[commodent]

Hello,
I'm looking for a new pair of headphones, but I'm stuck in the choice between the Philips Fidelio X1 and Sennheiser Momentum. These questions are currently whirling around in my head:
 
Will X1 work well without amplifier? This is important, because when using so much money on a headphone I really can't afford an amplifier.
Is the X1 too heavy? I see it weights 430 g.
Does the X1 leak too much sound, i.e. can people hear any single word being said?
 
Will Momentum fit my ear? If it doesn't what would be a total deal breaker to me.
Has Momentum sacrificed sound quality in exchange for higher portability?
 
Are they worth the prize? I'm coming from ATH-M50, so is it worth it?
 
I'm asking here because I live in a tiny village and has no opportunity to test them.

 

[Gofre]

  Hello,
I'm looking for a new pair of headphones, but I'm stuck in the choice between the Philips Fidelio X1 and Sennheiser Momentum. These questions are currently whirling around in my head:
 
Will X1 work well without amplifier? This is important, because when using so much money on a headphone I really can't afford an amplifier.
 
An amp is definitely recommended from what I can gather, especially with the stock cable.
 
Is the X1 too heavy? I see it weights 430 g.
 
I've not heard particularly many complaints about it being too heavy, the headband design probably mitigates the weight.
 
Does the X1 leak too much sound, i.e. can people hear any single word being said?
 
The X1s are a fully open pair of headphones, isolation is virtually non-existent. Not recommended if you're going be using them somewhere with a lot of background noise or you're going to be disturbing people.
 
Will Momentum fit my ear? If it doesn't what would be a total deal breaker to me.
 
This will vary from person to person, because the Momentum's ear cups are small enough to rest on some people's ears whilst fully enclosing others. They're a bit too small for my liking.
 
Has Momentum sacrificed sound quality in exchange for higher portability?
 
Only in the same way any other headphone does, the fact of the matter is that portable, closed back designs aren't always going to match the sound quality you could get from an open backed option at the same price. For the product category and price point the Momentums are pretty great, but (here in the UK at least) you can pick up the HD600s for only a little more money which will obviously be superior when amped. It's a case of evaluating your usage scenario and the appropriate options.
 
Are they worth the prize? I'm coming from ATH-M50, so is it worth it?
 
I'm asking here because I live in a tiny village and has no opportunity to test them.
 
This is going to be subjective, so it could be worth finding stores with decent returns policies that you can try different cans and send them back if you aren't happy.

 
You've picked two quite different headphones here. From your isolation questions, I'm assuming you'll be using them outside of a quiet listening area? If so, that makes the choice a bit of a no brainer.

 

[commodent]

Okay, but ATH-M50 was driven very well without an amp, and it was 38 ohms. X1 is only 30 ohms. I'm not going to use the stock cable, btw.

I'm primarily using them in my home. I just wondered if I will disturb the other people living here when being in the living room, because that's pretty much where i like to stay. Thought it could be cool having something I can use outside, although those situations are quite rare.

Found a web store with good return policies, so I'm going to place an order for one of them soon. I'm still open for alternatives if you know a more fitting choise for my situation.

 

[commodent]

Doesn't work editing post so sorry for double post.

I think I'll just go for Sennheiser Momentum and return them if they don't fit my ears, but I'm not sure. Would be nice if someone could suggest a pair of headphones that is not as open as X1 and not as compact as Momentum.

 

[PTom]

Will X1 work well without amplifier? This is important, because when using so much money on a headphone I really can't afford an amplifier.
 
I think the consensus is that the X1s don't need much amping but do benefit from a good DAC. I got the AQ Dragonfly after the recent price drop and would recommend this but it works well directly out of the laptop TBH.
 
Is the X1 too heavy? I see it weights 430 g.
 
I don't think it's too heavy but I find it slightly loose after a while, also my girlfriend complained that she thought the adjustable headband pushed down too much.
 
Does the X1 leak too much sound, i.e. can people hear any single word being said?
 
I listen to it at I would say slightly louder than average and regarding the leakage I'd say at 3 m away from the headphones you could probably only distinguish individual words if you really concentrate. I'd say the leakage is like listening to a laptop on a quiet volume. So in short yes if someone is near enough they should be able to hear individual words.
 
Will Momentum fit my ear? If it doesn't what would be a total deal breaker to me.
 
My ears didn't fit inside it. I think most people consider it as an on ear headphone,
 
Has Momentum sacrificed sound quality in exchange for higher portability?
 
Not sure about this. From what I have read I think more people prefer the momentum to the X1 in terms of SQ. 
 
Are they worth the prize? I'm coming from ATH-M50, so is it worth it?
 
I don't know about this either.

Personally I wouldn't pay retail price for a momentum or X1 (the only reason I bought an X1 was because it was heavily discounted in the UK). If I was going to part with that kind of cash I'd rather pay slightly more for a HD600/650 like the previous poster suggested but that would also require purchasing an amp etc.. If I really wanted an easy to drive closed headphone I'd probably look into the NAD Viso HP50 (or the cheaper PSB M4U1)  and the V Moda M100 since the Momentums are not truly over ear headphones. 

 

[commodent]

Personally I wouldn't pay retail price for a momentum or X1 (the only reason I bought an X1 was because it was heavily discounted in the UK). If I was going to part with that kind of cash I'd rather pay slightly more for a HD600/650 like the previous poster suggested but that would also require purchasing an amp etc.. If I really wanted an easy to drive closed headphone I'd probably look into the NAD Viso HP50 (or the cheaper PSB M4U1)  and the V Moda M100 since the Momentums are not truly over ear headphones. 

Thanks for answering. Got my Momentums today, and surprisingly they fitted around my ear. What surprised me most was although how average they sounded. They sounded just like my ATH-M50s, which are much cheaper.

I am going to take a look at HD600. Do you think FiiO E07K Andes will deliver enough power?

 

[PTom]

Yeah, I listened to a pair in the apple store and wasn't blown away but maybe they need a good DAC/amp? I'm not sure.
 
i'm not the best person to ask regarding amps since I'm quite new to this but what I've read is that tube amps go quite well with high impedance headphones and in particular the HD600 and HD650.
 
Btw which country are you from? Also what are your requirements, I assumed you wanted minimum sound leakage and over ear headphones? 

 

[commodent]

Yeah, when they are "made for" iDevices it would be nice that they actually sounded good on them.
It's not a must that they are closed, but I want it to not leak so extremely much as I have other people living in this house, too. I do not want any big DAC/Amp, as I love sitting on the living room listening to music on my laptop.
I live in Norway, by the way.

 

[commodent]

What about AKG K551, then? I see it's on 36% discount over here

 

[PTom]

I think all the headphones mentioned are very good (based on what I've read) and an upgrade from the M50, experienced members would probably say "it depends what type of sound signature you like" and it's "best to try different ones mentioned first" but personally what I would do is I'd buy whichever amongst the ones mentioned is going for the best deal at the moment.
The following is a list of different headphones I'd consider in your position. In bracket is their retail price, their current price on amazon UK and the price at which I'd buy it based on comments I've read and their price history on amazon (you can get the price history from camelcamelcamel.com). 
 
Closed:
 
V Moda M100 (270 GBP, 180 GBP, 180 - 190 GBP) *Good Deal
Nad Viso HP50 (250 GBP, 250 GBP, 200  GBP)
PSB M41U (197 GBP, 197 GBP, 140 GBP)
AKG K550 (250 GBP, 124 GBP, 120 -125 GBP)* Good Deal (not sure how much of an upgrade this is to the M50 though).
 
Open:
 
Fidelio X1 (270 GBP, 230 GBP, 170 GBP)
Sennheiser HD 650 (400 GBP, 310 GBP, 250 GBP)
Sennheisser HD 600 (370 GBP, 300 GBP, 220 GBP)
 
So I'd either buy the V Moda M100 or maybe the AKG K550 or wait for one of the others to go down in price (The Fidelio X1 was under 150 GBP in November so the buying price stated is not unrealistic).
 
Note that for the AKG K550 (which I think is supposed to be fairly similar to the K551) the retail price is way too high so even though it looks like an amazing deal at half price, these don't sell anywhere near the retail price so it's not as great a deal as it might seem (still a good deal though).

 

[PTom]

Also, I think what you want basically is a decent upgrade from the M50. There are a number of threads (probably closer to hundreds ) on this topic you could browse to help make a decision:
 
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=headfi&oq=head&aqs=chrome.4.69i60l3j69i59l2j69i60.3815j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#es_sm=119&espv=210&q=site:head-fi.org+m50+upgrade&safe=off

 

[commodent]

V Moda isn't for sale here in Norway, and M4U-1 costs £200. The NAD looks nice, I see it's for £200 over here. I'm just worried that I will be just as disappointed as with the Momentums, because they seem almost just as compact and I think that might affect the sound I want. Sennheiser HD600 costs £250, which I think might be a little much including DAC/amp. Was thinking about max £300 including DAC/amp.
 
I probably should describe what sound I like. I want it to sound like ATH-M50, just better. More powerful bass, more details, warmer sound. I also loved the open feel ATH-M50 gives, so that I want more of. Perhaps I should go for some an open headphone then? I primarily listen to techno/instrumental music.

 

[PTom]

Yeah since you already have a closed headphone an open one would be good. Sounds like you want the Fidelio X1. It's open and has good bass, it's also described as warm headphones. I really like mine!
 
Amazon Spain has them for 195 Euro which is a really good deal ( http://www.amazon.es/Philips-X1-00-Auriculares-multicolor/dp/B008ZW2T7M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386582558&sr=8-1&keywords=fidelio+x1 ). They do ship internationally to the UK but not sure about Norway.
 
Cheaper open headphones worth checking out would be the Sennheiser HD 550 and HD 598 (a good deal for these would be 100 GBP and 140 GBP respectively IMO). They're normally highly recommended, I'm not sure about their sound signature but a quick search should give you more info.