[TMRaven]

With a planar or closed headphone, it's not that hard to get good bass extension down to 20hz.  The M50 will go down to 20hz, but will sound a little bloated and messy in its bass.  Most open planars will get down to 20hz no problem, with near no distortion.  The problem is that one coming from speakers will find that 20hz extension with no distortion a little lacking, because a sub will have more distortion in the bass, and even the best rooms will always add a slight amount of excess decay time in the low end.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  With a planar or closed headphone, it's not that hard to get good bass extension down to 20hz.  The M50 will go down to 20hz, but will sound a little bloated and messy in its bass.  Most open planars will get down to 20hz no problem, with near no distortion.  The problem is that one coming from speakers will find that 20hz extension with no distortion a little lacking, because a sub will have more distortion in the bass, and even the best rooms will always add a slight amount of excess decay time in the low end.

 
That's a good point. Electrostatic bass is even more epic (at least for me), probably due to lower distortion than other headphone types.

 

[Change is Good]

Just joined the drop. Can't go wrong for the price...

 

[wega03]

Any impressions of this??

 

[Music Alchemist]

Any impressions of this??

 
I was wondering this as well, especially about whether it sounds the same as the newest revision of the K240.

 

[Netforce]

Got my pair from massdrop last week and a really lovely headphone. Been too long since I heard the k240 so don't recall the finer details of it to compare unfortunately.

 

[lagisforeplay]

Got mine on Tuesday and after 2 days I really like these.  Lows are a little lacking but still present and overall a really enjoyable pair of cans.  They are also very comfortable.  I wish I could keep them, but I bought these for an office pair and even being "semi-open" they leak too much for my liking. 

 

[wudai_e]

Just received these today and burning it in. Right out of the box, I'll say this... this is the best 70 bucks I've spend on headphones. My current headphone rig: Parasound Zdac--->Bryston--->Senn HD800. Compare to the Senn, you loose some sparkle and air in the highs, some sweetness in volcals, actually less bass???!!! Probably due to lack of burn in.  You do loose that sometimes spooky and neutral airy presentation. But, if you never listened to or got accustomed the HD800, you will not know or miss what the H800 can offer in 95% of the tracks. My taste is wide except no rap. 
 
I wouldn't call this an easy to drive pair of cans, because I have to actually raise the volume a bit on my Bryston to get the music more "alive" if you know what I mean. If I keep the same volume I used for the Senns, the music sounds "Flat". Probably this is due to going from balanced HD800 to single ended. (the Bryston amp's balanced output has a higher voltage if memory serves)
 
If this is your first set of headphones.... I'd doubt you'll be craving for anything else for a long time. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

Now I'm interested in seeing a comparison to the Philips SHP9500, which is my favorite headphone in that price range.

 

[mQuique]

This is actually my first post in this forum. After at least a year of reading a lot of helpful information, I think its time to share something back 

 
Going back to the AKG M220, incredibly comfortable, making a lot of fun while burnin them. 
However, my personal perception, I can see some point that wudai_e mention, that in my opinion are not deal breakers:
-Lack of bass
-Requires more power than expected for 55Ohms to really bring some details alive
 
The only downside for me is that I bought them as a replacement for my pioneer SE-A1000, however, they lack some of the detail the pioneers brings, especially on the highs, seeming more flat and less wider soundstage too.
 
I know it was a replacement on the cheapo side, so no complaints, and actually, they are so comfortable, I will use them while working and leave my old pioneers SE-A1000 when I really like to put some attention to what am i hearing.
 
Any recommendation to upgrade the SE-A1000 without going above $250 USD is really appreciated.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Any recommendation to upgrade the SE-A1000 without going above $250 USD is really appreciated.

 
My favorite in that price range is the Yamaha HPH-MT220. However, it's closed and has a nondetachable coiled cable.
 
If you have a good amp, a used beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (aka Premium) 600 Ω is a good choice for an open headphone.
 
Fun fact: I used to own a Pioneer SE-300. It's a very rare piezoelectric headphone from the 1970s! Super hard to drive.

 

[piaudio]

  I've pretty much given up on trying to find a truly accurate studio monitor headphone. They all have problems in the frequency response. Thankfully, studios tend to rely on speakers and just use headphones as a second opinion. Since the M220 is so affordable, I would probably be less picky about its sound than, say, a studio monitor headphone that costs hundreds. And of course, equalization is a convenient (and essential) solution to many of these issues.

 
Headphones are more complicated than monitor speakers with just one driver for the majority of frequency and simply tuning or some intelligent auto tuning aren't perfect when there is always a distortion, this make me too picky to find a replacement until Flare Audio R1MK2 (to be launch on Nov 2015) may be a real impressive enough for studio recordings but more than 10 times the cost, at least it's way cheaper than R1PRO at $3000+.
 
The real headphones don't need burn-in and I hate to waste time on EQ frequency.

 

[Art Garfunkel]

I hope this new one has bass. The K240 seriously lacked bottom

 

[EvilKillaruna]

Maybe you are talking about improperly amped old 600 Ohm K240's. There is no problem with bass amount with new K240. Only heavy bassheads can complain .

 

[EvilKillaruna]

Few cents from my point of view. M220 arrived this morning to my office, so I would like to share some observations. I've had various AKG models for years and as an owner of K240 MKII and K240 DF I can compare them together in most of the aspects. Please remember that this post is based only on my personal experience and from my own audio equipment perspective. Headphones are relatively fresh with only few hours on their clock, so still some thing can change.
 
 
VS K240 DF (1995)
First of all, M220 is a very different sounding headphone than ANY other old AKG 600 Ohm variant out there. Greater sense of space with more airy soundstage construction. M220 are not so midrange centered as DF's, with more bass (mostly mid) with less PRaT and darker highs without obvious peaks. M220 can be powered much more easily than DF and are somehow less sensitive for gain settings. Properly driven DF's can in my opinion outperform M220 in all aspects except soundstage size (not construction).
 
 
VS K240 MKII (2008)
They are very similar to my K240 MKII Made in Austria, but with softer and smoother treble section. Still the same fluffy midbass and slightly smeared midrange with lots of headroom. Here, only the highs are different, more balanced and friendlier for bad recordings. I was expecting to get 1:1 of my MKII but my K240's are sharper and more aggressive, especially in 10kHz point. M220 are not, for now at least. It looks like Massdrop tuned them in the same way they did with K7XX. DF are also brighter, especially with lower highs, making them more sensitive for quality of your recordings.
 
 
Source gear
M220 sound amazingly good from latest Aune X1S since little Aune is able to keep their soundstage in one piece and add more focus on midrange. There is absolutely no issues with drive and power from this device. Aune paired with NuForce DAC-80 as output stage is giving even more soundstage and slighlty more quality but for the price of focus, so it is kind of mixed feeling. Both configurations are very good with this headphones, but because I'm working in my office, those are all I have for now.
 
 
Quick summary
While M220 are slightly better for me than K240 MKII, I can consider them as "easy and fun" variant of K240 DF and Monitor for everyday use, especially electronic music but without sacrificing other genres. Very universal and flexible sounding headphones for excellent price. Nevertheless DF are still my personal choice for reference and critical listening with better revealing for audio equipment and power feed abilities.
 
There will be a full time review on my blog once I will have some free time and do a proper burn-in.