[Dima202]

Coming from Grado SR225 (from 2007) to the Audio Technica M50x.
I received M50x yesterday, plugged it into my portable e12 amp and was not really blown away.
The thing I like about M50x and the reason I ordered them was to get better bass feel from a headphone and these deliver.
Besides Bass, the sound is just so much duller compared to my Grados.

I let my brother listen to them and his words where "Something's missing" and that pretty much sums up my experience at this moment as well.
Of course I did not let them burn in yet, but I do not expect dramatic improvement.

Update 11/16/14
I've been listening to the M50x for the past few days and letting them run over night. Maybe it's my imagination but they sound more detailed. Still not at the level of SR225s... Overall fun headphones which I can use in public without sacrificing too much sound quality.

 

[Smugsie]

The Grado SR225 is an intimate headphone made for rock and dancing all around, open headphones tend to be more flexible with their sound signatures to prevent fatiguing. I.E. 2khz sounds more fatiguing on a Beyerdynamic COP compared to Q701's. ATH-M50's are more towards the neutral side (still coloured nevertheless) with dips around the 4-5khz area.

It's a shame you didn't like your purchase though

 

[Schokolade bar]

It's the M50s. They aren't supposed to blow you away really, they are generally a lacklustre entry headphone which has gotten favorable reviews for what reason I am unaware. The Grado's are significantly better in my opinion.

 

[GradoSound]

My open HP is Grado RS2 and I'm happy with it. I also had a M50 for casual listening in the family room not to disturb other people. Two weeks ago my son permanently borrowed my M50 and I went to buy another one. I decided to audition few different closed HPs in case a better option exists within a similar budget. In the end I ended up buying a NAD Viso HP50. Listening them side-by-side was no contest. NAD was a clear winner in every aspect. For the money I really think NAD is one of the most underappreciated HPs out there.

 

[justaname]

*HFI-580 master race checking in*

 

[Dima202]

My open HP is Grado RS2 and I'm happy with it. I also had a M50 for casual listening in the family room not to disturb other people. Two weeks ago my son permanently borrowed my M50 and I went to buy another one. I decided to audition few different closed HPs in case a better option exists within a similar budget. In the end I ended up buying a NAD Viso HP50. Listening them side-by-side was no contest. NAD was a clear winner in every aspect. For the money I really think NAD is one of the most underappreciated HPs out there.

 

Interesting headphone, but almost 2x the price I paid for my M50x(Massdrop deal $128 shipped). For the money I think this is a pretty good head phone. I never expected it to surpass my Grado SR225. It's an overall okay head phone with decent bass. What I like is its design; flexible and portable.
Someday I want to find a head phone that has sound quality equal or better to Grado with good bass production. I'm sure that headphone would be in the price range of $500 to $1500. So for now, I will just stick to Grado for home listening and M50x for everything else.

Don't think open head phones can do bass well and that's okay. I'll be saving up for the Grado PS500 to replace my SR225 and I'll be looking for a good closed head phone to replace the M50x.
Can't have best of both world I guess.

I wonder if STAX Electrostatic breaks the trend.