[Ichos]

Hey, talking about it, how do you like the Q5? I was thinking of saving up for that instead of a desktop setup because for the next 6 months at least I won't be staying in one place. But posts here have mostly swayed me away from that thought. But if it can get me 90% of the way there, I will start considering it again.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it? And where did you get it from? Thanks!

Well Q5 is a clear , clean presentation "audiophile" like quality.
It's natural and neutral with out peaks or dips with plenty of micro and macro details.
Let's say that it doesn't have a character of it's own.
Only minus it's a little bit on the lean side but it's still new I believe that it will improve.
So if you like your music a little warm or bassy or smoothed it is not for you.
Now aside of tonal preferences this is a quite expensive unit at about 400€ , mine bought from Greece but it was some kind of a deal - present and the optical in was a must.
So I believe you should consider the following - this unit will serve you well and worth the money if you are going to use it both on the go and at home and not invest on a separate desktop rig.
You should also be going balanced as it is designed to perform better as balanced out.
If you don't care about balanced and absolute portability then the ifi micro black is an excellent unit on the go that will also serve you very well as a home desktop rig.
If you just want a utility device for your travelling and later would be buying a desktop rig then skip on this.
You could do very well with Fiio q1 mark ii (balanced only) which is an absolute bargain or Schiit fulla 2 or dragonfly red or ifi nano idsd black do your 6 months listening and save for a better desktop rig.

 

[RandomDave]

This might sound stupid, but does listening very loud shorten the lifespan of a headphone?

 

[Filter500]

This might sound stupid, but does listening very loud shorten the lifespan of a headphone?

I think it will shorten the lifespan of your hearing.

 

[koover]

I mean if you’re running these at nose and ear bleed levels, sure, you can blow out a driver.
But the most important thing to take into account is why do you want to listen at “very” loud listening levels? You WILL start seeing blood coming out of your nose, eyes and ears. Of course I kid but be careful man. Ear damage is a very serious thing.

 

[RandomDave]

I think it will shorten the lifespan of your hearing.

I mean if you’re running these at nose and ear bleed levels, sure, you can blow out a driver.
But the most important thing to take into account is why do you want to listen at “very” loud listening levels? You WILL start seeing blood coming out of your nose, eyes and ears. Of course I kid but be careful man. Ear damage is a very serious thing.

Well, my ears are very strange. I will describe this on my gear. I start with just plain hearing. I can put Magni 2 uber to 10 o clock and be like "damn that's loud". Then after 20 or 30 minutes i'm like, damn, this is quiet, so i go to 12 o clock.
After some time period again, i'm like damn, this is quiet and i go to 2:30. 3oclock is max on quiet classical music, with normal songs it starts to get uncomfortable. I realise that it's very loud, but i can't judge how loud since my hears will get used to very high SPL quickly.
I have done this for months and i haven't noticed any difference in my hearing capabilities (still very sensitive).

 

[tolis626]

Well, my ears are very strange. I will describe this on my gear. I start with just plain hearing. I can put Magni 2 uber to 10 o clock and be like "damn that's loud". Then after 20 or 30 minutes i'm like, damn, this is quiet, so i go to 12 o clock.
After some time period again, i'm like damn, this is quiet and i go to 2:30. 3oclock is max on quiet classical music, with normal songs it starts to get uncomfortable. I realise that it's very loud, but i can't judge how loud since my hears will get used to very high SPL quickly.
I have done this for months and i haven't noticed any difference in my hearing capabilities (still very sensitive).

Well, that's normal. Your ears adjust to the volume of your surrounding noise. That's why at night, when everything is quiet, you can hear the quietest of noises. All you can do is just resist your urge to increase the volume more and more. I mean, a bit loud is OK, but too loud and you WILL get problems. And not in a few weeks or months, you can go years like that. But problems will inevitably occur with prolonged listening at high levels. They may do so when you're 80 or older and don't care any more, so it's up to you how much you want to risk it.

Maybe getting a dB reading somehow would help you judge how loud it really is. You shouldn't go over 85-90dB, like I do. Someone suggested using an app here on head fi and it kinda works to give you a rough estimate of how loud your listening volumes are. It's far from perfect, because phone mics are trash, but I digress.

 

[Filter500]

Well, my ears are very strange. I will describe this on my gear. I start with just plain hearing. I can put Magni 2 uber to 10 o clock and be like "damn that's loud". Then after 20 or 30 minutes i'm like, damn, this is quiet, so i go to 12 o clock.
After some time period again, i'm like damn, this is quiet and i go to 2:30. 3oclock is max on quiet classical music, with normal songs it starts to get uncomfortable. I realise that it's very loud, but i can't judge how loud since my hears will get used to very high SPL quickly.
I have done this for months and i haven't noticed any difference in my hearing capabilities (still very sensitive).

That sounds like listening fatigue to me, and isn't good for your ears over time.

 

[koover]

Years ago when I first got into headphones, I listened at +100 dB for descent listening sessions because I wanted that live concert sound at home in my head. What a fool I was and I damaged my ears in a short amount of time.
My tinnitus is pretty bad now, not just from headphones, but loud music in general as a young man and playing in numerous bands for 20+ years without earplugs.
Watch your ears as you don’t want that constant high pitched ringing in your ears of second of the day.

 

[Tuneslover]

I purchased a Radio Shack SOUND PRESSURE METER (Cat No. 33-2055) about 10 years ago to manually check the speaker setup in my Home Theatre system. Since getting into the headphone hobby about 5 years ago I have become aware that pumping music directly into my ears might require knowing how loudly I actually listen to my headphones. I decided to check using this Radio Shack sound pressure meter to measure how loud I tend to listen to music and realized that I have been pushing the volume knob too far into upper dB level. Initially I did a fair amount of monitoring and now I have a pretty good idea where the volume knob should be to safely listen on each of my 3 headphone setups.

The only wildcard for me is that I run my source (FiiO X5ii) in random mode which highlights the varying volume levels music is RECORDED AT. So I've learned an acceptable volume range on each of my amps. It's not a perfect method but at least I have a reasonably good idea how loud I'm listening to my tunes.

 

[Electrolite]

Just leaving here, Metal571 review on the HD58X

 

[Guidostrunk]

Another subjective review. People will like them, people won't. It's no different than anything else you purchase in life. Simple solution is to try them out for yourselves.

 

[koover]

Another subjective review. People will like them, people won't. It's no different than anything else you purchase in life. Simple solution is to try them out for yourselves.

I so agree with you. It’s HIS opinion and I respectfully and HUGELLY disagree. A lot also depends on what gear you’re using. The comment he made that struck me the most was something to the extent of “I don’t know why all the other reviewers don’t mention this”......it’s because he’s the only one who believes these are bad headphones. Yes, that’s what he said and he can spin it anyway he wants if he says otherwise. Another thing was when he mentioned “critical listening” lol. In the first place, if you’re buying these for critical listening purposes?..... ehhhhhh!!! Wrong headphone. These are a just sit back and enjoy the incredible bargain you got these for and listen to the music. For the money, they’re a damn good headphone build quality non withstanding.
These are almost as good “to me” as the 660’s at over 1/2 the price lower.

 

[Ichos]

Well i would like to comment that the HD58x are the poor man's HD800s.
Sound signature is closer to HD800s than HD660s.
(with proper gear that is)

 

[Guidostrunk]

You heard it exactly how I heard it. Lol. I agree with you! Haven't heard the 660s, but with enough subjective reviews with a consensus. I don't feel the need to over spend personally.
This can is definitely the wrong one for critical listening. Personally, I'd go back to the 700's, or 800's if I wanted to dissect a person's lip movement, but I'm too busy enjoying the musicality of these way to much.
The 58x subjectively , is all about jamming out.

I so agree with you. It’s HIS opinion and I respectfully and HUGELLY disagree. A lot also depends on what gear you’re using. The comment he made that struck me the most was something to the extent of “I don’t know why all the other reviewers don’t mention this”......it’s because he’s the only one who believes these are bad headphones. Yes, that’s what he said and he can spin it anyway he wants if he says otherwise. Another thing was when he mentioned “critical listening” lol. In the first place, if you’re buying these for critical listening purposes?..... ehhhhhh!!! Wrong headphone. These are a just sit back and enjoy the incredible bargain you got these for and listen to the music. For the money, they’re a damn good headphone build quality non withstanding.
These are almost as good “to me” as the 660’s at over 1/2 the price lower.

 

[SilverEars]

Well i would like to comment that the HD58x are the poor man's HD800s.
Sound signature is closer to HD800s than HD660s.
(with proper gear that is)

I'd say this as well, with more bass and not as strong in treble quantity which ruins the tonal balance of HD800(S) for me.

I don't know if it's more so than the HD660S though.