[MythNoob]

Ok here's the situation. My best friend is someone i have been trying to get into head-fi for awhile, he has a rather untrained ear so he exuberiently exclaimed to me yesterday that he had purchased some dr dre beats (cringe) and that they were gonna be better than my M50's due to the doubling of the price he paid for the beats (double cringe)
 
Now heres the challenge fellow head-fiers , we are gonna be doing a side by side comparison in a day or two , What songs can i play him that will have him (and his untrained ear) hear the difference between consumer headphones (the beats) and proper headphones that enter the realm of head-fi like the M50's?
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

[jononku]

I was going to respond with 'anything', but you'll probably get a lot of those responses anyway.  I'll say a couple albums put out in 2010 that are well recorded and sound stellar on a good set of cans; the latest albums by eric clapton (clapton) and spoon (transference).  That should do it.

 

[buffalowings]

Quote:

Ok here's the situation. My best friend is someone i have been trying to get into head-fi for awhile, he has a rather untrained ear so he exuberiently exclaimed to me yesterday that he had purchased some dr dre beats (cringe) and that they were gonna be better than my M50's due to the doubling of the price he paid for the beats (double cringe)
 
Now heres the challenge fellow head-fiers , we are gonna be doing a side by side comparison in a day or two , What songs can i play him that will have him (and his untrained ear) hear the difference between consumer headphones (the beats) and proper headphones that enter the realm of head-fi like the M50's?
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

don't play him classical...just saying

 

[olor1n]

Any track off Big Boi's Sir Luscious Leftfoot.

 

[TobaccoRoad]

Quote:

don't play him classical...just saying

He's trying to point out the flaws via comparisons, so he SHOULD play some classical music. Not that M50's are great for such genre but still..

 

[Hayang]

If you play classical and he doesn't like classical, he'll probably have grounds to say something like "it sounds good for classical but..."

 

[deaththeorist]

Dear god by A7X
 
ask him to figure out the many guitars! (imo instrument separation differences WILL convert him)

 

[kingtz]

Just let him play whatever he thinks sounds good on his Beats. Hell, let him bring his own music files and player so he can't complain about different equipment, settings, etc.
 
Secondly, I don't think a side by side comparison will be very fruitful. It'll probably be better to just let me borrow your M50 for a weekend or something to try them out. The stress of your watching him and constraints such as time are generally not conducive to a good listening comparison.
 
Also, just hope that he's man enough to admit if his overpriced Beats don't sound as good as your M50s.

 

[yifu]

Play him VERY fast paced trance music and WITH level 2/3 bass boost. The speed of the M50s and the control of the head shaking bass that doesnt mess up the other parts of it should it. He is untrained so he would not hear stuff like separation, detail retrieval or imaging but he should hear how well controlled the bass is for the price of the M50. But to be honest, the Beats Pro/Studio is on the same level as the M50 in terms of technicality. The beats solo on the other hand, sucks.

 

[MythNoob]

Sir Lucious Left Foot (Big Boi) could  be a winner cause he knows that album, i can see it right now though, hes going to equate bloated bass response from the beats to being quality

 

[eucariote]

You might find this review helpful.  They compare Beats and M50, and note the more controlled bass of the M50, the presence of artifacts in the Beats treble and the fuller midrange on the M50.  So any song with a good bass drum, vocal/guitar and cymbal/highs should reveal these differences.

 

[Icy56]

If you are gonna let him use his own music just make sure he gets his music from a good source and not just that 128kbps crap off of limewire. I HATE it when people wanna try my headphones but they listen to music from there. Low quality mp3s sounds terrible on m50s. And just be prepared to be disappointed. People with the untrained ear will not hear a difference especially since all they pay attention to is bass. they don't care about anything else because apparently thats all that matters in a headphone.

 

[slapshot30]

Well I mean if the guy likes hip hop and bass... it'll be tough. But if you really think your m50's will do then you MUST play "A Milli" by Lil Wayne. Good lord it is insane. But you should be able to tell that the powerful yet controlled bass of the m50 is superior. Hope you're using an amp though. When I hook up my headphones straight into my ipod and use the built in bass booster... the quality just isn't there, even in 320 kbps.

 

[Icy56]

Quote:

Well I mean if the guy likes hip hop and bass... it'll be tough. But if you really think your m50's will do then you MUST play "A Milli" by Lil Wayne. Good lord it is insane. But you should be able to tell that the powerful yet controlled bass of the m50 is superior. Hope you're using an amp though. When I hook up my headphones straight into my ipod and use the built in bass booster... the quality just isn't there, even in 320 kbps.

Although this is kind of off topic, what amp do you use for your m50s? I am using my m50s straight out of the source but if an amp really improves it i might get one.

 

[slapshot30]

I bought a Fiio E5 with these phones since they were cheap. I turned off the ipods EQ and used the bass boost on the E5. It made the bass realll nice. A bit distorted though. When March comes around I'm planning on buying the new Fiio E11 and get a cheap LOD with it. That way I'll get the same/even better bass and the clarity I want. If you're using just an iPod I'd wait for the e11 since it will cost less than the e7 and the e7 has a DAC which you dont need with an iPod. Yifu actually helped me out with all this stuff, I think he commented earlier on this same thread.
 
 
EDIT: Ooo but another suggestion for the OP. Numb by Linkin Park is also amazing on the m50's. I hear some bass in the song that I never even knew was there.
 
Quote:

Quote:

Well I mean if the guy likes hip hop and bass... it'll be tough. But if you really think your m50's will do then you MUST play "A Milli" by Lil Wayne. Good lord it is insane. But you should be able to tell that the powerful yet controlled bass of the m50 is superior. Hope you're using an amp though. When I hook up my headphones straight into my ipod and use the built in bass booster... the quality just isn't there, even in 320 kbps.

Although this is kind of off topic, what amp do you use for your m50s? I am using my m50s straight out of the source but if an amp really improves it i might get one.