My First Review!! 497 vs KTX Pro

Feb 5, 2003 at 3:01 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 8

dudlew

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Sennheiser HD 497 vs KTX Pro

Okay, First the disclaimers: These are my opinions, from my ears, and I listened to only one source; my Sony CDP-CE575 CD changer’s headphone out.
I am a newbie here and I can only compare to what I know. This is my first ‘real’ headphone and unlike speakers, it’s the first ‘real’ headphone I have listened to. So take that into consideration when reading this review.

Now my kinda brief review.

Look
I Don’t think I will wear the Senns in public anytime soon!! They don’t look too bad but they are much bigger than I thought, and the silver to me looks a bit more Garish in reality. I wish they made them in a different colour like black.
My pair of KTX Pros’ will still be used for public appearances for the time being, as they are neater and less noticeable.

Comfort

For now the KTX Pro wins here for now. I am accustomed to it now and they are lighter. They have conformed to my head a bit, mind you I forced them to do that by bending the metal bar outward to reduce the pressure it applied to my head. Still I cant wear them for more than 1 hour unless I am concentrating on something else and just don’t realize they are there!

I do get the feeling that as I use the 497 more I will find it more comfortable and be able to wear it for longer periods than the KTX Pro.

Build

The KTX Pro to me is built like a tank. It takes a lot of abuse in bags from anywhere I go. Not a Padded bag mind you a thin cheapo back pack with holes and the uncanny ability to not hold anything firm, hence everything crushes together. I have had them since 1999 and they are still alive. The only gripe is the volume control which gives some very minor problems.

I just got the 497, but I find them to be of relatively solid build. I am not too keen on the size though for in a bag it will most likely get more abuse because of it. Only time will yell its true strength.

Sound

I listened to a few songs:

1) Fragile and When we Dance, from ‘… All This Time’. A live recording of Sting (You know Sting’s style)

2) Substitute For Love, From ‘Ray Of Light’ Madonna ( Madonna’s more recent style of dance techno thingy??)

3) Black Coffee, From ‘Eat At Whitey’s” Everlast ( An Alternative/ R&B styled song)

4) How High The Moon, From ‘Young Lions & Old Tigers’ Dave Brubeck (A duo of voice and piano)

5) And two of my own songs
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The general trend was that the KTX Pro was out classed most of the time.
On all the songs the KTX Pro had a bloated lower midrange/upper bass and a rolled off ill defined treble. His gave it a smoother richer sound particularly on vocals, but it sounded some times too rich?? You know when you get too close to a mike your voice takes on a richer more bloated character (Proximity effect)? That is what the KTX Pro gives you. Only in one song did the KTX Pro sound decent in treble balance and it was with one of my own songs where I used the very said phone to mix it!!!

The 497 on the other hand sounded more balanced, with better high frequency extension and much better defined. It also sounded more open and focused with a slightly airy quality. It was much more in control of the music when things got a bit more complex, and had better instrument separation and definition.

However the 497 lacked the attack and the aggression in the bass region of the KTX Pro which makes it sound a little too laid back and sterile, lacking some energy and dynamics.

The bass was another area where I found the 497 a little lacking. It is there, with relatively good extension, detail and accuracy of timing, but it does not have that little extra ‘bloom’ for want of a better word that makes people love bass so, or the slam for that matter. As I said I think there might be a little bass head in me.

Another area was that the midrange of the 497 sounded a little recessed in comparison to the KTX Pro, which sounded more upfront in that area. A result of the overemphasized lower mid/ upper bass region? This gave male vocalist with not so heavy voices a weighty voice rich in body on the KX Pro, which can sound appealing, but after listening to my own voice which is kinda rich already, and was recorded with a Shure SM57 mic , the KTX Pro makes it sound a little too rich and over full.

The problem I have is that my speaker system sounds a little like the KTX Pro with slightly emphasized mid bass, and slightly recessed treble. Comparing these two is like comparing my stereo to my brother’s. My setup is in my profile, my brother’s setup Has a Sony CDP XE3000ES I think, the matching amp, better interconnects and DynAudio Audience 50 speakers. It is leagues above mine in clarity and has a more balanced sound. It has better dynamics Also which is not the case here with these phones though
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But at the end of the day, the HD497 wins for sure sounding more tonally accurate and in better control of itself. The KTX Pro wins on dynamics and energy alone. The HD497 wins on everything else. I think I am going to love my new phones and hope that things get better WHEN I add an amp.


Dudlew
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 3:37 AM Post #2 of 8
Nice review! I agree that the 497's have sound to kill for their price range! It's all so clear, so accurate, it makes me sad that they're so ugly-looking (at least to my eyes). Check it out: put that kinda sound in the shape and sleekness of a V6-style 'phone, and it'd be jammin'!
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 4:10 AM Post #3 of 8
Looks aside it is good, and I have a feeling that my source was the cause of the lack of dynamics and recessed midband, not the headphone. I wish my sl-s361 was alive!! or my MD-MS702!! either I think would be a better quality source than the head out of my cd player, the piece of crap that it is!!1


Dudlew
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 6:20 AM Post #4 of 8
I gotta say that was a great review, I've been waiting for that review for 2 days now haha. Before I was a little patient to get my HD497's(Being my first pair of headphones that didnt come with a cd player) but now thanks to you Im gunna explode if I dont get them soom, DAMN YOU!
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 3:17 PM Post #5 of 8
maybe senn can make an open version of the hD-280 pro frame, make it sound better than the 497's, and price it the same as the normal 280 pro. maybe call it the 497 pro
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would certainly make it better than the 497 for portability (folds up). but anyway, bit of a wild idea there.

i want a headphone thats as small as say...KSC-35's, but sounds as good as my HD-590's. might be impossible to make, but still.
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*edit/addition* if anyones interested, i did a review of the 497 a while back, seen here
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 4:34 PM Post #6 of 8
Trying these with my sony discman yielde some surprises. It seem that these two work well together, to my ears at least. I didnt use my discman for the review because of all the complaints of the crappy headphone output, but it just so happens that the discman's headphone out actually played the 497s with hat bit more dynamism that was lacking from my changer. It was a bit more nasal sounding and the highs were a little rolled off but I think that overall the head out of the discman matches these headphones quite well giving a better bass and a smoother trable than the changer's headphone out.

I think this means that the headout from the DE-J955, even though crappy, is less crappy than the head out on the CDP-CE575 changer that I have.

This just makes me hate my changer even more
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I am supposed to return to sharp (Definitely not a Sony fan especially after my changer) MD glory soon
smily_headphones1.gif
Lets see what these phones do there.

D
 
Feb 5, 2003 at 9:35 PM Post #7 of 8
Quote:

Originally posted by dudlew
Trying these with my sony discman yielde some surprises. It seem that these two work well together, to my ears at least. I didnt use my discman for the review because of all the complaints of the crappy headphone output, but it just so happens that the discman's headphone out actually played the 497s with hat bit more dynamism that was lacking from my changer. It was a bit more nasal sounding and the highs were a little rolled off but I think that overall the head out of the discman matches these headphones quite well giving a better bass and a smoother trable than the changer's headphone out.


I think that the 497s work very well with low-powered PCDP amps. They'd be my top choice for portable use if they weren't so damn embarassing looking.
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