newbie confused with lack of difference in sound from hd595's and apple headphones

[freelyfallin]

So I dished out the cash for the HD595's. I hardly consider myself an audiophile by any means, I just had a 60 or 70 dollar pair of senn's which I loved and I had the cash to buy the HD595's and I've been really into music lately, so I figured I'd throw down the cash. I've liked them a ton so far.

But, they are bulky obviously. So I just threw on the apple earbuds that came with my iPod, and I was pretty impressed with them considering all of the bad press they get. Bizzarely enough, I couldn't really notice a difference between them and the HD595's except for perhaps some loss at the low-end. Am I deaf? What music should I listen to that would reveal the differences? And, in as simple terms as possible, what differences should I listen for.

Keep in mind, I'm new to the whole audiophile world.

 

[smeerkaas]

Give the headphones some time to burn in and give yourself some time to get used to the sound of the 595.

Furthermore make sure that your source is adequete for 595's

 

[freelyfallin]

and iTunes running on my laptop(using high quality mp3's.

Isn't that sufficient?

Also, about burn-in. Will that really make a difference?

 

[Duggeh]

Give the 595 an extended listening time. Then after a week or so with them, go back to the ibuds. Its often much easier to see what does missing than what has appeared.

 

[nelda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh Give the 595 an extended listening time. Then after a week or so with them, go back to the ibuds. Its often much easier to see what does missing than what has appeared.

+1
You will never look back..

 

[MaloS]

ya hd595 takes a while to really kick in. I think the bass takes a few months to fully develop to full power. The rest of the range should come in about a week of burn-in time. ( at least that is what they did for me). They won't demonstrate their full power without an amp though, although comparing to most phones they do pretty damn well straight out of a portable jack.

 

[glac1er]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freelyfallin and iTunes running on my laptop(using high quality mp3's. Isn't that sufficient? Also, about burn-in. Will that really make a difference?

To my experience, running music directly through some computers without a soundcard really hurt the listening experience. Sometimes it won't really show you the true quality of the headphones. I have better result using ipods or through an EMU0404 soundcard. For now, I suggest keeping the HD595 and see if it'll change after burn-in. If you still don't like it, you can either buy an amp or sell the Senns.

 

[Norman]

I agree with allowing them to brun in first before judging them.

I recieved mine just over a week and a half ago and when I first got them I was pretty dissappointed in them because they sounded really bright and harsh and the bass was clsoe to non existant.

I left them to burn in and came back around 10-13 hours later and the sound had changed so dramatically. There was a lot more depth that wasn't there straight out of the box.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh Give the 595 an extended listening time. Then after a week or so with them, go back to the ibuds. Its often much easier to see what does missing than what has appeared.

Quoted for truth.

 

[Zephyron]

Hmmm, I have doubts about any laptop's headphone output being able to sufficiently run the HD595.

 

[threepointone]

yes, you ought to let the headphones burn in (to your brain) for a while. listen to them for a while, and it'll start revealing stuff you never heard before in your music.

that is, if your music is actually encoded well enough. I just want to make sure (since you call urself a newbie)--what format and bitrate is the music you're listening to? if it's less than or around 128kbps mp3, you're probably not going to hear much of a difference. listen to different headphones on an ol' CD and see if you hear any differences. Try different types of music, too; I don't know what you listen to, but unfortunately some stuff is just mastered terribly.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threepointone yes, you ought to let the headphones burn in (to your brain) for a while. listen to them for a while, and it'll start revealing stuff you never heard before in your music. that is, if your music is actually encoded well enough. I just want to make sure (since you call urself a newbie)--what format and bitrate is the music you're listening to? if it's less than or around 128kbps mp3, you're probably not going to hear much of a difference. listen to different headphones on an ol' CD and see if you hear any differences. Try different types of music, too; I don't know what you listen to, but unfortunately some stuff is just mastered terribly.

Yep, I guessed that was the problem first. Make sure you music uses iTune's 160kbps VBR AAC, or download winLAME and encode at 160-192kbps VBR Mp3. iTunes' mp3 encoder is subpar

 

[freelyfallin]

Hey all,
Someone suggested that I keep the senn's for a while before selling them. At this point, I'm not really even considering selling them, just trying to see what I might be missing. I was comparing my senn's to my friend's cheap $20 cans and the difference was huge, but I was kind of surprised about how good the Apple buds sound comparatively.

In relation to encoding, I've been using 192 VBR in ITunes(I think AAC).

In relation to laptop's powering my senn's, my laptop's sound card sounds pretty good(no humming or anything) and it can power my senn's(meaning that my computer only has to be at 1/5th maximum volume for the senn's to be loud. This brings me to amps. Do amps add anything to the sound? Or will I only get something out of an amp my current set-up isn't producing enough volume to power my headphones? I've never understood that.

And finally, burn-in. I'm still skeptical as to whether it actually exists, as it just doesn't make sense to me. How would I go about burning my headphones in? Should I use my computer? How long would it take?

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS ya hd595 takes a while to really kick in. I think the bass takes a few months to fully develop to full power. The rest of the range should come in about a week of burn-in time. ( at least that is what they did for me). They won't demonstrate their full power without an amp though, although comparing to most phones they do pretty damn well straight out of a portable jack.

I loved my 595's at first..Even found them better then my 650's, but when I kept upgrading my source & amp, The 650's were getting better & better..Same with the Sony SA5000.. To a point I couldn't stand listening to the 595's..Too shallow..It's like dropping a nickel in a puddle (595) compared to a pond (650, SA5000) The 595's are all upfront, superficial & shallow, once you get past the front Row sound..Reminds me of hot chicks with no personality..Once the physical attraction is gone it's over..

 

[twc5964]

Imo,burn in is critical for the 595's. They take a very long time to smooth out.I hooked mine up to a cheap jambox and set them in a closet for a week checking on them each day.At first they had a very muffled sound but eventually opened up.Yes,amping them helps out a good bit too.Cant say I ever listened to them un-amped.