[gratefulshrink]

Anybody like these for any music other than classical/jazz?

Anybody like these in general?

 

[Banfi T.]

I do love them. If you use them for pop for example you have to get used to its sound, but when that happens everything is very well. The secret is to hear the music, not the equipment. It is definitly high-fidelity enough to support essentially every kind of music. Just there are others doing this and that better.

Anyway, it is an interesting journey to hear with it some pop/rock albums. It shows another side of them, like a remix. That is the good thing about having several phones. Like (for example) you have in front of you a Ferrari, an Audi and a Toyota. You do race with Ferrari, but sometimes you can wild ride the others just for fun...

 

[Romanee]

I use my 501s happily with all types of music. It helped (after hundreds of hours of burn in) to run several 24/7 days (3-4) of bass/subwoofer test files to flex the drivers even more. Of course if I'm in the midst of comparing amps through various phones, some of the phones generating prodigious bass energy, then the 501s will have less impact.

However, stand-alone listening to music with deep, kickin' bass is fun with 501s. Sting's "A Thousand Years", for example, starts with subterranean bass which comes through nicely on these "bass shy" phones.

Of course they need a good amp. I mainly use portable amps and a few that excel at driving the 501s: SR-71 gives the biggest (juiciest/most delicious/neck-hair-raising) air, width, separation, superfine detail and timbral accuracy of any portable amp; PV2 gives great kick, energy and "live" presence; Headroom Overture DAC kicks every amp up a few notches with even greater dynamics, energy and sparkle (can't wait to hear the new, soon-to-be-released version). [...still have not heard SMV3...]

I like various phones or different reasons, but my 501s are my endless-listening/no fatigue, "neutral/natural" all-round fun favorite.

 

[chronoso]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee I use my 501s happily with all types of music. I like various phones or different reasons, but my 501s are my endless-listening/no fatigue, "neutral/natural" all-round fun favorite.

i too was thinking of picking up a pair of 501s to augment my 580s. do you happen to have a pair of the senns? if so, what kind of comparison could you make about the two headsets? i find my 580s to be quite neutral/natural, so i was wondering if maybe the 501s are more or less so.

-james

 

[atx]

Quote:

i too was thinking of picking up a pair of 501s to augment my 580s. do you happen to have a pair of the senns? if so, what kind of comparison could you make about the two headsets? i find my 580s to be quite neutral/natural, so i was wondering if maybe the 501s are more or less so.

I have both the 580 and 501s. The 501s are brighter, less bass, much wider soundstage, but shallower.

If you're used to the 580s, you may find the bass lacking... but once you get used to the 501s, they're not "shy" to the point where it negatively impacts your music. If I had never listened to the 580s, I would say the 501s have just the right amount of bass.

 

[Bill Ward]

The Senns are warm and dark (comparatively). The K501s are cold and brighter. The Senns are velvety. The K501s are harder with a crispness that makes the edges of the notes evident. The AKGs have more air around the sound than the Senns, and a wider soundstage. Bass on the Senns is more palpable and better balances the rest of the specturm. K501s excel in midrange and will seem bass-shy in comparison.

The two phones make a nice complement IMO

BW

 

[elrod-tom]

I listen to mine about 8 hours a day now...at work. I obviously like them a lot. In fact, I'm thinking that I need a second pair for home.

I'm of the opinion that most of what we call music lives in the midrange. If you get the midrange right, it's all good from there. Maybe it's also because I spent years listening to vintage Polk speakers (without a lot of bass...but OHHH, what mids!!) that the sort of thundering bass that I associated with my old roommate's Cerwin Vega speakers is not all that important to me.

I also think that I happen to have a couple of amps that are particularly good matches for the K501. That plays a substantial role in it IMHO.

The Senn HD580's are fine cans, and I know a lot of folks who like them a great deal. I've listened to the Senns on certain equipment that really made them sing, and (like all equipment IMHO) they are a better fit with certain amps than others. My old Max was NOT a good fit IMHO, and WAS a great fit for the K501. OTOH, the HD580 was a spot-on match for the PreHead, whereas I thought the K501 sounded a bit on the bright side. Ah well...different strokes for different folks.

Hope this helps...good luck.

 

[sacundim]

Well, my impression: midrange you can almost reach out and touch, but no bass. I mostly use them with solo guitar + voice music, because for most of my records where there is an electric bass, it's just hopeless.

That statement does need emphasis in the "most," though. There is a small subset of my albums where the K501 conveys the bass very well, and it clearly tops out the DT 880 in rendition. I really think it has very much to do with how the bass was equalized in the mix, and how much of the actual bassline is conveyed by the fundamental vs. the overtones. One way of putting it that's occurred to me (though I'm not sure it's quite right) is that if the K501 can convey the pluck of the bass very well, but not the growl. If the album is mixed so that the pluck carries the bassline, the K501 will do; if the growl carries it, the music just sounds thin.

 

[patricklang]

The 501's definitely excel in impact and speed. They convey a midrange detail that is wonderful, and for acoustic guitar, is pure bliss. I still think that the 501 and k1000 are the most detailed I've heard in the midrange until you get into electrostats. The DT880 seemed a bit more sluggish, although not much, from my tests. I actually prefer the 501 sound overall.

I like these phones so much that I listened to them approx 6-8 hours a day before I got an office mate. Now I'm using the k271 the majority of the time to keep from disturbing him.

Some tracks that really show off the k501:
David Bowie - I'm Deranged (you must hear this, the detail is phenomenal)
Robert Miles - Organik (whole cd, again, shows off the detail through the mixture of electronic and real percussion even during deep deep bass melodies)
Amon Tobin - 4 Ton Mantis (listen towards the middle of the song where you have deep kicks followed by sweeps and lots of midrange & treble distortion, it should sound like it starts in front of you and ends up behind you)
any classical

Al Di Meola - Dinner Music of the Gods (enough said)
Al Di Meola - Passion Grace and Fire (shows off extremely fast midrange and acoustic detail, you can hear the pick and every note on every string on each of the guitars)
Shpongle - Room 23c, Dorset Perception
Bjork - Hidden Place (great vocals over mix of orchestral & some electronic)

They're right on the rumbling bass or continuous bass, they don't excel at continuous bass as is in some styles of electronic music. If you're listening to some fast psytrance with hard kicks, they are wonderful. If you're into D&B, house, or most rap, you'd probably be better off with another phone. If you like psytrance, dub, ambient, idm - the detail is awesome, you'll like these phones. On the rap side, some of the less percussive stuff such as the Roots and newer Blackalicious sound great, Roots especially.

The biggest downside IMHO: hard rock. My theory is that they're so fast that overdriven guitars don't sound like any speaker or other headphone. I can't stand Tool on them. It ends up sounding just too grainy.

 

[daycart1]

I used to have them and like them, but they got trumped by the K1000 which do the same things better, and more.

 

[SDA]

My K501 is my all-around favorite headphone, probably because I haven't heard the REALLY good stuff (I'm already looking at the K1000, damn you all!). I even usually like it more than any of the other headphones I've tried for rock (DT880, HD580, HD595, MS-1, and cheaper ones), just because of what they do with guitars and vocals.


Quote:

One way of putting it that's occurred to me (though I'm not sure it's quite right) is that if the K501 can convey the pluck of the bass very well, but not the growl. If the album is mixed so that the pluck carries the bassline, the K501 will do; if the growl carries it, the music just sounds thin.

I've been searching for a way to put how the K501 handles bass, and that's perfect (to me, at least). They don't lack in impact, but there's something weak about that growl. Call me crazy (no doubt someone will, for liking a Sennheiser for rock), but I like how my HD580 handles that growl. The HD580, otoh, doesn't seem to have as much initial impact. The Grados/Alessandros that I've tried do well with both parts, but I don't like them as much overall.


Quote:

i too was thinking of picking up a pair of 501s to augment my 580s. do you happen to have a pair of the senns? if so, what kind of comparison could you make about the two headsets? i find my 580s to be quite neutral/natural, so i was wondering if maybe the 501s are more or less so.

I'll second all of what atx said. Also, after listening to the 501 for a really long time, they sound neutral and my 580 sounds relatively muffled and dark (but lush and full-bodied), but after listening to the 580 for a really long time, the 501 sounds relatively bright and cold (but fast and impactful). In other words, it's kind of hard for me to say which is actually more NATURAL, though from my band memories I'd say that the K501's reproduction of string instruments seems closer to reality.

Personally, I think the 580 and the 501 make really good complementary 'phones. Unfortunately, they also tend to like different amps.

 

[rab10]

I am also curious about the K501's.

How do they compare to the Audio Technica ATH-A900's?

I have read that they are both good with the highs, and wide soundstage.

The only thing that I have heard about the K501's is their questionable bass
performance, but most of this thread has spoken much about the bass impact
of the 501s. Thanks! What about the Mids?

Is there a A900 vrs. K501 thread?
I am looking for an upgrade.

Thanks!

 

[SDA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rab10 The only thing that I have heard about the K501's is their questionable bass performance, but most of this thread has spoken much about the bass impact of the 501s. Thanks! What about the Mids?

I think that they have a good amount of impact, but they definitely lack that "growl", and they start to drop off below 40-50Hz. Drums sound fine, but bass guitars just don't growl like they do on most of the other headphones I've tried.

Mids are quite forward, unlike in the A900. The K501 will likely sound colder and more mids-oriented to you, but I can't really say anything beyond that, because I've yet to hear the A900 (shame on me, I know). Sorry

 

[1911]

posted before but the 501 are great for me..comfy and revealing in the details of music. i listen mostly to synth pop. the rs-1 sound remarkably better if i listen to them after a session with the 501s but the 501s are so comfy and do such a good job that i find them on my noggin more. the 501 is a nice can in anyone's collection.

 

[Yikes]

The K501’s are great! Very neutral, and very transparent. There is however one little problem. Next to the K1000’s the K501’s are the most difficult to drive of all the headphones that I have tried. Don’t even consider them unless you have a good amp (with big balls), preferably tubed.

The only reason I don’t use them more is because they do sound a lot like the K1000’s (significantly reduced soundstage), and I have the K1000’s.