chillysalsa
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
- Posts
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- 187
I’ve had the SR-125s for about 5 days now, and put about 30 hrs on them (20h was for break-in, as they sounded a little congested and grainy right out of the box).
My initial impressions: heaven & hell.
Let me clarify.
Heaven: These sound incredible. I keep finding certain tracks, and just keep cranking it up and up. It just sounds better and better without getting harsh or painful (to a point, where it just gets too loud, of course). The detail is all there at low levels too, but it’s so much more fun to keep them at moderate levels. These just let you forget about frequency response, impedance curves, oxygen-free ultra-high purity long crystal copper coils & doodads - and free you to simply get lost in the music! This is what hi-fi is about - to me anyway.
Hell: I think my ear lobes actually have bruises. That’s partly because I’ve had them on so much (the music sounds too good to take them off, I’m so torn!). I’m looking into those Sennheiser H-19545 pads, and have bent out the band a little to accommodate my fat head. Do they get more comfortable because the pads wear-in, or because your ears wear-off?
I don’t really find that they have the sibilance in the 5kHz range that everyone complains about. Maybe my upper hearing may have been damaged at that one and only rave and the numerous jam-sessions of playing in a rock band in high-school (without ear plugs, with guitar amps cranked & clipping away). Well, I guess can hear SOME harshness on certain recordings, but I wouldn’t call it excessive, and am tolerating it.
I’ve noticed that overall, they have a peculiar timbre to them. Certain sounds, like the plucking of guitars has a very metallic sound to it - because of the metal diaphragms I guess? It’s not entirely unpleasant, but it makes me wonder what things should ‘really’ sound like. Strangely, voices aren’t very affected by this, they come across very natural.
Initially, I ventured off to get the SR-60’s. I wasn’t happy with them at all - they sounded bass-shy, and let too much of the outside sound in (probably because of the comfy pads). The SR-80’s sounded just about right, more bass & less harshness. Moving through the line, I noticed little difference between the 125 and 225’s. The 325’s offered much smoother sound, and had a lot more in common with the RS-2’s than the rest of the SR line. The RS-2’s of course, were the kings of sweetness. (unfortunately they didn’t have RS-1’s to try). In the end I settled on the 125’s because I could get them for only $25 more than the SR-80’s (and 325s were more than 2x beyond the budget).
Happy listening...
My initial impressions: heaven & hell.
Let me clarify.
Heaven: These sound incredible. I keep finding certain tracks, and just keep cranking it up and up. It just sounds better and better without getting harsh or painful (to a point, where it just gets too loud, of course). The detail is all there at low levels too, but it’s so much more fun to keep them at moderate levels. These just let you forget about frequency response, impedance curves, oxygen-free ultra-high purity long crystal copper coils & doodads - and free you to simply get lost in the music! This is what hi-fi is about - to me anyway.
Hell: I think my ear lobes actually have bruises. That’s partly because I’ve had them on so much (the music sounds too good to take them off, I’m so torn!). I’m looking into those Sennheiser H-19545 pads, and have bent out the band a little to accommodate my fat head. Do they get more comfortable because the pads wear-in, or because your ears wear-off?
I don’t really find that they have the sibilance in the 5kHz range that everyone complains about. Maybe my upper hearing may have been damaged at that one and only rave and the numerous jam-sessions of playing in a rock band in high-school (without ear plugs, with guitar amps cranked & clipping away). Well, I guess can hear SOME harshness on certain recordings, but I wouldn’t call it excessive, and am tolerating it.
I’ve noticed that overall, they have a peculiar timbre to them. Certain sounds, like the plucking of guitars has a very metallic sound to it - because of the metal diaphragms I guess? It’s not entirely unpleasant, but it makes me wonder what things should ‘really’ sound like. Strangely, voices aren’t very affected by this, they come across very natural.
Initially, I ventured off to get the SR-60’s. I wasn’t happy with them at all - they sounded bass-shy, and let too much of the outside sound in (probably because of the comfy pads). The SR-80’s sounded just about right, more bass & less harshness. Moving through the line, I noticed little difference between the 125 and 225’s. The 325’s offered much smoother sound, and had a lot more in common with the RS-2’s than the rest of the SR line. The RS-2’s of course, were the kings of sweetness. (unfortunately they didn’t have RS-1’s to try). In the end I settled on the 125’s because I could get them for only $25 more than the SR-80’s (and 325s were more than 2x beyond the budget).
Happy listening...
