[dasaybz]

Hi guys, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I just snagged a pair of the 439's and I gotta tell you, I'm not terribly impressed. I have a set of HTF-600s and comparing these two are kind of disappointing. I have a Yamaha RX-567 receiver, and I was playing some tunes through it and comparing both of these headphones, and the Sennheisers started clipping and getting very distorted at high volume, and the HTFs did not at all. Also, these Senns are much quieter. When I have the volume at the same level and just switch between these headphones, the Pannys are louder, and they have much more bass.
 
I'm hoping that these Senns need to break in a little, I do like the soundstage, and the mids are very crisp, and I hear more details with them than the Pannys, but man, for the price I paid for these Senns, I was hoping they would really be a much better headphone than the Pannys and so far, they are not. One thing about these Senns is that they are really freaking comfy.
 
Thanks!!

 

[zardak]

Hi, I have the AKG K81, Esmooth 821EB, and Sennheiser 449's, but i find these 439's to be better than all of them. More like an audiophile headphone.
I find a lot of people can quite easily get addicted to artificially hyped punchy bass that usually was not in the original recording, however, if a headphone is designed properly and is more accurate with all important aspects of performance presented correctly, you may find that hyped bass becomes undesirable. To my ear these 439's have a nice open soundstage, clear natural detailed midrange, non-hyped but still punchy bass, and nicely accurate treble range. I thought the 449's were good until i got these, and these seem to have more focus, immediacy and coherency, plus no exaggerated tones, and defines the whole frequency spectrum with finesse and class, i really like them, they don't appear to have any shortcomings to my mind, i'm sure a scientific lab and an Audiophile listener with golden ears and years of experience could find fault with them if they wanted to, but i deem my own ears pretty good, i am a perfectionist, and do produce and record music my self, and these 439's i use as monitoring headphones and i think they are very detailed and well balanced right across the spectrum with pleasingly accurate tone.
But, check this out, with all this having been said, the best is yet to come, run your music (uncompressed i hope) through a line out and into a good clean amp, and BANG!! Then, additionally, some hours of burn in later, and WHACK!! these things do me proud. I hope that this feedback well serve as a second opinion for those who desired or needed it. Good luck!

 

[davidglez]

Hey, zardak.
I am actually thinking about getting the Sennheiser 439's. Right now i have some panasonic's rt-htx7 (so yeah, i am a n00b 

) and i really want an upgrade. Would you recommend them to me?
 
I listen to electronic stuff like Aphex Twin, Tipper and Kraftwerk; "math rock", post-hardcore and every now and then some jazzmen like Miles and/or Mingus.
 
And could you also recommend me a "good clean amp" which is affordable, please?

 

[zardak]

Don't worry about being a noob, just worry about getting good headphones. Currently i am using  "Kicker HP 541," ever since buying those my search is over, they outperform nearly everything on the market and are better than everything i have ever tried, better than Beats by Dre better than any Sennheiser better than Audio-Technica ATH M50, trust me, if you want a top-notch reference-class headphone that outperforms all others for very low price, just get these, and i am deadly serious, and your problem is solved, simple as that. $129 They are total class, quality plus, you will not be disappointed, i stake my life on it, they are world-class, i have compared them to everything, so your good to go, just buy these. Just Google "Kicker" and have a look at the reviews on the left of the page on their website, my review is a rave review there titled "god has visited us."  Actually when you listen to your genre of music these headphones will make you smile from ear to ear. I think the FiiO E6 amplifier or the Go-Vibe MiniBox are both excellent heaphone amps at a good price, about $50, and yes i have auditioned both of them, they are both ecxellent, and "good luck."