JdeFalconr
100+ Head-Fier
(Link to Gaming Impressions post)
I set out to pick a pair of headphones primarily for PC/Xbox gaming and so of course I spent several hours gathering and recording impressions on their musical performance! This community helped me considerably toward picking a product so I wanted to try and make a contribution in return; hopefully these musings are helpful or at least enjoyable to someone. But also these headphones were a joy to dig into. I will do a separate post for gaming impressions within the appropriate forum channel. I am not an experienced headphone reviewer and so I apologize in advance if my impressions don't translate effectively or if my terminology is wonky. I will happily answer questions and expound on anything you found confusing or insufficient. You all probably know what this stuff looks like so I'll just do photos by request.
Important to understand as you read is that I am comparing these four headphones to each other. I do not have the experience or objective audio knowledge to try and review these against some external standard.
Very big thanks to @Mad Lust Envy for the Headphone Gaming Guide that provided much of the fuel for this effort as well as @Chastity for some great headphone suggestions and advice. Thanks to others too who kindly offered advice and dealt with my help posts and questions.
As one of my key requirements was a hardware control for game/chat audio balance the Sound Blaster X4 was used as my DAC/AMP with the source being my Windows PC running Winamp. I felt like it worked great and had no discernible problem driving any of the headphones, even the 600-ohm DT990 Premiums. I won't dive into that piece of hardware (unless you want me to) as this post is focused on the headphones.
Test Methods: I disabled system-level EQ and all audio enhancements, both Windows and Sound Blaster, with the exception of Sound Blaster's virtual 7.1.
For music I listened to the same song once on each of the four headphones in turn to provide for as much of a direct comparison as possible. I used the identical EQ setting ("Rock") within Winamp for all nine songs; I'll post a screenshot of it as I don't have precise values for it. I'll be honest, I did not listen to each song from start to finish; I skipped through them, listening to key points on each of the headphones at length (i.e. not just for two or three seconds; more like 20, 30, 60, etc.) and moving back and forth through the song until I felt settled in my opinions. All nine songs totaled 43 minutes 10 seconds. Multiply that by four, then add time for swapping headphones, writing impressions...you get the point why I took this approach.
For gaming I played one or two rounds of Battlefield 2042 with each headphone in turn, swapping between them within the same play session to promote comparisons. I played in this manner over four or five nights.
Winamp EQ:
Songs I used and a bit on why:
Mackie MC450
Very clear, well-defined, engaging sound; very tight without being reclusive. My opinion of these grew the more I listened to them; maybe it was burn-in? These cans are making this selection very tough. Nice wide soundstage. Bass is well-represented but a bit amorphous; it distorted slightly on Audioslave's Like A Stone. I really appreciated the earcups rotating for low-profile storage and improved fit. I also liked the very long, braided stock cable while simultaneously feeling baffled by the coiled one.
Comfort: I'd call it a low-moderate clamp. Whatever kind of foam they're using feels a bit hard and has quite the manufacturing smell. Fairly light. But once I put them on the great sound distracted me sufficiently. In my opinion the stock pads might need replacement.
Monolith/Monoprice M1570
All kinds of musical fun to be had here and still great for gaming. These would have been out of reach and off the radar had they not been on sale for $400 USD, a $200 savings. Compared to MC450 and DT990 not quite the same pure sharpness but by no means dull. Vocals whether in-game or with music are excellently forward. Spacious sound. For music the spaciousness and reverb almost steps on its own toes at times in my opinion. Great positioning and soundstage for gaming. The included carrying case is gigantic and would easily double as a hat box or travel carrier for your Yorkshire Terrier. I love the 80's cyberpunk aesthetic of these headphones. Later on I applied a very slight amount of EQ to these with a tiny drop in the mids to promote a "leaner," clearer sound that I like. That helped with what I felt were some very minor clarity issues. The impressions below are prior to that EQ adjustment. Keep in mind that I adored these headphones prior to the EQ change.
Comfort: Good God these are big and heavy. Even the cable is thick and beefy. The weight is distributed well and so their heft didn't bother me one bit even when moving my head around. The clamping force, however, began to get to me after awhile; I'm trying to make adjustments to work with it. Reading about these headphones most folks complain there isn't enough clamp; I have a 23" diameter head - relatively average I understand - so perhaps I don't have them adjusted properly. I used the lambskin pads. I worry these will get quite hot in the summer but maybe the open back will help. It might be worth the sacrifices.
HE400SE
"Controlled" is the first word that came to mind; muzzled would be more apt. These universally came through flat and shallow, like I was sitting in front of a TV and watching a recording of whatever I was supposed to be experiencing. They acquitted themselves reasonably well for gaming with a good soundstage and good positioning. Many others speak highly of the HE400SE and I respect their opinions. The manual said they need 150 hours of burn-in time; I don't know if that's the problem here but I don't have a full week to throw at these. Remember too I did not attempt to EQ or work with these much. Please keep in mind I evaluated these headphones in the context of the other three; please DO NOT use my impressions as the basis for your decision-making! I get the sense my experience may have been substantially different than that of others. The stock cable...yeah, you know already. Also: maybe I'm getting spoiled but What, no carrying case?
Comfort: Good. Light on my head. Low clamping force. Fit well around my large ears. I didn't like the fabric/suede pads but they felt cooler than some of the others I tried at least.
DT990 600 Premium
Amazing imaging and detail; I picked things up in songs I didn't hear before which is a quality I truly get excited about. You then pay for it with ear-shredding highs and weak mids. Bass is large and moody but lacks oomph and definition. Soundstage was huge and wonderful. Hands-down best of the four for pure gaming though the piercing highs got to me during extended play. The omission of a replaceable cable was really odd to me.
Comfort: Amazingly light, I worried the box was empty when it was delivered; these things are feathers on your head. Not a fan of the suede/fabric pads. Almost zero clamping force which felt slightly odd.
I set out to pick a pair of headphones primarily for PC/Xbox gaming and so of course I spent several hours gathering and recording impressions on their musical performance! This community helped me considerably toward picking a product so I wanted to try and make a contribution in return; hopefully these musings are helpful or at least enjoyable to someone. But also these headphones were a joy to dig into. I will do a separate post for gaming impressions within the appropriate forum channel. I am not an experienced headphone reviewer and so I apologize in advance if my impressions don't translate effectively or if my terminology is wonky. I will happily answer questions and expound on anything you found confusing or insufficient. You all probably know what this stuff looks like so I'll just do photos by request.
Important to understand as you read is that I am comparing these four headphones to each other. I do not have the experience or objective audio knowledge to try and review these against some external standard.
Very big thanks to @Mad Lust Envy for the Headphone Gaming Guide that provided much of the fuel for this effort as well as @Chastity for some great headphone suggestions and advice. Thanks to others too who kindly offered advice and dealt with my help posts and questions.
As one of my key requirements was a hardware control for game/chat audio balance the Sound Blaster X4 was used as my DAC/AMP with the source being my Windows PC running Winamp. I felt like it worked great and had no discernible problem driving any of the headphones, even the 600-ohm DT990 Premiums. I won't dive into that piece of hardware (unless you want me to) as this post is focused on the headphones.
Test Methods: I disabled system-level EQ and all audio enhancements, both Windows and Sound Blaster, with the exception of Sound Blaster's virtual 7.1.
For music I listened to the same song once on each of the four headphones in turn to provide for as much of a direct comparison as possible. I used the identical EQ setting ("Rock") within Winamp for all nine songs; I'll post a screenshot of it as I don't have precise values for it. I'll be honest, I did not listen to each song from start to finish; I skipped through them, listening to key points on each of the headphones at length (i.e. not just for two or three seconds; more like 20, 30, 60, etc.) and moving back and forth through the song until I felt settled in my opinions. All nine songs totaled 43 minutes 10 seconds. Multiply that by four, then add time for swapping headphones, writing impressions...you get the point why I took this approach.
For gaming I played one or two rounds of Battlefield 2042 with each headphone in turn, swapping between them within the same play session to promote comparisons. I played in this manner over four or five nights.
Winamp EQ:
Songs I used and a bit on why:
- Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged Mix); 320kbps MP3 # I love the vocals and the punchy, round bass in this song.
- The Eagles - Tequila Sunrise (Greatest Hits 1971-1975); FLAC # Different style of music, a bit more intimate recording and more acoustic.
- The Offspring - Forever and a Day (Ignition); FLAC # This track was revealing in how the headphones handled the very fast percussion and guitar. Also, I love me some Offspring.
- Pink Floyd - Us and Them (Pulse); FLAC # Big, powerful sound. I think the ladies doing backup vocals add a tremendous amount to the track. Also I prefer live recordings.
- Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (Pulse); FLAC # My favorite guitar solo and some good bass underneath it all.
- Daft Punk - Solar Sailer (TRON Legacy Soundtrack); FLAC # This track has awesome bass and sub-bass that was great for comparison, coupled with nice strings.
- Daft Punk - The Grid (TRON Legacy Soundtrack); FLAC # I picked this song mainly because I adore the super-heavy sound of that synth music. That sound also brought out some interesting comparisons between the headphones and even drove some over the edge to distortion.
- Hans Zimmer - Cornfield Chase (Interstellar Soundtrack); 320kbps MP3 # I adore the organ used throughout this soundtrack. Wonderful layering happening here and a beautiful, haunting melody.
- Hans Zimmer - No Time for Caution (Interstellar Soundtrack); 320kbps MP3 # This track was reproduced most differently by each of the four headphones, to my surprise. Big-sounding, exciting track with some very deep bass.
Mackie MC450
Very clear, well-defined, engaging sound; very tight without being reclusive. My opinion of these grew the more I listened to them; maybe it was burn-in? These cans are making this selection very tough. Nice wide soundstage. Bass is well-represented but a bit amorphous; it distorted slightly on Audioslave's Like A Stone. I really appreciated the earcups rotating for low-profile storage and improved fit. I also liked the very long, braided stock cable while simultaneously feeling baffled by the coiled one.
Comfort: I'd call it a low-moderate clamp. Whatever kind of foam they're using feels a bit hard and has quite the manufacturing smell. Fairly light. But once I put them on the great sound distracted me sufficiently. In my opinion the stock pads might need replacement.
- Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged): Nice punch to the bass and the percussion but the rest lacks some depth and oomph. Great nuance and detail in the vocals and the acoustic guitar. Nice reverb. Sounds tight.
- Eagles - Tequila Sunrise: Pleasantly sharp and defined. Rich (like chocolate mousse) and pronounced vocals. I enjoyed this song most on these headphones.
- Offspring: Forever And a Day: Bass plus the growly guitar got fairly muddled-sounding. A very fast, busy song and the headphones didn't pick it apart for me.
- Pink Floyd: Us And Them (Pulse): Very smooth sound. Soundstage was wonderfully roomy for the live recording. Would have liked a bit more oomph in the vocals but they were by no means weak. I could really make out those amazing female vocalists in this one.
- Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb (Pulse): Great round bass. Highs came through a bit sharp but not too bad. Guitar solo sounded a bit muffled and lacked power. Excellent space and reverb.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): Solar Sailer: Forward sound. Well-pronounced bass. Good definition on the sub-bass. The orchestra sounded rich. Very enjoyable.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): Very slight distortion from the heavy synth. The bass overwhelms a bit but this some pretty egregious bass. Soundstage accounted itself well with the huge, round sounds of this track.
- Interstellar: Cornfield Chase: That pipe organ was wonderfully ghostly. Deeply rich, powerful sound to everything. Separation of the various parts of the music wasn't very good and the resulting sound was a bit mushy. The supple tones made me not care one bit.
- Interstellar: No Time for Caution: I liked best how the MC450's reproduced this track. Nice percussion. The sound of the bassy organ in the background complemented by bass strings was luscious and exciting. Bass boomed hugely midway through but it felt right and didn't get in the way. At the end of the track the MC450 put all those huge sounds together wonderfully. Tons of fun!
Monolith/Monoprice M1570
All kinds of musical fun to be had here and still great for gaming. These would have been out of reach and off the radar had they not been on sale for $400 USD, a $200 savings. Compared to MC450 and DT990 not quite the same pure sharpness but by no means dull. Vocals whether in-game or with music are excellently forward. Spacious sound. For music the spaciousness and reverb almost steps on its own toes at times in my opinion. Great positioning and soundstage for gaming. The included carrying case is gigantic and would easily double as a hat box or travel carrier for your Yorkshire Terrier. I love the 80's cyberpunk aesthetic of these headphones. Later on I applied a very slight amount of EQ to these with a tiny drop in the mids to promote a "leaner," clearer sound that I like. That helped with what I felt were some very minor clarity issues. The impressions below are prior to that EQ adjustment. Keep in mind that I adored these headphones prior to the EQ change.
Comfort: Good God these are big and heavy. Even the cable is thick and beefy. The weight is distributed well and so their heft didn't bother me one bit even when moving my head around. The clamping force, however, began to get to me after awhile; I'm trying to make adjustments to work with it. Reading about these headphones most folks complain there isn't enough clamp; I have a 23" diameter head - relatively average I understand - so perhaps I don't have them adjusted properly. I used the lambskin pads. I worry these will get quite hot in the summer but maybe the open back will help. It might be worth the sacrifices.
- Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged): Bass has a huge, roomy and airy sound but in a good way; it carries force but it's dispersed-sounding; very pleasing. Vocals are beautifully layered on the bass and other instruments; there's some loss of raw sharpness but it's by no means dull. Reverb on this song is great in these headphones.
- Eagles - Tequila Sunrise: Vocals perfectly forward. Spacious sound is almost a bit much for such an intimate recording.
- Offspring: Forever And a Day: Bass didn't get in the way but it also took over a bit. Good separation of the instruments from each other and from vocals which I really appreciated after the MC-450's.
- Pink Floyd: Us And Them (Pulse): Oh those drums sound wonderful. Gilmour's voice sounded appropriately weighty. The bass was ever-present and enveloping in a very good way. Female vocalists got lost a bit, sadly.
- Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb (Pulse): Beautifully resonant bass. That harpsichord or whatever it was hung in the air perfectly, almost like it swirled around the arena. Vocals were great. My favorite guitar solo sounded fantastic, I usually just get lost in the lead instrument but this time I could pick out all of the other parts of the band as well.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): Solar Sailer: Wonderfully enveloping bass. Sub-bass boomed pleasantly and roundly as opposed to gaining definition like the HE400SE's; it was different, not worse. Strings didn't sound as forward to me.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): The Grid: Rich sound overall. That heavy synth and its bass almost overwhelmed but the M1570's fought valiantly, wrestled it to the ground and forced it to comply in creating a wonderful atmosphere.
- Interstellar: Cornfield Chase: Engaging. Properly spacious for an instrument like this. Nice definition. Great layering and separation. In my opinion this track on these headphones carried emotional impact; beautiful.
- Interstellar: No Time for Caution: Wonderfully haunting presentation of the big, bassy organ/strings, like the monster hiding in your closet at night; it gave the entire track a whole new character. Midtone organ was a bit withdrawn. Sub-base was a bit overwhelming towards the end. I enjoyed listening to elements of the orchestra moving forward from the withdrawn rear towards the end, almost as if somebody put them all on one of those huge flat carts from Costco and wheeled them from the rear of the auditorium up to the mic. Overall much of this piece felt withdrawn to me as compared to the MC450 but it was still enjoyable.
HE400SE
"Controlled" is the first word that came to mind; muzzled would be more apt. These universally came through flat and shallow, like I was sitting in front of a TV and watching a recording of whatever I was supposed to be experiencing. They acquitted themselves reasonably well for gaming with a good soundstage and good positioning. Many others speak highly of the HE400SE and I respect their opinions. The manual said they need 150 hours of burn-in time; I don't know if that's the problem here but I don't have a full week to throw at these. Remember too I did not attempt to EQ or work with these much. Please keep in mind I evaluated these headphones in the context of the other three; please DO NOT use my impressions as the basis for your decision-making! I get the sense my experience may have been substantially different than that of others. The stock cable...yeah, you know already. Also: maybe I'm getting spoiled but What, no carrying case?
Comfort: Good. Light on my head. Low clamping force. Fit well around my large ears. I didn't like the fabric/suede pads but they felt cooler than some of the others I tried at least.
- Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged): Tight, controlled base. Un-missable but no punch. Mids sharp and flaccid. Midtones in her voice are also weak. Sounds wide with good sense of space. Great detail on the guitar during the crescendo of the song.
- Eagles - Tequila Sunrise: Like the roomy sound. Vocals slightly muffled and recessed but pleasingly rich. Bass really complements the rest of the track in these headphones. Overall sound feels slightly flat.
- Offspring: Forever And a Day: I think HE400SE did this track best and it could do it even better with some EQ. Properly roomy and boomy. Highs were slightly too sharp. Nice wide, sound. Lead guitar was excellent.
- Pink Floyd: Us And Them (Pulse): Nice roomy bass. Vocals sounded thin. In fact the whole recording sounded pathetically flat for such a powerful song.
- Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb (Pulse): All the other headphones put me in the front row of the concert, these sit me in front of a recording on TV. Here and there a nice sense of space but...nope. Not nearly as fun.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): Solar Sailer: Good shape to the bass and surprising amount of definition on the sub-bass. Nice space on the strings. Still slightly flat in presentation on things other than the bass.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): The Grid: More of the same; flat, weak, withdrawn. The sub-bass at least accounted itself reasonably.
- Interstellar: Cornfield Chase: Some lack of definition in those midrange notes. Started out with nice reverb and spaciousness but once the organ really got going it devolved into a mushy wall of organ music.
- Interstellar: No Time for Caution: Soundstage and bass did some justice here in the first part of the song and combined with the sharp percussion added some excitement. Flaccid midtones sadly let the rest down. Reverb towards the end got things a bit muddy.
DT990 600 Premium
Amazing imaging and detail; I picked things up in songs I didn't hear before which is a quality I truly get excited about. You then pay for it with ear-shredding highs and weak mids. Bass is large and moody but lacks oomph and definition. Soundstage was huge and wonderful. Hands-down best of the four for pure gaming though the piercing highs got to me during extended play. The omission of a replaceable cable was really odd to me.
Comfort: Amazingly light, I worried the box was empty when it was delivered; these things are feathers on your head. Not a fan of the suede/fabric pads. Almost zero clamping force which felt slightly odd.
- Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged): Bass is sharp and punchy but its shape is less-defined. Wide sound with a touch more air and spacy-ness. Razor-sharp highs on the vocals.
- Eagles - Tequila Sunrise: Positioning good. Vocals got a bit lost; tonally they're pleasing but don't seem to carry weight. The peaks on the guitar and percussion are quite pointed.
- Offspring: Forever And a Day: Sharpness and precision helped on this track though those fast cymbals got real blurry. Bass reverbed a bit too much. Ouch, the highs. Vocals MIA in all the shuffle.
- Pink Floyd: Us And Them (Pulse): That wide soundstage really helped the live recording. I could pick up someone else singing the chorus with Gilmour who I'd never heard before; love that. Dear God give me some midtones! The female backup singers were sadly lost in the shuffle.
- Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb (Pulse): Boomy, sadly undefined bass. The sharp highs kind of detracted from the rest of the track for me. Again I could pick out vocal elements that didn't occur to me previously, which I adore. The guitar solo was bigger and a bit more three-dimensional; one of the most engaging reproductions of it I've heard.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): Solar Sailer: Wonderfully round bass and sub-bass even if it didn't have the form I would have liked. Enjoyed the hissy sound of the heavy synth (seriously). Strings really sang in my opinion.
- Daft Punk (TRON Legacy): The Grid: Meh. Not so engaging to me. A sense of booming sub-bass but only from afar. Soundstage felt awkward on this one.
- Interstellar: Cornfield Chase: That precise imaging really helped here. Bass was large but sadly undefined. Organ notes each sounded perfectly rounded and ghostly. Really got the sense of the air driving the instrument.
- Interstellar: No Time for Caution: That bassy organ/strings combo was MIA. The percussion was forward. Big sub-bass drowned things out a bit towards the end even as the strings sang.
Last edited:
