K_19
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Posts
- 3,072
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- 64
Hey all,
Throughout the past year or so on Head-Fi, I've realized that I value the mid qualities in headphones more than anywhere else in the frequency; After going through several mid-tier fullsize cans as well as IEM's, I've realized that for the mids, I like the SE530's warm, liquid and upfront vocals the most. This has yet to be replicated in any of the fullsize cans I've tried, which includes the HD650, K701, SRH840, AD700, D1001, and SQ5. I like each of these cans for other reasons, but I find that they fall short in the mids section in one way or another:
HD650: I feel that they get the male vocals spot-on, but find their presentation of Female vocals a bit lacking. Plus it's not upfront as the SE530 mids and more laid back.
K701: Need to be careful with this beast since with certain songs their mids can be magic, but ones with upper-mid emphasis can be painful at times. It's also not too upfront due to their soundstaging and is anything but warm.
SRH840: With the EF1+Mullard amping they come the closest, but it's not too upfront...
AD700/D1001: Both have mids that sit back and don't do the vocals quite right.
So what should I be looking for here? Intimate, upfront mids from what I've read typically represents Grados, but I've so far only tried the SR60 and found them lacking in the area; they're also opposite of warm, unless the woodies like RS1 add to that, I don't know. Are Grados like RS1 and SR325 better with this? I've heard of K501's magical mids but I don't think it'd be upfront enough. AD2000 is said to have great mids as well, but being AT I'm not sure if it'd be warm at all. Perhaps closed cans may help here, but I'm not too familiar with them. I'm probably not willing to spend more than I would in RS1 used (so around $500 or so), just to give a rough budget.
Any input would be appreciated.
Throughout the past year or so on Head-Fi, I've realized that I value the mid qualities in headphones more than anywhere else in the frequency; After going through several mid-tier fullsize cans as well as IEM's, I've realized that for the mids, I like the SE530's warm, liquid and upfront vocals the most. This has yet to be replicated in any of the fullsize cans I've tried, which includes the HD650, K701, SRH840, AD700, D1001, and SQ5. I like each of these cans for other reasons, but I find that they fall short in the mids section in one way or another:
HD650: I feel that they get the male vocals spot-on, but find their presentation of Female vocals a bit lacking. Plus it's not upfront as the SE530 mids and more laid back.
K701: Need to be careful with this beast since with certain songs their mids can be magic, but ones with upper-mid emphasis can be painful at times. It's also not too upfront due to their soundstaging and is anything but warm.
SRH840: With the EF1+Mullard amping they come the closest, but it's not too upfront...
AD700/D1001: Both have mids that sit back and don't do the vocals quite right.
So what should I be looking for here? Intimate, upfront mids from what I've read typically represents Grados, but I've so far only tried the SR60 and found them lacking in the area; they're also opposite of warm, unless the woodies like RS1 add to that, I don't know. Are Grados like RS1 and SR325 better with this? I've heard of K501's magical mids but I don't think it'd be upfront enough. AD2000 is said to have great mids as well, but being AT I'm not sure if it'd be warm at all. Perhaps closed cans may help here, but I'm not too familiar with them. I'm probably not willing to spend more than I would in RS1 used (so around $500 or so), just to give a rough budget.
Any input would be appreciated.
