[Vitaliy Belz]

How do you find the HD 490 and NDH 30 to compare in terms of soundstage and separation? What do you find is the biggest differences between them sonically?

Well, perhaps I will express my opinion, based only on my perception and my hearing and not claiming to be the unconditional truth.
I'll start with the sound stage, virtual, of course.
In 490 pro it is not wide enough and not deep enough, but still it is there and I would not say that it is bad if I had not compared it with the NDH 30. But in Neumann, it just looks like you are listening to acoustic systems, not headphones. And this difference in the construction of a virtual stage is very noticeable to me.
But in terms of separation, the 490 pro already has a noticeable advantage, probably due to a more pronounced emphasis on the upper-mid and high frequency ranges. For me this accent, sometimes has it tires me. You begin to listen to individual sounds, rather than the entire piece of music. As I wrote earlier, this property of the 490 Pro is useful for working with sound and correcting errors in its production.
And another very noticeable difference between them is the reproduction of the low-frequency range. In the HDH 30, it is clearly deeper, and if we draw an analogy with acoustic systems, then these headphones are more like three-way headphones, with a high-quality and at least 12-inch low-frequency speaker. Whereas the HD 490 Pro is more like a near or or more precisely mid field monitor. Although they are certainly good in the low-frequency range, but NDH 30 sound more convincing. I don't regret buying the HD 490 Pro Plus, it was definitely a very useful experience for me, although I could have saved money and not bought the more expensive version.

"The NDH 30 is not as traditional as it looks like. " Axel Grell.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/axel-grell-headphone.967413/post-18015690

 

[headstef]

I am glad to know that Axel Grell @xlcans is a member here! I hope he visits this thread sometime since it is dedicated to one of his finest contributions.
(Now going to catch up with the OAE1 thread pages that I missed).

 

[chesebert]

Despite my other higher priced cans I still pick up NDH30 from time to time and they impress me every time.

 

[headstef]

Wow, half a month passed without a post here! I guess we all found our end game headphone in the NDH 30! lol

 

[Plieb]

Got the best upgrade for my ndh30. Better bass detail, improved mids with more transparency and clearer highs.
So what was the upgrade? Had my earwax removed by my ENT! Lol
The difference not as pronounced on my other phones which was suprising.

 

[Luckyleo]

Wow, half a month passed without a post here! I guess we all found our end game headphone in the NDH 30! lol

Or people moved on to other, best headphones ever, either selling the NDH30 or kept them and have them hanging around collecting dust. Or, as you said, basking in the great sound of the NDH. Nature of the hobby

 

[BobG55]

Or people moved on to other, best headphones ever, either selling the NDH30 or kept them and have them hanging around collecting dust. Or, as you said, basking in the great sound of the NDH. Nature of the hobby

FOTM fever has passed and gone.

 

[Satriany]

I had a problem with a mojo2.
Now playing the neumann with a dx3 and can't complain.
I use a small amount of eq based on the oratory1990 but slightly tilted downwards, it keeps most of the ndh30 sound signature.

 

[headstef]

Hey Greg, nice to see you here!
My experience is that that NDH 30 will extract the best of every source, even budget ones. However, it scales incredibly; every upgrade of dac/amp brings new seductive elements to the music/sound, revealing the true quality of the source and the recording. If you use the headphones a lot, don't hesitate to try it with more expensive gear, too.

 

[martel80]

So true.

Best headphone in the world.

Wonder who's the lucky one that will get my barely used pair for dirt cheap.

 

[Nkam]

I think NDH30 is fairly priced for the performance (about 50%-75% better than HD650 for a bit over 2x the MSRP or 3x the street price). The problem is consumer headphones have been severely overpriced over the last decade, starting with LCD-3. There is no consumer headphone in the market that's worth over $1k based on sound quality when compared with HD600/HD650. Companies figured out over the last decade that there are enough people willing to pay $1k, $2k, $3k, $4k, $5k and $6k+ for headphones. And they have been absolutely correct. There are just as many audiofools in the headphone hobby as there are ones in the 2 ch crowd. What can I say, supply and demand (driven by FOMO, FOTM, shills, YT, reviewers, marketers) and all that.

Good post.


headphones are a bit of an ‘ odd ball’ in that their target audience is usually younger people, who for better or worse are more easily influenced.
Please this is NOT a knock off at younger consumers. And not to all of them. But when we are younger we tend to get influenced easier than when we get older simply from experience.

And also when we are younger we also tend to back products we own with cult like status.
My car is better than your car, my laptop is faster and better performing than yours, I get 70fps on this game at blah blah blah resolution etc.
and my headphones and my choice is better.


So I said all that because it’s obvious how the companies market their products ( headphones in this case) and know who their target audience is with pinpoint accuracy.
I mean just look at all the headphone reviewers. 90% at least are under 30.

And thus they know how much they can raise prices. And make claims of how good their headphones are.

Saying all that I would like to try a pair of the NDH30. Good price and they seem to get very good use from professional and amature mixing and recording engineers.

Peace. And please don’t attack me for bring up a demographic. I didn’t mean it in a derogatory manner. Marketeers do the same to my age group ( 55) for other things and we have our own idiosyncrasies that they try and work through to buy their products. ( like wife acceptance factor).
Marketers are smart. It’s their job.

 

[maegnificant]

Good post.


headphones are a bit of an ‘ odd ball’ in that their target audience is usually younger people, who for better or worse are more easily influenced.
Please this is NOT a knock off at younger consumers. And not to all of them. But when we are younger we tend to get influenced easier than when we get older simply from experience.

And also when we are younger we also tend to back products we own with cult like status.
My car is better than your car, my laptop is faster and better performing than yours, I get 70fps on this game at blah blah blah resolution etc.
and my headphones and my choice is better.


So I said all that because it’s obvious how the companies market their products ( headphones in this case) and know who their target audience is with pinpoint accuracy.
I mean just look at all the headphone reviewers. 90% at least are under 30.

And thus they know how much they can raise prices. And make claims of how good their headphones are.

Saying all that I would like to try a pair of the NDH30. Good price and they seem to get very good use from professional and amature mixing and recording engineers.

Peace. And please don’t attack me for bring up a demographic. I didn’t mean it in a derogatory manner. Marketeers do the same to my age group ( 55) for other things and we have our own idiosyncrasies that they try and work through to buy their products. ( like wife acceptance factor).
Marketers are smart. It’s their job.

I am pretty sure many people here on this forum that spend amazing amounts of money on this hobby can only do so, because they already earned a lot of money in their life and are actually in their mid- to late 40s or even older.

 

[Nkam]

I am pretty sure many people here on this forum that spend amazing amounts of money on this hobby can only do so, because they already earned a lot of money in their life and are actually in their mid- to late 40s or even older.

Maybe. I don’t know.

I do know that most headphone reviewers are in the age group I mentioned 30 and below.

and most people I’ve seen and who ive talked to post about headphones are in that age group.
Older people mostly use speakers. Cause they have more money and have homes and can spend more money on speakers, speaker amps , treating their rooms etc.

I’m sure some is true of what you say. For sure. But I’m willing to bet that by a huge margin headphone users are mostly under 30 and around 30.

 

[maegnificant]

Maybe. I don’t know.

I do know that most headphone reviewers are in the age group I mentioned 30 and below.

and most people I’ve seen and who ive talked to post about headphones are in that age group.
Older people mostly use speakers. Cause they have more money and have homes and can spend more money on speakers, speaker amps , treating their rooms etc.

I’m sure some is true of what you say. For sure. But I’m willing to bet that by a huge margin headphone users are mostly under 30 and around 30.

I get what you are saying and I agree that most young people prefer personal audio over a stereo (they will rather buy a Bluetooth speaker) but I think that the age drastically increases after the 400/500 or even the 250 dollar mark in both headphones and IEMs.

 

[chesebert]

Well, not trying to be hypocritical, but I did buy not one but two Utopias. Are those 5-7x better than NDH30 from a sound perspective? No However, what I was able to achieve was this sense of listening to near field speakers. NDH30 does that to a certain extent but Utopias do the "speaker" magic better, in a more believable way. Do I hate the fact that I have to give money to Focal, a PE-backed company with no soul? Absolutely. But I have tried other cans up and down the stack and nothing quite sounds like Utopia or give me that feeling. At least I can tell myself I am not paying for "display" value like few other brands (you know the ones )