[Aynjell]

Well, I've made up my mind. While they sound great, and they are wonderfully close to nuetral even when driven by a tube amp, they aren't what I'm looking for, and don't differ enough from my MDR-V6 for me to keep them. Plus the pads are far too unbreathing to really give me an enjoyable long term listening experience. Plus, even at 170, I can't justify the expense. Some a/b-ing between the sony's and the shure's show some definite and real improvements, but not 170$ worth of them. I can't get past the the lack of breathe of the pads, and the soundstage actually bothers me a little, dunno why but it tends to space certain sounds out too much and I have far too much electronica in my collection, and cans with good S/S don't sound good playing electronica to me. These are great cans to sink in to, but sink in for too long and you'll pull them off only to give your shoulders a bath.

I'll try another can down the road, but the Shure's aren't for me.

I only gave them about 40 hours but never good get a really good vibe from 'em. I bet they'd be better out of better gear, but seriously, 170$ should sound fine out of a pretty well setup LD I+. I think this is like what somebody else described, cans that sound good right away tend to be annoying later, and I believe this falls into that category, nothing stands out on these, which means they should make a really good nuetral can. My experience was positive, but the financial aspect is a big part of my returning them. I can't justify them for what to me seemed modest gains.

Plus I figure by returning them I am giving myself a valuable oppurtunity at CanJam to buy something else that should be far better.

 

[Soaa-]

You prefer a closer soundstage with electronica? Odd, I prefer it sounding super wide! I guess different styles of electronica warrant different styles of soundstage representation.

Perhaps give the Sennheiser HD 428 a shot. I've been really happy with mine. The signature is definitely different from the Shures. They're much lighter on bass, but still very tight. The mids really shine though -- crystal clear and detailed. I find them superbly balanced for what I listen to.

 

[NapalmK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aynjell While they sound great, and they are wonderfully close to nuetral even when driven by a tube amp, they aren't what I'm looking for, and don't differ enough from my MDR-V6 for me to keep them. Plus the pads are far too unbreathing to really give me an enjoyable long term listening experience. Plus, even at 170, I can't justify the expense. Some a/b-ing between the sony's and the shure's show some definite and real improvements, but not 170$ worth of them. I can't get past the the lack of breathe of the pads, and the soundstage actually bothers me a little, dunno why but it tends to space certain sounds out too much and I have far too much electronica in my collection, and cans with good S/S don't sound good playing electronica to me. These are great cans to sink in to, but sink in for too long and you'll pull them off only to give your shoulders a bath.

I agree. When I tried them out they didn't really impress me. They had great sound but as you said nothing stood out. I prefer a "fun" type can to accurate I guess.
D2000's next?

 

[eucariote]

^ As much as I liked the SRH840, I do prefer the Denons (D5000/D7000), for the reasons you and NapalmK mention. But as I moved up the line, I was amazed at how much you have to pay for very subtle improvements in sound. So $170 for 'definite and real improvements' seems like a bargain now. CanJam sounds perfect - that way you could try a bunch of headphones and not have to buy them first. Let us know what you audition & what you ultimately get.

 

[Aynjell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eucariote /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ As much as I liked the SRH840, I do prefer the Denons (D5000/D7000), for the reasons you and NapalmK mention. But as I moved up the line, I was amazed at how much you have to pay for very subtle improvements in sound. So $170 for 'definite and real improvements' seems like a bargain now. CanJam sounds perfect - that way you could try a bunch of headphones and not have to buy them first. Let us know what you audition & what you ultimately get.

I'll definitely be looking at beyers. Tonite I'm going to re-evaluate my amp. I've heard my SR325i on a nova peachtree and it was sublime, and nothing like what I hear out of my LD I+. I remember long ago I noticed some cans are better out of my sound card's front head out, if I find that to still be true regardless of what tubes I roll the amp is going bye bye. I am going to be re-evaluating everything, specifically so I can start looking at other gear at canjam.

thanks for the suggestions, and sorry it wasn't for me. I'll be sure to try the SRH840's out of my headphone out tonite as well. who knows, maybe I'll be superbly impressed.

 

[UNHchabo]

My M50s isolate really well, but if you didn't like the neutrality of the 840s, you may not like them...

They haven't been mentioned in the thread yet, so I just thought I'd throw them out there. Read some reviews, and see if they look like something you'd buy.

 

[Aynjell]

I'm actually going to give them yet another try, give them another week to impress me I guess. Might as well. The major concern I have has the lack of breathe, which breaks these for me.

I wish the shure's had a velour pad.

 

[MacedonianHero]

My two cents...I did own the SRH-840s and for $149.99 they were pretty good. But eventually within a month I go pretty bored of them and sold them. I then moved on to the Denon D7000s and they were really good. Very rich and lush with home theater quality bass.

But I got a case of upgradits and sold them to help fund my HD800s. I thought I was then just going to go exclusively with open cans, but then one night my wife insisted that I pick up a set of closed cans to not disturb her.

So I got a great deal on a pair of DT770/600 and all I can say is wow. For a closed can, they are pretty good! I find the mids not as recessed as the D7000s (my one and only small complaint), the bass is not as powerful, but it does go pretty deep and has pretty darn good control.

The treble is very well extended. It may not be for everyone, but I've been a Grado fan for a long time and find the treble just fine. Comfort wise, they are on par with my previously owned DT880s (which for me where the most comfortable headphones I've ever had on my head).

For the price, isolation, comfort and sound quality, these things are pretty hard to beat!

 

[Aynjell]

I've really come to like these cans. They have lost that harshness that can only come from stiff drivers, that almost digitized sound in the rolloff, where you hear it make the sound, and as it's coming back there's a crackle or something there... not really sure how to describe it, I can hear it, I can't describe it. I'm like a force adept when it comes to audio stuff. I know how to do it or how to hear it, but couldn't tell you about it. But that stiffness is gone...

And these cans have become a joy to listen to. Bass is deep and far reaching yet controlled, which is a good thing because it doesn't get in the way. The mids are airy, in fact the most spacious I've ever heard from any of my cans except the ATH-AD700 but the ATH-AD700 is nowhere near as milky and I can't focus on it as well. It's a good balance. The SRh840 actually beats the ATH-AD700 in the space department because of this, since it's closed I don't have anything getting mixed into it or at least not as much, and since it's just the right amount of space, it's really easy to pin down. It's just a good mix.

Treble is just right. You get that high end sparkle without the fatigue.

Also, these are awesome to listen to while doing homework, but there isn't any of that "here I am" I was looking for. I still have to look for the sound to really hear it. I have to focus on it or so it seems unless I enable the dolby headphone wrapper, and these cans sound wonderful with that feature in foobar. I know it's not the highest possible quality but when all you want is music while you read a chapter in your book it gets the job done.

A bit torn though: I'm broke because of buying my airline tickets for canjam. Trying to decide if I should send 'em back or keep 'em. Leaning towards keepin' 'em and eating ramen.

 

[Aynjell]

Well, I've got another piece of input on these: The pads twist and turn on the cans. I'm not too happy about that part. Makes putting them on for a good seal difficult. Sound is still top notch though.

 

[Aynjell]

After comparing these headphones to headphones 10 times their price they hold their ground way too well.  I'm more and more impressed with these and they are definitely staying in my collection.