violeta88
500+ Head-Fier
When I first looked at the Sennheiser HD497's, the expression "Don't judge a book by its cover" came to mind. But I couldn't help it. These were so ugly and were made so cheaply, in China even, that I had no faith in their sound quality whatsoever. They didn't even have gold-plated plugs. Sheesh! Let's call them the ugly duckling Sennheisers.
I listened to the Sennheiser HD 497's for 40 hours, mentally noting the sonic change, and what a change it was. When I first listened to the headphones, I was in aural shock. Back then I didn't know why. But from reading the response from the first full length review of these headphones, somebody noted that they thought they were too busy. Bingo. That was the cause of my dizziness. Well, after 40 hours of break-in, that and all of the other defects go away. What other defects you say? In the beginning there is a harsh treble, cymbals and drums sound mechanical and the bass seems bridled in some way. Well, after 40 hours everything changes. The harsh treble and busy quality metamorphisize into extreme detail without harshness, cymbals drums and the bass, not to mention all other instruments and sounds come out with so much unbridled musical passion and vibrance that you will look at these headphones and your $60-69 invoice and say "Huh???".
I was going to do a comparison between the Grado SR-80 and the Sennheiser HD497, but the SR-80 sucked so bad in comparison that I had to spare it the shame. I'll tell you this though, the Grado's had no soundstage, poor stereo imaging, and a really nasty veil over the treble that clouded everything. Yuck.
By the way I should mention that I am using the headphone output of a Samsung DVD-M301 DVD player since its quality is superior to my other headphone jack, the one in my Denon receiver. Let me explain, it's cleaner sounding than the one im my Denon, which hisses.
There isn't a headphone out there, other than the HD477, like the HD497. The HD497 seems to be a combination of two more expensive headphones, the Grado SR-125 and the Sennheiser HD570. The HD570's grace, soundstage, and smoothness was combined with the SR-125's detail and punchy bass, then all the qualities were improved upon and placed into an excessively cheap package, in order to meet the $60-69 price point. Sennheiser, thank you. There is no way I can afford a pair of HD600's, but I can have a great taste for 60 clams with the HD 497's. Ugly ducklings with spendy drivers. Just imagine how much you would save if they did that with the HD600's, and no I'm not talking about the HD580's.
I listened to the Sennheiser HD 497's for 40 hours, mentally noting the sonic change, and what a change it was. When I first listened to the headphones, I was in aural shock. Back then I didn't know why. But from reading the response from the first full length review of these headphones, somebody noted that they thought they were too busy. Bingo. That was the cause of my dizziness. Well, after 40 hours of break-in, that and all of the other defects go away. What other defects you say? In the beginning there is a harsh treble, cymbals and drums sound mechanical and the bass seems bridled in some way. Well, after 40 hours everything changes. The harsh treble and busy quality metamorphisize into extreme detail without harshness, cymbals drums and the bass, not to mention all other instruments and sounds come out with so much unbridled musical passion and vibrance that you will look at these headphones and your $60-69 invoice and say "Huh???".
I was going to do a comparison between the Grado SR-80 and the Sennheiser HD497, but the SR-80 sucked so bad in comparison that I had to spare it the shame. I'll tell you this though, the Grado's had no soundstage, poor stereo imaging, and a really nasty veil over the treble that clouded everything. Yuck.
By the way I should mention that I am using the headphone output of a Samsung DVD-M301 DVD player since its quality is superior to my other headphone jack, the one in my Denon receiver. Let me explain, it's cleaner sounding than the one im my Denon, which hisses.
There isn't a headphone out there, other than the HD477, like the HD497. The HD497 seems to be a combination of two more expensive headphones, the Grado SR-125 and the Sennheiser HD570. The HD570's grace, soundstage, and smoothness was combined with the SR-125's detail and punchy bass, then all the qualities were improved upon and placed into an excessively cheap package, in order to meet the $60-69 price point. Sennheiser, thank you. There is no way I can afford a pair of HD600's, but I can have a great taste for 60 clams with the HD 497's. Ugly ducklings with spendy drivers. Just imagine how much you would save if they did that with the HD600's, and no I'm not talking about the HD580's.
