[spacequeen7]

Can someone tell me if there is another dynamic HP that can match or surpass speed and dynamics of HD58x ..under 1K

 

[SilverEars]

I too am not understanding this HD58X does not scale as well as other headphones. It scales like every other hi-performance headphone... I can hear the intricate and delicate difference between every DAC and amp.

At the moment the most transparent combination I have and use most commonly is the octacore multibit PCM1704UK Reference 7 balanced into solid state AGD Phoenix.

The R2R multibit dac helps to bring that male vocal chords of the HD58X back to be closer to the HD650. But alas, the HD650 is just simply more resolve of the male voice.

It doesn't seem all that reasonable that 58X would scale any less than the other siblings although half the impedance. I could understand that it doesn't jive well with OTL due to greater output impedance, but scaling is something different all together.

In terms of how big it can sound, this sounds big to me, and quite wonderful! This track in Tidal definitely sounds better, that rich tonal horns (or is it organ) intro really grabs you. It knocks your socks off!

 

[Humblepie]

Can someone tell me if there is another dynamic HP that can match or surpass speed and dynamics of HD58x ..under 1K

Focal Elex

 

[jsmiller58]

Focal Elex

+1

 

[AutumnCrown]

I agree that this headphone is as neutral as the HD600 and as "good" as well, in my opinion. Neither are perfect. The HD600's relative weaknesses are its speed and bass. The 58x's relative weaknesses is its lack of treble smoothness and detail. The HD600 still has good bass and speed, and the 58x has good treble detail and smoothness, but most everything else about each of them is even better, which shows how good they each are.

 

[J Mirra]

I bought the Takstar Pro 82 based upon his video, and to date it's by far and away the greatest bang for the buck headphones I've found... to the extent that I bought 3 more so that I could have 1 at home, 1 in the office, keep 1 in my car, and have 1 for backup. Stupidly cheap.

I too love the Takstar Pro 82 I bought two.

So good for gaming and they have great imaging, my second favorite headphones I own to hot for summer use but its cooled down now so they will be getting some head time again, I have been using the Sony MDR-MA900 and as good as they are for gaming I do not get transported to the game I am playing as much as the 82's take me.

 

[chimney189]

I'd actually have to agree that both the 58X and the 660S are great for low-volume listening -- more so the 58X because of the added bass impact.

 

[SilverEars]

I agree that this headphone is as neutral as the HD600 and as "good" as well, in my opinion. Neither are perfect. The HD600's relative weaknesses are its speed and bass. The 58x's relative weaknesses is its lack of treble smoothness and detail. The HD600 still has good bass and speed, and the 58x has good treble detail and smoothness, but most everything else about each of them is even better, which shows how good they each are.

Here's my take in the current hype of the Massdrop Sennheiser postings. The price is low (this can be relative to "normal" portion of the population, may think it's still steeper what the needs are worth), so therefore gives people very low risk to purchase, and try them out. That is why there are so many sold, and much talk about them.

My impression of HD600 vs the 650, so that I did prefer the 650 out of them. I thought the HD600 still a bit brighter than I prefer. I think people use the term neutral pretty loosely, and in respect to the HD600. 58X is quite detailed with my setup. I don't know why, but been leaning toward classical with these, or enjoying classical. My experience is that, headphone can lead you to certain genres more if it's sound output places you in mood (or sounds particularly interesting to hear more and more) of listening to those genre (And I believe it's related to the headphone characteristics). And you are open to a wide range in genres of music.

Like I've stated earlier, it sounds quite airy, so I've been leaning toward ambient sounding tracks with classical instruments.

 

[BobSmith8901]

Someone sell me solderdudes felt!

These phones are so easy to mod that I have experimented a bit more with the whole felt/foam thing.

I was trying to see if had something lying around that sort of looked like Solderdude's green Eco-fi felt (impossible to find!) and I found a big patch of dark green scrubby pad that had been washed several times and had a sort of soft, more porous nap due to the washing. It was probably 2mm thick compared to the 1mm of the white felt I had originally bought to attempt Solderdude's mod, but has very little mass due to its more porous and over washed consistency. I cut it into the little circles, tried it and it seemed, meh, not much change, perhaps a little closer to what I felt Solderdude was getting response-wise but hard to tell a huge difference.

I always felt that these cans sounded a bit muddled/lacking in detail in the lower mid-range, wooly as it were, and, after the initial excitement of the felt mod wore off, I still felt I wasn't getting much change, so I've tried yet an additional mod: I took the original outer shell ear cup foam pieces that had been taken out of the metal ear cup screens and replaced the original foam that sits next to your ears behind the ear pads with it and I think I might have found the best sound, so far, at least for me. The shell ear cup foam seems to be a little less dense than the original so it opens the cans up a bit. The problem with this is that the shell ear cup foam isn't quite as large as the inner ear original so there could be some looseness/possible buzzing issues at very low freqs at high sound pressure (I may have noticed it once on a very low freq kick drum unless it was something else buzzing) but otherwise is seems to fit snugly under the pressure of the pad frame--this is something one could pursue--getting a low density piece of foam that could be cut to proper size for the inner ear cover...

Anyway, the combo of the old, washed scrubby pad felt on the magnet and the changed inner ear foam seems to let in a little more granular detail, and things like the lower register of piano sound a bit more natural. I'm not sure the swapping of my original white Eco-Fi felt circles with the scrubby pad is making a huge difference but I just think, anecdotally, that it gets closer to Solderdudes' green felt in as much as there is a porous quality to his that the old scrubby pad seems to more resemble. Regarding the inner ear foam swap, I do notice that the highs can be a little hotter compared to the original regular inner ear foam, so I think it the original is definitely trying to tame the high freqs.

Overall, and again, very anecdotally, this combination seems to clear out some of the wooliness to my ears and I think I'll listen to this current mod for a while and see how it does longer-term.

Just FYI, my current set up for this mod has been listening to Tidal Hi Res tracks, mostly newer ECM stuff, through a FiiO X5III connected to a FiiO Q1 MKII via USB (as a DAC/Amp) or line out (just as Amp), and using an aftermarket balanced cable from the 58X to the balanced output of the Q1. I also did some pure Tidal MQA listening using a Meridian Explorer2 in the stack. The noticeably more open sound of the headphones with the current mod in any of the stacking combinations has been consistent, taking into account the different sound aspects of the various stacking combos.

 

[LNuneek]

I'm really interested in picking up a pair of 58X, but it will have to be a future drop.

I haven't bought anything from Massdrop before.

Anyone have any kind of estimation when the 58X will be available again?

 

[Mr Trev]

Here's my take in the current hype of the Massdrop Sennheiser postings. The price is low (this can be relative to "normal" portion of the population, may think it's still steeper what the needs are worth), so therefore gives people very low risk to purchase, and try them out. That is why there are so many sold, and much talk about them.

My impression of HD600 vs the 650, so that I did prefer the 650 out of them. I thought the HD600 still a bit brighter than I prefer. I think people use the term neutral pretty loosely, and in respect to the HD600. 58X is quite detailed with my setup. I don't know why, but been leaning toward classical with these, or enjoying classical. My experience is that, headphone can lead you to certain genres more if it's sound output places you in mood (or sounds particularly interesting to hear more and more) of listening to those genre (And I believe it's related to the headphone characteristics). And you are open to a wide range in genres of music.

Like I've stated earlier, it sounds quite airy, so I've been leaning toward ambient sounding tracks with classical instruments.

See, with my gear and preferences, I find the 58x falls short for ambienty music. Sounds too up close and closed in for my liking. The 400i have a much better presentation for me with this type of music. A much bigger headspace and impression the sounds are slightly forward (in space, whereas the 58x almost always sound like they're playing directly into my ears) I imagine this probably has to do with the angled earpads/drivers (I also get a similar presentation with the X2)

 

[jsmiller58]

I'm really interested in picking up a pair of 58X, but it will have to be a future drop.

I haven't bought anything from Massdrop before.

Anyone have any kind of estimation when the 58X will be available again?

They have been running pretty constantly, so I would guess very soon. They did have a big leap in orders following Zeos' review so that may take a little longer to clear manufacturing, but I guess within a day to two weeks it will be back . But just a guess.

 

[heavyharmonies]

I'm really interested in picking up a pair of 58X, but it will have to be a future drop.

I haven't bought anything from Massdrop before.

Anyone have any kind of estimation when the 58X will be available again?

It's open now as I type this. To my chagrin, I've discovered that unlike most drops that have a definitive end date, since Sennheiser has ongoing inventory, it's effectively an infinite series of daily drops. Every day the "ends in XX hours" countdown counter resets and still displays, but when the timer runs out a new drop is opened.

It's apparently a marketing gimmick to get people to buy: "Ooh, today is the last day of the drop; I'd better buy." On the heels of Z's recent video, it snagged me. Well played, Massdrop.

Now on some future day, the drop will actually end... we just don't know when that will be.

Get while the getting's good.

 

[AutumnCrown]

I don't know why, but been leaning toward classical with these, or enjoying classical. My experience is that, headphone can lead you to certain genres more if it's sound output places you in mood (or sounds particularly interesting to hear more and more) of listening to those genre (And I believe it's related to the headphone characteristics). And you are open to a wide range in genres of music.

Like I've stated earlier, it sounds quite airy, so I've been leaning toward ambient sounding tracks with classical instruments.

Agreed on both counts. Complex orchestral does well with the 58x's quick driver. And I listen to a ton of jazz with the HD600 because it sounds so good on it. The 58x is probably a bit more of a genre master than the HD600. I would even go so far as to say (partially because it's sure to annoy some people) the 58x is more neutral than the HD600. It is an ideal first audiophile headphone - the 58x will let people enjoy their favorite music, while also showing them what a good headphone can do for genres they have not appreciated before with consumer headphones.

 

[DavidA]

Finally got to listen to a second HD58X since some where saying they didn't notice any grain in the treble so wanted to see if mine was just a poor build but I have to say that even this second pair had the same grain in the treble so either I'm 2 for 2 with bad examples or others just don't seem to hear the grain. The grain is not really bad or easily noticed since my friend didn't really notice it at first and only noticed it after I told her what to listen for at which point she noted that there was something bothering her about the sound but she didn't know what it was and didn't bother since she was enjoying the HD58X as is.