[Music Alchemist]

  What about sound ?

 
ahaha. HD 800 is light years ahead, of course, and still almost as comfortable.

 

[jologskyblues]

My ears touch the inside of the SHP9500's cups and it's very annoying. Other than that, it's comfortable.

 

[HotIce]

   
ahaha. HD 800 is light years ahead, of course, and still almost as comfortable.

 
Now A/B testing headphones make little sense, as they touch your head, so you are able to distinguish them by touch, instead of only hearing.
Nevertheless, it would interesting to have users select HPs purely on what they hear, removing visual and price category aspects from the selection.
Not claiming there are no differences (HP, as well as speakers, are the components where differences are decently discernible), since there are plenty, but the interesting part would be user's sound signature selection, once they do not know which brand and price they are listening to.

 

[HotIce]

  My ears touch the inside of the SHP9500's cups and it's very annoying. Other than that, it's comfortable.

 
Yeah, the SHP9500 cups are very large and shallow, so if you have protruding ears, they might touch the bottom of the ear cup.
But since the clamping force is minimal, that should be little issue.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Now A/B testing headphones make little sense, as they touch your head, so you are able to distinguish them by touch, instead of only hearing.
Nevertheless, it would interesting to have users select HPs purely on what they hear, removing visual and price category aspects from the selection.
Not claiming there are no differences (HP, as well as speakers, are the components where differences are decently discernible), since there are plenty, but the interesting part would be user's sound signature selection, once they do not know which brand and price they are listening to.

 
Well, when you're comparing the SHP to $1,000 headphones, the difference in sound is unmistakable.
 
I have a Focal Elear now, and it's far superior to the HD 800 in nearly every way, in my opinion. (Including comfort.)
 
The SHP is one of the best (if not the best) in its category/price, but it can't begin to compare to the best headphones.
 
By the way, you implied in the past that headphones so expensive might sound the same after EQ. But it turns out that most of the sound signature comes from aspects that cannot be altered with EQ. (Like texture, articulation, imaging, etc.) I know this because I make sure to equalize headphones now to see what they're capable of.
 
Also, since you implied that DACs are not "decently discernible" from each other, get (or at least listen to) a Chord DAC. Conventional DACs sound absolutely awful in comparison. It's not due to frequency response and distortion, since they all are fine in that regard. But Chord DACs have zero noise floor modulation and far better timing accuracy, resulting in a much more natural sound. I can't go back to a normal DAC now. I tried the other night and it was nearly unlistenable.

 

[HotIce]

   
Well, when you're comparing the SHP to $1,000 headphones, the difference in sound is unmistakable.
 

 
Even an headphone A with a $400 price tag, can sound unmistakably different from an headphone B with a $405 price tag, assuming A != B 

No need to jump price category for that.
 
 
Quote:

 By the way, you implied in the past that headphones so expensive might sound the same after EQ. But it turns out that most of the sound signature comes from aspects that cannot be altered with EQ. (Like texture, articulation, imaging, etc.) I know this because I make sure to equalize headphones now to see what they're capable of.

 
You might be quoting out of context here.
First, getting exact same FR is not trivial, given the typical shape of an HP FR. Match EQs are always an approximation.
Also, there is more than FR in the sound of course, as electrical->mechanical (and vice-versa) energy transducers tend to have distortion levels which bleed into the human hearing audible range.
 
 
 

 Also, since you implied that DACs are not "decently discernible" from each other, get (or at least listen to) a Chord DAC. Conventional DACs sound absolutely awful in comparison. It's not due to frequency response and distortion, since they all are fine in that regard. But Chord DACs have zero noise floor modulation and far better timing accuracy, resulting in a much more natural sound. I can't go back to a normal DAC now. I tried the other night and it was nearly unlistenable.

 
I have "tried" many expensive DACs, but when I try, I isolate the view/brand/price/hype factors, and focus only on what I hear.
A DAC (or an AMP) is a black box which takes an input signal S, and transforms it into an output signal T.
Besides all the hype-filled audiophile words (timing, jitter, sound stage, texture, air, ...), if T=K*S (with K constant), then you have the perfect device with 0% distortion.
So if you have a DAC A which produces Ta with 0.001% distortion, and a DAC B which produced Tb with 0.0001% distortion, and plenty of studies have found human hearing unable to pick up distortion level below 0.1% (with some studies closer to 0.5%), A and B will sound the same.
Because, any alteration of the signal (timing, jitter, sound stage, ...), will show up as distortion. There no magic hidden channel by which Ta sounds different from Tb, if HumanHear(Ta) == HumanHear(Tb).
Left out FR from DAC and amps talks, because any decent (even a $30 cMoy amp or a $29 Apple connector DAC have) DAC or amp have flat-as-pool-table FR in the audible range.
 
But these conversations tend to repeat themselves over and over, and I am kind of tired 

You feel free to poke me again with a loud "I told you so!", when a decent group of audiophiles will decide to show up to a scientifically conducted blind test, to prove what they are actually claiming on the net.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I have "tried" many expensive DACs, but when I try, I isolate the view/brand/price/hype factors, and focus only on what I hear.
A DAC (or an AMP) is a black box which takes an input signal S, and transforms it into an output signal T.
Besides all the hype-filled audiophile words (timing, jitter, sound stage, texture, air, ...), if T=K*S (with K constant), then you have the perfect device with 0% distortion.
So if you have a DAC A which produces Ta with 0.001% distortion, and a DAC B which produced Tb with 0.0001% distortion, and plenty of studies have found human hearing unable to pick up distortion level below 0.1% (with some studies closer to 0.5%), A and B will sound the same.
Because, any alteration of the signal (timing, jitter, sound stage, ...), will show up as distortion. There no magic hidden channel by which Ta sounds different from Tb, if HumanHear(Ta) == HumanHear(Tb).
Left out FR from DAC and amps talks, because any decent (even a $30 cMoy amp or a $29 Apple connector DAC have) DAC or amp have flat-as-pool-table FR in the audible range.
 
But these conversations tend to repeat themselves over and over, and I am kind of tired 

You feel free to poke me again with a loud "I told you so!", when a decent group of audiophiles will decide to show up to a scientifically conducted blind test, to prove what they are actually claiming on the net.

 
Anyone who has heard a Chord DAC knows that's a lie.

 

[HotIce]

   
Anyone who has heard a Chord DAC knows that's a lie.

 
The Hugo, I have never listened it, but normal laws of physics and human body characteristics should still apply there 

The Mojo, I have tested it at the same time I tested the iDSD.
Honestly, they did sound the same for me, but I ended up with the iDSD, as I liked more the build/shape/functionalities.
Absolutely nothing wrong with the Mojo though, and was much smaller then the iDSD Micro (for me did not matter, as it sit on my office desk).

 

[mib91]

I'm trying to get a somewhat warm sound out of shp9500 than its default output. Not that it feels bright or sibliant in any way but I think an extra layer of warmth might make it sound even more pleasant. How would an amp, say, A3 or E12 with bass boost turned on help with this? Yes, shp doesn't really shine or actually in need of extra amplification and no matter how warm boosted source I'm feeding it from, it won't get all bassy over the spectrum. But will such amp at least would be of any help to get a slight warm tonality out of shp9500?

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I'm trying to get a somewhat warm sound out of shp9500 than its default output. Not that it feels bright or sibliant in any way but I think an extra layer of warmth might make it sound even more pleasant. How would an amp, say, A3 or E12 with bass boost turned on help with this? Yes, shp doesn't really shine or actually in need of extra amplification and no matter how warm boosted source I'm feeding it from, it won't get all bassy over the spectrum. But will such amp at least would be of any help to get a slight warm tonality out of shp9500?

 
Just use a parametric equalizer. Bass boost switches on amps don't give you much control at all.

 

[spearfish]

Based on my experience, stock pads are pretty bright (maybe I'm too sensitive on treble). I tried to mod these cans and frankly nothing worked well enough. I expected a little bit more ( On the other hand I also ordered Brainwavz HM5 angled hybrid pads and I have to say to me it's almost completely different cans MUCH more bass. Pads are smaller and thicker so I had to stretch headphones over the box to fit me well (pretty big head), but way more comfortable. To use these pads I ordered 3D printed rings and it's working very well (I didn't want to destroy stock pads so 9bucks for these rings seemed reasonable]

 

[ezil71]

  I'm trying to get a somewhat warm sound out of shp9500 than its default output. Not that it feels bright or sibliant in any way but I think an extra layer of warmth might make it sound even more pleasant. How would an amp, say, A3 or E12 with bass boost turned on help with this? Yes, shp doesn't really shine or actually in need of extra amplification and no matter how warm boosted source I'm feeding it from, it won't get all bassy over the spectrum. But will such amp at least would be of any help to get a slight warm tonality out of shp9500?

​The Bravo 2 amp does a nice job of that for me.  Especially with the gold lion tube.  The tube it comes with is a bit muddy sounding and the GT tube I tried was too bright.  The gold lion adds some sound stage/reverb and just enough warmth to be pretty darn good for the price and is nicely balanced for a warmer tone.

 

[MarcoGV]

 

  I'm trying to get a somewhat warm sound out of shp9500 than its default output. Not that it feels bright or sibliant in any way but I think an extra layer of warmth might make it sound even more pleasant. How would an amp, say, A3 or E12 with bass boost turned on help with this? Yes, shp doesn't really shine or actually in need of extra amplification and no matter how warm boosted source I'm feeding it from, it won't get all bassy over the spectrum. But will such amp at least would be of any help to get a slight warm tonality out of shp9500?

​The Bravo 2 amp does a nice job of that for me.  Especially with the gold lion tube.  The tube it comes with is a bit muddy sounding and the GT tube I tried was too bright.  The gold lion adds some sound stage/reverb and just enough warmth to be pretty darn good for the price and is nicely balanced for a warmer tone.

Do you mean this tube: https://tubedepot.com/products/genalex-gold-lion-ecc83-12ax7-preamp-vacuum-tube?gclid=COrt_Ljb-dECFci2wAod2yoMVg?  If not, could you give a link to a page describing it?

 

[Jefafa77]

   
Yeah, the SHP9500 cups are very large and shallow, so if you have protruding ears, they might touch the bottom of the ear cup.
But since the clamping force is minimal, that should be little issue.

I've found that stuffing a thin layer of either gauze or cotton balls can help. I have slightly protruding ears and at first i was annoyed beyond belief, now I like them.

 

[VRacer-111]

Quote:

  I'm trying to get a somewhat warm sound out of shp9500 than its default output. Not that it feels bright or sibliant in any way but I think an extra layer of warmth might make it sound even more pleasant. How would an amp, say, A3 or E12 with bass boost turned on help with this? Yes, shp doesn't really shine or actually in need of extra amplification and no matter how warm boosted source I'm feeding it from, it won't get all bassy over the spectrum. But will such amp at least would be of any help to get a slight warm tonality out of shp9500?

 
I'd use Shure 1540 Alcantara pads if you want a darker/warmer sound. You have to remove the foam backing though, or it will sound too veiled. And you lose some bass.
 
The Shure 1840 pads will be somewhat opposite...and my preference for the SHP9500. Better detail, better bass, more focused highs, and just as comfortable as the 1540 pads. Just needed 1 ply of tissue paper to tame the highs just enough...