songs sound mind blowing, but then again some songs sound worse than my 201's which is really disappointed. I listen to electronic music 95% of the time, which is what these headphones are recommended for, but they are really lacking for vocal trance. Like you don't get chills down your spine with some of the vocals from trance songs. The vocals just seem a bit dimmed down, and this really bothers me.
 
Help?
 
Thanks in advance.


The M50s are all rounders. Not specialists. Whoever told you that Electronic is the M50's forte is probably shooting off his behind for that one. You should've gotten the HFI-580 for that genre, but since you bought the next best thing, enjoy it :)
 
Vocals though, they're more toward a "natural female" subgenre. Electronized (lol, is that a real word? XD) vocals don't really sound good on the M50, at least for me.
 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 4:46 AM Post #7 of 22
I know what you mean. The HD 201s have a very high level of treble, which I think makes voices sound amazing when the song isn't too complicated. 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 8:26 AM Post #8 of 22


Quote:
My M50's arrived today, been listening to some music. I think I only burned them in for 4 hours but so far:
 
Some songs sound mind blowing, but then again some songs sound worse than my 201's which is really disappointed. I listen to electronic music 95% of the time, which is what these headphones are recommended for, but they are really lacking for vocal trance. Like you don't get chills down your spine with some of the vocals from trance songs. The vocals just seem a bit dimmed down, and this really bothers me.
 
Help?
 
Thanks in advance.


Heya,
 
Recommended by who?
 
M50's only excel at one thing--they deliver decent performance and quality across the spectrum for their cost. They're not some god-send headphone for any genre.
 
Where'd you buy them? Got a return policy? Use it. Get something else. Don't even wait for the burn in. They're not going to change in some significant way that's going to change your mind on this.
 
Very best,
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 9:49 AM Post #9 of 22
This is coming from someone who has burned a pair in from hour 1 to now about 300 hours and these are my observations:
 
1) Burn in changes the characteristics of these A LOT. You know those recessed mids (i.e. the vocals) so many talk about? Well to MY ears, those come forward between 80-100 hours on my pair and at 100 hours plus everything seems to just sound a bit better. Honestly....at this point the mids are not recessed....I think they are where they should be and if I fiddle with my EQ I can pull them forward.
 
2) As noted, these are good all rounders for the price (especially if you can grab a nice pair for a steal like I did-under $100). Now....I've listened to quite a few models in the all the way up to the $300 retail mark and I feel that for my music (which is HIGHLY DIVERSE from classical to heavy metal and everything in between) they are the perfect unit because they are able to handle every genre fairly well.
 
3) Your source material and what you're piping it through makes a HUGE difference. I'm running my M50 through a JDS Labs cMoy using a 5th Gen iPod Video and LOD and that is what is required to make the M50 shine. Without an amp (especially through the headphone jack) the dropoff in quality is pretty noticable. Also-got to have low compressed MP3's (if that's what you're using)-the difference between 160 and 256 is suddenly really apparent....256 to 320 hmmm...not so much to me but I think my ears are halfway to tin.
 
As others have noted....give them at least 40 hours and 100 hours plus IMO and take what I have laid out above into consideration.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 10:43 AM Post #10 of 22
I slapped the spare pair of Shure SRH940 velour pads on my M50 and it transformed them. No more sunken mids and no more bloated fuzzy midbass.
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 11:26 AM Post #12 of 22
Really, I may have to give this a shot.
 
Quote:
I slapped the spare pair of Shure SRH940 velour pads on my M50 and it transformed them. No more sunken mids and no more bloated fuzzy midbass.



 
 
Jul 5, 2011 at 1:42 PM Post #15 of 22


Quote:
Simple answer? EQing. M50 responds tastefully to EQing.
 
Just crank up 20 hz to 1k hz region evenly up by 4~5 dB, and observe how everything sweetens up.

 
I assume you meant 200 Hz and not 20 Hz there. He wants to bring up the vocals a bit, not drown them with bass.
 
 
 

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