[swartzy.baby]

Okay all you Sennheiser gurus, I need some help.

I have a pair of the HD 497's, and love the sound. Honestly, it's perfect. For everything. Hooked up to a receiver, computer, iPod...anything sounds phenomenal coming out of these (my opinion, of course). I've tried the HD 595, and preferred the sound of the 497. I've tried the 485, and preferred the 497. And they beat the snot out of my Shure e2c.

The only thing is comfort. After sessions of over a half-hour, my ears hurt. These don't quite manage to go around them (I have big ears), and the tops really do ache after taking off the phones.

So now my question is...does Sennheiser make any other headphones with a very similar sonic image, but more comfortable? The 595's were blissfully comfortable, but too pricey to justify keeping when I prefer the sound of the 497. The 485's, too, were very comfortable.

Being easy to drive is also something I'm concerned with. The 595's sounded thin on anything other than home theater equipment.

This search would be so much easier and fun if there were a shop around that sold something other than Sony, Bose, Koss, etc. and let you try them on.

As an aside...has anybody else heard the 485's and been pretty disappointed initially? I bought them as a gift for my father based on reviews, and tried them out after he opened them and found the bass to be exaggerated to the point of muddying up the sound. Does this clear up with time? This was using a computer headphone-out (with which the 497's sound fantastic), and the output from my brother's cell phone. Or is it just possible I've loved the sound of the 497 so much that anything different sounds incorrect??

 

[davieb]

the 485 sound cleans up considerable after burn in

 

[blessingx]

Welcome to Head-Fi.

How much time did you give other phones and yourself to adjust? You certainly may prefer the 497s, but I can't imagine the 595s not sounding better than them on most equipment.

 

[swartzy.baby]

It's interesting to think about why I might have preferred the 497's. Initially, I had bought the 595's (the 120(?)ohm version), used them with an older Yamaha receiver that wasn't particularly good, and much preferred them. At that point I had a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-975 speakers, and preferred the 595's to those as well. I was in college, though, and money issues made me eventually sell them on eBay. I then upgraded my receiver to a Boston Acoustics AVR-7100, and a few months later (after graduation, getting a full-time job, and marriage) re-bought the 595's, but this time they happened to be the 50ohm version. They didn't sound like I remembered at all. They were more dynamic, certainly, than the 497's, but also seemed to have less control of the bass. They sounded more 'live', but I've begun to realize that 'live' isn't necessarily what I'm looking for when I'm listening at home. The 497's retain the overall "real" sounds of the instruments, but seem more controlled and easier to listen to.

But hey, that's just me. I had the 595's for 7 months or so before deciding to sell them.

I thought that perhaps the headphone output of my receiver wasn't all it's cracked up to be, but after listening with the 497's I realized I just really prefer their sound.

Edit: Thanks for the welcome

 

[swartzy.baby]

So I went over to headphone.com (headroom??) (first time at the site), and looked at frequency response charts. How accurate are those? It's no wonder I thought the 485's were bloated compared to the 497, there's a ridiculous ~10db jump in the mid/bass (centering around 200hz) area! According to that chart, at least. But that would jive with what I thought I was hearing.