haha yeah that's a hot topic! But the more i listen to both, the less i want to compare them. I get they're both under the Sennheiser umbrella, and priced similarly, but the use case is just so different. i think they're both excellent, but for very different reasons. i think they're more complimentary pieces than they are competitors for the same space.
I've used all my capital for sure.. and def not touching the S2 versus NDH 30 hot stove for a while aha
I'm not seriously thinking of getting the S2 anymore, but I'd be interested in your comparative impressions nonetheless. They might help someone who has/heard the S2 but not the NHD 30......
Yeah, our tastes are pretty close. I tune my HE-6 SE to sound as much like my modded 500 as it can (pretty close).Had the same experience w the HE500 and the Ether pads the couple of times I owned them. Most recent time one of the drivers crapped out after having only had them for a few days. It was a helluva sad day aha. That headphone is an all time fav of mine.
Regarding the NDH 30, I now wonder why I waited so long to get this headphone. It was a mistake. These cans are so good. They actually remind me of the HE500 with how fast they are with transients, but I think they are more balanced tonally and the bass is better at producing different textures. I also think they image better than the HE500. These are serious feats. I was just sitting listening yesterday with a big grin shocked at how these HPs were presenting each song. The live version of the song "Milk It" from Nirvana, I never heard presented so vividly and in a way that really captured the scale and power of Nirvana in a live format. Stevie Wonder, who seems to accept nothing less than production from the Gods themselves, sounds jaw-droppingly good w the NDH 30. Songs that aren't produced as well you hear the contrast more sharply but they don't sound bad either. All the details that you can hear are there. These headphones are kind of statement from Neumann. They were like "here's what we can really do when we buckle down and we can price it extremely competitively" aha. For what you get 650$ is a bargain imo. People should run to buy these headphones aha. Yea bad one by me sleeping on these... Okay I've gushed enough.
Had the same experience w the HE500 and the Ether pads the couple of times I owned them. Most recent time one of the drivers crapped out after having only had them for a few days
Regarding the NDH 30, I now wonder why I waited so long to get this headphone. It was a mistake. These cans are so good. They actually remind me of the HE500 with how fast they are with transients, but I think they are more balanced tonally and the bass is better at producing different textures. I also think they image better than the HE500. These are serious feats. I was just sitting listening yesterday with a big grin shocked at how these HPs were presenting each song. The live version of the song "Milk It" from Nirvana, I never heard presented so vividly and in a way that really captured the scale and power of Nirvana in a live format. Stevie Wonder, who seems to accept nothing less than production from the Gods themselves, sounds jaw-droppingly good w the NDH 30. Songs that aren't produced as well you hear the contrast more sharply but they don't sound bad either. All the details that you can hear are there. These headphones are kind of statement from Neumann. They were like "here's what we can really do when we buckle down and we can price it extremely competitively" aha. For what you get 650$ is a bargain imo. People should run to buy these headphones aha. Yea bad one by me sleeping on these... Okay I've gushed enough.
I find posts like these very useful and enlightening. We shouldn't hesitate to classify a headphone higher than its price suggests, if this is our experience. Also, I agree that the NDH 30 is truly a "statement" for Neumann. This level of sound quality would make any maker proud, almost at any price.
I've used all my capital for sure.. and def not touching the S2 versus NDH 30 hot stove for a while aha
Thank you for your contributions and insight in this thread. Much appreciated.Only LCDs I've heard are the LCD X and LCD MX4. The latter I owned briefly. Neither headphone had great imaging and LCD X was better tonally than the MX4. MX4 was also a bit too soft and lacked bite, excitement. I didn't like the fit of either on the head. I like NDH 30 better than the both of those headphones when I consider everything it does well. Haven't heard the Raal CA-1 or D8000s. I have heard Susvara and Expanse. I think I'd need more time w both to really say definitively, but from memory the feeling I get when comparing is that NDH 30 isn't far off from them (if it at all re Susvara). I was more impressed w Expanse than Susvara. Expanse is probably better than the NDH 30, but i don't know if I'd say the same thing about Susvara. I'm more impressed with the NDH 30 frankly just going off my impression from memory. I had Susvara in a pretty quiet room from a superb amp and it just didn't grab me like Expanse did. If Expanse ever goes on a good sale I may have to fork over for it. It's an extremely serious beast of a headphone.
I''ve heard all of the high end Meze line (Lyric, Elite and Empyrean). None of those headphones sound right tonally, and I didn't find them to be detailed enough to warrant the price. I would take NDH 30 over each of them. MDR-Z1R, owned it. It doesn't perform as well as NDH 30 from a staging perspective. NDH 30 images a lot better. NDH 30 also has more height, about the same width (Z1R is maybe a hair wider). Detail retrieval, attack/decay, layering and overall resolution goes to NDH 30. A note on bass performance - Z1R bleeds bass into the mids and you have to do a lot to tune that out of the tonality w cables and pads. It's a pain, and then that tuning job is still not quite fully done even w those mods. Also depending on slight variations in pad shape you may get a channel imbalance with Z1R. NDH 30 bass performs admirably. Because of the ability NDH 30 has to faithfully portray a track, it will show you movements and reverberations in live recordings and they show up as they are - huge, deep and textured. It's wild when you hear inadvertent bass sounds you haven't heard before in songs. NDH 30 bass is linear and goes deep when called upon. Z1R bass is higher in quantity and reaches the depths more effortlessly. But overall i felt like there was just too much lower and mid bass tuned in to Z1R frequency response. NDH 30 has better mids hands down. Mids are more forward and detailed on NDH30. MDR-Z1R has more treble. I found it sweet sounding but I think NDH 30 treble is providing a similar level of detail. Build quality on both is similar to me. NDH 30 build reminded me of the Z1R's build quality when I held and scanned over it. It's that good. I've owned Ananda. NDH 30 beats Ananda on all fronts. HE500 has more and sweeter treble than NDH 30. The level of treble detail is so strong on HE500. I think it beats NDH 30 in that department. Mid performance is similar, maybe NDH 30 has a hair more micro detail. They both handle macro detail and large dynamic swings so well. Bass performance I'd give it to NDH30 as I mentioned but not by much. NDH images/layers instruments better and has the taller, deeper stage over HE500. Width is about the same. Overall resolution is a little higher on NDH30. Please take all of that w a grain, as it's from memory. Okay I'm really done gushing about this NDH 30 for now
Matches my experience as well. I feel on a non-EQed basis 30 would be one of the top cans currently in production in terms of all around performance.
As someone who is never go into spend more than 700-800£$€ on a headphone (I got my HD800S for about 800), that’s very good to hear.
