So they arrived 3 days early, can’t complain about that! Pretty impressed with the international DHL shipping overall, I’m reall glad I paid the extra money for it.
Not so impressed with the GH50 JM at first though…I’m hoping they’ll get better after burn in. I remember the open box set (read “used”) ones that I got being quite a bit bassier, which I was going for…but I only had them one night and was a little sauced up at the time. Here’s a few initial thoughts though:
BASS
My main disappointment comes in the subbass area. Looking at the FR graph I expected more rumble and quality, especially with glowing comparisons of it to things like the TH900. I have previously owned the THX00 and EMu Teak and remember them hitting quite a bit harder. I use a Loki, and even with a 12 dB boost at 20 Hz last night, I was still pretty disappointed when the bass hit in DJ snake/lil Jon’s “Turn down for what”. Maybe my memory is failing me though. And with the GH being much more expensive then anything I’ve had before, and brand new, I’m a little more reluctant to push them to see just low loud they can get in the sub bass.
MIDS
The GH mids are very good. Nice and musical, no complaints there. I believe some sounds in the upper midrange can sound more distant than I’m used to though.
HIGHS
Not sibilant, not dark, not lacking detail. The FR graph that came with my set didn’t look like the treble region between the two drivers were matched very well though, with one having much larger peaks than the other. No real complaints though, I’m not going to let the graph trick me into hearing an imbalance here. No real complaints.
SOUNDSTAGE
Aside from that the soundstage isn’t as mindblowingly huge as I’d expected either, but I’m hoping it opens up over time as well. I’ve been using the monoprice m1570c daily for the past year or so, and perhaps it actually just has a massive stage, it’s hard to say without really any good reviews out there on it. I’d say their stages are very close in size overall, but the 1570C has larger images, as it should with its 106 mm drivers.
IMAGING/DETAIL
At least I think the GH probably has the best imaging and detail I’ve heard. I had an ananda once, which I thought had great detail but weird imaging. I really like the way the GH has a 3D space to play in, and have heard things in songs I didn’t hear before. The M1570C is also very good here and is one of the reasons I kept it when I cleaned shop last year and sold my ananda and emu teak.
SLAM/DYNAMICS
This area has been my biggest complaint for the m1570c and one of the reasons I’ve been wanting to get a new dynamic. It is actually an amazing headphone, both technically and musically, but I’ve just found it to be a bit “boring” for electronic music and spicier genres. It’s been fantastic for acoustic and mellow music and gaming though. The GH does show potential to be much better here, perhaps after burn in it will be. I thought the deep bass punch was lacking last night, it felt very flat and lacked the excitement the Fostex dynamics used to bring. Really hoping the low end slam will come in better. Otherwise, they are better than the 1570c at least, they remind me of the Focal Elears I used to have, except those had that major issue where the driver would pop and sound like the headphones exploded if you tried to play sub bass too loud.
OVERALL
Overall, I’d say these are very close in performance to my M1570C, but at half the weight and twice the cost. Maybe that’s just the price to be paid for the smaller form factor and better build. The weight of the 1570s has never really bothered me, but there is no denying that they are extremely large and heavy. That’s where they really go wrong really, but they sound really great, like I imagine they probably sound fairly close to the meze liric. Out of all the good headphones I’ve had—Elear, emu teak, and ananda, I picked the m1570c as the best and the one to keep. Maybe it’s just really impressive that the GH50 JM can use its 50 mm dynamic driver to create a sound that’s basically as big and detailed as a big ass106 mm planar, while also having better imaging/layering and a smooth musical signature that doesn’t really do anything wrong.
Really just hoping for some improvements after burn in. I just didn’t get the “wow” factor I was expecting. Maybe it’s diminishing returns, maybe the m1570c is just really special at its price, where you’re paying for its great sound with your neck muscles. Maybe I need more time for my brain to adjust. In all actuality, I’m probably expecting too much and would need to spend $2000+ to say, “these are just marginally better than the GH50 JM”.
I’m definitely looking forward to spending more time with them though. If anything they do offer a superior sound to the m1570c and are much more comfortable, I’m just not sure it was worth the 3x the price of those.
