HyperM3
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2005
- Posts
- 185
- Likes
- 10
Preface: So I had always used IEM's because of portability and that I always thought they sounded the best. Recently Ive been traveling more so I was looking into getting better fidelity while still retaining the portable aspect. I had bought the Shure SRH840's back in October on a great deal so I figured why not get something to get me into the headphone world and out of the IEM world. At the time I didn't really know about burning in headphones so I just started using them. I didn't find the sound to be very good and after a while of listening I had fatigue and my ears were ringing. I don't listen to music loud as I'm trying to preserve what's left of my hearing(too much blasting the car speakers back in the day).
FWD to about a month ago when I started getting back into head-fi again. Busted out the 840's and did a proper 100hr break in. After that they were MUCH better and I was able to listen to them 4+ hours with no fatiguing or ringing after wards. But this isn't thread isn't about how those headphones sound is it? A couple weeks ago I went on a trip and brought both the 840's and my 530's with me. On the plane I went back and forth between the two. First the 530's were great at killing any engine or cabin noise, just pure music. However, very annoying when the stewards were trying to talk to me or the person sitting next to me trying to get my attention to talk to me. After enough of that I threw on the 840's. I was actually impressed with how much noise they also blocked. I suppose its because they are over the ear but they did an impressive job. These were much easier to take on and off when anyone tried to talk to me. However, the point of that little story is that the 840's just don't travel well. They are BIG and they didn't like to be put in the same backpack as my laptop(it just got that much heavier). Plus I looked like a huge dork with those things on(I have a peanut head), or maybe I just look like one to begin with and it exacerbated the situation. Sooo, here I was looking for a new "smaller" but good sounding noise blocking portable headphone.
Enter the highly recommended HD 25-1. I did about a weeks worth of research on headphones. OMG it was torture having something in my head that I knew I wanted but couldn't decide on. All day and night I was reading every post, thread, review I could find. There were several contenders(which I may pick up eventually anyway) but I went with the Senns.
I received them in the mail today. First thing I did was remove the stock steel cable and replace it with the aftermarket copper cable. I didn't even care to hear what that OEM cable sounded like. Holding these headphones I noticed how much plastic there was. But a very solid plastic. I say that because there are definitely different types of plastic and when its said that these are indestructible, I completely believe it. The feel of the plastic boasts that of confidence and one that says "I wont let you down even if you drop me from 20 feet". Not that I recommend anyone try it. I'm writing this while thinking about all those "Beats" I've walked past in Best Buy seeing how they were always cracked in one or multiple places. The shiny plastic that just, well, looks cheap. Nuff about that, I think you get what I mean.
Again, I have a small head so when I put these on, the cups didn't have to slide down too many notches. First thing I noticed was how different feeling on ear headphones feel as opposed to over ear headphones. At first I was kind of put off thinking how extremely comfortable the 840's were being that I hardly noticed they were there. I could feel the HD-25's putting more pressure on my head squeezing slightly. I was wondering if maybe it was because the cups were closer to the upper part where the squeeze angle is sharper. Meaning, if you have a larger head, the cups would be at the end of the headband aiding in more flex. Anyway, after about 5 minutes I could tell there was significant pressure(not enough to make me pass out), enough that I noticed it. The other thing I noticed was that the amount of isolation was NOT as good as what Ive read on here. I was expecting isolation as if I was in a padded room. Nope, wasn't there. Not that it was bad, just not as good as Id hoped. I turned my TV on and did a run through of my possessions, all without playing any music. First the 530's then the 840's and then HD-25's. Obviously the 530's were great since they were IEM, not even fair. The 840's were pretty good, however like I said before, I attribute that to the fact they are over the ear. Lastly I put the HD-25's on and while they were good, they were definitely behind the 840's in terms of blocking out the TV. Again, these are coming on an airplane with me so I need to block out as much engine/cabin sound as possible.
Now I decided to play some of my reference songs to test the different stuff I'm going to put through it. Yes, I know I hadn't broken them in yet but I wanted a taste. Come on, how could anyone not?
Hoodoo - Muse: Love the Spanish style guitar in the beginning on this track and with just the vocals over top a very clean song. The detail was great and the vocals were very forward and present. Not too much bass, I could tell it was trying but it just wasn't broken in yet. Overall, impressed with the presentation.
Fluorescent - Gwen Stefani: I like to use this track because of the electric sound of the bass. Either its rendered deep or its muddy. First try, it was slightly muddy. I'm going to attribute it again to it not being broken in yet so Ill give it another try later on. But, wow, when Gwen's vocals came on they were right there up front. I cant remember what any of the specifics were about the signature of these cans are but if its one thing so far, its that the vocals are very present and detailed.
Never Too Late - Three Days Grace: Maybe this one isn't fair because its my favorite band and I expected greatness(to me they sound good out of a radio that had fallen in a pool). I digress. The initial guitar playing in the first 10 seconds of the track were stunning. I felt like it was being played right in front of my face and I could literally see the strings vibrating. There was incredible detail there and I want to say accurate too. The rest of the song just was OK. It seemed that when a lot more of the instruments came in and the song got harder, it seemed to jumble a bit more without separation.
Mother - Tori Amos: This is my favorite reference song. First off, YIKES! I heard something in the first second of the song Id never heard before, the opening of the piano. Its brief but completely there. Listening further it was intoxicating. The piano was rendered so well and tight. I never heard it like this before. I grabbed my 840's and started the track over. Yes, hmm, all that was there but it was just missing...something. HD-25's back on and started from the beginning again. Amazing! Its not that you could hear all the details, but they were so crisp and clear. You could hear the felt hammer hitting the actual wire, not just the keys being played. Tori is my favorite artist and hearing her this way was just awesome. The fact that these are low price point headphones makes me wonder what really expensive ones could do for her music. Would she be having a concert right here for me? Anyway, her vocals once again were front and center. You could hear every breath and enunciation of the words. I've never been able to count the times her tongue hit the top of her pallet before she sang certain syllables. And these weren't even broken in yet? Whoa.
In terms of the sound stage, as mentioned in other reviews, there wasn't too much of one. I don't know if its the over ear thing or what but my 840's seemed to give a little bit more room between instruments. While I could pick out the separation of instruments on the HD-25's, they all seemed to hover in the middle of my head. Once again, it might not be fair to call this out until they are truly broken in. The other thing I noticed was that these are definitely more efficient than the 840's. At the same volume on the iPod, the HD-25's were noticeably louder. I was debating on getting an amp but now I may not need to.
So, for the next few days they shall sit on my desk getting broken in with shuffle on. So far, I'm very happy with this purchase. If you like female vocals and more acoustic instrumental tracks you will really enjoy these headphones. If you like hearing details you might not know existed in your favorite tracks, you will enjoy these. The bass seems like it might tighten up but wont go as low as my 840's. So if you're a basshead you probably wont like these. However, I am not and I like the mids and highs a lot more. Ill take my bass controlled enough to let me know its there but not overpowering the rest of the music. I did listen to a little bit of electronica(Metric, Florence + The Machine) and it sounded good. Ill give that more of a listen later on.
So anyway, these are my findings. Ill keep this updated as soon as I can.
FWD to about a month ago when I started getting back into head-fi again. Busted out the 840's and did a proper 100hr break in. After that they were MUCH better and I was able to listen to them 4+ hours with no fatiguing or ringing after wards. But this isn't thread isn't about how those headphones sound is it? A couple weeks ago I went on a trip and brought both the 840's and my 530's with me. On the plane I went back and forth between the two. First the 530's were great at killing any engine or cabin noise, just pure music. However, very annoying when the stewards were trying to talk to me or the person sitting next to me trying to get my attention to talk to me. After enough of that I threw on the 840's. I was actually impressed with how much noise they also blocked. I suppose its because they are over the ear but they did an impressive job. These were much easier to take on and off when anyone tried to talk to me. However, the point of that little story is that the 840's just don't travel well. They are BIG and they didn't like to be put in the same backpack as my laptop(it just got that much heavier). Plus I looked like a huge dork with those things on(I have a peanut head), or maybe I just look like one to begin with and it exacerbated the situation. Sooo, here I was looking for a new "smaller" but good sounding noise blocking portable headphone.
Enter the highly recommended HD 25-1. I did about a weeks worth of research on headphones. OMG it was torture having something in my head that I knew I wanted but couldn't decide on. All day and night I was reading every post, thread, review I could find. There were several contenders(which I may pick up eventually anyway) but I went with the Senns.
I received them in the mail today. First thing I did was remove the stock steel cable and replace it with the aftermarket copper cable. I didn't even care to hear what that OEM cable sounded like. Holding these headphones I noticed how much plastic there was. But a very solid plastic. I say that because there are definitely different types of plastic and when its said that these are indestructible, I completely believe it. The feel of the plastic boasts that of confidence and one that says "I wont let you down even if you drop me from 20 feet". Not that I recommend anyone try it. I'm writing this while thinking about all those "Beats" I've walked past in Best Buy seeing how they were always cracked in one or multiple places. The shiny plastic that just, well, looks cheap. Nuff about that, I think you get what I mean.
Again, I have a small head so when I put these on, the cups didn't have to slide down too many notches. First thing I noticed was how different feeling on ear headphones feel as opposed to over ear headphones. At first I was kind of put off thinking how extremely comfortable the 840's were being that I hardly noticed they were there. I could feel the HD-25's putting more pressure on my head squeezing slightly. I was wondering if maybe it was because the cups were closer to the upper part where the squeeze angle is sharper. Meaning, if you have a larger head, the cups would be at the end of the headband aiding in more flex. Anyway, after about 5 minutes I could tell there was significant pressure(not enough to make me pass out), enough that I noticed it. The other thing I noticed was that the amount of isolation was NOT as good as what Ive read on here. I was expecting isolation as if I was in a padded room. Nope, wasn't there. Not that it was bad, just not as good as Id hoped. I turned my TV on and did a run through of my possessions, all without playing any music. First the 530's then the 840's and then HD-25's. Obviously the 530's were great since they were IEM, not even fair. The 840's were pretty good, however like I said before, I attribute that to the fact they are over the ear. Lastly I put the HD-25's on and while they were good, they were definitely behind the 840's in terms of blocking out the TV. Again, these are coming on an airplane with me so I need to block out as much engine/cabin sound as possible.
Now I decided to play some of my reference songs to test the different stuff I'm going to put through it. Yes, I know I hadn't broken them in yet but I wanted a taste. Come on, how could anyone not?
Hoodoo - Muse: Love the Spanish style guitar in the beginning on this track and with just the vocals over top a very clean song. The detail was great and the vocals were very forward and present. Not too much bass, I could tell it was trying but it just wasn't broken in yet. Overall, impressed with the presentation.
Fluorescent - Gwen Stefani: I like to use this track because of the electric sound of the bass. Either its rendered deep or its muddy. First try, it was slightly muddy. I'm going to attribute it again to it not being broken in yet so Ill give it another try later on. But, wow, when Gwen's vocals came on they were right there up front. I cant remember what any of the specifics were about the signature of these cans are but if its one thing so far, its that the vocals are very present and detailed.
Never Too Late - Three Days Grace: Maybe this one isn't fair because its my favorite band and I expected greatness(to me they sound good out of a radio that had fallen in a pool). I digress. The initial guitar playing in the first 10 seconds of the track were stunning. I felt like it was being played right in front of my face and I could literally see the strings vibrating. There was incredible detail there and I want to say accurate too. The rest of the song just was OK. It seemed that when a lot more of the instruments came in and the song got harder, it seemed to jumble a bit more without separation.
Mother - Tori Amos: This is my favorite reference song. First off, YIKES! I heard something in the first second of the song Id never heard before, the opening of the piano. Its brief but completely there. Listening further it was intoxicating. The piano was rendered so well and tight. I never heard it like this before. I grabbed my 840's and started the track over. Yes, hmm, all that was there but it was just missing...something. HD-25's back on and started from the beginning again. Amazing! Its not that you could hear all the details, but they were so crisp and clear. You could hear the felt hammer hitting the actual wire, not just the keys being played. Tori is my favorite artist and hearing her this way was just awesome. The fact that these are low price point headphones makes me wonder what really expensive ones could do for her music. Would she be having a concert right here for me? Anyway, her vocals once again were front and center. You could hear every breath and enunciation of the words. I've never been able to count the times her tongue hit the top of her pallet before she sang certain syllables. And these weren't even broken in yet? Whoa.
In terms of the sound stage, as mentioned in other reviews, there wasn't too much of one. I don't know if its the over ear thing or what but my 840's seemed to give a little bit more room between instruments. While I could pick out the separation of instruments on the HD-25's, they all seemed to hover in the middle of my head. Once again, it might not be fair to call this out until they are truly broken in. The other thing I noticed was that these are definitely more efficient than the 840's. At the same volume on the iPod, the HD-25's were noticeably louder. I was debating on getting an amp but now I may not need to.
So, for the next few days they shall sit on my desk getting broken in with shuffle on. So far, I'm very happy with this purchase. If you like female vocals and more acoustic instrumental tracks you will really enjoy these headphones. If you like hearing details you might not know existed in your favorite tracks, you will enjoy these. The bass seems like it might tighten up but wont go as low as my 840's. So if you're a basshead you probably wont like these. However, I am not and I like the mids and highs a lot more. Ill take my bass controlled enough to let me know its there but not overpowering the rest of the music. I did listen to a little bit of electronica(Metric, Florence + The Machine) and it sounded good. Ill give that more of a listen later on.
So anyway, these are my findings. Ill keep this updated as soon as I can.
