[bassophile]

I have heard that there are two versions of the M50 - one older one with more bass, and one newer one that has lighter bass...
 
If I bought the newer one with the lighter bass - would I notice it would give me me more or less bass quantity than my present headphone which is the Sennheiser HD650?

 

[NA Blur]

The bass should be the same as the drivers are the same.
 
Here are the frequency charts:
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2941&graphID[]=853
 
See how the M50 is barely above the HD-650 from 100Hz back?  Sure there is more bass, but not a ton.  You will probably hear more bass with the M50 due to seal and the slight +5dB bump there, but it is not going to be "oh my gosh" bass.  The ATH-M50 is a headphone I still consider to sound neutral.

 

[bassophile]

Quote:

The bass should be the same as the drivers are the same.
 
Here are the frequency charts:
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2941&graphID[]=853
 
See how the M50 is barely above the HD-650 from 100Hz back?  Sure there is more bass, but not a ton.  You will probably hear more bass with the M50 due to seal and the slight +5dB bump there, but it is not going to be "oh my gosh" bass.  The ATH-M50 is a headphone I still consider to sound neutral.

 
Thanks, I try not to rely too much on those graphs, as, for example, if you looked at some of them you'd think the K701 barely has less bass than a HD650 - but that wasn't true when I actually heard them...
 
Regardless, you've heard both and think the new M50 barely gives more bass than the HD650?
 
Can anyone who's heard both chime in?

 

[kore]

I heard the limited edition have different sound signature, bolder mids?

 

[Sound Quest]

The graphs aren't always a great measurement on how the sound will be perceived by the human ear.
 
It shows the K701/2 as having as much bass as the HD650's and M50's. Of course, the human ear won't perceive it as having nearly as much bass compared to those 2.
 
As for the difference in sound between older versions and newer versions of the M50, I don't think that there really is any. It's possible that some people have compared the newer version to the older version without burning them in, which is why they may seem a tad lighter on the bass when compared to an older version which has had many hours of use.
 
As somebody else said, the drivers are identical and should produce the same sound signature. Different ear pads may effect the sound very slightly, but I think the ear pads are also identical.

 

[vid]

Graphs are probably a pretty decent measure of how the ear picks up the sound. Perception on the other hand happens a ways off the ear, i.e. in the brain, and is in itself unreliable (you like a pair of phones one day and on another day you'll find them boring).
 
Having said that, it seems to me that those particular graphs actually do show more bass for the 650 than the 701 or 702. Tyll's graphs at InnerFidelity show roughly the same amount of bass for those three models, but given that the 650 has less treble, I'd say a person would be inclined to find them the bassier headphone anyways.

 

[NA Blur]

Agreed the graphs tell how the measured headphone should sound.  If someone has a different experience and the graphs are reliable then the person hearing the difference either has a alternative hearing profile or is perceiving the sound signature differently.  I find that the graphs, left unbiased, are an extremely good tool for find out what the sound signature should sound like.  If I hear something different I typically start looking at my gear and player to find what is amuck.

 

[bassophile]

Cheers everyone, but graphs aside, has anyone heard the new M50 and the HD650 side by side, and what did they note about the bass quantity? Did the HD650 have more? Or the M50? And by how much?

 

[bassophile]

bump... someone must be able to compare them physically instead of going off of graphs? I'd be grateful, cheers.

 

[bassophile]

bump.... would really like some anecdotes on this...
 
thanks!

 

[bassophile]

...bump... no help with this?