[evilking]

I thought the HD25-1 was neutral!

I've read comments that the HD25-1 is too bright, too sibilant, too agressive, ALL three attributes I like in my headphones (the DT660/SR325i kicks serious ass

: ). Recieved the HD25-1 earlier today, excited as hell, hurriedly throw some cds into the queue, source...check, amp...check, adjust headband...click...click...click, and I'm ready.

Time to blast some music and what do I hear?

Boom flipping Boom

Seriously underwhelming, switching each of my other headphones in turn reveals each flaw in the HD25-1. No wonder everyone's losing their hearing if you have to turn the volume up so high to hear the vocals over the bass

. The music is in the mids people, that's where all the action is (obviously depending on the genre and the song). Soundstage is alright, hard to determine at this point, definately lacking "air".

Anyway, the HD25 is the best closed supra-aural so far (the ES7 was just too warm), provides a good measure of isolation, light, comfortable. Some op-amp switching and a few days burn in/acclimatisation will help smooth the sound a bit. Cable replacement is also still on the cards. Actually the sound signature may change significantly after all of these mods and it isn't really fair to judge the HD25s in their current state. The above is my very first impressions then...

 

[Killercrush]

It's tough to find decent mids in isolating closed cans. I really liked the HD25 when I had them (my first decent cans) and I love Grados. Give them a little time, at least 75 hours and change the cable as soon as you can. Sure, they will never have mids a la AKG or Grado.

 

[MaloS]

Burn-innnnn

 

[Skylab]

Are we talking about the HD25-1 or the HD25sp? The sp is NOT the same as the 25-1 and isn't very good.

The HD25-1 is not boomy. If anything I wish it were just a hair warmer and has just a hair more bass (although it sounds awesome with the warm-ish Meier Move). But the HD25-1 is as neutral and detailed a closed can as you will find.

If you bought the SP, send it back and get the real deal.

 

[evilking]

No, its the original dash one.

After just 7 hours burn in the bass is calming down a little, a couple days more will hopefully set things right. I guess the cable upgrade will polish it off some, though I do like the feel of the steel cable (heh, feel of steel...). Any recommendations for the best replacement? Usually the OFC cable from the -13 is used, but recently I've noticed some more adventurous choices.

No offence Skylab, but I remember reading that one of your favourite headphones was the DT770 (Darthed for more bass...). That sound sig wasn't anywhere close to my personal preference. I'm one of those who thinks Ety's have bass...

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilking /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, its the original dash one. After just 7 hours burn in the bass is calming down a little, a couple days more will hopefully set things right. I guess the cable upgrade will polish it off some, though I do like the feel of the steel cable (heh, feel of steel...). Any recommendations for the best replacement? Usually the OFC cable from the -13 is used, but recently I've noticed some more adventurous choices. No offence Skylab, but I remember reading that one of your favourite headphones was the DT770 (Darthed for more bass...). That sound sig wasn't anywhere close to my personal preference. I'm one of those who thinks Ety's have bass...

No offense taken. The HD25-1's sound absolutely nothing like DT770's, though. Far, far from it. I'd say give them 100 hours break in and then listen again.

I use the Headphile Senn V2 cable with them, and that helps a lot, but it makes the treble smoother - maybe not what you want?

 

[Lord Chaos]

My HD25s have gradually gotten better over the last few months. At first they sounded scratchy and definitely like little tiny speakers, but after a few hours that went away. I'm sure there's bi-directional accommodation going on, but I like these cans a lot. The major fault I find in them is that if a recording is bass-heavy the 'phones accentuate it. A recording with normal bass sounds normal. Loreena McKennitt's "An Ancient Muse" is an example of a bass-heavy recording that sounds better on a different set of cans.

 

[nickchen]

I had a short opportunity to listen to fully burnt-in HD25 some days ago - great fons. Absolutely superior to my K81s, except one point: Mids.

 

[2ndbest]

I remember mine being somewhat boomy and with recessed mids in the beginning. I think I've put about 100 hours on them, and they've smoothed out alot since then.

 

[evilking]

I'd better wait until I get to know them before thinking about changing the cable.

They really are industrial quality, I'm driving them to insane levels (off my head of course). They sound pretty good as speakers (relative to other headphones), the sound sig seems to work well for this purpose...

 

[jant71]

Those DT660's have some excellent/forward mids for a closed phone. The Senn will never have their speed/aggressiveness either. The advantage is portability that a 350 gram Beyer can't give. Remember, they are probably the best sounding portable closed can with excellent isolation. 325i/DT660 are just better phones. They should close the gap with burn-in/better cable etc.

 

[pbalcer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilking /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought the HD25-1 was neutral! I've read comments that the HD25-1 is too bright, too sibilant, too agressive, ALL three attributes I like in my headphones (the DT660/SR325i kicks serious ass : ). Recieved the HD25-1 earlier today, excited as hell, hurriedly throw some cds into the queue, source...check, amp...check, adjust headband...click...click...click, and I'm ready. Time to blast some music and what do I hear? Boom flipping Boom

I had HD25-1 a long time ago. Right from the box they were very scratchy in the upper region and super-bassy. Over period of several months the high end became smooth but the bass remained - although less boomy.

From my observations: HD25-1 had nice mids but they were overwhelmed by bass on most recordings. The HD25-1 sounded like everything below 1 kHz was boosted by several dB so the mids were very "compressed".

The HD25-1 were nice headphones when it comes to isolation but I simply couldn't adjust to their sound signature. My impressions were exactly like yours. And things didn't improve with time. In the end I sold HD25-1.

If you are looking for closed cans with nice mids, I can recomend AKG K271. The K271 sound really smooth and are well balanced. The HD280Pro isolate better than K271 but only when it comes to higher frequencies (phone beeps, people talking) - the K271 is better at isolating lower frequencies like air-condition, motors, etc. None of those two cans isolate better than HD25-1.

If you are looking for robust and extremely isolating headphones with really good sound quality, you might want to look at IEMs. I have Shure E4c and they are simply great!

Cheers!

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbalcer /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you are looking for closed cans with nice mids, I can recomend AKG K271. The K271 sound really smooth and are well balanced.

Totally true. Definetely on my "want to have" list. Best mids I've ever experienced in a closed fon - provided it is amped. Sounds awfully thin without.

 

[AlanL]

I like the Sennheiser HD25-1 for portability, efficiency and isolation, but they can be slightly edgy in the upper mid-range at times, and they can also exaggerate bass heavy material. Otherwise a very good closed portable.

 

[Daroid]

When i got mine in 2003, the first thing that came to mind was - "are these really better than my Beyer DT231?". I listened and listened, but it was as if the screechiness went away and the bass settled down further. After more than 400 hours of use, i'd say they are worth every penny in sound quality - but the path to this isn't easy.

Without contest this is the best phone i have when it comes to midranges, where it is truely neutral in a large range of frequencies, where the HD650 sound blooming and syrupy, and HF-1 tries to deliver hyper-details by lifting the upper midrange + an annoying treble bump. This is all confirmed by HeadRoom's graphs too.

The HD25-1 can easily be overpowered though, i don't think it benefits at all from much amplification, in the contrary, the bass becomes uncontrolled and generally just screetchy. I have a feeling that it's sensitive to a too high voltage gain vs. too little current gain, and that dampening factor with this headphone is very critical compared to e.g. a HD650.

I think you should wait with buying replacement OFC cables and whatnot, to see if it gets more to your liking. The OFC cable will decrease sibilance enormeously, considering it is "just a cable", but it won't do much about the bass.
Also try using the headphones with different positions - they need to be pushed completely back on the ears.
Try using it with other sources - even directly from portables, which do not have a high voltage gain.