mad3d
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2002
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Comparison of Sony MDR-V700DJ, Phillips HP890, and Sennheiser HD580
I am crazy. Really. I am a freshman in college and I have two major hobbies, computers and sound. Not good for the money situation….! I am constantly upgrading, selling old stuff, and upgrading again. Eventually that cycle came back around to headphones. I had been using Sony MDR-V700DJs (I know, I know, they aren’t worth the price…I got them for $40 off a friend) for about 6 months, but they just weren’t cutting it anymore. So I picked up a pair of Phillips HP890s from someone here on the forum and a pair of Sennheiser HD580s from newegg.com. The following are my observations and final pick. Please keep in mind that I do not yet have a headphone amp, and instead used the audio out on my computer (Nforce audio on one, Game Theater XP on another) along with my receiver’s headphone jack (Pioneer VSX-811S).
First up, my old Sony MDR-V700DJs.
Looks/comfort: Very futuristic, nice tight grip on the head allowing quick movements without the ‘phones dropping off. However, after longer listening periods my head would begin to hurt. I have gotten many comments from friends that they look cool, but I just can’t bring myself to wear them for longer periods of time.
Sound: Actually I was quite surprised. When I first got them I knew what to expect- overemphasized mids, less highs, lots of bass but not deep- but I was quite surprised with their actual sound. It really was not that bad. With a few equalizer adjustments on my computer everything sounded better. Since I listen to nearly every type of music, I’ll just comment on what I found with each type.
Classical: Not lifelike at all, not much detail on each of the actual instruments, though the entire sound flowed decently well together.
Hard Rock: If you like hard rock, you’ll probably like the sound of these headphones. The overemphasis on the low-midrange is perfect for “bassheads” and those who drive around in cars with subs turned up all the way. Again they didn’t have much fine detail with a more in your face sound. On certain songs the bass was too much even for me, and I can normally take tons of it (though its not always fun…).
Rap: The overemphasis again helped out this area of music the most. Since there really aren’t a whole lot of instruments being played at one time, the lack of detail didn’t really hurt this type of music that much. The extra bass helped for the constant beat, but sometimes seemed as if the bass was lagging behind slightly, not really muddy, but slow.
Soft Rock: Too much bass! Even with equalization I could not get the headphones to sound good on this type of music. Need I say more.
Techno: Along with rap, this is the best type of music to listen to on these phones. Yes the lack of detail is annoying, but the bass (since most songs don’t have incredibly low bass) makes it seem more like you are at a club or something.
Vocals: Mixed bag…high voices get lost if mixed with many other sounds, but tenor voices sound quite good. Surprisingly enough, it seemed as though most of the detail in vocal recordings was still there. For some songs they sounded very good, for others very bad.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: The soundstage was hard to detect. At times it would seem wide (but not very much so, more like sitting 9 or 10 rows back), but for others the sound would just seem to be coming from right in the middle of your head. Because of their design, when hitting low notes you can easily feel the driver movement, and this can take some getting used to. As seen from above, the overall sound depends more on the type of music you listen to. Rap, hard rock, and techno seem to sound the best, even after equalizing the response, with some vocals and classical definitely suffering. Overall they aren’t bad headphones…not worth $150…but considering I got them for $40 I don’t think it was a bad decision. After listening to them for a while you get used to the sound, and they are actually fun to hear if you just want to “rock yourself” for a little bit. Other than the sound deficiencies, the only major problem is the comfort. I just cannot listen to them for long periods of time. Either they are too tight or my ears just don’t like close drivers, but something makes my head hurt after a long listening session.
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 6 for all types of music, 8 for techo/rock/rap
Next up, the Phillips phones.
Looks/comfort: My first thought…holy crap these are huge. But when I put them on I could not feel them at all. They are securely held on my head without feeling like they are. They look like high quality headphones; however, they can give you some weird looks due to their size.
Sound: Very nice. Slightly more bass extension then the Senns and some midbass emphasis, though not as much as the Sony phones. Somewhat lacking in the upper upper frequencies, and can sometimes be slow or boomy on low notes due to the larger driver size. I’m told this can be corrected with an amp though.
Classical: Pretty lifelike with a very nice overall sound presentation. Good amount of detail present, though not as much as with the Senns. A little more forgiving on defects and mistakes in the recording.
Hard Rock: Just like the Sony headphones, if you like hard rock, you’ll probably like the sound of these headphones. The overemphasis of bass is just enough to add to the music without making it unbearable. The sound is not smoothed at all, and other than the slight slowness on bass they are pretty much perfect for this type of music.
Rap: If I had an amp that made the bass not slow on very deep notes then I’d say these were the best phones for this type of music. But as it stands they are only very good in this category.
Techno: The presentation of this type of music was very nice. Details in the song were preserved with the lower bass extension and slight emphasis giving that extra kick.
Vocals: Overall very good, but some problems with large numbers of voices at one time- voices would get lost in the overall sound. Not that this is a bad thing, just I think I would like to have a little more detail of the individual voices.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: The best word to describe it would be interesting. The stage seems to be very, very wide in some songs and not as much in others. These headphones would excel at pinpoint sound localization, such as that needed in computer games. I like the overall sound presentation, it is smooth, though not as much as the Sennheisers, and the overall harmony of the sounds makes for a very nice listening session. The bass extension is amazing. As someone else on this forum said, it sometimes sounds as if you have “subwoofers strapped to your ears.” Their comfort and good sound makes them very nice to listen to for long periods of time.
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 8.5 for all types of music
Finally, my Sennheisers.
Looks/comfort: They look like the high quality headphones they are. Some people may not like the plastic band and things like that, but I think they look very nice. Comfort wise they are incredible, even after listening to music for a very long time my head did not hurt at all. In fact, after just a few minutes you forget they are on your head.
Sound: Amazing. Lifelike. Detailed. They are revealing of flaws though. I listen to many mp3s, and if something is not encoded well (192kbps+) the sound is just hard to enjoy. Like the others I’ll go into my observations on the different types of music, but I won’t go into as much detail due to the high numbers of reviews already present on these headphones.
Classical: Wow, its like being at a performance. Every tiny detail can be heard, all sounds are well balanced and certain instruments, like violins, are just unreal.
Hard Rock: Again, excellent reproduction of the sound. Even the tinniest details are heard, but the overall presentation of the sound can be too smooth (for lack of a better word). This is noticeable, but not terrible. It just makes some songs seem more laid back then they should be.
Rap: Some may complain that these headphones do not have enough bass. I must disagree. They again are very well balanced and perform admirably even on the most hard hitting and fast beats of different rap songs.
Soft Rock: Nice and balanced. I don’t listen to this type of music as much, but I thought it sounded quite good.
Techno: The extra detail helps here, as well as the balanced overall sound. Tracks do not sound boomy or overemphasized. The songs sound as if they were live.
Vocals: Another area these excel in. All ranges of voices sound completely lifelike, and large numbers of voices at one time are presented in complete synergy.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: As many others have commented, the soundstage is open. It seems as though you are at the front row in a concert. The sound just seems to float around your ears. It is really something you must hear, words can’t describe it very well. For the overall sound, I just love these headphones. Even without an external amp I can quite easily drive them to extremely loud levels just off my computer. For all types of music they excel, the only slight deficiency being in hard rock- the smoothness sometimes can hurt the overall sound presentation. I will definitely be using these for my primary headphones, and eventually will build myself an amp and higher quality cables. I can’t wait to see how they sound then! These are highly, highly recommended!
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 10 for all types of music, 9.5 for just hard rock
I am crazy. Really. I am a freshman in college and I have two major hobbies, computers and sound. Not good for the money situation….! I am constantly upgrading, selling old stuff, and upgrading again. Eventually that cycle came back around to headphones. I had been using Sony MDR-V700DJs (I know, I know, they aren’t worth the price…I got them for $40 off a friend) for about 6 months, but they just weren’t cutting it anymore. So I picked up a pair of Phillips HP890s from someone here on the forum and a pair of Sennheiser HD580s from newegg.com. The following are my observations and final pick. Please keep in mind that I do not yet have a headphone amp, and instead used the audio out on my computer (Nforce audio on one, Game Theater XP on another) along with my receiver’s headphone jack (Pioneer VSX-811S).
First up, my old Sony MDR-V700DJs.
Looks/comfort: Very futuristic, nice tight grip on the head allowing quick movements without the ‘phones dropping off. However, after longer listening periods my head would begin to hurt. I have gotten many comments from friends that they look cool, but I just can’t bring myself to wear them for longer periods of time.
Sound: Actually I was quite surprised. When I first got them I knew what to expect- overemphasized mids, less highs, lots of bass but not deep- but I was quite surprised with their actual sound. It really was not that bad. With a few equalizer adjustments on my computer everything sounded better. Since I listen to nearly every type of music, I’ll just comment on what I found with each type.
Classical: Not lifelike at all, not much detail on each of the actual instruments, though the entire sound flowed decently well together.
Hard Rock: If you like hard rock, you’ll probably like the sound of these headphones. The overemphasis on the low-midrange is perfect for “bassheads” and those who drive around in cars with subs turned up all the way. Again they didn’t have much fine detail with a more in your face sound. On certain songs the bass was too much even for me, and I can normally take tons of it (though its not always fun…).
Rap: The overemphasis again helped out this area of music the most. Since there really aren’t a whole lot of instruments being played at one time, the lack of detail didn’t really hurt this type of music that much. The extra bass helped for the constant beat, but sometimes seemed as if the bass was lagging behind slightly, not really muddy, but slow.
Soft Rock: Too much bass! Even with equalization I could not get the headphones to sound good on this type of music. Need I say more.
Techno: Along with rap, this is the best type of music to listen to on these phones. Yes the lack of detail is annoying, but the bass (since most songs don’t have incredibly low bass) makes it seem more like you are at a club or something.
Vocals: Mixed bag…high voices get lost if mixed with many other sounds, but tenor voices sound quite good. Surprisingly enough, it seemed as though most of the detail in vocal recordings was still there. For some songs they sounded very good, for others very bad.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: The soundstage was hard to detect. At times it would seem wide (but not very much so, more like sitting 9 or 10 rows back), but for others the sound would just seem to be coming from right in the middle of your head. Because of their design, when hitting low notes you can easily feel the driver movement, and this can take some getting used to. As seen from above, the overall sound depends more on the type of music you listen to. Rap, hard rock, and techno seem to sound the best, even after equalizing the response, with some vocals and classical definitely suffering. Overall they aren’t bad headphones…not worth $150…but considering I got them for $40 I don’t think it was a bad decision. After listening to them for a while you get used to the sound, and they are actually fun to hear if you just want to “rock yourself” for a little bit. Other than the sound deficiencies, the only major problem is the comfort. I just cannot listen to them for long periods of time. Either they are too tight or my ears just don’t like close drivers, but something makes my head hurt after a long listening session.
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 6 for all types of music, 8 for techo/rock/rap
Next up, the Phillips phones.
Looks/comfort: My first thought…holy crap these are huge. But when I put them on I could not feel them at all. They are securely held on my head without feeling like they are. They look like high quality headphones; however, they can give you some weird looks due to their size.
Sound: Very nice. Slightly more bass extension then the Senns and some midbass emphasis, though not as much as the Sony phones. Somewhat lacking in the upper upper frequencies, and can sometimes be slow or boomy on low notes due to the larger driver size. I’m told this can be corrected with an amp though.
Classical: Pretty lifelike with a very nice overall sound presentation. Good amount of detail present, though not as much as with the Senns. A little more forgiving on defects and mistakes in the recording.
Hard Rock: Just like the Sony headphones, if you like hard rock, you’ll probably like the sound of these headphones. The overemphasis of bass is just enough to add to the music without making it unbearable. The sound is not smoothed at all, and other than the slight slowness on bass they are pretty much perfect for this type of music.
Rap: If I had an amp that made the bass not slow on very deep notes then I’d say these were the best phones for this type of music. But as it stands they are only very good in this category.
Techno: The presentation of this type of music was very nice. Details in the song were preserved with the lower bass extension and slight emphasis giving that extra kick.
Vocals: Overall very good, but some problems with large numbers of voices at one time- voices would get lost in the overall sound. Not that this is a bad thing, just I think I would like to have a little more detail of the individual voices.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: The best word to describe it would be interesting. The stage seems to be very, very wide in some songs and not as much in others. These headphones would excel at pinpoint sound localization, such as that needed in computer games. I like the overall sound presentation, it is smooth, though not as much as the Sennheisers, and the overall harmony of the sounds makes for a very nice listening session. The bass extension is amazing. As someone else on this forum said, it sometimes sounds as if you have “subwoofers strapped to your ears.” Their comfort and good sound makes them very nice to listen to for long periods of time.
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 8.5 for all types of music
Finally, my Sennheisers.
Looks/comfort: They look like the high quality headphones they are. Some people may not like the plastic band and things like that, but I think they look very nice. Comfort wise they are incredible, even after listening to music for a very long time my head did not hurt at all. In fact, after just a few minutes you forget they are on your head.
Sound: Amazing. Lifelike. Detailed. They are revealing of flaws though. I listen to many mp3s, and if something is not encoded well (192kbps+) the sound is just hard to enjoy. Like the others I’ll go into my observations on the different types of music, but I won’t go into as much detail due to the high numbers of reviews already present on these headphones.
Classical: Wow, its like being at a performance. Every tiny detail can be heard, all sounds are well balanced and certain instruments, like violins, are just unreal.
Hard Rock: Again, excellent reproduction of the sound. Even the tinniest details are heard, but the overall presentation of the sound can be too smooth (for lack of a better word). This is noticeable, but not terrible. It just makes some songs seem more laid back then they should be.
Rap: Some may complain that these headphones do not have enough bass. I must disagree. They again are very well balanced and perform admirably even on the most hard hitting and fast beats of different rap songs.
Soft Rock: Nice and balanced. I don’t listen to this type of music as much, but I thought it sounded quite good.
Techno: The extra detail helps here, as well as the balanced overall sound. Tracks do not sound boomy or overemphasized. The songs sound as if they were live.
Vocals: Another area these excel in. All ranges of voices sound completely lifelike, and large numbers of voices at one time are presented in complete synergy.
Soundstage/Overall Sound: As many others have commented, the soundstage is open. It seems as though you are at the front row in a concert. The sound just seems to float around your ears. It is really something you must hear, words can’t describe it very well. For the overall sound, I just love these headphones. Even without an external amp I can quite easily drive them to extremely loud levels just off my computer. For all types of music they excel, the only slight deficiency being in hard rock- the smoothness sometimes can hurt the overall sound presentation. I will definitely be using these for my primary headphones, and eventually will build myself an amp and higher quality cables. I can’t wait to see how they sound then! These are highly, highly recommended!
OVERALL RANKING (Out of 10): 10 for all types of music, 9.5 for just hard rock
