[jopi]

I think the biggest problem of this bass thing is that it is measurable. People look at the chart and say "Oh yeah, the bass is rolled off" without giving them an honest try our focus on the overall presentation.

Equally important things like imaging, soundstage, quickness cannot be measured or are difficult to measure and tend to be overlooked.

There's no concert hall in the world that delivers a flat frequency response. You move from the front to back to the sides and everytime you hear more bass, less bass, more treble, etc.
So why don't you ease up on trying to achieve a perfectly flat frequency response curve and focus on the overall presentation of the music.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I just wanted to publicly apologize to MacDEF for driving him off. (And to everyone else who realizes what a positive contribution he has been making to Head-Fi. And especially to jude for driving off one of his moderators. I would volunteer to replace him, but (a) I do not frequent here consistently, and (b) I would probably abuse my power by deleting those stupid "Holy crap how long is this thread" posts in the "My Darkest Desires Soon To Be Fulfilled" thread.)

He's right, I should have argued the facts, not the egos. That said, I think jpelg had the right idea in trying to reduce the question to a matter of definitions. What, exactly does one mean by "rolled off bass"? What, exactly, do I mean, when I say that the bass in the K501 is "plentyfine"?

sTaTIx, I would rather lose half of you pipsqueaks than MacDEF, even though I don't see eye-to-eye with him on an issue or two. He was one of the people who kept this board one of the finest on the internet.

EDIT: Ironically, in the last paragraph, I am guilty of exactly the sort of problem that I would rather not see. So, apologies to sTaTIx. I still stand by the statement in general, though as to which of you are the pipsqueaks, I would rather not say.

 

[wallijonn]

interesting thread - as i am still thinking of the akg501's, and am now weighing it against the sony mdr-f1's.

i've given up on senn hd580's, denon ahd950's, audio technica ath d40fs/m40fs, philips sbc 580/590's, and beyer dynamics dt770/dt990's. (thanks for the reviews and viewpoints, guys).

*** if you build an amp for the akg 501's, like the meta42ppl's, make sure there are no dc blocking caps in the circuit as it will only make the perceived 'lack of bass' even worse. ***

and of course it has to be impedence matched to the amp. make mine class-A, please.

as to graphs, one would think that it sounds as good if not better than the grado sr80's (look at the graphs).

i listen to a lot of disco, trance, eurodance, hip hop, sex rap, etc. but i refuse to listen to muddy bass (i prefer tight bass) and bass humps (ruins vocals).

having listened to many bass heavy (like sub woofers) cans, when i saw the sr80's response curve with it's rolled off bass, i knew that it was for me. and i wasn't disappointed. i can't listen to closed cans which produce a middle of the head sound nor sony Vx00 (v600, v700, etc) because i find their bass objectionable.

for me, give me tight bass, neutral/forward mids and clear transient highs and i'm happy.

so keep the reviews coming guys - they're wonderful. i'm not the only one who reads your critiques and i appreciate all the responses.

damn november - all the prices on everything is going up because of christmas. the mdr-f1's are now up to $190. (if you're interested in koss a-250's they're down to $90 - but supposedly they sound too much like senn 580's...

)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
listening to Boccherini - cello sonatas, fugues for 2 cellos

and the guy with the runny nose is pissing me off - or is that just the guy being lazy and not picking up the horsehair? i didn't appreciate it when he coughed, either. and he breaths too hard. time to get a new recording. (can you tell i love my sr80's?)

 

[Neruda]

in my opinion, the K501s are much better than the MDR-F1s.