[ProtegeManiac]

> ENT

I've basically never needed to go to an ENT. Like I said I've always aced every hearing test I've taken and the last time I had an ear infection was when I was like 6 or something. I do have super waxy ears though, which I don't clean as often as I probably should because it cuts down on the super high frequencies and prevents me from going insane with all the transformer screeches and inverter whines. I don't think wax masking a spike is the issue in my case though because the perceptual frequency sweep test sounds pretty flat to me and tone tests seem to indicate that my current 'with-wax' cutoff is somewhere north of 16K. But yeah, besides commenting on how waxy my ears are, doctors have never mentioned anything else being wrong. I'm not discounting I might have an ear problem, but if it exists it's not simple, and getting approval through my health insurance for any real tests is like pulling teeth (it'll be over a year of arguing).

Well if it's not going to be free or cheap then bypass it first.

> If you get them from torrents sometimes they're not real FLAC

Sometimes sure, but that's certainly not the case for ALL torrents. The 'foggyness' I'm hearing is across the board on everything, including digital download and stuff I've hand ripped. It's not like I only test headphones against one album.


> IEM

Sticking things in my ears gets real uncomfortable real quick, it's always been like that. The few times I've tried to put up with them they get all messed up with wax and I end up damaging them with repeated cleaning anyway. I know lots of people love IEMs, but they just don't work for me.

It's making earwax build up more likely. And like I said you don't clean your ears yourself because you can't see what you're doing. My ENT just has me wipe the outer ear area with a towel, and then whatever's in the ear canal he digs up with his titanium shovel-hook thingy. Normally takes 5mins - hell of a lot faster than at the dentist's - but if I'm the last patient in line we chat about audio.

> Philips SHP9500

People have mentioned this one before in other conversations as an alternative, but then others pipe up and say don't waste your money (bad build quality or any of a bunch of other random complaints). What's head-fi's overall opinion on them?

It's all plastic but the real problem is that Philips product support isn't anything like Sennheiser. You can't even get replacement earpads from Philips, but you can mount Brainwavz HM5 earpads on them once you cut off the stock earpads.

Sennheisers tend to have a bass plateau but the SHP9500S doesn't, and since it rolls off earlier, it's practically the best bet if you're hearing a severe imbalance like that. The HE400i for example has a flat response from 1000hz down to 10hz, but it nosedives past 1000hz and doesn't get back up to where 1000hz is until around 8000hz. You'd gain an advantage in one way and make a big trade off in another way. Etymotics have a flatter response but you can't wear IEMs to they're out.

 

[LNuneek]

@goosebill I really doubt there is anything wrong with your ears needing a check up. Doctor's only check to see if you can hear. Period. It's a fools errand going to them to figure out precise audiophile details in hearing.

From your communication, you mentioned clarity and you mentioned wanting some bass. In all honesty, it sounds like you prefer more of a V shaped response in sound, and I think you plain picked a boring sounding headphone.

If you are used to $20 headphones and you want a little step up, try the Koss Portapros. They are on ear but comfy, replacement foams are cheap. They have good bass, decent mids, but the highs are a bit rolled off. They are open or at least semi open. They are a fun sounding headphone, but a bit laid back.

If you want a sharper sound and still want to save some money, have a look at the Superlux brand. Lots of threads on here about the brand. Have a look at their open back or semi open back models in particular.

 

[goosebill]

> you don't clean your ears yourself because you can't see what you're doing

I clean them by way of a wax dissolving liquid: lay down on your side, pour it in, wait half an hour, then flush it out with water. I never stick qtips or anything in there.

> you mentioned clarity and you mentioned wanting some bass

Well, I wanted more bass than what the earbuds could deliver, but given how the HD558s are I sorta feel like I want *less* bass than that. I dunno.

> sounds like you prefer more of a V shaped response

Eh... I hate the typical "consumer" sound you get from brands like Aiwa where it's just screeching treble and rubber-band bass with no clarity or definition. Or at least I think that's what I hate. My biggest problem with the HD558s is that they don't sound too far off from that. Everything is like.... unbalanced? Listening to men talking (podcast etc) actually gets physically painful after like 10-20 minutes. It's all boomy and foggy and has this like... "pressure of droning" going on or something. But no matter what I do with an equalizer I can't really seem to fix it, just make it unbalanced in other ways.

> Koss Portapros

Oh god no, the Porta/Sportapro line are terribly uncomfortable for me. I used to have a pair, they were forever pinching or stabbing at my ears and ripped out my hair every time I took them off. Never again. I'll buy another pair of Apple earbuds before I ever go back to those.

> Superlux

Yeah I heard of them, they're mentioned a lot. They didn't have any over-ears that seemed to fit what I was looking for though, but the HD558s aren't as comfortable as I had hoped, so maybe going back to on-ear would be a wash. I'm still loath to drop any more money into buying another pair sight-unseen until I feel comfortable that I know what's going on between me and the HD558s though.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

@goosebill I really doubt there is anything wrong with your ears needing a check up. Doctor's only check to see if you can hear. Period. It's a fools errand going to them to figure out precise audiophile details in hearing.

Well depends on which doctor and what terms you use. My ENT is an audiophile, and regardless of whether a doctor is one or not, there's a way for them to check if your hearing is relatively flat. There are hearing aids that don't just boost all sound but actually introduce an EQ effect to what they'll push into the ear.

if it's a fool's errand to go to an ENT about audio then damn, somebody who can't see anything but a blur on an 8k display shouldn't bother getting diagnosed by an opthalmologist for cataracts or getting prescription lenses from an optometrist. Unless of course the opthalmologist gives you a prescription for magic brownies because you already have glaucoma.

> you don't clean your ears yourself because you can't see what you're doing

I clean them by way of a wax dissolving liquid: lay down on your side, pour it in, wait half an hour, then flush it out with water. I never stick qtips or anything in there.

That still leaves you with the possibility of some kind of inflammation.

Also...what's your height and hat size? if you're tall and your head's pretty big and the headphones have to squish the earpads when you wear them, that usually boosts the bass and often outgunning the midrange and treble (except for where there's a peak in that range).

> sounds like you prefer more of a V shaped response

Eh... I hate the typical "consumer" sound you get from brands like Aiwa where it's just screeching treble and rubber-band bass with no clarity or definition. Or at least I think that's what I hate. My biggest problem with the HD558s is that they don't sound too far off from that. Everything is like.... unbalanced? Listening to men talking (podcast etc) actually gets physically painful after like 10-20 minutes. It's all boomy and foggy and has this like... "pressure of droning" going on or something. But no matter what I do with an equalizer I can't really seem to fix it, just make it unbalanced in other ways.

Wait...what source are you using? Are you using a laptop? Some of these have a built-in software DSP that, apart from providing virtual surround for movies, sometimes also EQ's the sound (like my Yoga 700, which boosts the bass). And if you're not using a DAC-HPamp that just guarantees you'll use that DSP - completely delete it if you're using the headphone output jack.

Also try this profile; then try the values in parentheses if it doesn't work (ie in case your computer or smartphone does have that kind of bass boost EQ that's working in the background by default). Download Equalizer APO if you don't have any EQ that can set the center freq:

(45hz : -2dB)
70hz : -3dB (-5dB)
125hz : -5dB (-7dB)
200hz : -4dB (-6dB)
400hz : -3dB (-5dB)
1750hz : +2dB
5500hz : +3dB
(10250hz : +3dB)

 

[Malfunkt]

Sonically, the HD558 are vastly different than Apple Earbuds. Enough that the differences should be obvious. Subjectively, one might prefer the earbuds, but the performance of the HD558 is generally better.

I don't really think its your ears, as in order for something to sound 'muffled' you would need to have a reference of something brighter.

BTW - what sounds good to you? Do you have any of the newer AVX type theatres or better in your area? While movies go though heavy digital signal processing, they have a wide range of dynamics. How about live music?


I imagine you've tried the HD558 across a number of devices. You have an iPod / iPhone? Have you tried your 558 with this?

With regards to your source files, are these original 320 kbps MP3s? As long as they aren't someones rips from poor quality YouTube videos that they then ran through heavy limiting (I've actually seen this done before ) you should be fine. Plus there are many good streaming sources, good enough to hear if a headphone is brilliant or not. Even casually listening to some movies in Netflix you should be able to hear a difference between the 558 and your Apple earbuds.

My suggestion, is to give the 558s a bit more time. For a number of reasons, it may require a period of time for your brain to acclimate.

If they still sound like crud in a few days of listening to a wide range of music, media and sources then consider the following:

1). back to earbuds

2) buy a set of high-end near-field monitor speakers: you can do your own research here, go to a music store. Take a listen. Focal, Dynaudio, there are many good choices. Even a cheap pair of Audioengine speakers (they sound great btw) you should be satisfied. That goes for even their smaller models. http://audioengineusa.com/

3) buy a brighter set of headphones, now using the HD558 as a reference. Brighter headphones would be something like Audio Technica MSR7, Beyerdynamic DT880. Take a listen to some proper studio headphones like Fostex T40 or T50.
It may require spending some money and taking a bit of a journey. It likely will be worthwhile as you discover all the range of different sounds and your ear starts picking up different details. Audio is a strange thing, both measurable and objective, but then wildly subjective at times.

 

[cossix]

Very odd that your ears have trouble telling the difference between hd558 and cheap 10 dollar headphones. I sincerely hope it's the headphones and not your hearing. I have a cousin that can't differentiate M30X from LCD2, but at least he isn't into audio that much. I've never heard the 558 but I use the 598 for gaming and that headphone should be noticeably better than average consumer headphones of many pricepoints. It's also not muffled in the least so perhaps give that a try?

 

[goosebill]

> what source are you using?

copy/past my first response:

"I'm using a Mac's onboard 3.5 jack. I've asked around before if I should get a separate DAC or amp and the unanimous answer was no; that Mac onboard sound is good enough that I'd never notice the difference unless I got much more expensive headphones."

OSX doesn't provide any system-level sound settings past volume/balance. I do all EQ stuff in whatever player program I use (Quicktime, VLC, iTunes, etc)


> the HD558 are vastly different than Apple Earbuds. Enough that the differences should be obvious

The difference is certainly obvious, my issue is that they don't seem 'better' in any subjective capacity.


> theatres

Uhh..... I have no idea. I'm not a movie person- I haven't been inside a theater in ages. I'd have to look that up.


> tried the HD558 across a number of devices

I don't know what of my other devices has a DAC that I can really trust so I haven't done any deep listening comparisons. Just a couple minutes worth to sanity check that the sound was similar and there wasn't something broken on the Mac.


> are these original 320 kbps MP3s?

As far as I know. Most are from things like full discography rip torrents by a single group. At the very least, they don't sound like they were transcoded from anything. But as I said the effect is across the board on everything, be it youtube, 128k mp3, or FLAC I ripped myself from CDs.


> If they still sound like crud in a few days

Well I mean I got them this past week and although I did sorta get used to them a bit over the first day it hasn't really improved from there.


> back to earbuds

I'd honestly be fine with this, but I'm having a hard time getting recommendations. Nobody seems to care about earbuds- any time I ask anywhere the thread is either deleted or gets hardly any responses (including here).


> speakers

This is probably not an option for me unfortunately. Open back headphones are ok, but speakers would be too loud for my situation. (And finding good ones for under $100 are going to be tough anyway).


> buy a brighter set of headphones

This is what I wonder about. The thing is, I don't know if "brighter" is what I want? Mainly because I don't know if I think the HD558s are too dark, or too something else. I'm trying to get more info that will help me deduce what my problem is first. I'm not rich enough to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away.


> 558 / 598

From what I understand, the 558 is extremely similar to the 598. People claim there's a "foam mod" where you can open up the 558s and take out some foam and effectively turn them into 598s. (I tried this but couldn't tell any difference at all, even after putting the foam back).

 

[goosebill]

>This is what I wonder about. The thing is, I don't know if "brighter" is what I want? Mainly because I don't know if I think the HD558s are too dark, or too something else. I'm trying to get more info that will help me deduce what my problem is first. I'm not rich enough to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away.

For right now I guess I'm ultimately trying to figure out if I should return the HD558s, or if there's something else I should do instead.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

> what source are you using?

copy/past my first response:

"I'm using a Mac's onboard 3.5 jack. I've asked around before if I should get a separate DAC or amp and the unanimous answer was no; that Mac onboard sound is good enough that I'd never notice the difference unless I got much more expensive headphones."

OSX doesn't provide any system-level sound settings past volume/balance. I do all EQ stuff in whatever player program I use (Quicktime, VLC, iTunes, etc)
----
> tried the HD558 across a number of devices

I don't know what of my other devices has a DAC that I can really trust so I haven't done any deep listening comparisons. Just a couple minutes worth to sanity check that the sound was similar and there wasn't something broken on the Mac.
-----
> back to earbuds

I'd honestly be fine with this, but I'm having a hard time getting recommendations. Nobody seems to care about earbuds- any time I ask anywhere the thread is either deleted or gets hardly any responses (including here).
-----
> buy a brighter set of headphones

This is what I wonder about. The thing is, I don't know if "brighter" is what I want? Mainly because I don't know if I think the HD558s are too dark, or too something else. I'm trying to get more info that will help me deduce what my problem is first. I'm not rich enough to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away.
-----
>This is what I wonder about. The thing is, I don't know if "brighter" is what I want? Mainly because I don't know if I think the HD558s are too dark, or too something else. I'm trying to get more info that will help me deduce what my problem is first. I'm not rich enough to just throw money at the problem and hope it goes away.
For right now I guess I'm ultimately trying to figure out if I should return the HD558s, or if there's something else I should do instead.

Download Foobar as it has many bands on its graphic EQ plug in and try the profile I posted, since this is something you can try for free (just choose the bands closest to the frequencies I posted).

If that doesn't work then return the HD558 while you still can.

> back to earbuds

I'd honestly be fine with this, but I'm having a hard time getting recommendations. Nobody seems to care about earbuds- any time I ask anywhere the thread is either deleted or gets hardly any responses (including here).

That's because IEMs have a higher isolation and a shell that can fit larger dynamic drivers or several BA drivers (or hybrid designs with one DD and one or more BA) to tailor the sound as the engineers prefer.

 

[Malfunkt]

For right now I guess I'm ultimately trying to figure out if I should return the HD558s, or if there's something else I should do instead.

If you don't absolutely love them, return it. Don't worry about it. There are many headphones out there, and by returning it you'll free up some cash (and mental energy) to buy some new ones or do something else.

 

[goosebill]

> Download Foobar

That program appears to be Windows only. Will running it inside a virtual machine on OSX work properly? I feel like the emulated sound drivers might screw something up.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

> Download Foobar

That program appears to be Windows only. Will running it inside a virtual machine on OSX work properly? I feel like the emulated sound drivers might screw something up.

Sorry, scratch that - I forgot that the way a friend uses it was due to him running Windows in another drive (he's still on an older Macbook Pro with two SSD drives, one where the optical drive used to be).

I tried Googling but there are no freeware system EQs that have enough bands much less parametric.

At this point your best option is to just return the HD558 and try something else.

 

[goosebill]

Hrm.

I have another machine kicking around I could put a copy of Win7 on. AFAICT it has an Intel-based board with a Realtek ALC889A onboard for sound. Would the headphone jack/DAC/amp on that be considered good enough to test against? I have no clue what the opinion of Realtek sound is.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hrm.

I have another machine kicking around I could put a copy of Win7 on. AFAICT it has an Intel-based board with a Realtek ALC889A onboard for sound. Would the headphone jack/DAC/amp on that be considered good enough to test against? I have no clue what the opinion of Realtek sound is.

Probably not but run it and if it doesn't sound drastically different than the Macbook, ie that can be enough indication that it works well enough, then try running an EQ app and see if the EQ settings I posted helps.

If it does then you can consider paying $20+ for a parametric system EQ for the Mac.

 

[oemerson]

go to serious headphone specialist shops and spend a few days trying out.

In Japan and Asia, there are a lot of shops like that. I believe there should be some in the USA.