[roguegeek]

Quote:

I would say that the SRH940s are amongst the worst headphones I've heard. Simply way too treble tilted and bass that is AWOL. Sorry, can't agree with you here. They are amongst my "most hated" headphones ever. The SRH840s are "nice" closed headphones and quite a step up from the 940s. But they are both leagues below the Momentums. 

I don't know where the conversation even came up about the SRH840 or 940 vs the Momentum. Two different cans for different functions entirely. One is meant for critical studio monitoring. The other is a fun portable can with a colored sound. So in that sense, they aren't comparable. That being said, the SRH940 is below the Momentum in terms of sonics?! Hehe. No. Absolutely not. We can agree to disagree on that one.

 

[streetdragon]

Don't mess with the amount of detail coming out of the srh940, it will trample the momentums on that front. The hd558 also turned out to be completely trashed in that aapect too. There also is bass on it, just a bit light. The most fault i can give to it is the soundstage performance.

Just that someone looking for a warm headphone would want to skip the srh940.

So in short, in technical capabilities the momentum doesnt hold a candle against the srh940.(other than headband durability)

 

[roguegeek]

Quote:

Don't mess with the amount of detail coming out of the srh940, it will trample the momentums on that front. The hd558 also turned out to be completely trashed in that aapect too. There also is bass on it, just a bit light. The most fault i can give to it is the soundstage performance.

Just that someone looking for a warm headphone would want to skip the srh940.

So in short, in technical capabilities the momentum doesnt hold a candle against the srh940.(other than headband durability)

 
+1   Exactly this.

 

[gnewylliw]

I'd say the 840s are too trebly to be completely neutral. They got very tiring to listen to , both musically and physically. Classical music also sounds really weird , the violins just screech too much.

 

[koolas]

I don't really understand why would you want neutral linear response from you headphones. If you are sound engineer that needs to hear details while production you would, but when you want to enjoy music I would say you really don't, and here is my explanation of why. Imagine that you are listening to artists standing in front of you and playing their instruments. What will influence the way you hear them is your distance from them, and with distance higher frequencies are attenuated quicker than low frequencies. Second thing would be fact, that even if an artist stood on your right, you would still hear him with your left ear. Also a room in which you are does make difference, because sound will spread around.
 
So now headphones with neutral sound, and with no cross-feed may give you ability to disassemble the music into pieces, but certainly it is not the way you should be listening to the music (at least IMHO). The way you should hear the music from your headphones should rather resemble the way you would hear it if it was played live in front of you. 
 
Currently I own four Senns: CX300-II, HD570, HD215, and Momentum. Out of these four personally I love most Momentum. The HD215 made me abandon everything that is lower than CD quality, because I could hear in them every quantization noise, and missing phase information. I fully agree with HD215 review here, the mids are almost clinical and they lack in quantity (not quality) of bass. I used HD570 for a long time, and I considered them very neutral. However I got that feeling the treble were too much emphasized. What is funny with HD570 I never complained about quality of mp3. And the CX300 are an example of bassy headphones, with very unclear treble with a lot of annoying sibilance (do I use correct word for the effect when sound that should be sharp - like a snare - sounds shishy?).
 
Now time for the Momentum. I fully agree with the very first post in this topic. One who likes to hear bass will like them, and one who like unnatural clinical sound won't. As I say clinical sound is good for production, but when I want to listen to the music an relax, I want it to be an experience and Momentum does deliver. They are addictive very much. They are not comfortable if you have bigger ears (like me), or if you wear glasses (like me). But they are as addictive as Heroine - you don't really care how much pain you need to go though, you just need another dose...
 
I used N900 as DAC/Amp, and Rockbox player with crossfeed turned on and set to custom, since I prefer to simulate stereo speakers standing in a decent room, rather than having sound inside my head.
 
The Momentum was for me one step ahead in sound quality, and I am planning to get in some future either HD800, LCD2 or not sure what else. I wonder if there is someone who already has one of these and also has Momentum, and could tell me if for example LCD2 could cure me from Momentum or not?

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

I don't know where the conversation even came up about the SRH840 or 940 vs the Momentum. Two different cans for different functions entirely. One is meant for critical studio monitoring. The other is a fun portable can with a colored sound. So in that sense, they aren't comparable. That being said, the SRH940 is below the Momentum in terms of sonics?! Hehe. No. Absolutely not. We can agree to disagree on that one.

I was responding to your post. Sorry, the SRH940s are to audio as Cheese Wiz is to real cheese (borrowed from a friend 

). They just sound too treble tilted and bass lite that they come off really fake sounding and fatally coloured IMHO. Tyll and Jude have commented on this as well. There's a reason the Momentums are on innerfidelity.com's Wall of Fame and the Shures are nowhere to be seen.
 
Sorry, I think I have a grasp of what "neutral" and uber detail retrieval sounds like and the SRH940s are certainly not that to my ears!
 
I only truly "hate" a handful of headphones and the SRH940s are on that list. We could also look at the measurements to see that the Momentum's measure better too. But that would really get us nowhere as you like what you like and I like what I like...so agree, we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[fountainpenman]

what is the comparison to the hd 800?
is it that big if you dont have an amp?

 

[dleblanc343]

what is the comparison to the hd 800?
is it that big if you dont have an amp?

The HD800 sounds nothing like the momentum in all aspects, and especially tone. If I would compare it, it would be the 650's and the 650's still sound better unamped, but not by much

 

[muzic4life]

To my ears...between hd650 and momentum...when they "unamped".. momentum is better for sure. Even though using dacport lx with laptop.. still momentum's sound is better. However if i use more capable (portable) amp to drive hd650..yes the hd650 is better...much better.

 

[Lan647]

Quote:

what is the comparison to the hd 800?
is it that big if you dont have an amp?

 
I prefer the Momentum, taken you don't use a carefully matched tube amp to color the HD 800. The HD 800 is not neutral at all and most importantly, not at all engaging to listen to. They have a thin, analytical, bass-shy, bright tone. Sennheiser did a good job with the Momentum, returning to the good ol' house sound (HD 600/650). 

 

[roguegeek]

Quote:

To my ears...between hd650 and momentum...when they "unamped".. momentum is better for sure. Even though using dacport lx with laptop.. still momentum's sound is better. However if i use more capable (portable) amp to drive hd650..yes the hd650 is better...much better.

Is this like saying the sky is blue? If you under power any headphone that requires a lot of it, of course it's not going to perform.

 

[stainless824]

I don't really understand why would you want neutral linear response from you headphones. If you are sound engineer that needs to hear details while production you would, but when you want to enjoy music I would say you really don't, and here is my explanation of why. Imagine that you are listening to artists standing in front of you and playing their instruments. What will influence the way you hear them is your distance from them, and with distance higher frequencies are attenuated quicker than low frequencies. Second thing would be fact, that even if an artist stood on your right, you would still hear him with your left ear. Also a room in which you are does make difference, because sound will spread around.

So now headphones with neutral sound, and with no cross-feed may give you ability to disassemble the music into pieces, but certainly it is not the way you should be listening to the music (at least IMHO). The way you should hear the music from your headphones should rather resemble the way you would hear it if it was played live in front of you. 

Currently I own four Senns: CX300-II, HD570, HD215, and Momentum. Out of these four personally I love most Momentum. The HD215 made me abandon everything that is lower than CD quality, because I could hear in them every quantization noise, and missing phase information. I fully agree with HD215 review here, the mids are almost clinical and they lack in quantity (not quality) of bass. I used HD570 for a long time, and I considered them very neutral. However I got that feeling the treble were too much emphasized. What is funny with HD570 I never complained about quality of mp3. And the CX300 are an example of bassy headphones, with very unclear treble with a lot of annoying sibilance (do I use correct word for the effect when sound that should be sharp - like a snare - sounds shishy?).

Now time for the Momentum. I fully agree with the very first post in this topic. One who likes to hear bass will like them, and one who like unnatural clinical sound won't. As I say clinical sound is good for production, but when I want to listen to the music an relax, I want it to be an experience and Momentum does deliver. They are addictive very much. They are not comfortable if you have bigger ears (like me), or if you wear glasses (like me). But they are as addictive as Heroine - you don't really care how much pain you need to go though, you just need another dose...

I used N900 as DAC/Amp, and Rockbox player with crossfeed turned on and set to custom, since I prefer to simulate stereo speakers standing in a decent room, rather than having sound inside my head.

The Momentum was for me one step ahead in sound quality, and I am planning to get in some future either HD800, LCD2 or not sure what else. I wonder if there is someone who already has one of these and also has Momentum, and could tell me if for example LCD2 could cure me from Momentum or not?

Im an owner of both the lcd2 and the momentum. The LCD2 is miles ahead of thr momentum when both are driven out of a woo WA7. The bass just reachs so much deeper and has much more impact than the momentum. The resolution is also a couple of notches ahead as well as soundstage and imaging performance. I've owned the HD800 in the past which had even better imaging and soundstage, but missed the traditional sennheiser sound.

The HD800 while being one of the most technically proficient headphones out there, is difficult to listen to without having some very good tube amplification. You can basically count out nearly all forms of mainstream or electronic music. The hd650 did very well in that respect as well as performing well in jazz, classic rock and indie rock.

That being said, I actually prefer the momentum slightly more than the HD800 just because of this. The momentum is warm and syrupy but can play with more mainstream genres when need be. Being able to carry it around without strapping a massive amp to my iphone is a bonus. The hd800 was the king of jazz and classical, but other than those genres it was a mediocre headphone at best. Try listening to overwerk on an hd800 and you will know what I mean.

The LCD2, while not having the same resolution and soundstage capabilities of the HD800 was much easier to like, even love. From what I understand, it has quite a flat frequency response, but when well amped, it can really rock out. I actually found the momentum to be bass light after living with the lcd2 and various iems. Probably because of how planar magnetics move air or something, but despite people saying the momentum is bass emphasised, i always found the lcd2 to have more quantity and quality- coming from a headphone that is supposed to be linear.

The momentum though is horrible for the bus. The low frequency noise of the engine drowns out all the low frequencies of your music. So keep that in mind. While it does isolate well in ordinary conditions, plans buses and trains are the momentum's bane.

For those applications get a ue6000, ue9000 or a ue 900 in ear for your money. You will be disappointed

 

[koolas]

I just compared headphones that I am interested in.

Frequency Response

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=3951&graphID[]=3211&graphID[]=573&scale=30

Looking at frequency response graphs I can say that LCD2 must sound really brilliant, while HD600 would be lacking bass. The Momentum's and HD800 have very similar graph up until 2kHz. I would even say that Momentum's graph is even closer to 0dB flat line, than HD800's which is more of an arc than a flat line. After 2kHz Momentum's go rapidly down with -15dB dip at 4.5kHz, and then climb to -10dB at 10kHz to go down again to -30dB at 20kHz. The HD800 does opposite: there is a hill 7.5dB over 0dB flat line between 5kHz and 10kHz, which must sound little bit disturbing. If you look at LCD2 it has very nice almost linear response from 10Hz up till 1kHz and then it gently goes down, with some hill at 7kHz, but it's still 3dB under 0dB flat line.

Harmonic distortion

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=1&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=3951&graphID[]=3211&graphID[]=573&scale=30

These look the same for all thee compared headphones.

Impedance

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=7&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=3951&graphID[]=3211&graphID[]=573&scale=30

Here we can see LCD2's constant impedance regardless of frequency. I assume that makes them easier to drive more accurately.

50Hz Square Wave

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=3&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=3951&graphID[]=3211&graphID[]=573&scale=30

LCD2's version way more resembles square, while for others it's more trapezoid than square.

500Hz Square Wave

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=4&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=3951&graphID[]=3211&graphID[]=573&scale=30

On this graph surprisingly Momentum's are closer to LCD2's than HD800, and compared to them the HD600 came vary bad.

Conclusion

Momentum's cost 1/6 of the HD800's price, but it's possible sometimes they'd sound better. The HD600 (at least from graphs) look very disappointing. The LCD2 is something that astonishes me. Their graphs tell me that they are worth their higher price, so I think next step after Momentum is LCD2

 

[koolas]

What you say actually confirms what graphs show. HD800 might be better for Jazz, since boosted 5-10kHz range may make sounds like cymbal more clear. Looking into graphs I would also expect LCD2's being more bass responsive than Momentum. With regards to HD600 I'm little worried about this missing bass on the graph, and also quite unstable treble, and then 500Hz square wave not being square, while Momentum's don't have these problems and cost less.

As with regards to isolation I have been using Momentum's for recent three weeks. I used them in airplane, one the beach, at the pool, in the train. I driven them by N900. Normally I listen at -22dB volume setting. It works well in most cases also in train. In the plane I had to change setting to -16dB, and it was very loud for my ears, and I could still hear plane engines (yeah they are loud).

The comfort of these is limited. You cannot wear glasses. My ears are in big pain after whole day of listening, and this is because ear-cups are not big enough to fit my big ears. I also fee some weir tenderness in my ears, probably caused by low frequencies.

 

[stainless824]

Here the momentum is 1/3 or 1/4 of the hd800 price