[marko93101]

Quote:

Another update,
 
I do not want to sound over the top but, @ 20 hours burn in connected to a very understated amp (C&C BH Line out 2) I have for the first time experienced a scenario where I really do not want to take them off.
 
Audio cohesive heaven with a wee punch along with the amp.
 
Really impressed, to the point of my W4`s will be redundant. I like the natural entry of sound in the ear which has a lovely sound-stage compared to inner ear.
 
Big grin here.

 
 
Stop it Sinth, I've the C&C BH too. Further tempting a purchase of these.

 

[trunolimit]

Quote:

i do hear a difference between the cables, i dont know if is quality cuz im new in this, but in sound level the apple one has lower volume :/ 

I think there is something with inline control cables period. When I had a pair of beats by dre the inline cable never lasted more than a month and the sound difference was substantial. I went through 4 pairs of beats by dre by the way. each pair lasting me about 3 or 4 months before they cracked in the center of the headband, I started hearing a strange rattle in the left ear, or the cable just went to ****. Talk about ****ty over priced headphones. 

 

[kenstephens]

Comparing Momentum to anything from Dr Dre is like comparing steak to dog food.  Dr. Dog Food that is.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

Comparing Momentum to anything from Dr Dre is like comparing steak to dog food.  Dr. Dog Food that is.

add on: 100% grain dog food that costs as much as an expensive steak

 

[Thunder240]

Hey folks, I just picked up a pair of Momentums at Macworld (marked down to $249 at the expo). Out of the box, I really like these. I can hear a little congestion, which based on other reviewers comments I believe will open up with time. However, I'm excited to use these as my primary on-the-go headphones. I'm really impressed with the sound straight out of an iPhone 4 without amplification.

 

[MusicalChillies]

Well done, you will hear that is a justified parting of money.
 
Massive Attack -  Inertia Creeps (Makes me feel a little uneasy, suppose that is what they tried to convey)
 
Cant put the damn things down.

 

[Littleted]

Saw the black momentums and silver amperiors this week in Washington, D.C. Tysons corner, I already have both in blue and brown.

I did test some of the disgustingly priced AKG 3003 at 1300 dollars, wasn't impressed not worth the cash. Didn't sound great.

 

[Lan647]

Quote:

Saw the black momentums and silver amperiors this week in Washington, D.C. Tysons corner, I already have both in blue and brown.

I did test some of the disgustingly priced AKG 3003 at 1300 dollars, wasn't impressed not worth the cash. Didn't sound great.

 
Agreed on the AKGs. Absolutely nothing special about them. 

 

[trunolimit]

Comparing Momentum to anything from Dr Dre is like comparing steak to dog food.  Dr. Dog Food that is.

Twas merely a point that cables with inline controls have inherent problems that was being made.

Hate them or not I think the beats are good for our kind. Its a gateway headphone. People who wouldn't normally give two craps about better sounding headphones have now had their mind opened up to the possibility of better sound instead of settling for the sound out of the preboxed headphones their audio device came in.

 

[samandhi]

Hi Head-fi'ers,
 
  I have been cheking this site for (great) information for a while now, but have not posted (although the information and opinions here have led to some great purchases IMO). I thought it time to speak up (I have learned a great deal and have come to respect many people on here)!
 
My portable rig is Ipod Touch (new gen), paired with Fiio e17 DAC/Amp (though only using the amp)
My home rig is an Asus G71-JH gaming rig using the Fiio e17 as DAC/Amp combo using Mediamonkey sotware ( I hate ITunes, bleck)
Most music is 320 mp3 or higher (Flac), but there are some (quite a few actually) leftovers from my days of downloading single songs from Napster and Kaza a long time ago (nowadays I only use cd's, and trying to replace old lower quality songs).
Music listening includes: rock, classic rock, rap, r&b, jazz, country, classical, metal, punk, ambient, and really ANYTHING that sounds good (to me).
 
  I have pulled the trigger and bought a pair of the Momentums. My first impressions at BB Magnolia Home Theater were that they were decent, but I wasn't sure they sounded BETTER than my Logitech UE6000 (used with NC on and Ipod preset "Bass Reducer"). Well, to begin at the beginning of where I am right now I have to tell you how I got into this wonderful hobby (albeit very expensive).
 
  I used to be such a bass-head that at one point, I thought the Beats Solo sounded decent'ish. I wasn't satisfied with the sound wholly (even with EQ'ing), so bought the Beats Mixrs. They WERE better, but I still wan't getting the sound I really wanted. I knew what I wanted (I thought), but didn't know how to say it. I then bought a pair of Bose OE2's. These sounded a fair amount better (to my ears), than did the Beats (of any kind), but were still lacking SOMEWHERE. I found this website, and have since learned that I was really looking for the wrong things in headphones (too much bass), and when I started giving a try to what I would've called WAY bass light headphones, I started hearing everything else much better.
 
  This led me to get the Sennheiser PX 360. These were excellent headphones (at the time I got them), but STILL something was missing. I still like those HP btw, but with some EQ'ing (probably some of the most comfortable HP's I have tried/owned). After many auditions I ran accross the Logitech UE6000's. These were the closest I have found, but in NC mode too much bass, overwhelming the mids, and (again, to my ears) ALMOST sibilant highs, but VERY good seperation. I was almost there (with what I was looking for).
 
  I have been following this thread since page one, and decided to audition some Momentums. WOW! I am glad I did! As I said earlier, I wasn't sure from the demo that they were the next step up (for me) into a better HP than the UE6000. I decided to purchase them, and as soon as I got them home, I found that they ARE in fact better (in ALMOST every way) than the UE6000's. This was straight out of my Ipod touch -> no EQ preset. 
 
 These headphones fit me perfectly, and are the second most comfortable HP's I have tried. I love the styling good looks (read old-school). I do agree that the case is WAY big, but it is not a deal breaker for me by any means. For those testing cables, I have heard no difference between the Ipod cable and the straight cable whatsoever.
 
  I find the bass MORE than adequate (quantity), and moderately punchy (quality) without overrunning the mids. Though in some bass heavy songs I could even lose 2db in the mid bass to bring up the sub a bit and not miss it much at all. The mids are decently detailed, smooth,  and are more neutral than I am used to hearing (usually the cans I have have a distinct V shape) and are not overwhelmed by the bass. To my ears, deeper male voices tend to be a BIT bassy (which make it a bit more pronounced than say a higher singer), but this may be that they are reaching down into the mid bass (which appear to be a Sennheiser trait to color towards mid bass??). On some metal songs I HAVE noticed (what some have said previously) SOME congestion, but thought this normal for just about any can with really busy songs. The mid-to-treble transition is VERY smooth, and the low treble area is wonderful. I DO find the treble (overall) though to be missing some tone. The clarity is there, but is just a bit relaxed ( IMO it needs bumped up JUST a hair). I don't find they have an extra big sound-stage (if comparing to others I have heard), but after listening for a while doesn't matter much to me. Seperation of instraments is very decent, exept (again) on songs that are particularly busy. Overall these HP's sound excellent, and I have a hard time taking them off.
 
  My impressions with adding the e17 amp are that they DEFINATELY benefit greatly from having an amp (to my ears). Gain is set at 0, bass is set at 0, and treble is set at 4. This tad bit of added treble just makes the WHOLE sound, sound better. It is more airy (to me), but is in no way fatiguing or sibilant still. It doesn't change the timbre of the instraments to a tinny sound at all. I WILL say, though, that bumping up the treble at all makes them seem way less forgiving of lesser quality higher compressed songs. You start hearing the compressed sound that symbols make (for instance) in a lower quality compressed song.
 
  Sorry for my longwindedness (is that a word?). I just wanted to share my thoughts with you all how I am loving these cans. These are keepers for sure! I think I will hang on to the Momentums and the UE6000 and sell the rest.

 

[Sennheiser]

Hi samandhi,
 
Welcome to Head-fi and congrats on your purchase! Glad you're liking your Sennheiser Momentum! 

 
 
Quote:

Hi Head-fi'ers,
 
  I have been cheking this site for (great) information for a while now, but have not posted (although the information and opinions here have led to some great purchases IMO). I thought it time to speak up (I have learned a great deal and have come to respect many people on here)!
 
My portable rig is Ipod Touch (new gen), paired with Fiio e17 DAC/Amp (though only using the amp)
My home rig is an Asus G71-JH gaming rig using the Fiio e17 as DAC/Amp combo using Mediamonkey sotware ( I hate ITunes, bleck)
Most music is 320 mp3 or higher (Flac), but there are some (quite a few actually) leftovers from my days of downloading single songs from Napster and Kaza a long time ago (nowadays I only use cd's, and trying to replace old lower quality songs).
Music listening includes: rock, classic rock, rap, r&b, jazz, country, classical, metal, punk, ambient, and really ANYTHING that sounds good (to me).
 
  I have pulled the trigger and bought a pair of the Momentums. My first impressions at BB Magnolia Home Theater were that they were decent, but I wasn't sure they sounded BETTER than my Logitech UE6000 (used with NC on and Ipod preset "Bass Reducer"). Well, to begin at the beginning of where I am right now I have to tell you how I got into this wonderful hobby (albeit very expensive).
 
  I used to be such a bass-head that at one point, I thought the Beats Solo sounded decent'ish. I wasn't satisfied with the sound wholly (even with EQ'ing), so bought the Beats Mixrs. They WERE better, but I still wan't getting the sound I really wanted. I knew what I wanted (I thought), but didn't know how to say it. I then bought a pair of Bose OE2's. These sounded a fair amount better (to my ears), than did the Beats (of any kind), but were still lacking SOMEWHERE. I found this website, and have since learned that I was really looking for the wrong things in headphones (too much bass), and when I started giving a try to what I would've called WAY bass light headphones, I started hearing everything else much better.
 
  This led me to get the Sennheiser PX 360. These were excellent headphones (at the time I got them), but STILL something was missing. I still like those HP btw, but with some EQ'ing (probably some of the most comfortable HP's I have tried/owned). After many auditions I ran accross the Logitech UE6000's. These were the closest I have found, but in NC mode too much bass, overwhelming the mids, and (again, to my ears) ALMOST sibilant highs, but VERY good seperation. I was almost there (with what I was looking for).
 
  I have been following this thread since page one, and decided to audition some Momentums. WOW! I am glad I did! As I said earlier, I wasn't sure from the demo that they were the next step up (for me) into a better HP than the UE6000. I decided to purchase them, and as soon as I got them home, I found that they ARE in fact better (in ALMOST every way) than the UE6000's. This was straight out of my Ipod touch -> no EQ preset. 
 
 These headphones fit me perfectly, and are the second most comfortable HP's I have tried. I love the styling good looks (read old-school). I do agree that the case is WAY big, but it is not a deal breaker for me by any means. For those testing cables, I have heard no difference between the Ipod cable and the straight cable whatsoever.
 
  I find the bass MORE than adequate (quantity), and moderately punchy (quality) without overrunning the mids. Though in some bass heavy songs I could even lose 2db in the mid bass to bring up the sub a bit and not miss it much at all. The mids are decently detailed, smooth,  and are more neutral than I am used to hearing (usually the cans I have have a distinct V shape) and are not overwhelmed by the bass. To my ears, deeper male voices tend to be a BIT bassy (which make it a bit more pronounced than say a higher singer), but this may be that they are reaching down into the mid bass (which appear to be a Sennheiser trait to color towards mid bass??). On some metal songs I HAVE noticed (what some have said previously) SOME congestion, but thought this normal for just about any can with really busy songs. The mid-to-treble transition is VERY smooth, and the low treble area is wonderful. I DO find the treble (overall) though to be missing some tone. The clarity is there, but is just a bit relaxed ( IMO it needs bumped up JUST a hair). I don't find they have an extra big sound-stage (if comparing to others I have heard), but after listening for a while doesn't matter much to me. Seperation of instraments is very decent, exept (again) on songs that are particularly busy. Overall these HP's sound excellent, and I have a hard time taking them off.
 
  My impressions with adding the e17 amp are that they DEFINATELY benefit greatly from having an amp (to my ears). Gain is set at 0, bass is set at 0, and treble is set at 4. This tad bit of added treble just makes the WHOLE sound, sound better. It is more airy (to me), but is in no way fatiguing or sibilant still. It doesn't change the timbre of the instraments to a tinny sound at all. I WILL say, though, that bumping up the treble at all makes them seem way less forgiving of lesser quality higher compressed songs. You start hearing the compressed sound that symbols make (for instance) in a lower quality compressed song.
 
  Sorry for my longwindedness (is that a word?). I just wanted to share my thoughts with you all how I am loving these cans. These are keepers for sure! I think I will hang on to the Momentums and the UE6000 and sell the rest.

 

[trunolimit]

I've had a similar journey to the momentums. I started out with the beats studio back when they still had the old style cable that broke after about a month of moderate use. The problem I had with the beats is they kept breaking. Monster is a high end cable company and the first thing to go on the beats was the cable. Then the headband cracked at the same place with every replacement I've had. My taste in music has changed dramatically. Kid cudi, wale, linkin park back when I had the beats and now I'm more into 60's and 70's rock music. 
 
From the beats I went to In ear monitors. the klipsch image s4i. They were great until my niece got a puppy and he had his way with them. I then tried and fell in love with the sennheiser hdr 160. I thought I was in heaven. I upgraded with a pair of RS 180. Then I lost the transmitter and sent lots of money (stupidly) on replacing it with the receiver for the mx w1. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent on those things. Anyway all was gravy until I lost that transmitter. I then sold both headphones and was given a pair of sennheiser HD600. I was blown away at the comfort of those things. The seriously are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. I bout the FiiO e17 to power them and was impressed at the clearness. I then sold them after hearing about the HD650s. I made a few purchases before getting my hands on the HD650s . I tried the denon ah d600 which I really liked but they were to big and loose on my head. After that I tried the HiFiMan HE 400. Great headphones but to bulky to be portable. Then I finally got a pair of HD 650s and oh man did I love them. The problem was that you couldn't rock them on a train or in the office. It's like having a pair of speakers strapped to your head. I settled on the hd25-1 ii. Best freaking bass ever. well sort of. The HD 25 have this really punchy bass that is awesome but the sound stage is small and I don't like on ear headphones. Still I kept those for a few months. They are really ugly too. I recently sold them and now I am enjoying the momentums. 
 
I keep my Fiio at gain = 12  bass = 8 treble = 6. of course I'm coming out of a samsung S3. I'll try the treble 4 bass 0 configuration, sounds interesting. 

 

[samandhi]

Quote:

I've had a similar journey to the momentums. I started out with the beats studio back when they still had the old style cable that broke after about a month of moderate use. The problem I had with the beats is they kept breaking. Monster is a high end cable company and the first thing to go on the beats was the cable. Then the headband cracked at the same place with every replacement I've had. My taste in music has changed dramatically. Kid cudi, wale, linkin park back when I had the beats and now I'm more into 60's and 70's rock music. 
 
From the beats I went to In ear monitors. the klipsch image s4i. They were great until my niece got a puppy and he had his way with them. I then tried and fell in love with the sennheiser hdr 160. I thought I was in heaven. I upgraded with a pair of RS 180. Then I lost the transmitter and sent lots of money (stupidly) on replacing it with the receiver for the mx w1. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent on those things. Anyway all was gravy until I lost that transmitter. I then sold both headphones and was given a pair of sennheiser HD600. I was blown away at the comfort of those things. The seriously are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. I bout the FiiO e17 to power them and was impressed at the clearness. I then sold them after hearing about the HD650s. I made a few purchases before getting my hands on the HD650s . I tried the denon ah d600 which I really liked but they were to big and loose on my head. After that I tried the HiFiMan HE 400. Great headphones but to bulky to be portable. Then I finally got a pair of HD 650s and oh man did I love them. The problem was that you couldn't rock them on a train or in the office. It's like having a pair of speakers strapped to your head. I settled on the hd25-1 ii. Best freaking bass ever. well sort of. The HD 25 have this really punchy bass that is awesome but the sound stage is small and I don't like on ear headphones. Still I kept those for a few months. They are really ugly too. I recently sold them and now I am enjoying the momentums. 
 
I keep my Fiio at gain = 12  bass = 8 treble = 6. of course I'm coming out of a samsung S3. I'll try the treble 4 bass 0 configuration, sounds interesting. 

 
  WOW! you really got the bass up there. =P To my ears the Momentum don't really need much help on bass (depending on what type of songs and quality of the recording). If you start hearing any kind of buzz or hum or noises, turn your gain down to 0 or 6...
 
 
 
Quote:

Hi samandhi,
 
Welcome to Head-fi and congrats on your purchase! Glad you're liking your Sennheiser Momentum!

 

 
 
  Thank you and thank you. I really AM enjoying them.

 

[Lan647]

Quote:

 
  WOW! you really got the bass up there. =P To my ears the Momentum don't really need much help on bass (depending on what type of songs and quality of the recording). If you start hearing any kind of buzz or hum or noises, turn your gain down to 0 or 6...
 
 
 
 
 
  Thank you and thank you. I really AM enjoying them.

 
So am I!  

 

[kenstephens]

I did use the Beats Studio for a couple years and thought they were fine, I'd read people saying what crap they are and did think that there are no doubt headphones that beat these pretty badly but I already spent $350 on these, they were better than the old Sennheiser 525's I had which were a good 10 years old and pretty worn out.  The problem I had with the Beats wasn't so much the bass it was the overall harshness of the things.  
 
So I got a chance to trade them in for a used pair of Bose QC15, I really didn't care about noise reduction but these were at least a little better than the Beats.  Pretty thin sounding to say the least but I was able to get them sounding pretty good on my computer with the right EQ, adding quite a bit of bass and mid.  
 
I had a pair of Klipsch 4's which were decent and used them for the mp3 player, ended up upgrading these to the x7, which I ended up liking so much they replaced the QC15 as my main phones.  Then a cat chewed the wires making them toast and I wanted to get something new and better.
 
So this is where I had to take a leap of faith, and I did audition the Momentums as the local Future Shop but they sounded terrible to be honest.  The source was awful and the volume was way too low and they had them hard wired into some crap.  I asked if I could try them out with my mp3 player to see what they really sounded like and he said no, the Sennheiser rep set this up and you can't listen any other way.
 
So these really did sound like $20 headphones with that audition and I was definitely put out.  The kid said that the store hadn't sold even one set of Momentums and he recommended some cheaper phones.  So it came down to this audition versus the opinion of people writing on this thread and I ended up going with the Head Fi'ers and bought them, he said I could take them back but I was fairly confident that I would not need to.
 
Out of the box these were already the best headphones I've ever heard, and they've just gotten better as I've broken them in.  I do want to point out though that if you just plug them into your ipod or other mobile device you are not even coming close to appreciating what these can do.  They do sound good plugged into that but they really will sing on your home computer with a good sound card and the jriver player on asio with some good parametric eq settings.  I just use a simple one, low shelf 1000 +4, high shelf 1000 +1, plus upsample to 96 hz 32 bit.  
 
So my next project is to perhaps pick up a good dac/amp to hook up to my computer, I don't want to spend more than a couple hundred bucks here as my budget is limited so I'm considering the HRT Micro Streamer which people consider to be a killer for the money.  So once I save up for that I will probably pick it up and hope that this will take things to a new level for me.
 
The Momentums are clearly the first true quality headphones I've ever had in spite of them being similarly priced to what I've been listening to the last few years.  I was thinking about the HE400s for a while, now I'm not so sure that they will be that much better or even better at all.  Anyone listen to both and have an opinion?