[Sonic Defender]

I would have to expand on my comment regarding the versatility of the Grado sound as it might have been a little oversimplified. As obo... had said, they aren't one trick ponies, they do other genres well, at least in my experience, however, they don't do them as well as perhaps other more balanced sound signatures might. Of course this is highly subjective, but for me I went from SR 125 > SR 225 > HF2, but I needed less emphasis on treble and midrange. The HF2 I thought went a long way toward balancing things better, but once I purcahsed my DT 880s, I found their more balanced sound won me over. I never did have a chance to hear the RS series or the higher tier Grado offerings, perhaps oneday I will. All of this said, for rock you will really enjoy the Grado house sound, very dynamic and energetic. And this really isn't meant as a shot at you despite how it might sound, but if your listening to mostly rock such as Green Day, frankly it won't matter how "talented" your headphones are, they won't have any dynamics to work with, just really, really loudly recorded music. If you can see yourself expanding your horizons over time, it might be worth considering other sound signatures, but if it is for rock it is quite hard to argue against the Grado approach, not to mention, the Grado sound is more versatile than they are often touted as being.
 
I can remember how lively and rich sounding Steely Dan's Two Against Nature album was through my HF2s as was Pat Metheny's Day Trip and Tears for Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love.So if you go Grado, you aren't only in it for Rock, but that is what they seem to do the very best. Small space jazz is also very nice with Grados.

 

[LithosZA]

Quote:

I generally listen to rock music like green day and I want a headphone which makes guitar, drums, and vocals more "alive" and present. I currently own an audio technica ath-m50 and a sennheiser IE60 (IEM) and so I decided to test both of them on the rock genre. I tested my IE60 first and played "holiday" by green day. The guitar sounded excellent, the drums were present and great, and the vocals were loud and clear, it made me feel like I was in a concert. I then used my audio technica and played the same song and was a bit disapointed. The guitar didn't play as well as the IE60 and I could barely hear the drums. The instruments overall didn't sound alive and give me that "awwww yeah" feeling as my IE60s did. The vocals sounded a lot worse and laid back even when I switched the volume up. Overall, it didn't sound as clear and exciting as the IE60 did, it didn't me the same feeling. Do you thionk the HD 650 would fit my taste for music?

I don't think to HD650 would work for you.
Quote:

And this really isn't meant as a shot at you despite how it might sound, but if your listening to mostly rock such as Green Day, frankly it won't matter how "talented" your headphones are, they won't have any dynamics to work with, just really, really loudly recorded music.

+1. Garbage in - Garbage out

 

[dweaver]

Is the 1440 decent for party music? I listen to rock most of the time but I listen to party and techno music too. Also, The ultrasone seems to be pretty energetic but is it good for rock?

I am not sure about that type of music as I do not listen to it but I think it would be OK. About the only music it might not be good for and even for this it would depend on how much bass you want is genres like dubstep.

 

[anthony444]

Anybody want to sale HD 650. I am searching for the last one week. If you have seen or sale, then must contact me..  

 

[dweaver]

Put a WTB AD in the FS forum for this type of request, you will usually get some responses

 

[Sonic Defender]

I just wanted to offer some visual evidence to the OP (original poster) of what we are talking about when we say music such as Green Day (truthfully almost all recently recorded music) has no dynamics and is just a huge wall of sound. This is the waveform analysis of American Idiot from Adobe Audition:
 

 
Now look at how that is just a wall of sound, there are no dynamics left, everything is equally, and very loud. While headphone choice always matters, it certainly will benefit you very little in many ways if this is the type of source you are feeding your headphone. Below are the amplitude statistics which shows how very, very, very loud this song is. Take a look at the total RMS power, a number that is higher actually means the song is quieter, counter-intuitive I know.
 

 
Okay, now lets look at a song that has dynamics left and therefore will actually sound good. And while many things regarding what sounds good are subjective, this is not, dynamics will always help so the more dynamics left in the recording, the better it can sound with proper equipment in the chain. The next waveform is from Fleetwood Mac - the song is called Big Love.
 

 
 
Notice all of the peaks and valleys, the room for sound to breathe and establish itself in relationship to the other sounds? That is dynamics. If you want to reproduce music, dynamics are a pre-requisite in my opinion. Here are the amplitude statistics from the above song. Notice again the Total RMS readings.
 

 
 
This song is worth feeding to good equipment as it actually provides it something to work with. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a music snob, I am an activist. My music collection is full of CDs from bands like Green Day, Tool, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and many other rock/hard rock. I love the music, hate the recordings. If you love rock and good sound, e-mail the labels and tell them you care about sound quality. To learn more about this check out the "Sound Wars" on Wikipedia.
 
If the OP knows all about this then forgive my lecturing, it isn't intended to be insulting. I would want to know this type of information. If you love music enough to care about the equipment you use, then it follows that you might also care about how it is recorded as in the end, everything after the recording is downstream and has less impact on the quality than the actual recording itself. Cheers.

 

[disastermouse]

The most extreme version of this 'brickwalling' is a band called Sleigh Bells - but I think it's truly intentional, as the music sounds BIZARRELY overdriven. It sounds like a parody of modern pop/rock.

 

[Sonic Defender]

My bad, it is actually the Loudness wars, not Sound Wars. No idea where I got that from. Sleigh Bells you say? I'll check out Grooveshark and see what is posted there by them. Should be painful.

 

[Bossatiger]

no

 

[FYL941]

I've recently been looking at the hd650 as my next purchase and watching the prices on amazon. Just pulled the trigger since they're now $376 w prime shipping on amazon. I can't wait to try them out when they get here Tuesday! Any reason why amazon has them cheaper than all other sites? Sennheiser must be replacing these guys soon I wonder...

 

[disastermouse]

I've recently been looking at the hd650 as my next purchase and watching the prices on amazon. Just pulled the trigger since they're now $376 w prime shipping on amazon. I can't wait to try them out when they get here Tuesday! Any reason why amazon has them cheaper than all other sites? Sennheiser must be replacing these guys soon I wonder...

They've been lower, but they are an amazing set of dynamic cans! I suspect that Sennheiser simply wants a better bridge to the HD800s. I think the HD700 are probably an attempt at that, although their reception here signals that they are not sufficient.

I jumped from the HD650 to the Ortho driver HE-500. It took adjusting, but much to the chagrin of Sennheiser, I think the next step up from the HD650 is one of the ortho cans.

Tangentially, it would be amazeballs to see what Sennheiser came up with as a modern ortho to compete with Audeze and HiFiMan. Unfortunately, unlike the boutique brands, Sennheiser is likely seeing competition from Beats, Soul, and other fashion brands.

 

[obobskivich]

The most extreme version of this 'brickwalling' is a band called Sleigh Bells - but I think it's truly intentional, as the music sounds BIZARRELY overdriven. It sounds like a parody of modern pop/rock.

Another fun, and absolutely intentional, example of this is AFX's Windowlicker. It re-defines "wall of distortion" - note that the Green Day cut is not going to push into clipping, and is merely normalized.

 

[Sonic Defender]

For sure it isn't clipping, and yes it is normalized, by as you know my point is that regardless, the track has no dynamics left and as such is only capable of sounding loud, not good. Of course, for some people being loud may equate to sounding good and that is fine. My main complaint is now those of us who do like dynamics, and still enjoy rock music are unable to purchase music that is recorded with dynamics. I find very hot recordings quite fatiguing to listen to, and as such I can rarely make it through more than a few songs without taking a break. Anyway, sorry to have high-jacked the posters thread like this, I don't normally do that.

 

[nigeljames]

In my experience everytime I normalize a track it sounds terrible, totally lacking dynamics and life.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I know I promised to get out of this thread, but the OP doesn't seem to be around and he/she might find this interesting so ... I know you mentioned clipping obobskovich, but unless I am missing something here, clipping isn't always the biggest factor to consider. Here is a waveform from a Peter Gabriel album that I have found several professional equipment reviewers use as a reference album. The album is Up and the track is called Growing Up. The waveform show it to retain dynamics, hence why many people seem to think it sounds good.
 

 
 
For sure you see some evidence of limiting, but it is done well enough to be minimal. However the amplitude statistics show clipping in some samples, not that many mind you. It is for this reason that I think the loudness is more impactful than the clipping. Of course if there is nothing but clipping, that changes things.
 

 
 
Anyway, this is really nothing. I think I'm just looking for an excuse to use Audition more. Cheers.