[Windsor]

Quote:

 
Yes. I agree with you straight out of the box is a bit wow.
 
Bass has tightened up after 15+ hours burning in (rather than being too boomy - it's the right amount for me). Soundstage gradually widening too.
 
How different would you describe when comparing the Amperior to the HD 25s?

 
Glad you're enjoying your Amperior, too.
 
To my ears it's better-sounding than my HD 25-1 and a definite level-up in overall quality. I agree that the bass is tighter. And there's more sonic impact from the Amperior, too, which I prefer. 
 
I don't really want to say any more than that for the time being; I'm burning in the Amperior now and will check back with it in a few hours.

 

[LJ50]

How is the cable length on the Amperior? The Sennheiser specs suggest a 1.2m connecting cable, followed by a 0.96m extensions, with the remote at the top. This seems completely wrong, as the mic would be too low.
 
The only source I have found for info on buying the cable seperately (to put on the HD25-1 II) suggests it's actually a 0.85m connecting cable, and a 0.96m extension with the remote/mic at the top. That still seems to me a wee bit too long a connecting cable, but interested to know what some owners think.
 
Essentially, this is me finding a way to add the remote/mic functionality to the HD25's in the vain hope of preventing myself buying the Amperiors and incurring the wife's wrath (she only bought me the HD25/s 6 months ago....

)
 
Thanks

 

[Windsor]

Quote:

How is the cable length on the Amperior? The Sennheiser specs suggest a 1.2m connecting cable, followed by a 0.96m extensions, with the remote at the top. This seems completely wrong, as the mic would be too low.
 
The only source I have found for info on buying the cable seperately (to put on the HD25-1 II) suggests it's actually a 0.85m connecting cable, and a 0.96m extension with the remote/mic at the top. That still seems to me a wee bit too long a connecting cable, but interested to know what some owners think.
 
Essentially, this is me finding a way to add the remote/mic functionality to the HD25's in the vain hope of preventing myself buying the Amperiors and incurring the wife's wrath (she only bought me the HD25/s 6 months ago....

)
 
Thanks

 
The Amperior has a short cable (~.3m) from the right ear cup, and included are the two cables you referred to, the ~1m extension and the shorter mic cable. To me it makes sense to use one cable or the other depending on circumstance.
 
The Amperior's short (~.3m) cable is too short to use with an iPod unless you put the iPod in your chest pocket. Otherwise the plain extension cable or the mic cable will allow an iPod to reach to your waist pocket and then some. When I connect the mic cable, the mic itself extends down to my sternum, and I haven't tried using it in that position yet as the mic has a clip like some pens do which allow it to be attached to your lapel or somewhere close by. Attaching the plain extension and then the mic cable wouldn't make sense to me unless the distance between your ears and mouth was larger than that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a similar creature. 

 
If you like the Amperior and can afford it, I'd recommend going for it as long as you don't think it will annoy your wife. The Amperior is a clear step up in quality from the HD 25 (she'll most probably notice that if she can even slightly discern differences in audio quality) and you can always sell the HD 25 afterwards if you want, which is an excellent headphone in its own right!

 

[scoopbb]

the graphs on innerfidelity show that the newer hd25-1 IIs being nearly the same as the amperiors  (as opposed to the older hd25-1 IIs which look different). i guess we'll see when they actually are available so i can go and compare them. 

 

[dubeam01]

I have had the hd-25 1 ii for the last few months. After reading this thread, I had made up my mind to get the Amperior, no matter what. I live in Oxford, UK and we dont have Apple retail store in our town. The closest place I figured would have a store was Reading where I took a train to. Walked into the the store...got the assistant to get a new box of Amperior from their stock room and gave it a good listen through my sansa fuze v 2.0. Tested out classic rock, progressive and metal. I liked the silver colour and found the blue a little too purple for my liking.
 
Immediately noticed the headband clamp on these out of box headphones was missing in comparison how the HD 25-1 ii still feel inspite of months of using and lots n lots of stretching. To an extent that I had to crank up the volume to slightly higher levels than I would have to with my hd-25s to keep out the store noise. The headphone cable minus the 2 attachment cables was barely long enough for my fuze to sit comfortably in my upper left shirt pocket.
 
Wrt the music I tested out, these hp's seemed slightly more refined when I first plugged in HD-25 out of the box. The Bass was there and sounded tight, punchy and clean with songs like 'Show Biz kids' 'Bodhisattva' 'Pretzel Logic' Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' Rush 'YYZ'. It would be unfair to compare with my hd-25 which has been burnt in as the amperior were just 'out of the box. With Judas Priest's 'Painkiller', I found the highs less edgy and slightly rolled off in comparison to hd-25 which I felt sounded did more justice to Rob Halford screeching  Paaaaaaaaaaain(if you know what I mean). Overall, the SQ didnt sound as great as how my hd-25 currently sounds which is months old but is definitely a tad refined on the highs, though I missed the hd-25's edginess in highs on certain songs. On the lows, mids...I could not hear any significant improvement over hd-25. I am sure this could change post burn in....but difficult to guage by how much. 
 
The main cable is thick, but not very sure of the quality of the connecting wire sets. They seem a little filmsy in comparison of the hd-25 thick steel cable, but more mobile(portable) friendly. amperior comes with the default velour pads which are different from the ones you get with hd-25 and are of a better quality and feel very comfortable. For some reason where in other apple stores, amperior is priced for 249£ but the apple store in Reading had a pricing of 259£. When questioned, they said the price was increased over the last two days. I did   tell them that the price in their other stores like Stratford was at 249£ today over the phone, but they just repeated the same line of apple prices the same in all their stores and it has increased over the last two days. I gave up.
 
In the end, I did not feel amperior to warrant the higher prices after listening to them. Again, your experience could differ...maybe with an amp they could sound vastly different? Maybe after putting 200 odd hrs they would sound really a level or two above hd 25 1 ii...but out of the box...I just couldnt hear that 'Big' improvement. So though I left home this morning with a 100% intent of buying amperior and selling my hd-25's in return...my ears guided me against this decision. I am back in Oxford listening to the same songs that on my fuze tested this amperior this afternoon while typing this. 

 

[mcee]

Quote:

the graphs on innerfidelity show that the newer hd25-1 IIs being nearly the same as the amperiors  (as opposed to the older hd25-1 IIs which look different). i guess we'll see when they actually are available so i can go and compare them. 

 
Always best to trust your own ears. For me, it sounds different (and on the better side).
 
By the way, went to Apple Store today again and saw the Amperior is listed at 259.99 pounds, when I got them for 249.99 just 1-2 days ago. Weird.

 

[dubeam01]

Just to also add...my biggest disappointment was...For the price, 'no pleather pads' included in the package, which on the hd-25 makes the presentation a bit more forward and aggressive compared to the velour pads. And it's great to have both these to keep switching as and when you wish. My second disappointment was the lack of the usual clamp. Again the velour would tone down the clamp and improve comfort compared to pleather which did isolation brilliant. But I really had to increase volume to very high(unsustainable levels) to drown the noise in the store. I could always remove the headphones...but reducing the clamp you really take away hd-25s greatest strength which is passive isolation!

 

[mcee]

Quote:

Just to also add...my biggest disappointment was...For the price, 'no pleather pads' included in the package, which on the hd-25 makes the presentation a bit more forward and aggressive compared to the velour pads. And it's great to have both these to keep switching as and when you wish. My second disappointment was the lack of the usual clamp. Again the velour would tone down the clamp and improve comfort compared to pleather which did isolation brilliant. But I really had to increase volume to very high(unsustainable levels) to drown the noise in the store. I could always remove the headphones...but reducing the clamp you really take away hd-25s greatest strength which is passive isolation!

 
I also owned the HD 25s before, but I feel that the reduction in clamping force is the right thing for Sennheiser to do (at least it was for me). I always felt the clamping force was too hard on my head with the HD 25s, and when I took the Amperior out of the box, I immediately noticed the lessening of the clamping force. It was a good change for me. I always wish that Sennheiser could have lessened the clamping force on the HD 25s, and glad they did on these new Amperior.
 
These new 'velour' pads on the Amperior also feel very, very comfortable. I think they are of the same material (if not on par) as their new HD 700. I don't feel that they block off ambient noise any less than the HD 25s (pleather or velour), because I seem to still listen at the same volume as I always do when I am on-the-go (say for example, on the tube or on the bus or on the street). At least, it is not a night and day difference.

 

[dallan]

Apple store here doesn't even have them listed on their computer.

 

[mcee]

Quote:

Apple store here doesn't even have them listed on their computer.

 
I suppose they haven't sent their stocks to America yet?

 

[dallan]

Yep, i have checked two stores.  I am debating anyway between the 1350's and these but i normally go for Senns taste wise, never had a Beyer, don't know the sound sig.

 

[dubeam01]

May come down to the genre your listen to. For rock/metal, signature of hd/25 is a better conductor. For accoustic. ambient, classical and others could be preferred. You could chose amperior for both. It took me 30 mts of listening to amperior and thinking really hard to decide it wasnt worth it for an upgrade. I would have definitely considered it if I didnt have hd-25 already. I dont find the clamp of hd-25 a bother. I'm really used to it now and find it the only HP in the market which can passively isolate so well. I really doubt if amperior can do it that well especially without the pleather pads. Maybe the difference is not a lot, but for me it was significant as I listen to heavy music at mid volume levels or lower and need that good clamp and bloated pleathers to work their magic, the way they do. Did not bother with the mic/remote cable as they serve no purpose for me. 

 

[Windsor]

Hi there - 
 
If anyone's interested, I've posted some impressions of the Amperior and a few other great headphones in a new article.

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

 
Got it from the Apple store in Stratford (for anyone else interested, they had another two pairs of the silver and a few of the blue version.) Great shopping mall, too - the biggest in Europe apparently. 
 
Have you noticed any change in the sound of your Amperior since you got it?

 
I presume you mean Stratford in London, rather than the place where Shakespeare was born?

 

[mcee]

Quote:

 
I presume you mean Stratford in London, rather than the place where Shakespeare was born?

 
I'm pretty sure he meant London Stratford