[Revimaru]

DISCLAIMER: This by no means a professional review/evaluation of these headphones. No professional grade equipment where used in this shoot out. This is just to compare the different headphones that I have and use for recording and casual listening and to possibly contribute a bit to this forum.

 
The Headphones:


I'll be using my recording Interface as a DAC (hopefully, this particular DAC is very neutral)



 
Music: Stevie-Jo Dooley, Steve Morse Band, Radiohead, Tchaikovsky


 
I am reviewing the headphones as I write this, forgive the delay


 
Superlux HD 661
First Headphone I got that I loved listening to, I use this most of the time when recording and just listening to music.
Sound quality is very good. I have used this as my neutral baseline for all my other headphones.
Comfort and Build Quality: comfortable but a bit tight on the ears, good enough build quality for home use
Bass is very clear and rounded, not muddy at all.
Mid i guess it is what a lot of people will consider 'a bit scooped'. nothing fancy here, just plain regular goody mid
Treble nice balance of treble with the bass. guitars sounds nice and bass solos are very clear on the treble side with this headphones.
Other Comments Can clearly here even subtle sounds from swan lake with this headphones. Sound is projected inside my head nicely makes me feel that the sound is coming directly from my brain.
Overall this is my baseline neutral headphones, very balanced and great for any type of listening


 
Shure SRH 440
Just got this today, good online reviews and lovely price convinced me to get this. Hoping that this will replace my Superlux but it failed. I really wanted this headphones to work for me.
Comfort and Build Quality: Extremely comfortable, professional build quality. Annoying quirk: small jack that goes to the headphones. Cannot use my other cables with this
Bass is quite dull compared to the Superlux, bass lines from radiohead's creep are not as audible as I wanted them to be.
Mids a crystel clear from what I'm hearing. Guitars from steve morse and radiohead are crisp and the mid distortion from the guitars are lovely in this headphones
Treble is a more pronounced than the Superlux. Crsytal clear highs
Other Comments I get stressed out when listening to my usual stuff with this. For movies and classical music though, I find the sound projection of this to be very engaging. Makes you feel that the sound is coming from all around you.
Overall I'll probably use this when recording guitar and watching movies still not going to replace the superlux as my go-to headphones


 
SMS Street by 50 Cent
Used when practicing bass on Korg Pandora Mini.
Comfort and Build Quality: Great build quality, large but not so heavy. Does not cover my entire ear. Can wear for long periods of time.
Bass is very pronounced that is why I use it to bring out the bass on songs that I'm learning by ear. Although it is very pronounced, it is a quite muddy. Most of the heavy guitar power chords gets drowned and merged into the bass.
Mid is pretty good. I can clearly here the different vibrations on a distorted guitar sound with this.
Treble is acceptable. A bit on the low side but not too bad.
Other Comments: Subtle background sounds are muddy. Too unbalanced to be used for recording
Overall glad I didn't bought this at full price. This is the kind of stuff that your mum will give you when she wants to act cool One last thing, I just noticed that the higher notes on bass solos sound suprisingly smooth on this.

 
Philips SHP 3000
looking back, I don't know why I even bought this
Comfort and build quality: Very light on the head and ears, can wear for hours, feels extremely fragile.
Bass is ok, not loud enough for me to hear the bass clearly on some parts of certain songs. They are not muddy and is very acceptable
Mid is too scooped. Rhythm guitars sound very dull
Treble is clear enough to hear subtle vibratos. Pleasing to my ear.
Other Comments: the scooped mid made this unusable for me. In fact this so unused that the fake leather are starting to crack because of stiffness due too lack of movement.
Overall: Nothing special. I gues you could use it when watching TV during the late hours because it has a 3m cable.

 

 
Philips SHL 3200
Bought this because I thought the interchangeable caps looks cute.
Comfort and Build Quality: tougher than the other Philips. Made of thick Plastic. Doesn't cover my entire ear, tight on the top of my head. Top cushion is not soft enough.
Bass is pronounced but not as pronounced as the Street by 50 cent. Quite muddy. I am unable, to clearly hear bass notes with this. They all just seem to be blended with the other bassy frequencies
Mids not so good, though the lower mids blend to the bass frequency giving a good smoothness on the lower mids.
Treble. Quite good, I never noticed that some radiohead songs use feedback as a subtle effect until now. Wish the trebles were clearer though.
Other Comments: Quite good for light music, those that do not saturate the headphones with a lot of frequency. I find this good enough for mobile applications such as youtube-ing and games on my iPad
Overall: this is actually my most used headphones for my iPad, it rarely gets unplugged.

 

[YamaVega]

Thanks for the shootout.  I auditioned those Philips too at our local store.  They sound quite similar to my Downtowns, only less refined.