ra1nb0wz
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2012
- Posts
- 10
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- 10
This or m50's?
hey all,
i just got my pair and I wasn't sure at first if mine were defective or not but here are my observations:
1) the bass is far too overpowering. Listening to a track like Worst Behavior by Drake and I have to choose between upping the volume and blowing out my eardrums with the (albeit, punchy) bass, or keeping it at audible levels and feeling like Drake is yelling into a tin can from another room. the vocals are so lifeless and absent it is remarkable.
2) listening to jazz (my bread and butter) the experience is much better. The jazz that i listen to doesn't have the same kind of dominating basslines or bass drums, so i can turn up the volume and the vocals become much more present. orchestral flourishes on melody gardot's second album become much more lush and full - but still pale in comparison to the experience offered by the supraaural yamaha hph-200bl's. the sensitivity on both these phones is roughly the same but i'm turning up the volume several notches on my mbp switching between the two to get a similar experience. and at the same time i don't feel like they need to be amped because the bass (even with the jazz tracks) is still sometimes too loud.
Listening to Stars Fell on Alabama off of Ella and Louis - Armstrong's opening trumpet solo sounds a lot more compressed and less nuanced and colorful than it does with the hph200's (ps - im using these as a comparison because i don't really have another pair of headphones that i think would be a fair comparison for the ue6000s). it's good, don't get me wrong, but its not the same as the experience of the yamaha phones.
3) classical music - here is the dealbreaker for me. IF the ue6000's failed to provide an enjoyable listening experience for classical there's no way they'd make it into my stable. and, surprise surprise, the UE6000's end up blowing me away here. listening to a random recording of chopin's fantaisie-impromptu, the piano is clean, present, and sounds beautiful to my ears. I played the same track on my akg k550s and i honestly liked the sound of the ue6000s better for this ONE piano track. even with the NC off the sound is quite good. Once i turn on the NC the piano sounds a LOT better, but the hiss is still apparent.
So my conclusion is that I hate Beats because its clear logitech/UE are trying to appeal to the crowd of self-ordained bassheads. not to slur people who genuinely enjoy their bass, but when the a quarter of the high-end headphone market is cornered by Beats and their bass-orientation its obvious that competitors are going to try and follow suit. Logitech and UE have a great headphone here but the hiss from the NC circuit is murdering my experience, and again the BASS is just way too much. I still want to listen to my hip hop and r&b tracks without hassle, and while i'll probably end up keepign them for the lush piano sounds im getting thorugh these headphones its a real shame they couldn't have a more balanced sound signature.
PS - i'm aware that equalizers exist. I'm too lazy to eq settings on a variety of devices and programs just to accomodate one pair of headphones though, and while that's definitely a way around the problem i described i'm writing this up so that others can have a better sense of what the UE6000 might sound like.
I just got mine too. I got the same feeling as yours for the 1st day. However, it gets better after the 2nd day. Give it sometimes to burn in. I listen with the passive mode and I like it. For ANC mode, it does not sound neutral at all in some music. I found it gets boosts high and low in ANC mod (esp the bass), but not much in mid. That is the reason, IMHO, it sounds very good with classical or jazz or vocal. I listen most of the time in passive mode.
The HP are discontinued and on sale. It is my new best performance/price now (own grade60, samson 850, gemini 1000).
These are going for $110 on amazon right now and I really want to pull the trigger. Are there ANY other cans I should consider that are better for around the same price? The only thing I'm worried about for the UE6000 is that the bass will bleed into the mids.
There is relatively little midrange bleed and you would be hard pressed to find a better sounding headphone at that price assuming your preferences do lean to the basshead side vs. a treblehead.
Are you talking on-ear momentums? If not then the price difference is closer to $180