[iowercase]

I'm a newbie and just decided to delve into the realm of $100+ headphones and after much research and hand-wringing eventually settled on the ATH-M50s (straight cable) as an introductory phone with widespread acclaim from casual listeners and audiophiles alike, so I reckoned I couldn't possibly go too wrong with them.  Though lots of reviews said lots of different things about them, the main story about them seemed to go like: a typical, shallow V-shaped response curve with punchy, slightly overemphasized bass, minutely recessed but serviceable mids and a crisp and accurate treble section - with a very small soundstage, though more expansive than many other closed competitors in the same price bracket.
 
My first (and second, third, etc) impressions of the cans deviated pretty significantly from that description, enough to make me wonder if prior reviews were even describing the same model.  Admittedly I'm no audiophile or sound technician, and my previous "main" cans were a diddly pair of Senn PX100s with their trademark laid-back Senn sound (and nonexistent highs), so with forewarning about where I'm coming from these are my observations:
 
-First and foremost, the highs are monstrously forward/overbearing.  Overpronounced, clinical, metallic, piercingly sibilant, and hugely fatiguing.  No doubt these report every detail in the source material, but hearing it all feels like getting stuck in the eardrum with a needle.
-Mids feel not just recessed but nigh nonexistant, and vocals in particular feel hollow, lifeless and transparent.  The effect is heightened by the clattering, curtaining cacophony of the higher frequencies.
-Bass is serviceable, though nondescript and rather detached from the rest of the picture.  Maybe a bit too much boom and too little punch; not a big deal, though not an enjoyable one either.
-The soundstage is very immediate; on account of the aforementioned though rather than sounding intimate or informative it only sounds oppressive.
-Though I was expecting an uncolored sort of sound out of them, to my ears they actually drain the color out of my music, delivering a mess of shrill hissing and dissociated bass the experience of which I could only describe as the way a robot might perceive live music.
 
These were my impressions on first listen and are the same impressions that I've carried though about 30 hours of burn-in (pink noise and regular music rotation) over three days.  Though I've gone back to my PX100s several times to compare the sound signatures I've tried my best to stay faithful to the M50s giving time to adjust to them.  If anything, the longer the I spend with them the more acutely aware I become of how plain unenjoyable they are to listen to, though.  I get that they are first and foremost studio monitors and I should go in expecting a faithful listening experience and not necessarily a fun one.  The problem is my experience with them seems neither faithful nor fun and all the reviews I've read seem to think the phones deliver both in spades. 
 
My primary listening genres are electronic, hip-hop and rock and my sources are
 
[Flac/320 kbps mp3] > [Foobar / winamp 3 / wmp] > [HTOmega STRIKER 7.1 card]
and
[320 kbps mp3] > [Sansa Fuze 4GB (unamped)]
 
I get the same problems regardless of source, though with maybe a hair more recessed bass out of the Fuze as might be expected.  Nor can I really find anyone reporting the same sort of issues with the sound except for a single recent instance, so it makes me wonder if I'm truly a hypochondriac or simply had great overexpectations about these phones.  And I wonder how much good any more burnin would do at this point (so far as burn-in exists at all)
 
Moreover another question might be (hopefully not to turn this into a "tell me what to buy" thread), if I'm truly just allergic to the classic M50 sound signature I'm wondering what other phones in the $100-250 range might better suit my tastes that are a far far cry from it?  Because if these phones keep bringing the pain like they're currently doing (and they are nigh-on-painful to listen to for almost any length of time), I can't see myself holding onto them for very long.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Well, that sort of sounds like the M50 to me, but perhaps you're even more critical about it than I am.
 
The highs are a little bright, but I wouldn't call them fatiguing the way a Grado does (you make them sound like they're stabbing you, maybe they do, my experience with M50's... well, they were not that great, but they didn't stab me to death).
 
M50's have recessed mids, but I wouldn't say it was as bad as non-existent. And certainly not something I really cared for. They were straight boring. But, I've heard more recessed than them, so non-existent is quite strong. Again, maybe yours are, and I would just have to think... defective product at this point.
 
The bass on the M50's is pretty tight, I wouldn't call it boomy, and it had a decent punch to it. But it certainly wasn't the best bass I've heard nor was it anemic by any means. It was a bit more than neutral in bass and extended pretty low. Not my cup of tea, again, but I can't help but think... your M50 must be defective, or your source audio is just completely compressed with no frequencies left or something.
 
If you just got them, get another pair of headphones (return, refund, swap), do some side by side. Rule out all your source equipment and your source audio. Then investigate returning the M50's for a new pair, or going with another pair perhaps.
 
Try these.
 
I liked them a lot more than M50's. If you don't like them, I'll buy them from you.
 
Very best,

 

[fabio-fi]

Sell and upgrade (or get different hp's)

 

[jerg]

Yeah that seems to be the case. I equalize my M50's extensively though so I don't notice that. The "shrillness", when properly equalized, translates to tonnes of fluid yet sparkly treble definition.

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

I'm a newbie and just decided to delve into the realm of $100+ headphones and after much research and hand-wringing eventually settled on the ATH-M50s (straight cable) as an introductory phone with widespread acclaim from casual listeners and audiophiles alike, so I reckoned I couldn't possibly go too wrong with them.  Though lots of reviews said lots of different things about them, the main story about them seemed to go like: a typical, shallow V-shaped response curve with punchy, slightly overemphasized bass, minutely recessed but serviceable mids and a crisp and accurate treble section - with a very small soundstage, though more expansive than many other closed competitors in the same price bracket.
 
My first (and second, third, etc) impressions of the cans deviated pretty significantly from that description, enough to make me wonder if prior reviews were even describing the same model.  Admittedly I'm no audiophile or sound technician, and my previous "main" cans were a diddly pair of Senn PX100s with their trademark laid-back Senn sound (and nonexistent highs), so with forewarning about where I'm coming from these are my observations:
 
-First and foremost, the highs are monstrously forward/overbearing.  Overpronounced, clinical, metallic, piercingly sibilant, and hugely fatiguing.  No doubt these report every detail in the source material, but hearing it all feels like getting stuck in the eardrum with a needle.
-Mids feel not just recessed but nigh nonexistant, and vocals in particular feel hollow, lifeless and transparent.  The effect is heightened by the clattering, curtaining cacophony of the higher frequencies.
-Bass is serviceable, though nondescript and rather detached from the rest of the picture.  Maybe a bit too much boom and too little punch; not a big deal, though not an enjoyable one either.
-The soundstage is very immediate; on account of the aforementioned though rather than sounding intimate or informative it only sounds oppressive.
-Though I was expecting an uncolored sort of sound out of them, to my ears they actually drain the color out of my music, delivering a mess of shrill hissing and dissociated bass the experience of which I could only describe as the way a robot might perceive live music.

The part in bold is almost exactly how I would describe the M50.  Except I would add that what makes them special is their lack of upper midrange peaks and ringing that almost all headphones have, some to a horrible extent. 
 
If these are your actual impressions of the M50, you either have good ears and will have to spend a lot of money on headphones, or there's something wrong with your M50 or source/amp.  I say the part about good ears/spending a lot because the M50 are a lot better than most headphones in terms of their balance, there aren't a lot of headphones out there with a smoother top end. 
 
I think you may have spent too much time thinking about them and your expectations grew pretty huge. 
 
 

 

[strannik]

Good ears indeed, iowercase you've just pointed out all the downfalls of the M50s in one go, well done. Most people aren't as upset about them however, or just complain about one or two.
 
You can eq/amp up the mids. I'm afraid you can't fix the metallic nature of the highs though, you can still tone it down. It's quite a capable phone to be honest, if it's sound signature doesn't suit you, play around with EQ (heresy I know). If it still doesn't suit you, move on to something more neutral. Speaking of, most people who own the M50s would probably eventually admit that the M50s are not quite "studio" monitors.
 
Quote:

If these are your actual impressions of the M50, you either have good ears and will have to spend a lot of money on headphones, or there's something wrong with your M50 or source/amp.  I say the part about good ears/spending a lot because the M50 are a lot better than most headphones in terms of their balance, there aren't a lot of headphones out there with a smoother top end. 

 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

 If it still doesn't suit you, move on to something more neutral. Speaking of, most people who own the M50s would probably eventually admit that the M50s are not quite "studio" monitors.  

More neutral like what?  I've heard very few headphones that are more neutral.  The M50 surely isn't perfect by any means I don't listen to mine that much, but they're better than most IMO.  Read up on Lunatique's posts if you want a "professional" opinion on the M50

 

[strannik]

AKGs, Shure, Sony phones are more popular for studio / sound engineer's use. Don't know about their neutrality however. If I'm not mistaken Audio Technica has long catered towards the DJ crowd, no faulting them for making the M50s slightly biased
 
I've read up on quite a few of Lunatique's posts way back when. I can see where he is coming from with his "if you cannot afford $1k+ phones, you aren't missing much with the M50s" statement, but, I feel not too many people will share that view.
 
 
Quote:

More neutral like what?  I've heard very few headphones that are more neutral.  The M50 surely isn't perfect by any means I don't listen to mine that much, but they're better than most IMO.  Read up on Lunatique's posts if you want a "professional" opinion on the M50

 
 

 

[Tommy C]

I would say sell them and get something else.  It seems like your taste for sound and hearing are very close to mine.
When I want just to listen to my music i reach to my Creative Aurvana Live! ($60) They have warm sound, plenty of bass and a lot of juice. These are basically re-branded Denon K1001 with more bass.
When i want something more analytic I take the  Equation RP21 ($80).
 
Both the CAL! and the Equation sound very different than the PX100. I had the PX100-II for a few days and could stand it, it was a very boring experience.
 

 

[yulmno]

Shoulda bought 580s, sorry.

 

[Vonx]

I 100% agree with you.
 
I had all the same querks with the phone, being that it is simply not excelling (and downright rubbish in some) in almost every area, IMHO
 
The "clarity" of the phone that is so commonly preached about sounds digital and unnatural to me, and that is its "highest" quality point.
 
The treble feels as though its stabbing you with a razor end thousands of times every time you hear a high pitched guitar lick, the bass is muddy and non-descriptive, and the mids simply are lifeless and practically non-existent.
 
Its truly the worst of both worlds, because it sounds about 15 rows from the stage and unintimate, while at the same time having overbearing highs that feel far "too" intimate and downright painful.
 
I didnt even know a headphone could be intimate in all the wrong ways and unintimate in all the wrong ways at the same time.
 
It all just sounds...confused.
 
The mids like snare hits and voices and the dominant plethora of percussion all sound like they are at a completely different volume level, and what you can make out of it between the muddy bass and the stabbing highs is horrible. 
 
Keep in mind that I have about 500+ hours of use on it now, so its not that I "didnt give them enough time" but its my only "okay" cans that i can afford at the moment, so i put up with it.
 
I thought that this would be the headphone that i couldnt possibly lose with, and instead i lost in every catergory.
 
Okay, ill stop ranting now and keep saving up for hd 650s
 
Anybody want some well taken care of m50s?
 
 

 

[iowercase]

Quote:

I thought that this would be the headphone that i couldnt possibly lose with, and instead i lost in every catergory.
 
[...]
 
Anybody want some well taken care of m50s?

 
Count me in the exact same boat, I found out after buying these phones from a cheapo ebay reseller that the reason they sold them so cheap was a no-return policy, short of product defect.  They sure sound defective to me, but...
 
In any case I've given them more time and it's only further revealed their manifold awkwardnesses to me.  I gave up and finally reverted to my old crusty and, to my ears, sonically superior PX100s with tattered earpads and nonexistant highs and a cable rattle in the left ear but at least I can listen to them without being subjected to needle torture.  Now I just need to find someone who doesn't know any better someone with different tastes on craigslist to buy the damn M50s from me.
 
I like all the feedback and it seems there's a great deal of quiet dissatisfaction with this headphone for longtime owners which isn't really being represented by the first-impression, 5-star jabbering reviews on amazon or elsewhere.  God knows I tried to dig up dirt on them thinking every product must have its dark side but I just couldn't find any, which made me lower my guard when taking the plunge with them accidentally buying from a retailer with a POS returns policy.
 
I think I'm once burned now and I'll make pains to be twice shy in the future.  Will definitely have to hunt down a place where I can audition some cans in person before I open my wallet for a pair of headphones this (or probably more) pricy again.