adanac061
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 19, 2006
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Disclaimer:
It should be noted that the following review was done using the Juli@ soundcard as the source un-amped.
The Juli@ uses JRC 4580 opamps and can drive the K501 to loud levels , but it is not an optimal setup.
The k501's are generally said to require an amp to shine their best.
--------
In the vast and daunting selection of headphones available in the world , the DT48 and K501 are relatively similar in overall tone and sound, we are not comparing apples to oranges here but granny smith to golden delicious .
I'm not a golden eared audiophile. I'm not the fancy wine drinking, Cuban cigar smoking guy who fluently knows all the fancy audiophile terms.
This a meat and potatoes kind of review. no extraneous storytelling here.
I am not going to attempt to extrapolate any theories for the reader, only provide a basic break down of what I hear different between the two headphones , and in my opinion what is good and bad about these headphones.
Part (A)
Comfort
K501 totally dominates, no contest.
I can't lie the Dt48, as it comes stock, has a vice grip. I managed to stretch mine a little and adjust some nuts and bolts , but it still comes nowhere near the comfort of the k501.
Tone Sweep
At reasonable listening levels.
The 501 bass: Totally drops off at 37hz .. starts to roll off at 70hz , but still quite audible at 50hz.
The DT48e bass: Totally drops off at 42hz, it is not as loud as the k501 at 50hz ... starts to roll off around 80hz.
K501 Highs... I can hear test tones up to 15,300 hz on this headphone.
Dt48 Highs: I can hear up to 16,000 hz on this headphone.
---
Music Test 1 - Roxanne by The Police.
DT48 E
Both stings voice and the guitar have quite distinct reverb, especially in the right earcup.
symbols / high hat is heard clearly, I have a sense of it's texture I can feel the metal being hit .
Their is no impact from the bass guitar. but the notes are heard in their entirety.
The Drums are very fast and snappy, they sound realistic.
K501:
The reverb is only slightly... barely heard.
I'd only know that it was there because i just heard it clearly on the Dt48.
Bass guitar has some impact, high hat has a splashy sound to it , doesn't sound like metal being hit.
I asked my friend who used to play drums to listen to this song on both headphones i asked him specifically to listen for the drums cymbals and hi hats...he remarked that the DT48 sounded more realistic and clearer by far. I would agree with that contention.
Music Test 2
At this point I break out the Chesky - The Ultimate Demonstration Disk.
This disc has been used in reviews many times on Head-Fi, it is a standard reference disc.
Track 3) Spanish Harlem.
The K501 plays this song beautifully, the sound is airy and the singer and instruments have their own space in the room with room to breathe.
The Dt48 on the other hand has a compressed sound stage, and sounds a little heavier with more weight to the singer and instruments.
The k501 picks up most of the reverb heard from the room as it should do, but the Dt48 picks up more and also picks up people moving around in the background , people shuffling ect..
The shaker can be heard clearly on both headphones , and the tone strength of each shake changes on both headphones.
The DT48 seems to give me a better sense of the environment.
The singer and instruments are palpable.
The k501 put the singer in a huge stadium like room, but the Dt48 put her in a 20 x 20 room.
I'm sure the real room was closer to the Dt48's presentation.
Overall the K501 gives a more FUN presentation , where the Dt48 gives a more REAL presentation.
Last test:
Track 9) Grandmas Hands...
This is Just a short song song by a man with some backup singers.
It is used to test mid-range purity.
I've listened to this song many times with the Dt48 before and know exactly how it sounds using that headphone.. so I jumped straight to the k501 first.
It kind shocked of me, not in a good way.
The singers voice sounded less real and detailed than the Dt48.
The K501 made him too airy and light , where as the Dt48 gave him the "chesty" sound that you are supposed to hear.
Also more disturbingly , whereas the Dt48 presents the fingers clicking with a fleshy quality and by that I mean you can hear the skin rubbing, and the impact of bone.
The k501 sounds totally fake , almost sounds like a percussion instrument not a finger clicking.
In conclusion I would say that to my ears on this day using my system , the DT48 has the K501 beat in every area except soundstage and comfort.
And even then the K501 soundstage isn't the best, it is flat and makes music sound larger than real life.
Having said that, the k501 has a certain charm.. it is the kind of headphone I would pick up for fun when I'm not doing critical listening and when listing to binaural recordings. It has light sound that doesn't offend and it is much more forgiving than the Dt48 E.
Thanks for reading.
(Sorry about any grammer / spelling mistakes.)
It should be noted that the following review was done using the Juli@ soundcard as the source un-amped.
The Juli@ uses JRC 4580 opamps and can drive the K501 to loud levels , but it is not an optimal setup.
The k501's are generally said to require an amp to shine their best.
--------
In the vast and daunting selection of headphones available in the world , the DT48 and K501 are relatively similar in overall tone and sound, we are not comparing apples to oranges here but granny smith to golden delicious .
I'm not a golden eared audiophile. I'm not the fancy wine drinking, Cuban cigar smoking guy who fluently knows all the fancy audiophile terms.
This a meat and potatoes kind of review. no extraneous storytelling here.
I am not going to attempt to extrapolate any theories for the reader, only provide a basic break down of what I hear different between the two headphones , and in my opinion what is good and bad about these headphones.
Part (A)
Comfort
K501 totally dominates, no contest.
I can't lie the Dt48, as it comes stock, has a vice grip. I managed to stretch mine a little and adjust some nuts and bolts , but it still comes nowhere near the comfort of the k501.
Tone Sweep
At reasonable listening levels.
The 501 bass: Totally drops off at 37hz .. starts to roll off at 70hz , but still quite audible at 50hz.
The DT48e bass: Totally drops off at 42hz, it is not as loud as the k501 at 50hz ... starts to roll off around 80hz.
K501 Highs... I can hear test tones up to 15,300 hz on this headphone.
Dt48 Highs: I can hear up to 16,000 hz on this headphone.
---
Music Test 1 - Roxanne by The Police.
DT48 E
Both stings voice and the guitar have quite distinct reverb, especially in the right earcup.
symbols / high hat is heard clearly, I have a sense of it's texture I can feel the metal being hit .
Their is no impact from the bass guitar. but the notes are heard in their entirety.
The Drums are very fast and snappy, they sound realistic.
K501:
The reverb is only slightly... barely heard.
I'd only know that it was there because i just heard it clearly on the Dt48.
Bass guitar has some impact, high hat has a splashy sound to it , doesn't sound like metal being hit.
I asked my friend who used to play drums to listen to this song on both headphones i asked him specifically to listen for the drums cymbals and hi hats...he remarked that the DT48 sounded more realistic and clearer by far. I would agree with that contention.
Music Test 2
At this point I break out the Chesky - The Ultimate Demonstration Disk.
This disc has been used in reviews many times on Head-Fi, it is a standard reference disc.
Track 3) Spanish Harlem.
The K501 plays this song beautifully, the sound is airy and the singer and instruments have their own space in the room with room to breathe.
The Dt48 on the other hand has a compressed sound stage, and sounds a little heavier with more weight to the singer and instruments.
The k501 picks up most of the reverb heard from the room as it should do, but the Dt48 picks up more and also picks up people moving around in the background , people shuffling ect..
The shaker can be heard clearly on both headphones , and the tone strength of each shake changes on both headphones.
The DT48 seems to give me a better sense of the environment.
The singer and instruments are palpable.
The k501 put the singer in a huge stadium like room, but the Dt48 put her in a 20 x 20 room.
I'm sure the real room was closer to the Dt48's presentation.
Overall the K501 gives a more FUN presentation , where the Dt48 gives a more REAL presentation.
Last test:
Track 9) Grandmas Hands...
This is Just a short song song by a man with some backup singers.
It is used to test mid-range purity.
I've listened to this song many times with the Dt48 before and know exactly how it sounds using that headphone.. so I jumped straight to the k501 first.
It kind shocked of me, not in a good way.
The singers voice sounded less real and detailed than the Dt48.
The K501 made him too airy and light , where as the Dt48 gave him the "chesty" sound that you are supposed to hear.
Also more disturbingly , whereas the Dt48 presents the fingers clicking with a fleshy quality and by that I mean you can hear the skin rubbing, and the impact of bone.
The k501 sounds totally fake , almost sounds like a percussion instrument not a finger clicking.
In conclusion I would say that to my ears on this day using my system , the DT48 has the K501 beat in every area except soundstage and comfort.
And even then the K501 soundstage isn't the best, it is flat and makes music sound larger than real life.
Having said that, the k501 has a certain charm.. it is the kind of headphone I would pick up for fun when I'm not doing critical listening and when listing to binaural recordings. It has light sound that doesn't offend and it is much more forgiving than the Dt48 E.
Thanks for reading.
(Sorry about any grammer / spelling mistakes.)
