[SHAMuuu]

9500s dont pierce like some of the dts
 
they are a little bright
 
not overly so
 
i can crank them pretty loud
 
unlike some other cans

 

[caenlenfromOCN]

   
I'm sorry Jeff but no way.  Just like some of the hype on YouTube about the 9500's eclipsing the HD600....   I own a "tweaked" 23 year old set of HD580's and a year old pair of HD600's.  While I agree that the SHP9500's are tremendous bang for the buck they are in no way in the same class as the Senns.  Personally I am treble sensitive and had to use the DIY AH 2mm felt trick (not the whole mod) to tame the 9500's brightness (http://tinyurl.com/z48euu5).   Certainly the 9500 is well worth adding to anyone's audio equipment inventory but don't operate under the illusion that for $50 or $60 you will be getting something equal or superior to any icon or flagship cans.  No free lunch folks! 

  9500s dont pierce like some of the dts
 
they are a little bright
 
not overly so
 
i can crank them pretty loud
 
unlike some other cans

 
SHP-9500 are a touch bright, I personally just popped off the earpads, and placed some HM5 velour earpads (stretch all the war around the can, no adapter needed), and it took away the brightness for me, and increased soundstage some as well, made it more warm sounding as well, which I enjoy

 

[SHAMuuu]

   
SHP-9500 are a touch bright, I personally just popped off the earpads, and placed some HM5 velour earpads (stretch all the war around the can, no adapter needed), and it took away the brightness for me, and increased soundstage some as well, made it more warm sounding as well, which I enjoy

I've tried all sorts of pads, causing my ear to touch and distance, and love the flexibility. The bowls did give some more bass impact. So easy to play with, and very easy to get the brightness down. Though the adaptor is not necessary, it comes in handy for certain pads, like the beyer velours, which will not work another way. I think anyway.
 
So far my favs have been the xb1k pad + bowl, and beyer velor pads (tried both velors for closed/open, and ofc the pads for open 440/860/990 pads)
 
Wonder if anyone will try the zmf pilot pad for headband issues to cease the sliding, though as i mentioned earlier seems hm5 angled velour fix that

 

[jeff7742]

   
I'm sorry Jeff but no way.  Just like some of the hype on YouTube about the 9500's eclipsing the HD600....   I own a "tweaked" 23 year old set of HD580's and a year old pair of HD600's.  While I agree that the SHP9500's are tremendous bang for the buck they are in no way in the same class as the Senns.  Personally I am treble sensitive and had to use the DIY AH 2mm felt trick (not the whole mod) to tame the 9500's brightness (http://tinyurl.com/z48euu5).   Certainly the 9500 is well worth adding to anyone's audio equipment inventory but don't operate under the illusion that for $50 or $60 you will be getting something equal or superior to any icon or flagship cans.  No free lunch folks! 

 
We all have different ears, so I have to disagree The main things I'm looking for in a headphone are 1) clarity/detail, 2) soundstage  3) comfort, and 4) build, in that order. I think the SHP95000 does the first two of these better than the HD600. Reasonably comfortable too. The SHP9500 is one of those headphones has me listening to radio stations way into the night. I do note that I only like the SHP9500 after some serious EQing, but I do like it very much after that. I'm also probably a little less treble sensitive than you.
 
I just tried the beyer DT990 and it faired better, but still no dice. The beyer has the soundstage, but not the detail. Actually it has good detail, just not quite as "open" sounding to me as the SHP9500. It sounds a little muffled in comparison. I'll let it break in a bit longer. I really want to like the DT990, because it's sooooo comfortable.
 
I know the HD800 beats it, so that's what I should probably get and stop messing around with mid-fi. But then again, I could save $1000 and just get a backup copy of the SHP9500, and probably be very happy for long time. I will have to change the earpads though, after trying the beyers.

 

[mikes41720]

This is my first post on head-fi. I just got a pair of the Philips SHP9500s from newegg for $55 shipped from eBay. I was so excited that I went home right away for lunch once I got the notification that they got delivered. Opening it up, I found the packaging very plain. But the headphones themselves are pretty good quality for the price. I'm coming from several budget IEM's (Xiaomi Piston, Brainwavz M5, Sennheisers, etc.) and a Superlux HD681 EVO. When I put them on and the music started playing, I was kind of blown away. I had that a-ha moment. This was my first experience with open back headphones, so the soundstage and separation was a breath of fresh air. Just really amazing! I would agree that it's a bit bass light (compared to my HD681 EVO's anyway) but the mids and highs were really spot on, and everything sounded so good! That's just my two cents. Z's review led me to it, and I was not disappointed with the price to value ratio I got.

 

[jeff7742]

Just to update: the sound of the beyer DT990 in break in is now excellent - more refined than the SHP9500, with great clarity. It just needed more time. So I guess I'm keeping both of them. I may give the HD600 another shot too. It may have been an amp mismatch or something. And thanks to the person who suggested the HM5 pads for the SHP9500 - looks like a great idea.

 

[VRacer-111]

I finally got my SHP9500 how I wanted it:

 
 
 
Ordered the MrSpeakers Comfort leather strap for the Fostex T50RP and modified it (punched 5/16" holes for the mounting posts using the clear plastic insert from the stock headstrap as a guide, and trimmed the leather to a better shape for the headphones):

 
 
Took original headstrap off and replaced it with the modified MrSpeakers comfort strap:

 
 

 
 

 
Headband is nice, light, and comfortable fit, just like the 1540 Alcantara pads.

 

[Primus2112]

  I finally got my SHP9500 how I wanted it:

 
 
 
Ordered the MrSpeakers Comfort leather strap for the Fostex T50RP and modified it (punched 5/16" holes for the mounting posts using the clear plastic insert from the stock headstrap as a guide, and trimmed the leather to a better shape for the headphones):

 
 
Took original headstrap off and replaced it with the modified MrSpeakers comfort strap:

 
 

 
 

 
Headband is nice, light, and comfortable fit, just like the 1540 Alcantara pads.

Sweet! Especially the headband!

 

[Vatnos]

They are a little bright but the treble is smooth and not sibilant at least. I want my bass to go deeper than these go, but they can come close to where I want with amplification/bass boost. 

 

[allaces305]

Well finally decided to buy the alpha pads and do the mod. The pads got to the house today and man they are beautiful. I had purchased the ring adapters a month ago but was not sure if to mod. Let me start by saying that it really really brings the bass and mids out and makes the highs a little less harsh. I can also hear a wider sound stage but that might be just in my head but it certainly feels that way. I never really believed that a switch of pads could make such a drastic change in sound signature but they truly do and the $62 is totally worth it. I kept the other pads intact just in case i ever want to sell the cans or go back to the original sound signature which is also amazing in its own way. Tip before trying to put on the pads use a hair dryer and heat them up a little. like 30sec. it totally makes it easier to stretch over the headphones. The pads also help tremendously with the loose head clamping issue that some people experience but by no way does it make the headphone uncomfortable. They still feel amazing on the head but now with soft leather hugging the ears. These headphones and modification has by far been the best audio money i have spent in a long time. 

 

[Denon2010]

Does anybody else find the crazy sparkling highs of the 9500 to be incredibly annoying and over exaggerating? I also suspect my UGREEN brand of audio cable I am using for it Might be boosting the highs even more aswell and not to mention my SMSL SD 793 II DAC
 
Let me know I am thinking of selling the 9500 and getting a different headphone.
 
I think I could live with just using the EQ in my PC to fix that.
 
But the biggest issue with this headphone for me seems to be the annoying slippery slack feeling there is 0 clamp force and it always feel like its sliding out of your head. The material they used to make the pads and the headband is a very slippery annoying material not to mention the pad material is very itchy if you live in a hot humid climate like mine.
 
What should I do? mod it? how? I need to make it less slippery on my head I already modded the original pads I pulled it from the glue and inserted the sponge from my HD 555 headphones underneath the 9500 pads giving it a far thicker and nicer look. Wondering if to go leather or something but man is the headband just too lose

 

[phthora]

  Does anybody else find the crazy sparkling highs of the 9500 to be incredibly annoying and over exaggerating? I also suspect my UGREEN brand of audio cable I am using for it Might be boosting the highs even more aswell and not to mention my SMSL SD 793 II DAC
 

 
Looks like your DAC/amp puts 130mW into 32 ohm, whereas the SHP9500 take a max of 200mW at 32 ohm. Since we're talking nominal impedance the actual impedance is going to spike up at certain frequencies, making it harder to drive some frequencies than others. If your amp doesn't have the power to push into those frequencies, the sound will suffer. In the case of these headphones, the impedance spikes up to 52 ohms or so at around 70-90 hz. In other words, those low frequencies are the first to get muffled and muted without sufficient amping.
 
Here are some details about the cans: http://en.goldenears.net/31990
 
There is definitely something to be said for headroom. Personally, I've used two amps with these cans, one that can put 400mW into them and one that can put 2000mW into them. With the more powerful amp I've heard some moderate improvement in clarity and resolution, more smoothness in the treble, and more texture in the bass.
 
In short, looks like you need a bigger amp. If you want something that won't break the bank, Fiio has many options at decent prices. Hope that helps!

 

[Denon2010]

   
Looks like your DAC/amp puts 130mW into 32 ohm, whereas the SHP9500 take a max of 200mW at 32 ohm. Since we're talking nominal impedance the actual impedance is going to spike up at certain frequencies, making it harder to drive some frequencies than others. If your amp doesn't have the power to push into those frequencies, the sound will suffer. In the case of these headphones, the impedance spikes up to 52 ohms or so at around 70-90 hz. In other words, those low frequencies are the first to get muffled and muted without sufficient amping.
 
Here are some details about the cans: http://en.goldenears.net/31990
 
There is definitely something to be said for headroom. Personally, I've used two amps with these cans, one that can put 400mW into them and one that can put 2000mW into them. With the more powerful amp I've heard some moderate improvement in clarity and resolution, more smoothness in the treble, and more texture in the bass.
 
In short, looks like you need a bigger amp. If you want something that won't break the bank, Fiio has many options at decent prices. Hope that helps!

 
Well my SMSL is almost as expensive as the FIIO.
 
From what I have read even Z Reviews said to take the SMSL over the FIIO he said its better
 
If you read the specs this SMSL is supposed to be near god tier. 

 

[phthora]

 

[DangerClose]

   
Well my SMSL is almost as expensive as the FIIO.
 
From what I have read even Z Reviews said to take the SMSL over the FIIO he said its better
 
If you read the specs this SMSL is supposed to be near god tier. 

 
A 130 @ 32 amp is god tier?
 
It's nice for what it is, but some perspective is in order.  And yes I have one.