[nugget2013]

as we all know most good quality soundingheadphones (if not all) need to be burned in for the best quality sound and i have heard that to burn in headphones it can range from 20-100 hours! some youtuber said he burned them in for about 30 hours of high volume (about 80%) for 20 hours and listened normally for 10 hours. if he burned them in at high volume, does it mean leaving them on at low volume for about 10 hours have a negative effect on them? as i left them on overnight at a low volume to not wake me up..hope i didnt cause any harm!
 
and yes i am an audio noob. enjoying my new sennheiser momentum's i've had for 6 days!  

 

[GSARider]

Sorry, just don't see how any unit needs this. Having spoken to Axell Grell at Sennheiser he said that it's true that new units can need time to warm up after being sat in cold warehouses and a couple of hours for the drivers to loosen, they certainly don't need days and days.

Btw, my Momentum's sounded great from day one and sound no different to my ears now.

 

[ThinkAwesome]

Burn in, for most pieces of audio equipment is a myth. There are exceptions, but for the most part, burn in is more about your brain adjusting to the sound than the headphone changing. Measurable differences in headphones that are notorious for burn in are minimal, and won't completely change a headphone's sound. 

 

[nugget2013]

Quote:

Burn in, for most pieces of audio equipment is a myth. There are exceptions, but for the most part, burn in is more about your brain adjusting to the sound than the headphone changing. Measurable differences in headphones that are notorious for burn in are minimal, and won't completely change a headphone's sound. 

well i've had them for 6 days as i said now and i HOPE my brain adjusts as at the moment they only sound a tad better than my beats (rubbish i know) these are my first pair of proper audio headphones ever as i dont class beats as proper audio headphones. im going to buy an amp soon and hopefully that will change my ears a tiny bit also, i am only listening on my laptop though which has a basic rubbish sound card..which is why i am buying an amp

 

[nylan8301]

The amp may help, especially if the momentum are hard to drive (I have no idea as I haven't done the research). You may also want to look into an external DAC/amp for a better source and better amplification. Also, making sure that the files you are listening to are encoded into a higher bit-rate would also help (FLAC preferably, but higher bit-rate MP3 is better than 128 mbps rips).

 

[ThinkAwesome]

Momentums aren't hard to drive. If the sound card is really really rubbish, there might be a significant improvement with an amp, but the Momentums are designed to be driven from mobile devices and other low power sources. An amp will give an improvement though, just I wouldn't expect day and night changes. 
 
I would be more wary about the mixing and mastering of the recordings than the bitrate. If you buy music from iTunes or rip from CD's, there usually isn't a problem. 
 
btw, what do you not like about the sound of the Momentums?
-Possibly the Momentums aren't designed to make the sound you want to hear. 
-If you have large ears, the ear cups might not be sealing properly which will alter the sound. 

 

[posteriorpounde]

Quote:

well i've had them for 6 days as i said now and i HOPE my brain adjusts as at the moment they only sound a tad better than my beats (rubbish i know) these are my first pair of proper audio headphones ever as i dont class beats as proper audio headphones. im going to buy an amp soon and hopefully that will change my ears a tiny bit also, i am only listening on my laptop though which has a basic rubbish sound card..which is why i am buying an amp

Well if the sound card is rubbish, wouldn't you want a DAC? Or even just a single amp-dac unit?

 

[nugget2013]

Quote:

Momentums aren't hard to drive. If the sound card is really really rubbish, there might be a significant improvement with an amp, but the Momentums are designed to be driven from mobile devices and other low power sources. An amp will give an improvement though, just I wouldn't expect day and night changes. 
 
I would be more wary about the mixing and mastering of the recordings than the bitrate. If you buy music from iTunes or rip from CD's, there usually isn't a problem. 
 
btw, what do you not like about the sound of the Momentums?
-Possibly the Momentums aren't designed to make the sound you want to hear. 
-If you have large ears, the ear cups might not be sealing properly which will alter the sound. 

i DO like the sound of the momentums i just do not notice all the differences compared to beats as only having listened to them for 1 week after 7 months of beats use. i will be getting the fiio e17 amp/dac combo for my momentums. also i heard that good headphones have a soundstage..i don/t understand how i hear this as it doesnt really sound spacious if you call it that. also i only listen to CD's inserted into my dvd drive so it is high quality sound (320kbb/s) i think it is..

 

[posteriorpounde]

i DO like the sound of the momentums i just do not notice all the differences compared to beats as only having listened to them for 1 week after 7 months of beats use. i will be getting the fiio e17 amp/dac combo for my momentums. also i heard that good headphones have a soundstage..i don/t understand how i hear this as it doesnt really sound spacious if you call it that. also i only listen to CD's inserted into my dvd drive so it is high quality sound (320kbb/s) i think it is..

Momentums aren't known for their sound stage.

 

[nylan8301]

I would reserve your opinion of the headphones until you can listen to your music with a half-decent source. I, too, have looked at the FiiO e17 for my laptop as an option for driving a portable pair of headphones (HD 25-1 II). As I have now read the review that was written by Jude, I see that the momentum are fairly easy to drive.
 
Try listening to some genres of music that you wouldn't typically listen to and do an A/B comparison between the Momentum and your Beats.

 

[nugget2013]

Quote:

I would reserve your opinion of the headphones until you can listen to your music with a half-decent source. I, too, have looked at the FiiO e17 for my laptop as an option for driving a portable pair of headphones (HD 25-1 II). As I have now read the review that was written by Jude, I see that the momentum are fairly easy to drive.
 
Try listening to some genres of music that you wouldn't typically listen to and do an A/B comparison between the Momentum and your Beats.

i very recently started listening to paramore (and they do sound better on momentum) compared to beats, but as i am an audio noob i can not pinch out every single way it is better..i however have only listened on my phone will listen mostly to CD's when i get my E17 and then i should be happy.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Burn in, for most pieces of audio equipment is a myth. There are exceptions, but for the most part, burn in is more about your brain adjusting to the sound than the headphone changing. Measurable differences in headphones that are notorious for burn in are minimal, and won't completely change a headphone's sound. 

well i've had them for 6 days as i said now and i HOPE my brain adjusts as at the moment they only sound a tad better than my beats (rubbish i know) these are my first pair of proper audio headphones ever as i dont class beats as proper audio headphones. im going to buy an amp soon and hopefully that will change my ears a tiny bit also, i am only listening on my laptop though which has a basic rubbish sound card..which is why i am buying an amp

Give it time

Your Brain is tuned for beats right now and other headphones may sound off/weird
The first time I put my bowers and wilkins P5 on I was really disappointed because it didn't sound much better than my sony xb500.
After at least 100 hours of listening I grew more accustomed to the P5s amd started noticing what makes it a better pair.

As for an amp... I don't know how much an amp in itself will help because the momentums are very low impedance and meant to work with low power portables devices.
If anything I think a dac would help you more along with higher quality music files.

 

[formula1]

Quote:

i very recently started listening to paramore (and they do sound better on momentum) compared to beats, but as i am an audio noob i can not pinch out every single way it is better..i however have only listened on my phone will listen mostly to CD's when i get my E17 and then i should be happy.

 
Things will change for better once you have the E17. 
Enjoy the music meanwhile, you are just used to the bassy signature of the beats.