[Axonn]

Hello everybody. My first post here. I can't believe how huge this Forum is and I regret not coming here earlier. I might have made better purchases in the past.
 
I'm a huge music aficionado. As I grew older, I started looking into better headphones. My first "quality" headphone was purchased about 2 years ago. A Bose AE. Their wire broke after 1 year of *calm* use. I hate Bose now ::- D. Especially since I got my girlfriend into buying some of their stuff and hers broke in the exact same fashion (just as the wire goes into the jack), even though she's even more careful than I am with these things. Tried attaching new jack, but my soldering skills suck ::- ).
 
Anyway, enough with the childhood stories, I'm sure you got better things to do!
 
So... right now, I'm enjoying music on a pair of Sennheiser 598 HDs. The bass is disappointing. Their specs list 12 Hz - 38500 Hz frequency response. I'm considering buying Sony MDR XB 1000 but they got 2 Hz - 30000 Hz. I know the human ear can't really perceive that entire range.
 
However, the Sennheiser has a much broader range than the Sony. Still, I've been in the store and the Sonys completely blew my ears away. They're WONDERFUL. Yeah, they're huge, and that may be a problem with my eye glasses. But for the sound? I'd gladly buy them and when my ears start to hurt because of the arms of the eye glasses pressed against my skull, I'll just put the Sennheisers back. I'll say one thing about these 598 HDs: they're AMAZINGLY COMFORTABLE.
 
Hope you can help me shed some light into the matter of frequency response and what should I be looking for.
 
P.S.: I got good ears and I try not to abuse my eardrums, but I do like loud music sometimes, and I hear a wide range of sounds.

 

[RexAeterna]

it's all marking. that's it. nothing special. most headphones have problem anyways fully extending from 20hz-20khz. usually bass and sub-bass is not issue with headphones since it's matter of seal and pressure to trap the air. high frequencies is where most headphone won't extend past 10khz and after that just dip off to prevent any type of brightness and fatigue. you probably find the bass under-whelming due to your previous Bose headphones had big spike in the bass and sub-bass area cause most bose headphones measure really horribly. you'll learn to get use to it but if all your looking for fart cannons on the cheap side just for fun the sony XB700 or even little brother XB500 will satisfy your need for bass.

 

[NinjaSquirt]

It's probably because of the boomy bass you heard. I've never heard the headphone themselves but I'd think the closed headphones would have reverb and create boomy bass, that and the fact that they're under the "Shop bass" section of the Sony online store. Forget the frequency response range. They usually mean nothing.

 

[anetode]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/582802/why-does-it-matter-if-headphones-have-a-frequency-range-below-20hz-and-above-20khz

 

[Axonn]

anetode: thanks for the link. It answered most of my questions.
 
RexAeterna: "fart cannons" *laugh*. Actually, fart cannons are *recommended* when listening to certain music styles such as dub-step. I listen to both metal and dub-step. I'm disappointed by how dub-step sounds on my SN HD 598. The bass is kind of... empty.
 
NinjaSquirt: While I think that the entire idea of "shop bass" is like marketing for kids / dummies, as I told Rex, some music styles greatly benfit from a bassy headphone.

 

[MisterDeadeye]

Have you tried EQing them?

 

[Axonn]

I'm against using an EQ.
1. Music should be listened as it was recorded.
2. An EQ can't compensate for a complete lack of capability.
3. EQ with bass settings muffle down the sound, I don't like it. (so yes, I tried ::- D )
 
Don't get me wrong. The Senn 598 HD are really nice for most music. The bass is well balanced. But I need a "phat" bass for dubstep ::- D. And the Sony XB 1000 seemed to be capable of it, although, people around here seem to recommend buying something else.