[Bad Santa]

Sony MDR EX-58V earbuds - Best buds I've ever heard for $20.
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDREX58V-BLK-Series-Headphones/dp/B004RE3YU8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342062206&sr=8-1&keywords=sony+mdr-ex58

 

[Kukuk]

Quote:

Though I'm seeing a lot of praise for the mids, I'm curious about the bass as well. Extension? 

 
A little weak. There's a good amount of detail, and on some stuff it has decent impact, but the extension is definitely lacking.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

A little weak. There's a good amount of detail, and on some stuff it has decent impact, but the extension is definitely lacking.

 
:\ Sounds like that's not my jam after all then. I'm an extension fiend.

 

[Dyaems]

another underrated headphone hehe
 
roland rh300

 

[Dyaems]

Quote:

 
A little weak. There's a good amount of detail, and on some stuff it has decent impact, but the extension is definitely lacking.

 
Quote:

 
:\ Sounds like that's not my jam after all then. I'm an extension fiend.

 
for me it is very well extended. it doesnt get too low like an lcd2 but yeah its there. maybe it is due to source matching. bass is somewhat lean yeah but it gives more compared to other "bass lean" headphones but that depends on song/source/etc.
 
i remember few first impressions of people who tried the cd900st is about bass extension, where i always thought midrange is supposedly the first thing that they will be noticing, which is the obvious. =/

 

[KimLaroux]

Quote:

 
While personally I had a few issues with them, I wouldn't say they outright suck. Aside from lacking bass extension (a deal breaker for me), what they did have was very good. Punchy and great mids. Didn't care for the treble spike at all but that's easily equalized. The biggest thing for me though was comfort. "Uncomfortable" doesn't even begin to describe it. It was literally extremely painful to wear them (even with 840 pads and HD600 padding, though they helped a little). People with certain heads have to be careful. 

 
You mean, the same as every other headphones?
 

 
And yeah, stock they have a serious lack of comfort. I had to heavily modify mines, but now they are simply amazing in both sound and comfort.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

another underrated headphone hehe
 
roland rh300

 
WTH (O_o) That's among the flattest graphs I've ever seen. How do they sound?
 
Edit: A little research shows that these apparently share parts/drivers with the M50s. Found a couple short reviews as well. Once again, I'm intrigued! I love this thread, it's loads of fun. 

 
Quote:

for me it is very well extended. it doesnt get too low like an lcd2 but yeah its there. maybe it is due to source matching. bass is somewhat lean yeah but it gives more compared to other "bass lean" headphones but that depends on song/source/etc.
 
i remember few first impressions of people who tried the cd900st is about bass extension, where i always thought midrange is supposedly the first thing that they will be noticing, which is the obvious. =/

 
Hm. Yeah, like I said I'm kind of an extension nazi. It honestly baffles me how so many headphones seem to have what I consider pretty poor bass extension. You're completely missing out on some parts of the music (well depending on the recording, but still). Scoop out -10dB at 800Hz or 2kHz and people would probably notice. 30Hz is no different in my eyes.
 
Quote:

You mean, the same as every other headphones?
 

 
And yeah, stock they have a serious lack of comfort. I had to heavily modify mines, but now they are simply amazing in both sound and comfort.

 
Yeah! Exactly! I hate that. This is another thing I have found I dislike that a lot of headphones seem to have. Luckily, unlike severely rolled off bass, it's really easy to fix with EQ if necessary.
 
Unfortunately, even with HD600 padding on the headband, they still hurt my head quite badly after a few minutes

 

[Nappael]

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I’m not sure of its US pricing but for the UK the Goldring DR150 was good value. They have become hard to find recently so wondering if they have been discontinued?

 
A couple of years ago they could be picked up for £45, at that price they were an absolute steal.

I think they have stopped making them though, sadly.

 

[OJNeg]

Quote:

 
WTH (O_o) That's among the flattest graphs I've ever seen. How do they sound?
 
Edit: A little research shows that these apparently share parts/drivers with the M50s. Found a couple short reviews as well. Once again, I'm intrigued! I love this thread, it's loads of fun. 

 
 
Hm. Yeah, like I said I'm kind of an extension nazi. It honestly baffles me how so many headphones seem to have what I consider pretty poor bass extension. You're completely missing out on some parts of the music (well depending on the recording, but still). Scoop out -10dB at 800Hz or 2kHz and people would probably notice. 30Hz is no different in my eyes.
 
 
Yeah! Exactly! I hate that. This is another thing I have found I dislike that a lot of headphones seem to have. Luckily, unlike severely rolled off bass, it's really easy to fix with EQ if necessary.
 
Unfortunately, even with HD600 padding on the headband, they still hurt my head quite badly after a few minutes

 
Just about every dynamic driver headphone is going to roll-off well before 20Hz. It's pretty much unavoidable with the technology. If you want something that's flat to 20Hz, check out the LCD. Those break the rule because they're a planar magnetic design, not dynamic driver.
 
Also, a headphone with a completely flat treble would not sound good. Your inner and outer ear amplifier certain frequencies, so the headphone has to be voiced to compensate for this issue. Loudspeakers, on the other hand, should be relatively flat because they're not mounted on your head.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

Just about every dynamic driver headphone is going to roll-off well before 20Hz. It's pretty much unavoidable with the technology. If you want something that's flat to 20Hz, check out the LCD. Those break the rule because they're a planar magnetic design, not dynamic driver.
 
Also, a headphone with a completely flat treble would not sound good. Your inner and outer ear amplifier certain frequencies, so the headphone has to be voiced to compensate for this issue. Loudspeakers, on the other hand, should be relatively flat because they're not mounted on your head.

 
It doesn't necessarily have to be flat down to 20Hz. I find that being audible (to a subjectively acceptable degree) at 30Hz is good enough for me, since it ensures the lower notes in bass lines will be clearly audible and not disappear (something which certain dynamics can certainly achieve). I'm almost kind of afraid to hear the LCDs, for fear that they might spoil me further in that regard despite descriptions of their overall sound signature not exactly sparking my interest. 

 
As for the treble, I understand. Again, I'm not really saying I'm on a quest for completely flat treble. Nonetheless, the infamous ~9kHz spike still sounds quite bad to me. Besides being fatiguing and harder to listen to, it makes things sound kind of "edgy." Instruments, especially cymbals and drums, gain a very unrealistic timbre, and vocals sound kind of hard/coarse or even nasally.

 

[BobJS]

Great Thread!   I made it all the way through and it only cost me about 5 trips to Amazon and ~$110.  Thought I'd give a try to the Koss UR-40 and the AKG K-240.  I'm more of an IEM fan, but I have 3 HPS currently : Koss PortaPro, the ubiquitous m50 (which I don't even listen to anymore), and the Senn HD25-1 II (my favorite at the moment).
 
Trying to save up for a higher end HP, so I probably shouldn't have popped in here.  Thanks!!
 

 

[Dyaems]

Quote:

 
WTH (O_o) That's among the flattest graphs I've ever seen. How do they sound? 
 

 
Indeed. Basically, listen to an m50, make its midrange upfront, tame the harsh treble (to some people), make its bass lesser but tighter and controlled, reduce the midbass as well, and you get the RH300. And that is unamped (using ipod touch or something similar). It also scales well when amped.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

Indeed. Basically, listen to an m50, make its midrange upfront, tame the harsh treble (to some people), make its bass lesser but tighter and controlled, reduce the midbass as well, and you get the RH300. And that is unamped (using ipod touch or something similar). It also scales well when amped.

 
That actually kind of sounds like my cup of tea.

 

[Dyaems]

I don't know about the extension though! Since I haven't owned them yet and I only heard from one of the private (and unique) studios here in our country that uses the rh300 as their monitoring headphones.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

I don't know about the extension though! Since I haven't owned them yet and I only heard from one of the private (and unique) studios here in our country that uses the rh300 as their monitoring headphones.

 
Yup. 

 The graph at least suggests the possibility. Though not sure where that's from or who made it. I'd be keen on giving them a listen if I ever get the chance.