[Grifter]

I bought a pair of HD-570s today after trying out the AKG 501s, Koss A-250s, HD-600s, and Grado 125. My impressions of most of these cans is that THEY ARE NOT COMFORTABLE! Many folks have recommended the AKG 501s due to their supposed comfort and sound. Sure they sounded good, better than the Grado 125, but I might as well have been wearing a pair of steel banded earmuffs in a Canadian winter.

If you plan on wearing your cans for more than 30 minutes I can not recommend the Grados (ANY OF THE #25s) or the AKG 501/401. Before anyone sais it, yes I know everyone's headshape is different but what is with the cheap leather band on the AKGs?

I thought the Koss A-250s were incredible! They sound awesome with the QED Headamp I used and they are almost identical to the HD-570s in comfort and impedance. Unfortunately they cost 70$ more and if you listen to a lot of MP3s they may be a little TOO sensitive. I liked the HD-600s but the only time I thought they were better than the A-250s was in the mid-range. I know Koss doesn't have the best reputation but at half the price of the HD-600 the A-250s look to be an incredible value.

In the end I chose the HD-570 because they are not too difficult to drive (My Hercules GTXP can push them well in everything I have tried so far) and because they were not too sensitive for use on less than perfect audio files. I plan on posting a complete guide for gamers on these cans because I know more and more will find there way to this forum.

 

[pedxing]

Give the HD570 a good burn in for like three days before you make your final evaulation. The bass may become stronger and the highs may drop a little bit.

 

[r3cc0s]

to be honest... asides from the bionetic comfy deisgn from sennheiser, it's a hunk of sh|t

it has very bright, but I don't find detailed treble

lacks bass...
and um.. grainy sound?

I don't know

I origionally like every newby thought they were great, my friend bought a set of them about a year ago
and I was like hey
they're cool
they're open
they sound decent (not truely but compared with cheap cans sure)
sounded even better than my sony mdr-v500

but
then
grado came and showed me the truth
I like the goodcans.com review of the grado's and their opinions seem pretty darn accurate and true
I haven't heard the 250/A as I can't find it here in manitoba canada
but if they say it's true, I'd belive them that they are good cans


I personally don't like sennheiser because of the fact, that only the Hd25 and the 580/600's are their good cans..
but they all need very good or even expensive equipement to sound their best, due to their high impedance

Sony's MDR-cd3000 and cd1700 are probably sony's best cans
and they have an impedance of 30ohms which is great
I mean they can even be used portabily and sound amazing

however if you bought cans to be driven easily
why did you get the 570, at 63ohms, they still need something decent to drive them

I suggest you return them, and go try some Grados, sony MDR-cd1700 or 3000, but if you like the Koss
a-250, why didn't you get them? they have realitavely lower impedance (even lower) than your 570!

I'd say return those suckers
if you aren't intending to get an amp specifically for your headphones
get the Grado Sr-325! they are close to being one of the best bang for the buck, or spend another $100 and get the extremely good sony mdr-cd3000

 

[r3cc0s]

I forgot
okay in terms of pads, yes I MUST admit that the bowls, arn't my cup of tea
but damn they bring detail in...
but still yea I liked a warmer sound... with Grado the pad's make a huge difference to the sound...
I have donut pads on my Rs-2's and belive me they are so much better than the bowls, to bring out the bass and warm up the sound, without killing the details

p.s. they are 10 times more comfy


but the bowls too as they come with the cans
can be squashed, and rubed and washed with conditioner
to make them comfortable

as Sirwar thinks that they grado's have horrible build,
I say well... hrm.. they are well built, and built for sound...

 

[Grifter]

Did you even read my post?

I dont understand something R3cc0, you saw how much emphasis I put on comfort and yet again you mention the Grado 325... I have tried them and aside from the great sound they also give me a splitting headache cause they are bloody uncomfortable. I dont know about you but the soundstage on the HD-570s is much larger and so far the positional audio is excellent when compared to my friends Grado 125s.

For those of you who havn't figured it out yet: GAMERS WANT COMFORT and great positional audio. In regards to your Impedance argument... I plugged the Koss A-250 and the Senn HD-570 into a QED amp and the volume was identical. Impedance isn't everything, its just an indicator. I would also like to say that as good as the Koss A-250s sound, they are more expensive and TOO SENSITIVE for my uses. I listen to MP3 audio files which are not always perfect and I found the Koss A-250s like the Senn HD-600 amplified the errors on the track.

R3ck0 the next time you reply to a post you should consider the user's purpose for purchasing. I imagine you use your cans for music quite a bit and I respect that but many of us prefer games to music or both

. We need to be able to wear something for 4 or 5 hours at a time and forget that they are on our head. The AK47 in CounterStrike is a loud gun on my speakers and drives my family insane... What better reason to get a good set of cans.

Maybe they should start a forum for those of us who use our cans for games more than music.

Colin

 

[r3cc0s]

dude, well if that is what you feel that good for you

but if you say that the 570 has more soundstage than the grado's even the 125? I'd say you're mistaken, but again it's opinion right?

heh
The 570 are not very good and that is my feeling about it. I even think my Rs-2's with the donut pads are as comfortable than the 570..
with WAY better sound and soundstage... and yes I do play computer games.... and nothing does the job better
I still say that the 325's have better detail, bass responce, in general all sound and especially sound stage than the 570...
If you add the donut pads and let the headband fit properly, you'll have a way way better set of cans for all purposes and especially gaming

if you are a gamer, what do you mean by soundstage? I'm not refering to um.. A3d or EAX from a soundcard...

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I've heard the Sennheiser HD-570 just over a week ago, with an unadulterated (as far as "artificial" equalization goes) headphone output... They're waaaay too ********* bright!

I've seen reviews at other sites, and they haven't heard anything even remotely musical before!

What I would say to those reviewers: "F%CK THOSE OVERLY BRIGHT 570s!!!"

 

[Gluegun]

There's a diff between soundstage and stereo imaging.

Grado soundstage = good.

Grado stereo imaging = okay.

What do you need for gaming? Stereo imaging, not soundstage. It's why the closed Sony MDR-CD380's, even, are good for gaming. Because of stereo imaging.

*grins*

And it's why I looooooove my DT831's!

 

[slindeman]

The HD570s are infinitely better for gaming than Grados in my opinion. Positional audio on my SR-125s paled in comparison to every Sennheiser HD5xx headphone I've had, and the comfort is not even close. If anyone has ever worn Grados with bowl pads for 6 hours straight I take my hat off to you! I've done so routinely with HD570 while playing UT. My HD570s aren't overly bright, so obviously there is some variation among them. They are nowhere near as bright as were my SR-125s -- not even on the same page of brightness.

That said, I don't like HD570 as much for music other than jazz and classical. They've got good details and a great soundstage and imaging, but they aren't as neutral as many other headphones in their price range, and seem to have large peaks/valleys in their freq response. For gaming however I really dig them. I'd really like HD590s for gaming, but I don't think I'll find them for $50 like I did my HD570s.

Eagle_Driver, if you had read the other thread here about this very subject you would have seen the discussion about the review gamespot did, and yes they did listen to something remotely musical, namely the HD600, HD495, SR-125, and SR-60, and yet still highly recommended the HD570 for gaming.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Ahhh... My "classic-rock" CDs are somewhat shrill-sounding to begin with, and the HD 570s tend to magnify that shrillness even more! LOL!!!!

 

[Neruda]

Quote:

Originally posted by Grifter Many folks have recommended the AKG 501s due to their supposed comfort and sound. Sure they sounded good, better than the Grado 125, but I might as well have been wearing a pair of steel banded earmuffs in a Canadian winter.

Had they been used much? The pads actually need time to soften up, I think. I remember thinking that kwkarth's 501's were stiff and uncomfortable compared to my K401's. A few weeks later, when i tried them again, they were much more comfortable. I also bent my headband out just a little bit.

 

[kna]

Hi all,

If you are so concentrating on comfort - try HD 210. THD only 0.2% and extremly low price. Weigt a bit more then 100g. Maybe better sound then HD570.

HD600 too precise

?! So what do you want?

mvh

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The Sony CD380 looks like it's open to me

Anyone know how they sound?

 

[Xander]

Weird. I found my AKGs to be pretty comfortable. Not as comfy as the HD570s, but I can wear my AKGs all day long without problems. As for the HD570s, they do have their up sides.. They "can" be driven by a portable, the cord removes (neat), and theyre comfortable as all heck. The downside was their sound. I suppose we all have our opinions as far as that goes, but I found them to be bright, with ill defined highs, sloppy bass, overly tight and sometimes boomy midbass, and recessed mids. Headroom says these are a good sounding pair of cans, and I seriously cant figure out why!

If you enjoy them, though, more power to you!

Quote:

The Sony CD380 looks like it's open to me Anyone know how they sound?

Joe, I took a 20 second listen to the CD380s when I had my Grados, and I thought they sounded good. Probably because I was so relieved to hear a darker sounding phone. This was on an anemic recording, though. After listening to my AKGs for so long, I went and listened to my friends Sony CD-380s and found them untolerably horrible. They had a closed, glob in front of your cranium soundstage, SEVERELY veiled highs and mids (asif you were listening behind a wall of bed mattresses), absolutely NO detail to speak of, and the most exaderated bass I had ever heard in my life. They wouldent fit on my head properly, so they were un comfortable, and they wouldent auto-ajust unless I pulled each side down manually.

 

[Gluegun]

Yea, i mentioned the CD380's because even a headphone that otherwise sucks can be very utilitarian for gaming...

of course, you could try and find a GOOD, utilitarian gaming headphone, like the Philips HP550, at the same price!