[Z3ph3r]

The fiio e18 is basically an e12 with a DAC. That might help you out.

 

[Denon2010]

What music do you listen to? I love the highs in the SHP9500 in Electronica and like genres with lots of high end energy. Using Audioquest Dragonfly Red USB DAC/Amp with either laptop running Foobar2K or Samsung TAB S2 Tablet running USB Audio Player Pro. As in my recent previous post, my 9500 is modded with Shure 1540 pads with foam lining removed for more clarity and a modded MrSpeakers Leather comfort strap originally made for Fostex TX0RP fitment. Much more comfortable than stock and a little more secure, but it still can slide around on the head some. Shure 1840 pads would probably work well too, but not as comfortable as the Alcantara 1540 pads...

 
Well my SHP 9500 was doing great with Bob Marley and Lana Del Rey and John Legend and Adelle.
 
However turning on AC/DC was a major deal breaker its almost impossible to listen to with these headphones unless I adjust the EQ I am talking really terribly harsh without EQ
 
Lowering the highs on the equalizer pretty much fixes all the problems though so I dunno what do you think have you tried AC/DC Thundershock and Hells Bells?

 

[jasonnaos]

Hey, I'm gonna have to pass I apologize. Apparently I have a pair of these coming for Xmas. I was telling my wife last night about our deal and she called me a surprise ruiner...among other things lol. Again I apologize but I'm sure if you post these on here you will have no trouble getting rid of them in a hurry.

 

[erich6]

I'll add they work well even with a cheap amp like the FiiO E6.

 

[VRacer-111]

Well my SHP 9500 was doing great with Bob Marley and Lana Del Rey and John Legend and Adelle.

However turning on AC/DC was a major deal breaker its almost impossible to listen to with these headphones unless I adjust the EQ I am talking really terribly harsh without EQ

Lowering the highs on the equalizer pretty much fixes all the problems though so I dunno what do you think have you tried AC/DC Thundershock and Hells Bells?

Don't have any AC/DC, do have some Japanese Vocaloid metal though...and though it is 'harsh', it is not too harsh for me on the 9500's. Do you have a Youtube or other online playable example you could give, or would it not give the same result as a playback with a high quality audio file?

 

[Denon2010]

Don't have any AC/DC, do have some Japanese Vocaloid metal though...and though it is 'harsh', it is not too harsh for me on the 9500's. Do you have a Youtube or other online playable example you could give, or would it not give the same result as a playback with a high quality audio file? Code:

Yeah this one can work let me know if its too harsh for you one thing I noticed my SMSL SD 793 also increases the highs a little
 
Ur gonna have to listen to the full song.
 
Whats funny this headphone works god like for Lana Del Rey.
 
If you guys can inform me if the 9500 are good or bad with this song then I can know if its just a case of letting my ears adjust.
 
AC/DC are my favorite I even have a picture of AC/DC covering the Jesus Christ picture in my house. I have replaced Jesus with AC/DC thats how crazy I am about this band.
 
 

 

[VRacer-111]

  Yeah this one can work let me know if its too harsh for you one thing I noticed my SMSL SD 793 also increases the highs a little
 
Ur gonna have to listen to the full song.
 
Whats funny this headphone works god like for Lana Del Rey.
 
If you guys can inform me if the 9500 are good or bad with this song then I can know if its just a case of letting my ears adjust.
 
AC/DC are my favorite I even have a picture of AC/DC covering the Jesus Christ picture in my house. I have replaced Jesus with AC/DC thats how crazy I am about this band.
 
 

 
I don't find that song harsh at all with my SHP9500's.
 
Below is an example of the kind of stuff I like to listen to, and I don't find it harsh with the 9500's, pushing on the edge of harsh maybe, but no issues for me listening to stuff like this all day:
 
 

 

[Denon2010]

   
I don't find that song harsh at all with my SHP9500's.
 
Below is an example of the kind of stuff I like to listen to, and I don't find it harsh with the 9500's, pushing on the edge of harsh maybe, but no issues for me listening to stuff like this all day:
 
 

Yeah I notice my ears are getting accustomed to this 9500 I am finding it less and less harsh now.

 

[DreamC]

Hi, I'm using SHP9500 together with SMSL 793 DAC/AMP. But for some time I have a question - as the volume is set to 100% on my PC, the output control on 793 is usually set to 1/5 of its maximum. Is there anyway (yeah, I'm not that good with this stuff...) to make it possible to vary the output more gradually?
 
Thanks.

 

[erich6]

   
Well my SHP 9500 was doing great with Bob Marley and Lana Del Rey and John Legend and Adelle.
 
However turning on AC/DC was a major deal breaker its almost impossible to listen to with these headphones unless I adjust the EQ I am talking really terribly harsh without EQ
 
Lowering the highs on the equalizer pretty much fixes all the problems though so I dunno what do you think have you tried AC/DC Thundershock and Hells Bells?

​Well, I really love my SHP9500's and they sound great with pretty much everything I listen to but those two tracks do come through rather shrill.  Some EQ notching at 4-8 kHz helps.

 

[erich6]

  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.

​Welcome to the club! Yeah, I had a similar reaction as these were my first open-backed headphones.  I can see why this becomes a serious addiction because once your hearing becomes accustomed to good sound quality you start looking for the next best thing...and you realize not every headphone works perfectly for every use case/music type.

 

[Denon2010]

sold my shp 9500 today
 
Too bright in the highs, the highs are just too artificial and exaggerated the material totally suck ass, the clamping force is 0 it feels fuzzy and tickle on my skin the stupid over sized ear pads that starts to itch after a while the material is horrible.
 
All in all it wasn't a bad sounding headphone at all and I will recommend it to anyone.
 
However its not for me I am picky about sound and only sennheiser has satisfied me in life. I hated everything else

 

[DigMe]

   
Too bright in the highs, the highs are just too artificial and exaggerated the material totally suck ass, the clamping force is 0 it feels fuzzy and tickle on my skin the stupid over sized ear pads that starts to itch after a while the material is horrible.
 
All in all it wasn't a bad sounding headphone at all and I will recommend it to anyone.
 
 

 
LOL. The last sentence isn't convincing in light of the first part. 

 

[Denon2010]

   
LOL. The last sentence isn't convincing in light of the first part. 

I would always recommend the 9500 because nobody else has ears like me.
 
The person spending $65 on a headphone will not get anything near the phillips quality.
 
However I have decided to bite the bullet and get the HD 600

 

[VRacer-111]

Just changed to Shure 1840 pads to try them out and I do have so say I like the them better than the Shure 1540 pads... With the backing foam removed its has noticeably better clarity, INSANE clarity, AWESOME clarity...what is this a STAX now?!? LOL And it brings out more details as well in the full range of the sound spectrum. Fits better on the head to due to the stiffer non-memory foam, so it feels more secure. Sound is a little more forward and really edging towards bright compared to the 1540 pads, but works well to me for all I've heard so far from bass heavy to treble heavy stuff. Should work REALLY well for gaming!
 

 
Latest acquired album which absolutely pairs PERFECTLY with the SHP9500 on Shure 1840 pads....