seacard
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2005
- Posts
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Well, I've spent the last year or so trying out pretty much every headphone I can get my hands on. I've bought, sold, traded, borrowed probably around 50 headphones, and the USPS guy knows me real well. I single-handedly probably made them about $1000 sending things back and forth. Just wanted to share my conclusions so far. Don't know if this will be useful to anybody (since we all have such different tastes), but I really wanted to get some thoughts down on paper, even if it's just for myself. All of these were stock (unless noted), and all were amped by the GS-1 or the MPX3 SLAM.
Sennheiser HD650/600 (my score: 7) - I loved the dark, rich sound of these. I listen to about 65% classical music, and about 1/3 of that is solo piano and solo cello. For that type of music, this may be as good as it gets. It's a little darker than those instruments sound in real life, but the timbres and the fullness are all there. For larger orchestra music, however, I was a little disappointed. The midrange got a bit muddy, especially when the passages got complex and involved the lower registers. The headphone continued to clear up with burn-in, but never got to the point where I was happy with it. For rock, these were a mixed bag. On the one hand, there is plenty of bass and the vocals sound terrific. On the other hand, rock really sounds better with a more forward, in your face sound. The phones emphasise vocals and bass more than guitar licks, so if you were looking for just a rock phone, I would probably look elsewhere. (I did get to hear the HD600s balanced out of the SDS-XLR and they sounded terrific, but I am not going to rate them in that configuration because I have no idea how other headphones would have sounded out of that amp. I'd rather keep this an even playing field).
Beyerdynamic DT880 (my score: 6) - These were much better than I expected. For some reason, I thought they would sound thin. They didn't. Very open sound, more so than the HD650/600, and I preferred these to the 650s for larger orchestra works. On the other hand, they lacked the sophistication and the depth of the 650s and other headphones that I tried. At times, they sounded a little thin, maybe a little bright, and I just didn't think they had enough body for rock music. But on average, these are great headhpones and an excellent value.
Sony MDR-R10 (my score: 8) - I was trying really hard NOT to like these. I mean, they are expensive, and much of that money was spent on hand-made wood. Why pay so much for the wood, when you can probably get a the same driver in a plastic headphone for much cheaper? Well, as hard as I tried, these sounded amazing. The soundstage was dizzying at times, and the midrange was warm, yet clean. For classical, this may be as good as it gets. The sound was rich but not flabby, detailed but not harsh. This may have been my favorite dynamic. I also listened to them balanced out of the SDS-XLR, and they sounded even better.
Sony Qualia 010 (my score: 7.5) - At first, I was not impressed. But the more I listened, the more I got it. The detail on this headphone is spectacular. But for me, this headphone just didn't quite reach the R-10 level. On the other hand, I liked this one even better than the R-10 for jazz. Very clean and precise sound.
Sony MDR-SA5000 (my score: 6.5) - This one was a mixed bag for me. On the GS-1, I hated it. On the MPX3 SLAM, I loved it for certain music. For jazz, rock, metal, etc. this is a terrific headphones. It makes the trumpets and horns blare. Maybe a little sharper than real life, but that's that sort of sound that I like from my brass section. In your face but still detailed and not over the top. For large orchestral, this was terrific. You could easily pick out the second horn line from the first horn. The instruments didn't blend together. In that regard, it was no worse than the Qualia. But it lacked the refinement that some of the other top cans in this price class offer. Female vocals lost that special sparkle. Solo piano sounded a little dry and thinned out. To be honest, they were pretty accurate on the piano sound; it's just that I liked the richness that the HD650s and the R-10s brought, and really missed it with these headphones.
AKG K1000 (my score: 7.5) - What is there left to say about these? There were times when I put them on and they were the best sound (not just headphone sound, but sound period) I had ever heard. So rich, so detailed, such soundstage. At their best, they are better than the Orpheus or the Omegas or the R10. But then, you would listen to a different CD or music genre and they sounded bad. Real bad. Distant, thin, bright. If you are the kind of person who will own a few different headphones, and is comfortable swapping them in and out, you MUST own these. You will never hear anything better. For me, those times they sounded bad made me sell them ... twice.
AKG K701 (my score: 7.5) - With the MPX3 SLAM, this is my current favorite. It doesn't have the warmth of the R10, the detail of the Qualia, the bass of the PS-1, but overall it's just spectacular. I sold this headphone a while ago, but it's one that I will be buying back again. It beat every headphone in this price range by a wide, wide margin, and (for me) was very close to the big boys. The score above is based solely on sound quality; if value was included, this would be a perfect 10.
Grado HP1000 (my score: 6.5) - This was by far my favorite Grado. It had a beautiful rich sound, yet still managed to retain some of that Grado sound that people here love. It is the most refined of the Grados and I liked that. On the other hand, it lacked some of the precision and detail that I would expect from a headphone in this price range. Part of it may have been the fact that I didn't find it comfortable and have never been a big fan of the supra-aural design.
Grado RS-1 (my score: 5.5) - Probably my least favorite of the headphones in this upper echelon. To me, it sounded cheap, not the way you would expect a $700 headphone to sound. It's way too forward, which works for some styles of music but not for others. But even for rock, when this headphone is at its best, I would prefer the SA5000. I can't wait for the new Grado, however. Hopefully it will improve on this sound substantially.
Grado PS-1 (my score: 6.5) - To me, this headphone just didn't do it. Too much bass, still too forward (see RS-1 comments above), but slightly more refined. I still like the HP1000 better by a hair, but they fall into the same general category for me. Just not my cup of tea.
AT L3000 / W2002 (my score: 5) - This was my biggest disappointment. Way too warm, not detailed, and just plain bad. On the other hand, maybe the MPX3 SLAM is just not made for these headphones. The first time I was listening to these, I turned to the person next to me and said "something is wrong with these headphones." Well, there was nothing wrong -- I just really disliked them. I haven't heard the AD2000 or the W5000, but judging from what I've heard from the other AT's (including A900 and W1000), this is just not the sound for me.
Top 3 overall:
1. Sony MDR-R10
2. AKG K701
3. Sony Q010
(3.5 AKG K1000)
DISCLAIMER: I hate having to do this, but these are just my views. Please feel free to comment that "these mean nothing" or "these are absolutely ridiculous, how can you have the [insert a headphone that you own] so low?" or "you are a moron if you think that Heaphone X is better than Headphone Y." I just did this to share my experiences.
Besides my impressions are based on my life experiences and preferences. I'm a semi-professional classical musician, spent my life studying music history, theory, etc. I have won some state and national competitions, and have devoted my life (well, the times that I'm not lawyering) to music theory, composition, and peformance. The things that I look for are probably much different than what others look for, so if you disagree, that's great. The world would be a very boring place if we were all listening for minor thirds and augmented sevenths.
Those are my experiences with dynamic headphones so far. I'm moving on to electrostats for now (currently, I'm using a 4040 system), so it will probably be another year before I reach any conclusions with regard to these. I've only had brief listens to the Orpheus and the Omega II, so I'm not going to comment on these until I get more extended listens. I like what I've heard so far from the Orpheus, which may become my favorite headphone. I didn't love what I heard from the Omega IIs, but liked them quite a bit. The 4040 setup that I currently own sounds pretty good, but a little thin so far. Hoping that will change with burn-in. Or a new amp.
Also, thanks to everyone here for making this such an enjoyable hobby.
Sennheiser HD650/600 (my score: 7) - I loved the dark, rich sound of these. I listen to about 65% classical music, and about 1/3 of that is solo piano and solo cello. For that type of music, this may be as good as it gets. It's a little darker than those instruments sound in real life, but the timbres and the fullness are all there. For larger orchestra music, however, I was a little disappointed. The midrange got a bit muddy, especially when the passages got complex and involved the lower registers. The headphone continued to clear up with burn-in, but never got to the point where I was happy with it. For rock, these were a mixed bag. On the one hand, there is plenty of bass and the vocals sound terrific. On the other hand, rock really sounds better with a more forward, in your face sound. The phones emphasise vocals and bass more than guitar licks, so if you were looking for just a rock phone, I would probably look elsewhere. (I did get to hear the HD600s balanced out of the SDS-XLR and they sounded terrific, but I am not going to rate them in that configuration because I have no idea how other headphones would have sounded out of that amp. I'd rather keep this an even playing field).
Beyerdynamic DT880 (my score: 6) - These were much better than I expected. For some reason, I thought they would sound thin. They didn't. Very open sound, more so than the HD650/600, and I preferred these to the 650s for larger orchestra works. On the other hand, they lacked the sophistication and the depth of the 650s and other headphones that I tried. At times, they sounded a little thin, maybe a little bright, and I just didn't think they had enough body for rock music. But on average, these are great headhpones and an excellent value.
Sony MDR-R10 (my score: 8) - I was trying really hard NOT to like these. I mean, they are expensive, and much of that money was spent on hand-made wood. Why pay so much for the wood, when you can probably get a the same driver in a plastic headphone for much cheaper? Well, as hard as I tried, these sounded amazing. The soundstage was dizzying at times, and the midrange was warm, yet clean. For classical, this may be as good as it gets. The sound was rich but not flabby, detailed but not harsh. This may have been my favorite dynamic. I also listened to them balanced out of the SDS-XLR, and they sounded even better.
Sony Qualia 010 (my score: 7.5) - At first, I was not impressed. But the more I listened, the more I got it. The detail on this headphone is spectacular. But for me, this headphone just didn't quite reach the R-10 level. On the other hand, I liked this one even better than the R-10 for jazz. Very clean and precise sound.
Sony MDR-SA5000 (my score: 6.5) - This one was a mixed bag for me. On the GS-1, I hated it. On the MPX3 SLAM, I loved it for certain music. For jazz, rock, metal, etc. this is a terrific headphones. It makes the trumpets and horns blare. Maybe a little sharper than real life, but that's that sort of sound that I like from my brass section. In your face but still detailed and not over the top. For large orchestral, this was terrific. You could easily pick out the second horn line from the first horn. The instruments didn't blend together. In that regard, it was no worse than the Qualia. But it lacked the refinement that some of the other top cans in this price class offer. Female vocals lost that special sparkle. Solo piano sounded a little dry and thinned out. To be honest, they were pretty accurate on the piano sound; it's just that I liked the richness that the HD650s and the R-10s brought, and really missed it with these headphones.
AKG K1000 (my score: 7.5) - What is there left to say about these? There were times when I put them on and they were the best sound (not just headphone sound, but sound period) I had ever heard. So rich, so detailed, such soundstage. At their best, they are better than the Orpheus or the Omegas or the R10. But then, you would listen to a different CD or music genre and they sounded bad. Real bad. Distant, thin, bright. If you are the kind of person who will own a few different headphones, and is comfortable swapping them in and out, you MUST own these. You will never hear anything better. For me, those times they sounded bad made me sell them ... twice.
AKG K701 (my score: 7.5) - With the MPX3 SLAM, this is my current favorite. It doesn't have the warmth of the R10, the detail of the Qualia, the bass of the PS-1, but overall it's just spectacular. I sold this headphone a while ago, but it's one that I will be buying back again. It beat every headphone in this price range by a wide, wide margin, and (for me) was very close to the big boys. The score above is based solely on sound quality; if value was included, this would be a perfect 10.
Grado HP1000 (my score: 6.5) - This was by far my favorite Grado. It had a beautiful rich sound, yet still managed to retain some of that Grado sound that people here love. It is the most refined of the Grados and I liked that. On the other hand, it lacked some of the precision and detail that I would expect from a headphone in this price range. Part of it may have been the fact that I didn't find it comfortable and have never been a big fan of the supra-aural design.
Grado RS-1 (my score: 5.5) - Probably my least favorite of the headphones in this upper echelon. To me, it sounded cheap, not the way you would expect a $700 headphone to sound. It's way too forward, which works for some styles of music but not for others. But even for rock, when this headphone is at its best, I would prefer the SA5000. I can't wait for the new Grado, however. Hopefully it will improve on this sound substantially.
Grado PS-1 (my score: 6.5) - To me, this headphone just didn't do it. Too much bass, still too forward (see RS-1 comments above), but slightly more refined. I still like the HP1000 better by a hair, but they fall into the same general category for me. Just not my cup of tea.
AT L3000 / W2002 (my score: 5) - This was my biggest disappointment. Way too warm, not detailed, and just plain bad. On the other hand, maybe the MPX3 SLAM is just not made for these headphones. The first time I was listening to these, I turned to the person next to me and said "something is wrong with these headphones." Well, there was nothing wrong -- I just really disliked them. I haven't heard the AD2000 or the W5000, but judging from what I've heard from the other AT's (including A900 and W1000), this is just not the sound for me.
Top 3 overall:
1. Sony MDR-R10
2. AKG K701
3. Sony Q010
(3.5 AKG K1000)
DISCLAIMER: I hate having to do this, but these are just my views. Please feel free to comment that "these mean nothing" or "these are absolutely ridiculous, how can you have the [insert a headphone that you own] so low?" or "you are a moron if you think that Heaphone X is better than Headphone Y." I just did this to share my experiences.
Besides my impressions are based on my life experiences and preferences. I'm a semi-professional classical musician, spent my life studying music history, theory, etc. I have won some state and national competitions, and have devoted my life (well, the times that I'm not lawyering) to music theory, composition, and peformance. The things that I look for are probably much different than what others look for, so if you disagree, that's great. The world would be a very boring place if we were all listening for minor thirds and augmented sevenths.
Those are my experiences with dynamic headphones so far. I'm moving on to electrostats for now (currently, I'm using a 4040 system), so it will probably be another year before I reach any conclusions with regard to these. I've only had brief listens to the Orpheus and the Omega II, so I'm not going to comment on these until I get more extended listens. I like what I've heard so far from the Orpheus, which may become my favorite headphone. I didn't love what I heard from the Omega IIs, but liked them quite a bit. The 4040 setup that I currently own sounds pretty good, but a little thin so far. Hoping that will change with burn-in. Or a new amp.
Also, thanks to everyone here for making this such an enjoyable hobby.