Help with ATH-M50's

[xtac]

I just bought these headphones after days of research, and it came down to these or the 595's, or the beats Pro.
 
Anyhow, I just got them in the mail - plugged them into my imac, and played tunes off itunes, and I must be doing something wrong because they don't sound good at all. Its sound just like standard iphone headsets or something
 
all tracks are 320kbps
 
What am I doing wrong?

 

[zzziizzz]

have you tried burn in?
They say that the ATH M50 NEED burn in to sound good

 

[xtac]

i just looked up burn in, I never knew you had to do that with head phones. It says 100-200 hrs. Thats crazy, but I will try it, but under more research I'm guessing my
 
- my imac sound card may suck
- i need an amplifier
 
Also these headphones are heavy, but than again these are my first 'real' head phones.
 
ps, I'm listening to dr dre- kush instrumental, what would be the best EQ setting for this, I currently have it on flaT?
I've never ever touched the EQ until today

 

[Argyris]

Just playing devil's advocate here, as if you've been on Head-Fi for any length of time, you'll see that you'll usually be led through the following:
 
1. Did you burn them in?
2. What's your source material?
3. How are you powering them?
 
You've provided answers to all these, incidentally. The reason I bring all this up is that the difference any of these things will make may not be greater than your first impression. In other words, you may just not like the M50, and no amount of burn in, 24/96 tracks, or mondo amplification is going to help. By all means try to give yourself the best case scenario--if you've got a stereo/HT receiver, see if you can plug your headphones in there. Go ahead and burn them in (200 hours is ridiculous, try about 50 hours), and if you've got a few CDs that you know very well, use them as reference.
 
Also, give it some time. Listen to them constantly. See if your mind doesn't "ease into" the sound. Then try whatever you were using previously and see if you can hear any improvement.
 
Finally, can you tell us what it is you don't like? Is there not enough bass? Too much? Other things about the sound? The lingo around here can be squirrelly, so just tell us as best you can. We'll figure it out.

 

[Slaughter]

1. Hip-hop typically sounds pretty bad, especially Dre/Eminem. I listen to both and they are terribly mastered.
2. If you have a mac, I am assuming you have an iPhone. The M50 sounds good from the iPhone, maybe a tad weak in the bass.
3. iTunes does sound different than other media players. Try using Windows Media Player, but preferably Foobar or Winamp.

 

[desktophifi]

Quote:

3. iTunes does sound different than other media players. Try using Windows Media Player, but preferably Foobar or Winamp.

 
The KM player is great also. You should try it. 
 

 

[b0klau]

the m50 may not just be right for you. No matter how much you burn in, if you don't like the sound signature, than thats the way its going to be. I find that after listening with the m50 for a while, its started to grow on me, and i started to appreciate it more. Just takes some time getting used to.

 

[BillHaynes]

The first couple of hours I listened to my M50s I was a little disappointed too.  But the more I listen, the more I like them.  I'm not sure if burn-in is real, but they do seem to get better each time I plug them in.  Like the others said, give them some time. After a few hundred hours of play time, if you don't like them, they may not be for you. Just don't give up on them yet.

 

[Slaughter]

M50's are good with 50 hours. Most have not heard changes past this point.

 

[xtac]

Quote:

Just playing devil's advocate here, as if you've been on Head-Fi for any length of time, you'll see that you'll usually be led through the following:
 
1. Did you burn them in?
2. What's your source material?
3. How are you powering them?
 
You've provided answers to all these, incidentally. The reason I bring all this up is that the difference any of these things will make may not be greater than your first impression. In other words, you may just not like the M50, and no amount of burn in, 24/96 tracks, or mondo amplification is going to help. By all means try to give yourself the best case scenario--if you've got a stereo/HT receiver, see if you can plug your headphones in there. Go ahead and burn them in (200 hours is ridiculous, try about 50 hours), and if you've got a few CDs that you know very well, use them as reference.
 
Also, give it some time. Listen to them constantly. See if your mind doesn't "ease into" the sound. Then try whatever you were using previously and see if you can hear any improvement.
 
Finally, can you tell us what it is you don't like? Is there not enough bass? Too much? Other things about the sound? The lingo around here can be squirrelly, so just tell us as best you can. We'll figure it out.

 
I see what you are saying, I will try those scenarios. I'm not too good at articulating what its missing, but I'll try. I listen to different music, majority of it hip hop, but I'm not sure why people say some things are for hip hop only as I listen to wide arrange of different tracks with different beats, but I do agree that in general most of them are mastered poorly as compared to say a lady gaga song or even an rnb song because the difference when I play them in my car is huge. In my car I have the logic 7. So I've been playing a mix of hiphop,rnb,dubstep from a few different sources(downloaded mp3s, itunes downloads, vbr downloads, etc. and the biggest thing is it just doesnt sound clear enough. I guess in some way I'm comparing it to surround sound if that makes any sense because thats what im used to in the car. But even so everything sounds crisp, clear, and bangs, bass maybe? I do have a lot of mixtape tracks that are mastered poorly, but take for instance this track by puff daddy - 'Hello Good Morning' where its a lot of thumping and i don't hear that.
 
I will give em 50 hours. I'm really concerned about the EQ as I have no idea what any of it means and its hard to get a good setting going.
 
I just tried David Guetta - Love is gone, does not sound crisp at all
 
 

 
Quote:

1. Hip-hop typically sounds pretty bad, especially Dre/Eminem. I listen to both and they are terribly mastered.
2. If you have a mac, I am assuming you have an iPhone. The M50 sounds good from the iPhone, maybe a tad weak in the bass.
3. iTunes does sound different than other media players. Try using Windows Media Player, but preferably Foobar or Winamp.

 
1. Yup, and funny thing they usually have the best quality compared to most hiphop producers
2. I do, but I've been using pandora and there not high quality streaming so I will put transfer some songs to it
3. I will try different ones, on windows I always used foobar, cause itunes on windows is horrible but on mac its been solid for me.
 
Quote:

Quote:

3. iTunes does sound different than other media players. Try using Windows Media Player, but preferably Foobar or Winamp.

 
The KM player is great also. You should try it. 
 

 


Quote:

the m50 may not just be right for you. No matter how much you burn in, if you don't like the sound signature, than thats the way its going to be. I find that after listening with the m50 for a while, its started to grow on me, and i started to appreciate it more. Just takes some time getting used to.

This could be true, we'll see. 
 


Quote:

The first couple of hours I listened to my M50s I was a little disappointed too.  But the more I listen, the more I like them.  I'm not sure if burn-in is real, but they do seem to get better each time I plug them in.  Like the others said, give them some time. After a few hundred hours of play time, if you don't like them, they may not be for you. Just don't give up on them yet.

Good to know I'm not the only one. I will give them 50 hours min.
 
 

 
Are most headphones that produce this pro quality usually this heavy? I didn't even think to look at the weight of the 595's or beats

 

[Argyris]

Quote:

Are most headphones that produce this pro quality usually this heavy? I didn't even think to look at the weight of the 595's or beats

Full-sized headphones are usually in the 250-300 gram range, yes. Weight can feel greater or less depending on how its distributed. I don't remember the M50 I had being remarkable in its weight, so maybe you're just not used to it. An example of this weight distribution idea is my two current headphones, the DT880 and the SRH440. The latter is only six grams heavier than the DT880, and yet it feels like somebody strapped a brick to my head. The DT880 is one of the most comfortable headphones in current production; though it weighs virtually the same as the SRH440, it never feels heavy at all.

 

[xtac]

Quote:

Quote:

Are most headphones that produce this pro quality usually this heavy? I didn't even think to look at the weight of the 595's or beats

Full-sized headphones are usually in the 250-300 gram range, yes. Weight can feel greater or less depending on how its distributed. I don't remember the M50 I had being remarkable in its weight, so maybe you're just not used to it. An example of this weight distribution idea is my two current headphones, the DT880 and the SRH440. The latter is only six grams heavier than the DT880, and yet it feels like somebody strapped a brick to my head. The DT880 is one of the most comfortable headphones in current production; though it weighs virtually the same as the SRH440, it never feels heavy at all.

I am definitley not used to it, I feel like someones pushing my head down, but yes I am definitley not used to it, hopefully it gets better.

 

[Slaughter]

Yeah, must be that you are new to full size. I put them on and barely feel them. They only feel slightly heavier than my 555 which is considered very light and comfortable by most. Maybe make them 1 notch bigger so you have some extra room.

 

[soundaddicted]

Quote:

I am definitley not used to it, I feel like someones pushing my head down, but yes I am definitley not used to it, hopefully it gets better.

Dont worry, it happened to me when i first used full size phones. 
I always used Iem's, and changing to full size made me feel weird. Just give them a week or 2, and you will get used to it. 

 

[slapshot30]

Yea I would say 25-50 hours for the m50's is good, 100 seems a bit excessive. When I first listened to them straight through my iPod, I wasn't impressed either (mostly with the bass). However, even a cheap fiio E5 amp with bass boost made the bass tons better. The sound quality wasn't perfect though, probably because I wasn't using an LOD. Currently waiting on my fiio LOD to ship in.