ATH-M50's don't sound that much better than white apple earbuds?
Jan 3, 2014 at 9:26 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 54
bagman1

bagman1

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So I got new m50's the other day, and with these being my first real headphones, I was expecting to be really impressed. I wasn't, really. On two different computers, I did a lot of side-by-side comparisons of 320kbps songs and while the m50's do sound better than apple earbuds, they don't by all that much.
     Is it normal to experience this? After reading countless reviews on amazon where people are all saying how wow-ed they are and "like listening to your music for the first time again" etc.. 
Are all these people just easily impressed? Or were they using the older version of apple earbuds? (I was comparing the m50's to the newest version of the apple earbuds that come with iphones.)
I don't believe i got fake ones as i have already read all the threads about the counterfeit ones and i studied mine extremely hard. Everything looked good. I took them apart and they have the right color yellow/gold circuitry. Although, they didn't have the 125DB sticker. I just am paranoid that I got the most well-made fakes ever. I bought them from amazon, but they weren't directly from amazon, they were from a company called "Carolinas". Which is listed as an UNauthorized dealer on the audio technica site.
 
Basically, I just want to know if it is normal to not be "blown away" by these, after coming from cheap earbuds.
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:10 PM Post #4 of 54
Hmm. They might just not be for you. One thing worth doing is checking all of your audio settings. Check your digital volume settings and make sure your soundcard isn't doing any kind of audio processing, loudness effect, surround effect, equalizing, etc.

IDK if they are fake. You could return them and buy from an authorized dealer if you wanted to be absolutely sure. 
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:17 PM Post #5 of 54
I'm going to assume you're using apple earPODS. Those aren't actually that bad. The slightly older apple earbuds aren't that bad either actually. The M-50 are also slightly over-rated headphones because they're so popular and most headphones that are popular are going to proportionately have more good reviews. Of course, the M-50 being popular headphones also increases how many fakes there are out there, but since you carefully examined it, I don't think it's fake. Maybe your expectations were just too high, but then again I personally don't think M-50's are as great as reviews make them seem.
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:39 PM Post #7 of 54
senzen said:
  Connect them to a receiver, they should make music enjoyable, and while they should sound decent unamplified at least you'll be sure they're not fakes..
Click to expand...

I forget to mention this in my original post, but i connected them to a yamaha RX-797 receiver and they sounded awful. the sound was harsh and staticy and one ear was mostly silent and kept cutting in and out. but they don't do that when plugged into anything else so i think maybe there's just something wrong with the receiver?
 
blackmarket said:
  I'm going to assume you're using apple earPODS. Those aren't actually that bad. The slightly older apple earbuds aren't that bad either actually. The M-50 are also slightly over-rated headphones because they're so popular and most headphones that are popular are going to proportionately have more good reviews. Of course, the M-50 being popular headphones also increases how many fakes there are out there, but since you carefully examined it, I don't think it's fake. Maybe your expectations were just too high, but then again I personally don't think M-50's are as great as reviews make them seem.
Click to expand...

ya sorry, i was comparing with earpods. i forgot they changed their name
 
manbear said:
  Hmm. They might just not be for you. One thing worth doing is checking all of your audio settings. Check your digital volume settings and make sure your soundcard isn't doing any kind of audio processing, loudness effect, surround effect, equalizing, etc.

IDK if they are fake. You could return them and buy from an authorized dealer if you wanted to be absolutely sure. 
Click to expand...

thanks, i'll have to try the sound settings
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:45 PM Post #8 of 54
bagman1 said:
  I forget to mention this in my original post, but i connected them to a yamaha RX-797 receiver and they sounded awful. the sound was harsh and staticy and one ear was mostly silent and kept cutting in and out. but they don't do that when plugged into anything else so i think maybe there's just something wrong with the receiver?
 
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd bet you have fakes. ATH-M50s aren't the greatest headphones ever, but they're a LOT better than that. Anything else you can plug into the Yamaha to be sure? From your other posts I'm leaning more and more towards fakes. Especially since I cannot find Carolinas as a seller anymore. Contact Amazon and ask for a refund.
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:48 PM Post #9 of 54
bagman1 said:
  So I got new m50's the other day, and with these being my first real headphones, I was expecting to be really impressed. I wasn't, really. On two different computers, I did a lot of side-by-side comparisons of 320kbps songs and while the m50's do sound better than apple earbuds, they don't by all that much.
     Is it normal to experience this? After reading countless reviews on amazon where people are all saying how wow-ed they are and "like listening to your music for the first time again" etc.. 
Are all these people just easily impressed? Or were they using the older version of apple earbuds? (I was comparing the m50's to the newest version of the apple earbuds that come with iphones.)
I don't believe i got fake ones as i have already read all the threads about the counterfeit ones and i studied mine extremely hard. Everything looked good. I took them apart and they have the right color yellow/gold circuitry. Although, they didn't have the 125DB sticker. I just am paranoid that I got the most well-made fakes ever. I bought them from amazon, but they weren't directly from amazon, they were from a company called "Carolinas". Which is listed as an UNauthorized dealer on the audio technica site.
 
Basically, I just want to know if it is normal to not be "blown away" by these, after coming from cheap earbuds.
Click to expand...

They're probably just fakes.  TA counterfeit.  The M50 is so popular, fakes are bound to be available. 
 
This case is uncommon.  The iPod iems to seems M50 is the largest upgrade experienced in this world of head-fi.
 
Jan 3, 2014 at 11:58 PM Post #11 of 54
I felt the same way with my Creative Aurvana Live! headphones. After using them for a week, I went back to stock earphones, and I almost threw up. Give your M50s a week or so of use, and the difference should be night and day.
 
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:19 AM Post #15 of 54
well thanks everyone for the input. I went ahead and ordered another pair thru amazon. This time making sure it was an authorized dealer who was selling. I'l be returning the other ones. I'll update this again when i get the new ones. Just in case someone else ever experiences this in the future... and also happens to come across this thread. unlikely but whatever
 
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