[bcasey25raptor]

Just to clear things up, i don't hate my Shure, i freaking love them, but i still expected more for headphones with an MSRP of $250 in Canada. Yes i know i got them really cheap but that didn't lower my expectations. But they are still great. This thread was not to hate on my headphones it was an observation i made. Generally the recessed mid headphones are easier to listen to.

 

[ZeNmAc]

Quote:

ok, heres the thing, i took my pioneer se m390 headphones and boasted the mids to the equivalent of my shure srh840 and it sounded scratchy/harsh like the shure srh840. so i tested it even further and tried it with some iems, and guess what same scratchy harshness. im starting to think perhaps that its not harsh and that mids are supposed to sound that way. i honestly don't know how to describe it. all i know is that i don't like it. perhaps i don't like mids. so far if i turn down the mids a lot on my shure srh840 90% of my complaints disappear. are mids supposed to sound like this or is it my sound card/ipod etc.

That's natural.  Listening to a narrow band of mids by itself doesn't sound good at all.  Same is true for other frequencies.  If you listen to only bass it's bland and after a while boring and lifeless.  It lacks the snap given to the music by highs.  Similarly, (sry, too much school

) listening to music with no mids won't sound good either.  I can't think of a good way to put it, but U-shaped response basically drowns out the vocals or any potential melody in the music.
 
...It's kind of like you want an even balance between them all

...

 

[mibutenma]

If your recklessly EQing and spiking the mids of course its going to sound terrible.
You should just stick to zero and don't EQ the SRH 840 at all.
 
Sometimes they can sound a bit boxed in with a weak source get a good source and they will open up and become really clear they won't be as clear as open headphones but for closed they do sound pretty nice.
 
And I don't get this harsh/scratchy thing the SRH 840 are calm and smooth your doing something wrong EQing seems to be the issue.
 
If your using a PC turn down the wave section on the master volume.
If you have it really high up it will really bloat the sound.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Trysaeder]

Mids are from 220-1720 hz, depending on what music you listen to. What you're boosting is a region with scarce instruments and sounds.

 

[Zephyron]

Wait? 250?

I got the SRH840 for $150 from someone in Richmond BC o.o

 

[WhiteCrow]

Hey raptor, they listening to them UN EQed like they were meant to be.