[DavidA]

Maybe I want something that isn't dynamic, like the wall of sound effect from a planar or eletrostatic. Maybe I'll look for a can that causes this wow factor, that feels like a big wall of sound, Monoprice 1060 maybe.

I see your point with different signatures, I want to find out is if for me there is a headphone, not in the crazy price range, that can cause a wow factor.
Now in your personal opinion does a crazy expensive headphone like a 009 or HE 560 ever caused you this wow factor? Or sound quality doen't get much crazier than HD58X standard just better quality overall but not a crazy jump.

In the end I'll have to find out myself if high-end is worth it, if I ever try to buy a more expensive headphone I need to listen to it before. January I'll go to Paraguay and I'll have the chance to test some high-end cans like the HE-560, Focal Utopia and Clear, some LCD etc and then I'll draw my conclusions.

I envy you that you can go to audition gear going to a store that is reasonably close, for me I'd have to fly either to California or Japan. FWIW I have owned a SR009 and I say it didn't cause a WOW factor mainly because to me its rather limited in what genres I could listen to on them (recordings need to be quite high quality, classical, jazz and blues) and any genre that needs some bass like EDM, R&B or most modern POP sounds lacking on them. This is why a headphone like the HD58X or HD6XX are so good to have around since they are quite forgiving of poor recordings and can handle most genres IMO. Another thing to consider with TOTL headphones is the associated gear that goes along with them, a Stax/E-Stat headphone will need a special amp and headphones like the HD800, T1 and others usually require some consideration on the amp to pair with them.
I've borrowed the M1060 a few times from a friend and found them to be a bit on the boring / lifeless side but since they weren't modded I'm don't know how it would sound then.

 

[heavyharmonies]

So in your mind you can post whatever snake oil mumbo jumbo you like here but if someone's wanna offer a different opinion they're not welcome to do so??

Now that's ridiculous .....

Not to put words in someone else's mouth, but I don't think that's what he is saying at all. It's when you reply with that same singular contrarian opinion over and over and over any time anyone refers to the mod in question, that it becomes overly repetitive and more noise than help. It's a matter of degree, IMO.

 

[Guidostrunk]

LOL wut? Do you even read my post? Do you even know what the word repetitive is?
He wanted science. I led him to the proper place. LOL
Never posted any "snake oil". Just a simple subjective opinion.

So in your mind you can post whatever snake oil mumbo jumbo you like here but if someone's wanna offer a different opinion they're not welcome to do so??

Now that's ridiculous .....

 

[Guidostrunk]

You read my post perfectly. Thank you!

Not to put words in someone else's mouth, but I don't think that's what he is saying at all. It's when you reply with that same singular contrarian opinion over and over and over any time anyone refers to the mod in question, that it becomes overly repetitive and more noise than help. It's a matter of degree, IMO.

 

[brsbikes]

Maybe it's time for me to abandon this thread. The purpose of headfi is to help the buyers in their decisions. If I want to post to help, statements like "i was floored by the difference" must be more scientifically proved. 0,1 db is not audible. Cable swapping, especially between cables made of the same material, doesn't make audible differences. So every time i read something unproved, I literally have the instinct to protect people expecting to totally change a headphone with their minds just because some headfiers trust in the hype. The situation is even worse: removing the foam the risk of dust inside the driver become elevated. So who are you helping?

If you find a better place please let me know. This is why this hobby is a joke for most outsider. Overconfident golden eared people with their subjective opinions and impressions ignoring science. I'am sad

 

[Guidostrunk]

For anyone interested in science.
https://www.head-fi.org/forums/sound-science.133/

 

[Luigi Milazzo]

I think that the words "slightly", "it seems", "I think" are more appropriated. ok I passed a lot of hours listening my almost raped hd58x this week end, and i can agree, the foam cancel "a little bit" of treble... maybe. But the difference is not night and day, so I think we mustn't speak of revolutions, in order to avoid misinformation. Sorry for my redundancy, I think that the jubilee with the foam and my gummy mod is the best version. My contribution is over. thank you for the almost 3000 posts I've read. Less than 1db is less than 1db and to my ears it can't do any significant difference to the pleasure of listening my favorite music. And, to be honest, I think I'll start to listen to it without any other mechanical action. I tried all the mods and I'm pretty sure that for me the gummy mod, taming a measured 3 to 4 db to the bass, is the best way to have a neutral warmish version of the hp, instead of the too much bassy original version. I hope the snake oil will not intoxicate the thread, the 58x is made for people who don't have the money to risk to buy a miracle 100 bucks cable or open several times the cup risking to break something. Who can afford the buy of 3 or 4 of this just for experiment must have the responsibility to describe their experience with the right words.

 

[Guidostrunk]

I really appreciate your post Luigi. I'd also like to apologize if I came off brash , or harsh.
A lot of us older headfiers have seen and been apart of threads that derail and eventually get locked. Usually it's the science argument. Which is why headfi created the sound science forums.
I do believe that there's a ton of snake oil in the industry. Me personally have never experienced crazy nirvana from expensive cable swaps, and do believe that there's a point of diminishing returns.
I'm in the 58x thread , and absolutely enjoy these cans and the modest gear I currently own. I feel no need or want for anything I've previously owned. Which a lot of it was far more expensive. Subjectively, I feel that my most expensive cans I've owned the HD800 , and HEX , aren't really better. They just do things different.
With that said. I agree that there's a lot of snake oil in the business. 5k for a box of rocks , that you run your cables through? Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous. It's a personal hobby though.
I would never dismiss what someone claims that they hear or don't hear at any level of gratification they're experiencing. Their money, their time and effort.

I hope you stick around on this thread! Your mod was interesting. Definitely an excellent contribution. Will it be for everyone? Probably not. But that's what makes it fun. And at the end of the day. Your personal enjoyment is all that matters.

Once again folks. I wasn't trying to be a d!@k. I could just see where things were going.
Hopefully after all this we can get back to enjoying these absolute steal of a can! Foam, no foam, plugs, no plugs.....etc

Cheers

 

[forestitalia]

After mod difference is thin (still are the same drivers!), but is noticeable with certain music, e.g. with metal I'd say is better stock, with classical-voice better open.

 

[Xbmyc]

Maybe it's time for me to abandon this thread. The purpose of headfi is to help the buyers in their decisions. If I want to post to help, statements like "i was floored by the difference" must be more scientifically proved. 0,1 db is not audible. Cable swapping, especially between cables made of the same material, doesn't make audible differences. So every time i read something unproved, I literally have the instinct to protect people expecting to totally change a headphone with their minds just because some headfiers trust in the hype. The situation is even worse: removing the foam the risk of dust inside the driver become elevated. So who are you helping?

Cable can make a huge difference on the sound. At least to my ear, on multiple earphone/headphones. I wasn't floored by the difference. I was floored by how good this 150 dollar headphone sounds compared to my HD600. You need to chill.

 

[LNuneek]

So people. I have a question.

I see many review that hd58x is great, great with mod, or not so much opinions.

I currently have audio-gd r2r 11 as my dac amp, and K712, HD6xx, and HD58x on my hands.

I can definitely tell HD58x is easier to drive, but I.. can't really seem to tell the difference yet.

Can you guys help me out to decide, if I have to keep one between HD6xx and HD58x, which one I should keep?

Maybe I need more time with HD58x, but with my hd58x partially defective, MD is offering me a chance to refund it or replace it.

Thank you for your time.

What's defective with your 58x?

 

[SyCoTiM]

I just compared these to the sound of the Bose QC 35. The 58x's are more crisp, there's more dark room(more spacious/better layering), the highs are better represented, vocals are airier, the bass is cleaner, and the overall sound is more clear. I was initially impressed with the QC35's until I tried the 58x's right after.

 

[Tuneslover]

I don't know if it's all of the recent discussion about mods or not but last night I decided to look up the Solderdude mod to see what all the fuss is about. Since I do have 2 pair of HD58X and a headphone amp with 2 SE outputs (for easy comparison) I figured I might as well mod 1 of my 58X's. So I popped off the grills and removed the exterior foam pieces but I don't have the required 2 sided tape or the felt to complete the mod. I replaced the grills and had a very brief listen to the nude HD58X as well as a comparison to my un-modded pair.

Initial impression of the foam removed pair is that the soundscape is definitely wider and less "muffled" sounding as compared to the un-modded pair. The treble is kind of tizzy sounding which gives the impression of more detail. It's interesting sounding and unquestionably different sounding from the stock HD58X. I did another listen this morning and found that the foam removed pair comes across as a bit too intense sounding which gets tiring fairly quickly.

Anyway, I will see if I can track down the specific felt that Solderdude used (at my local Michael's store). If I am unable to find the felt I might just try using the foam from my old worn out HD650 ear pads to see if that yields any meaningful improvement.

 

[Luigi Milazzo]

Cable can make a huge difference on the sound. At least to my ear, on multiple earphone/headphones. I wasn't floored by the difference. I was floored by how good this 150 dollar headphone sounds compared to my HD600. You need to chill.

I don't think that adding 60 cm of the same cable can make such a difference. Changing the materials to lower down impedance, and some other characteristic, yes, for sure

 

[tolis626]

I don't think that adding 60 cm of the same cable can make such a difference. Changing the materials to lower down impedance, and some other characteristic, yes, for sure

In my own, admittedly limited, experience (I mean, I'm 24, there's people here who have been into this stuff for longer than I've been alive), cables can make a difference. But there's a caveat. Usually, if a cable makes an audible difference, it means one of them is bad in some way. That can mean high impedance (per unit of length or even just because of pure length, I had daisy-chained 2 3m cables together to reach from my TV to my MSR7 at some point and the sound was definitely affected, being thinner and less detailed), poor shielding (so there's EMI noise), poor soldering, poor connectors and any number of things. With my father, who's been flirting with audiophilia since the early 80s, we've stumbled across many of these cables. When he got his current Vienna speakers, he forgot to get RCA cables to connect to his receiver and stuff. So he had me run to a local store to get a few cables while he was setting up. So I went to the store, got 3 identical cables and went home. Nice Vienna Baby Grand Beethoven speakers and PrimaLuna Dialogue II tube amp and it all sounded like noisy crap. It's been almost a decade and I can still remember the disappointment in his face. Turns out, the shielding on these cables was so poor that even a smartphone at close range would mess them up, never mind them being on a cabinet full of electronics. So we ordered a nicer 10-15€ cable and got it the next day. To this day, this setup he still owns is among the best I've heard. But then, he got curious and thought that cables can indeed make a huge difference. He and I learned what I described above the hard way. We visited an audio show in Athens where he got a 3 digit cost cable. It was a silver cable with huge shielded connectors and had this beautiful thick outer sheath that was supposed to protect the signal and sound delicious. We went home. He hooked it up. He got the same disappointed face he had the first day. There was NO difference in sound. We connected the 2 cables to different AUX ports of the amp and 2 different ports on his receiver, so we could A/B. There was no difference, period. He even had me connect them and not tell him which is which and still, nothing. Oh the disappointment...

So, to this day I refuse to believe that a magical cable can provide a quality boost over a good quality "cheap" cable. If it can't do it on a ~5.000€ or whatever it cost speaker setup, I highly doubt a headphone can benefit. WIth that said, there's a point where a better material can improve things, but that's far lower than many sellers will have you believe. So, again, for me, the only valid reason to get an expensive, nice cable is because "screw you I like it and I can buy it". I'm not going to argue with people claiming otherwise, I'm not omniscient. Others may be able to prove me wrong. Until then, I'll just continue buying and advising the same way I have until now.

PS : I'm really tempted to mod the 58x, but I adore their sound as it is right now. I'm just getting an itch and I'm trying to resist scratching it.