[AlwaysForward]

Apparently, Sean Olive guided the sound design on these to hit the Harman Target throughout the R&D process:

https://www.crutchfield.com/learn/mark-levinson-no-5909-review.html

 

[woodcans]

Fantastic phone. Thoroughly enjoying mine. The tuning is excellent.

 

[TheosMelodia]

Have mine few hours ago, just so beautiful in red. First try is awesome with the oppo phone Adaptive Aptx. Will burn it few dozen hours and i will test it seriously

 

[floeezy]

Has anyone listened to both the 5909 and the Bang & Olufsen H95? How do they compare?

 

[woodcans]

I have, but not side by side. I sold my h95 some time ago. I have a friend who had/has both. They do not compare (sound quality-wise). The 5909 is vastly superior.

 

[floeezy]

I have, but not side by side. I sold my h95 some time ago. I have a friend who had/has both. They do not compare (sound quality-wise). The 5909 is vastly superior.

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Could you ask your friend to do a direct A-B comparison and report back with the findings? It will be very useful for people on this thread as the B&O H95 are probably the closest competitor to the 5909.

 

[Maukey]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Could you ask your friend to do a direct A-B comparison and report back with the findings? It will be very useful for people on this thread as the B&O H95 are probably the closest competitor to the 5909.

I have both. Don't have a lot of time to go into details, so I'll just summarize.

Comfort, Sound, and Transparency mode go to the 5909.
Portability, Battery Life, and ANC go to the H95.
Both have pretty good mics for calls. Can't call that one way or the other as I haven't done a comparison. I've had no issues on work calls with either where people couldn't hear or understand me.

I will say this about the sound, if you're sensitive to treble, the 5909 may not be for you. The treble starts off a little hot but does tone down to my ears with burn in. The H95 is a little warmer and has a bigger bass response. Not as detailed or as natural in the treble region. The 5909 to my ears are the most accurate, detailed, and natural sounding wireless ANC headphones I've heard. They also go louder than the H95. What the H95 has going for it over the 5909 is that it's a much better headphone to travel or commute with. The 5909 is just too big in my opinion. I strictly use it at home.

Hope this helps.

 

[floeezy]

Thank you so much for the detailed comparison. I find it very helpful.

 

[woodcans]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. Could you ask your friend to do a direct A-B comparison and report back with the findings? It will be very useful for people on this thread as the B&O H95 are probably the closest competitor to the 5909.

He is not a big poster, but here are his brief descriptions regarding the two phones:

Regarding volume: They were pretty much the same.
Regarding ANC: Both were pretty evenly matched.
Regarding comfort: The bigger earcups were a bit more comfy and that was a big thing for him.
Regarding codecs: He wanted the hi-res codec the H95s don't have.
Overall: He did a quick A/B before selling his H95s, slightly preferring the 5909s.

 

[floeezy]

Overall: He did a quick A/B before selling his H95s, slightly preferring the 5909s.

Awesome. Thanks for the update.
When he A/B'd the headphones, did he slightly prefer the 5909s over the H95s in terms of sound?

 

[frix]

I'm intrigued by this headphone but at the same time a bit sceptical. Being the first headphone by this brand and releasing the most expensive BT/ANC headphone currently available is a bold move. Has someone compared it to the momentum wireless 3 in terms of SQ and ANC performance (high end tuning mode)? Besides the tuning how does it perform in technicalities?

 

[MayaTlab]

I'm intrigued by this headphone but at the same time a bit sceptical. Being the first headphone by this brand and releasing the most expensive BT/ANC headphone currently available is a bold move.

Mark Levinson is just another brand from Harman. I don't think that we know exactly where within Harman it was developed, but Harman has several locations and each can contribute to their various brands (AKG, JBL, etc.). For Harman the brand doesn't mean anything about which team got to develop their headphones, only how they want to market it.

Also, as usual with headphones, remember that price =/= SQ . It's expensive because that's where they want to sell it, not necessarily because it's intrinsically worth it.

 

[frix]

Thanks for the explanation. Didn't know it also belongs to harman. Though that's a good thing because I like their tuning. For $1000 my expectations about build, comfort, anc and sound quality also are higher. Though I know SQ can be all over the place regardless price. So I'm not afraid to ask how they compare to a $300-$400 headphone.

 

[MayaTlab]

Thanks for the explanation. Didn't know it also belongs to harman. Though that's a good thing because I like their tuning.

The big question mark should always be : can they actually deliver it to your own ears ?
I've spend a bit of time listening to two samples of the 5909 as I really wanted them to work for me but they didn't.
More of my own impressions here and in the following posts :
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...se-use-of-the-harman-curve.29633/post-1087051

For $1000 my expectations about build, comfort, anc and sound quality also are higher. Though I know SQ can be all over the place regardless price. So I'm not afraid to ask how they compare to a $300-$400 headphone.

My favourite of the modern Harman products I've tried so far is the cheapest of them, not the ML5909 .

 

[TheosMelodia]

I have many BT closed back headphone. I defy you to name me a better wireless sound quality closed back headphone. And please don't make me laugh to compare it to Sony and Bose.