[Jar Jar]

Hmmmm....This is a bit difficult as I found that I did not like the M50x very much and much preferred my Sonys to those. I have a lot of good budget headphones for more of a fun sound, like the Panasonic RP HTF600s, Sol Republic Master Tracks (not budget but decently controlled low end, nice for EDM), Sony MDR-XB300, JVC HA-RX300, Sennheiser PX 95, and Koss KSC75. I'm kinda looking for something that could compete or beat the Sonys for detail and imaging and the M40x look like they could complement the Sonys decently well. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't have a ton of money so mostly this is just for me to keep an eye on until I do get some money.

 

[BeBop Lives]

  As I understand it from my years of lurking, generally what is meant by "flat response" is that the headphones impart the sound as close to the source as possible. Many headphones both amplify/emphasize and/or mute/de-emphasize parts of the sound (such as the bass, the vocals, etc.), and lots of people don't like this.
 
An anecdotal experience of this for me is my other set of "full-size" headphones - the Sol Republic Tracks HD. When I got those headphones from my campus store, I thought they sounded really awesome; lots of bass, they could play really loud, and they looked pretty cool. But as I kept reading about sound quality online, I found myself comparing the impressions people were giving about other sets of headphones to what I was hearing from the Tracks. I started to notice that there seemed to be a definite difference in sound quality between those impressions and my experiences.  
 
A couple of things pushed me further towards getting better headphones; for one, I ran across a sound demo video from Zeos on YouTube that blew my mind, and for another, I tried out different sets of headphones at tech stores when I was out and about. I tried out Beats, Sennheisers, Bose's, quite a few. And I found that I was indeed missing out when it came to my Tracks HD. For the Tracks, the bass is really emphasized, and the general sound is kind of muddy. Instruments can be pushed to the background, while vocals can be pretty unclear. And the soundstage is quite narrow; there's not a lot of depth to the sound.
 
I absolutely love music, so discovering that the music I was hearing was being delivered in a "biased" way (a.k.a emphasized or de-emphasized too much; this is referred to as "coloring") made me want to hear the music as the artist intended it. When I listen to the Deftones, I want to hear the music how Chino, Abe, Frank and the others wanted me to hear it. When I listen to Tesseract, I want to hear the little atmospheric touches that are put in place to draw the listener in. The examples go on and on.
 
Of course, there can be "downsides" to having "flat"ter headphones. As the phrase commonly goes around here: "Garbage in, garbage out." If you are listening to badly produced/mastered songs, you'll probably notice it. A lot of the music you previously liked might very well become unlistenable for you depending on your new headphones. There are ways around that, but in general, those are the risks you can run.
 
But for me, it's pretty much worth it, because I can enjoy the music as it was meant to be enjoyed (usually). Without falling too much into the trap of comparing sound to food, it's like eating food that's spiced too heavily, and food that's spiced just right, or at least closer to just right. Don't get me wrong: I'm Caribbean, sometimes we like food with a LOT of spice to it! But that, like sound, is based on our preferences; some Caribbeans don't like spicy food at all. Similarly, some people like the sound they get from a particular set of headphones (like Beats).
 
For many people (on Head-Fi and elsewhere), the ATH-M50x are too bassy, and the sound can be somewhat muddled. I have found this to be the case for me as well when I tested a pair of M50x's vs a pair of M40x's at Sam Ash. To me, the M40x's just sounded clearer and more "true" to the sound than the M50x's. However, from what I've read, the M40x's aren't truly "flat" either, they're just closer to "flat" than the M50x's are.
 
But plenty of people (here and elsewhere) like the sound of the M50x's and say that the M40x's don't have enough bass for them, and to that, I say "More power to you; find the right sound for you".
 
Some people walk the middle ground; they like the sound of the M50x's, but agree that there's too much bass, and so they perform mods or switch out the pads to change the sound, reduce the bass a touch, and clarify the sound. That's great too.
 
In the end though, sound preference is very subjective, so you have to pick what's right for you. That doesn't mean don't get out of your comfort zone and try new things, because hey, you might like it; it just means don't let someone tell you you're a neophyte for not being able to hear what they're hearing or liking what they're liking.
 
So if you like your M50x's and don't care about them being "flat", I support you dude 

 
Sorry for the rant, I can get too into writing sometimes 

Excellent explanation, and on point.

 

[Sp12er3]

@Jar jar reading from your use case: doesn't need isolation that much, Usage of Gaming and music listening, Id say popular Open Backs, like AT AD700X, Philips Fidelio X2, or Sony MDR MA900 will add much more to your experience
For lower than $100, Philips SHP 9500

 

[Jar Jar]

I think you're right, open backs would absolutely work for me. I've demoed the SHP9500 for bit and I liked what I heard, but I'm not sure how they compare to other popular open back headphones like the ones you mentioned or maybe things like the Sennheiser HD 558 and 598. How do the AD500x, AD700x, and AD900x compare? I've researched a bit but it seems like most people say they all sound pretty much the same, which confuses me since the AD900x is double the cost of the AD500x, so there must be an obvious difference. Would it be better to get the AD500x to save money is it is worth it to pay more for something higher up in the line or maybe some of the open backs you mentioned? I'm mostly interested in headphones that do things extremely well for their price, and I'm fairly open to a range of sound signatures so that's not incredibly important to me lol

 

[Ceteru]

  I think you're right, open backs would absolutely work for me. I've demoed the SHP9500 for bit and I liked what I heard, but I'm not sure how they compare to other popular open back headphones like the ones you mentioned or maybe things like the Sennheiser HD 558 and 598. How do the AD500x, AD700x, and AD900x compare? I've researched a bit but it seems like most people say they all sound pretty much the same, which confuses me since the AD900x is double the cost of the AD500x, so there must be an obvious difference. Would it be better to get the AD500x to save money is it is worth it to pay more for something higher up in the line or maybe some of the open backs you mentioned? I'm mostly interested in headphones that do things extremely well for their price, and I'm fairly open to a range of sound signatures so that's not incredibly important to me lol

For what it's worth, almost everyone I've heard talk about the SHP9500 say that it really "punches upward" for the price. 

 

[Sp12er3]

^Hard to beat the Philips at that price, going to Midfi and up will need careful research and consideration.
I don't think the AD series of AT is a good all rounder, only if you like to li7tdn to music with a lot of female Vocal and string instruments

 

[Sp12er3]

Double post

 

[BeBop Lives]

I thought this thread is supposed to be all about ath M40x. 

 

[p4s2p0]

  As I understand it from my years of lurking, generally what is meant by "flat response" is that the headphones impart the sound as close to the source as possible. Many headphones both amplify/emphasize and/or mute/de-emphasize parts of the sound (such as the bass, the vocals, etc.), and lots of people don't like this.
 
An anecdotal experience of this for me is my other set of "full-size" headphones - the Sol Republic Tracks HD. When I got those headphones from my campus store, I thought they sounded really awesome; lots of bass, they could play really loud, and they looked pretty cool. But as I kept reading about sound quality online, I found myself comparing the impressions people were giving about other sets of headphones to what I was hearing from the Tracks. I started to notice that there seemed to be a definite difference in sound quality between those impressions and my experiences.  
 
A couple of things pushed me further towards getting better headphones; for one, I ran across a sound demo video from Zeos on YouTube that blew my mind, and for another, I tried out different sets of headphones at tech stores when I was out and about. I tried out Beats, Sennheisers, Bose's, quite a few. And I found that I was indeed missing out when it came to my Tracks HD. For the Tracks, the bass is really emphasized, and the general sound is kind of muddy. Instruments can be pushed to the background, while vocals can be pretty unclear. And the soundstage is quite narrow; there's not a lot of depth to the sound.
 
I absolutely love music, so discovering that the music I was hearing was being delivered in a "biased" way (a.k.a emphasized or de-emphasized too much; this is referred to as "coloring") made me want to hear the music as the artist intended it. When I listen to the Deftones, I want to hear the music how Chino, Abe, Frank and the others wanted me to hear it. When I listen to Tesseract, I want to hear the little atmospheric touches that are put in place to draw the listener in. The examples go on and on.
 
Of course, there can be "downsides" to having "flat"ter headphones. As the phrase commonly goes around here: "Garbage in, garbage out." If you are listening to badly produced/mastered songs, you'll probably notice it. A lot of the music you previously liked might very well become unlistenable for you depending on your new headphones. There are ways around that, but in general, those are the risks you can run.
 
But for me, it's pretty much worth it, because I can enjoy the music as it was meant to be enjoyed (usually). Without falling too much into the trap of comparing sound to food, it's like eating food that's spiced too heavily, and food that's spiced just right, or at least closer to just right. Don't get me wrong: I'm Caribbean, sometimes we like food with a LOT of spice to it! But that, like sound, is based on our preferences; some Caribbeans don't like spicy food at all. Similarly, some people like the sound they get from a particular set of headphones (like Beats).
 
For many people (on Head-Fi and elsewhere), the ATH-M50x are too bassy, and the sound can be somewhat muddled. I have found this to be the case for me as well when I tested a pair of M50x's vs a pair of M40x's at Sam Ash. To me, the M40x's just sounded clearer and more "true" to the sound than the M50x's. However, from what I've read, the M40x's aren't truly "flat" either, they're just closer to "flat" than the M50x's are.
 
But plenty of people (here and elsewhere) like the sound of the M50x's and say that the M40x's don't have enough bass for them, and to that, I say "More power to you; find the right sound for you".
 
Some people walk the middle ground; they like the sound of the M50x's, but agree that there's too much bass, and so they perform mods or switch out the pads to change the sound, reduce the bass a touch, and clarify the sound. That's great too.
 
In the end though, sound preference is very subjective, so you have to pick what's right for you. That doesn't mean don't get out of your comfort zone and try new things, because hey, you might like it; it just means don't let someone tell you you're a neophyte for not being able to hear what they're hearing or liking what they're liking.
 
So if you like your M50x's and don't care about them being "flat", I support you dude 

 
Sorry for the rant, I can get too into writing sometimes 

All headphones and speakers have different frequency responses though some are more colored on purpose than others to meet artist/consumer demands
 
Some people want their sound as flat/neutral/laid back as possible, kinda like watching a drama movie
 
I will always prefer my sound to be a bit more aggressive like an action movie, as Dr Dre,Bob Marley,Metallica and some other artist do.
 
Dre uses so much bass in studio it makes it hard for people to breath, so artist intentions vary.

 

[Jar Jar]

 ^Hard to beat the Philips at that price, going to Midfi and up will need careful research and consideration.
I don't think the AD series of AT is a good all rounder, only if you like to li7tdn to music with a lot of female Vocal and string instruments

Ah ok, that makes a lot of sense lol. Thanks a lot! depending on sales and whatnot I'll make my decision on my next purchase based on that and these tips.
 

 For what it's worth, almost everyone I've heard talk about the SHP9500 say that it really "punches upward" for the price. 

Yes, I've heard that too and it seems to be the case when I had listened to them. They seemed more balanced and had better imaging than my 7506, which was nice to hear and experience a headphone that did things better than my favorite headphone at the time. I suppose the M40x would be sort of more of a side grade than an upgrade. Maybe I'll consider it if I want something that competes with my 7506 for detail but is easy to drive and has better noise isolation.
 

 I thought this thread is supposed to be all about ath M40x. 

It was, sorry about that. I'm pretty new here and wanted tips and opinions about other headphones, as it can be pretty tough when all you hear is praise for every headphone but don't know what the differences are between them.

 

[Sp12er3]

It's alright talking a bit of detour to alternatives and suggestions as long as it doesn't drag on and clutter the thread. At least IMO it's better than creating small thread for every little questions people have.

 

[Ceteru]

So @Sp12er3, I went ahead and ordered the Yaxi Pads with blue trim from Amazon. They should be arriving tomorrow; I can't wait 

 
 
I returned the Beyerdynamic DT250s and Brainwavez; they were nice, but just not for me. Thank God for Amazon Returns!
 
Funnily enough, I had a legit reason to return the DT250s aside from no longer needing them: for some weird reason, I started getting nauseous while using them. I tested by going back and forth between the Brainwavez, the stock, and DT250 pads, and sure enough, after about an hour or so of using the DT250s, my head would start spinning and I would start feeling very sick to my stomach. It happened multiple days in a row as I tested, and then no days in a row after I stopped using them.
 
I have no clue why that happened; has anyone here experienced anything like that with pads (of any kind)? @MrPhilicorda, anything like that ever happen to you?
 
For now, what I've been doing for the past week is lining the stock pads with cotton balls, which has actually worked pretty well as far as sound and comfort goes. It pushes the pads out ever so slightly, which gives a tiny tiny soundstage improvement to my ears, and it makes the earhole just a bit wider, so they sit better over/on my ears. 
 
It's still not the most comfortable, and it gets hot if I'm exerting myself in any way, but the sound/comfort is finally acceptable to me until my better pads arrive. The bass remains tight and punchy with no loss of quality that I can hear, the sub-bass keeps its slight rumble, the mids and highs are virtually the same (at least to my ears). The newest Tesseract album (Polaris) sounds as sweet as ever 

 

 

[MrPhilicorda]

I haven't got nauseous from headphones ever but I can sometimes experience some weird tickling sensation in my throat (!) from some higher treble frequencies if they are exaggerated. I think the DT250 did boost the treble to some extent. Do you think it's the sound or physical comfort which is the issue?

 

[Ceteru]

I haven't got nauseous from headphones ever but I can sometimes experience some weird tickling sensation in my throat (!) from some higher treble frequencies if they are exaggerated. I think the DT250 did boost the treble to some extent. Do you think it's the sound or physical comfort which is the issue?

 
I'm honestly not sure..I don't have any other velour's to test to see if I can replicate the effect. None of the other pads I tried (made of pleather and sheepskin) did that.
 
It could be either... As far as sound, I do have very sensitive hearing, both range-wise and frequency-wise, so maybe I was catching some sub-audible frequencies. Like perhaps the exact balance of isolation and leakage, as well as the elevated treble, combined to create the dizziness.. a  bit of a "perfect storm" if you will.
 
It seemed like the primary affected area was my inner ear.. I remember one time I listened to them at night before bed and went to bed feeling slightly off, but not terrible (this was actually the first time it happened). I woke up the next morning for work and my balance was off, my head was spinning, I could barely focus my eyes, I was stumbling around. I had to walk instead of ride my bike like I normally would because I was afraid I was going to run into the road and get myself killed. The effects wore off after a few hours, but in the interim I was miserable. It wasn't until I got home and used my M40s again that I found the same thing happening and linked it to the pads.
 
As far as material, I have no allergies to anything, but on occasion I run into a fabric that has a sort of psychosomatic effect on me - it feels so weird to me that I start reacting physically (throat closes up a little, I start producing extra mucus, my eyes water, etc.) But I didn't think the velour did it; I was able to touch it, rub it, wear it on my head for an hour (as well as the day or so before the nausea started occurring). But perhaps it's a creeping effect that becomes more evident over time..
 
All of this is so, so strange.

 

[MrPhilicorda]

I'm honestly not sure..I don't have any other velour's to test to see if I can replicate the effect. None of the other pads I tried (made of pleather and sheepskin) did that.

It could be either... As far as sound, I do have very sensitive hearing, both range-wise and frequency-wise, so maybe I was catching some sub-audible frequencies. Like perhaps the exact balance of isolation and leakage, as well as the elevated treble, combined to create the dizziness.. a  bit of a "perfect storm" if you will.

It seemed like the primary affected area was my inner ear.. I remember one time I listened to them at night before bed and went to bed feeling slightly off, but not terrible (this was actually the first time it happened). I woke up the next morning for work and my balance was off, my head was spinning, I could barely focus my eyes, I was stumbling around. I had to walk instead of ride my bike like I normally would because I was afraid I was going to run into the road and get myself killed. The effects wore off after a few hours, but in the interim I was miserable. It wasn't until I got home and used my M40s again that I found the same thing happening and linked it to the pads.

As far as material, I have no allergies to anything, but on occasion I run into a fabric that has a sort of psychosomatic effect on me - it feels so weird to me that I start reacting physically (throat closes up a little, I start producing extra mucus, my eyes water, etc.) But I didn't think the velour did it; I was able to touch it, rub it, wear it on my head for an hour (as well as the day or so before the nausea started occurring). But perhaps it's a creeping effect that becomes more evident over time..

All of this is so, so strange.

Does indeed sound very strange. You may look into BPPV disorder which leads vertigo and dizziness. It is usually triggered by certain head movements but perhaps it can be triggered by sound too. I had a friend who suffered from this a while back.

Getting a bit OT here but it's certainly an interesting phenomena what you're experiencing.