[renovatedpig5]

Quote:

u could, i do once in awile.  Most of the time no.

But can you actually tell a difference when you do run it with an amp or is there almost no reason to use an amp on it?
 

 

[n-phect]

oh i can tell a difference, it just doesnt improve on sound for me that much. i have a little cheapy amp though.  If you have a good amp, im sure it would make any phone sound better?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

But can you actually tell a difference when you do run it with an amp or is there almost no reason to use an amp on it?
 

Cheap amp makes the M50 sound about 30% more energetic, powerful and smooth. Better amps do so while also refining the sound quite a lot.
 

 

[LizardKing1]

Just don't go pairing it with a tube amp. You need an amp appropriate for your headphone's impedance. If you pair the M50 with something designed to run 600-Ohm cans, you'll get a huge impedance mismatch and the sound will degradate. For me, the E7 is great with 32-Ohm cans.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Just don't go pairing it with a tube amp. You need an amp appropriate for your headphone's impedance. If you pair the M50 with something designed to run 600-Ohm cans, you'll get a huge impedance mismatch and the sound will degradate. For me, the E7 is great with 32-Ohm cans.

Would the new FiiO E11 work well with M50? I'm thinking of getting that.

 

[LizardKing1]

Quote:

Would the new FiiO E11 work well with M50? I'm thinking of getting that.

Humm hard to say. The reason I like the E7 so much is because it's a DAC + amp (DAC = digital-to-audio-converter). A good amp coming from an onboard soundcard (which would mean a bad DAC) will sound bad.
 
Remember both the E7 and the E11 are suitable for cans up to 300-Ohm. So if you don't plan on buying some other cans with much higher impedances, or a separate DAC, in the near future, and want to use with the M50 in your house only, I would say the E7 might be better and here's why: if you want to get a better amp later you can use the E7 as a dac- and it's a great DAC, you can buy Fiio's cheap line-out and plug into the E7 connecting to an amp. Or even smarter, buy the E9 and use the dock connector.
 
However, if you want it to use it with a DAP (iPod, Sansa Clip...) as a portable amp, then yeah, get the E11, since you don't need a DAC funtion that comes with the E7. The E11 is a better amp supposedly, but the E7 is a budget solution that I personally like.
 
If this didn't make sense to you, let me know. Anyway, in answe to your question, yeah, the E11 will make your M50s sound really good.
 
I don't want to make this decision for you, but maybe the 2 questions you should ask yourself are: what source will you be using it with? Do you plan on buying headphones with high impedances that would need a better amp than the E7

 

[renovatedpig5]

Is it true that these headphones need about 100+ hours of burn in time, or is that not true?

 

[renovatedpig5]

Im mainly going to be using them on my ipod touch and on my laptop. So i might get the amp for my ipod. Dont know yet, might try one out first after i get the cans and see if i can notice a big difference before i buy an amp.

 

[Genocide174]

m50 has low bass, trust me.
 
If you're looking for some nice headphones in that range, I'd check out the Beyerdynamic DT770 pro 80 ohm.

 

[renovatedpig5]

 The Beyerdynamic DT770 pro are a bit out of my price range.

 

[renovatedpig5]

Are these cans worth the $150 they are running for on amazon/ebay? or should I wait until the price goes down to $110-$120?

 

[renovatedpig5]

Quote:

Are these cans worth the $150 they are running for on amazon/ebay? or should I wait until the price goes down to $110-$120?

If the price goes down that is.
 

 

[LizardKing1]

Yeah give it a while, the M50 price fluctuates a bit. But yes, they are worth much.

 

[Genocide174]

Coming from a true basshead, I will tell you once again, the M50's have LOW bass. Many on these forums are NOT bassheads and for that reason they have gotten the rumor that they are somehow "bass-heavy", quite the contrary, these are "bass-shy". Even though the DT770's are out of your price range, I'd check for another headphone.
 
Don't get me wrong, the M50's are good overall headphones, but if you love that thumpy and hard hitting bass, DO NOT get these.

 

[blacknile]

Quote:

Coming from a true basshead, I will tell you once again, the M50's have LOW bass. Many on these forums are NOT bassheads and for that reason they have gotten the rumor that they are somehow "bass-heavy", quite the contrary, these are "bass-shy". Even though the DT770's are out of your price range, I'd check for another headphone.
 
Don't get me wrong, the M50's are good overall headphones, but if you love that thumpy and hard hitting bass, DO NOT get these.

Most of what is stated in the above post is incorrect. I own the ATH-M50, while my officemate has the Beyerdynamic DT770 80ohm. We both have them on right now. I asked him to borrow them in order to compare them and I've switched back and forth for the past 15 minutes. Source music: FLAC files fed to an iBasso D2+ Boa DAC/Amp. Files I've tried are acoustic jazz, nu-jazz (St. Germain, Nicola Conte), Classic Rock (Allman Brothers Band), Blues (BB King - Live at the Regal).
 
Both are IMO amazing headphones. However their biggest difference is not the bass. With all the music I've tried, the M50 are FAR from being bass shy. They have a very precise and deep bass with a characteristic fast decay. I find the DT770 to have a slightly slower bass with a slightly slower decay. The bass on the DT770 seems to "envelope" more the listener, while on the M50 seems to have a more "uni-dimensional" nature. In both cases, the bass is rather balanced and does not ruin the other frequencies IMO. Overall I would say the spatial aspect of the reproduction is slightly better on the DT770, while  PRat (pace, rhythm and timing) is better on the M50. Given the genres I listen to, I'd say I would be happy with both. Somebody listening to more classical/ambient etc should probably lean more towards the DT770.
 
Now, I don't know what a basshead is, and what a basshead listens to, but if you want ACCURATE and hard hitting bass for genres like jazz, blues, rock, classical, ambient, trip-hop, etc, the M50 have it. More bass than my M50 have, and I would totally hate them because the mids and treble would be ruined.
 
If you're looking for a tool to pump almost exclusively 40 hz tones in your ears without regard for the rest of the frequencies, then you shouldn't be looking at hi-fi/monitoring headphones at all - neither M50 nor DT770 will do what you want.