[GREQ]

Quote:

Of the three, I like the Mommentums > Sony's > B&Ws.

Full agreement. 
Although between the Sony's and B&W there would be a few more of these - >>>>>

 

[roguegeek]

Of the three, I like the Mommentums > Sony's > B&Ws.

Ehh, 1R win on every aspect except bass impact. That includes build quality. I'm not a believer in those Momentum friction sliders lasting the length they should.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Ehh, 1R win on every aspect except bass impact. That includes build quality. I'm not a believer in those Momentum friction sliders lasting the length they should.

Sorry, can't agree. The 1Rs are "nice for the price", but the Momentums beat them sonically and I prefer their look/feel too. They are more than worth the price difference IMO.

 

[roguegeek]

Quote:

Sorry, can't agree. The 1Rs are "nice for the price", but the Momentums beat them sonically and I prefer their look/feel too. They are more than worth the price difference IMO.

Not entirely disagreeing. I do, after all, recommend the Momentum a fair amount in the recommendations thread. My opinion is old news around here, but I probably would have kept the Momentum if it weren't for the comfort issues I had with them and the fact that they aren't full cups (my ears are not large by any means). For me, the 1R is just a better overall portable full-sized closed can than the Momentum, not even counting the price difference which makes it a no brainer.

 

[jmsaxon69]

I've had some Momentums in Black for a few weeks now, finally broken in I think. First off, how can anyone say these things don't have incredible bass? At first they have a ton of mid bass, but then they mellow out and just have taught deep articulate bass.   My one and only criticism of the headphone can be that the sound stage could be wider and deeper, but I think that's just the limitation of the closed back design. 
 
I am going to listen to some Grado RS1i, 2i and the PS1000(they don 't have PS500 in stock) today and I have been comparing the frequency response curve of these to the Momentum and the Sennies have a very nice curve in the bass region in comparison, more low bass than the Grados, it's a lot more linear, but I know that doesn't tell the whole story so I am going to check it out.  I listen through a DragonFly most of the time, so I will be able to bring my laptop (my music) and DragonFly for the audition, also bringing the Momentums.  I don't really use the Momentum as a portable headphone and have never even unwrapped the cord with the mic/controls on it, so I am going to see if I should have gotten RS1i/2i or something else today, also a buddy of mine is gushing over the PS500, but like I said they don't have that model in stock. I have owned SR80i for a long time, just gave them to Dad when I got the Momentum, so I do like the Grado sound, just not the fit.  I am thinking RS2i with GCush maybe? It does kind of make a difference to me though that the RS1i include a Grado 15ft. extension and mini adapter, that's $60 worth of stuff I'd need anyway!

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Not entirely disagreeing. I do, after all, recommend the Momentum a fair amount in the recommendations thread. My opinion is old news around here, but I probably would have kept the Momentum if it weren't for the comfort issues I had with them and the fact that they aren't full cups (my ears are not large by any means). For me, the 1R is just a better overall portable full-sized closed can than the Momentum, not even counting the price difference which makes it a no brainer.

Every head is different. I find the Momentums and Sony's both very comfortable.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

Every head is different. I find the Momentums and Sony's both very comfortable.

I actually had comfort issues with the sony's the top of my ears were touching a jagged plastic piece behind the cloth mesh. But the momentum fit me nicely.

 

[koolas]

I have been today in an Audiophile listening salon, and had opportunity to head HD600, HD650, HD598, and I think the last one was the HD558. I listened to some very dynamic classical track with some quieter parts, and then loud trombones, timpani etc. All these headphones sounded amazing for their price. The obvious winner for me as well as for the salesman was HD600. Very warm, and highly detailed sound. I never heard so much detail in my life, even in philharmonic hall. The HD650 were also very detailed, not less than HD600 I would say, but the bass wasn't there. Obviously there was strong bass, but on HD600 it was stronger and more natural. I say natural, because (as mentioned few posts before) natural for me is the way things sound in life. So when I hear timpani, I expect it to make an impact, and HD600's do timpani like a real one. They actually do every single instrument like real. Also the 3D placement of instruments on HD600 was wonderful. I think I perceived more space on HD600 than on HD650, because of that more bass. In real life bass gets amplified by philharmonic hall, so this is what I would say I have heard on HD600, a magnificent hall, and every single instrument was very precisely placed in that hall. What really stunned me was exactly that, and this is what is missing on Momentum's. However this is also what is missing on HD598, and HD558's.

If I were to compare these four headphones to Momentum's, then I would say Momentums are like HD600. My next buy will definitely by HD600, and because I know how these three other sound, I would never buy them, because Momentum's are better for me. I would also not buy HD650's, because they are cooler than Momentums, which is not nice I recon.

So yea, Momentum's do sound like HD600's, but the later ones do may more detail, and more space, and more precise positioning. Honestly, the placement of sounds on Momentum's is really poor, but I don't really complain. Their purpose is to be portable HD600's, so they are as good as it is possible for portables, but HD600's are many times better, like 150 euros better

I have bought some tracks on HDTracks: Jurassic Park @ 24bit/192kHz, and Daft Punk @ 24bit/88kHz. I'm playing that on Linux though Jack. I fixed the sample rate to 192kHz (Intel HD audio does not support 88), so Daft Punk plays in upsampled from 88 to 192kHz. The sound quality is amazing. Many times better than CD. And I am listening on Momentum's directly from my Laptop, and it copes very very well with 192kHz data. Clear sound, very well defined bass, clean mids, nice treble, generally going from CD to HD does make a difference on Momentum's. I can only imagine in some very close future my appreciation in HD600's thread. Still wonder how LCD's sound though...

 

[muzic4life]

Never tried the P5...but between 1R and Momentum....The Momentum is a clear winner here....better textured and cleaner sounding.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Of the three, I like the Mommentums > Sony's > B&Ws.

 
I do like all three...for different reasons. P5 is seamless, 1R has clear focused midrange, but contoured a bit too much upward. Momentum also has the seamless sound but much more dynamics and speed than the P5. If I had one wish for the Momentum, it would be a little bit more energy in the upper midrange/lower treble, just a touch more snap.

 

[jmsaxon69]

Wow, that was not as I thought it would be!
 
First off I was only able to compare the RS1i and 2i to the Momentum as the PS1000 were not available to audition, only to buy new in the box.  On my rig: Windows 8 64 bit Laptop and Audio Quest DragonFly running JRiver Media Center 18, the Momentums made a GREAT showing against the higher end Grado RS line!  I started with the RS2i so I could see if there was much of an increase in sound quality when going over to the RS1i.  As others have stated the RS1i has better bass than the Rs2i and also has a more refined high end. I heard that right away... They are very similar sounding overall though. 
 
To be fair I mostly listen to rock and pop, not that I don't listen to jazz and other types of music, just not that much that I would make a headphone decision based on those other genres. So here are the tracks I used in my comparison: Nine Inch Nails "Discipline"(24/96), Donald Fagen "H Gang"(24/96), Daft Punk "Georgio by Moroder" (24/88) and Duran Duran "Last Chance on the Stairway" (16/44).  All of the songs have great bass and are what I consider above average recordings.  I used the Duran Duran to represent CD quality audio and I am a bass player and the song has a great bass line that I am very familiar with.
 
What I thought I was missing in the Momentum was width and depth of sound stage, while the Grados may have a bit more of both of these attributes they also tend to make the presentation sound thin in comparison to the Momentum, the slightly increased width of the sound stage wasn't that noticeable to make me say "damn, I need to spend more money!" Also the thinner presentation could be the fact that the Momentum is designed to be run very well with just an iPod and maybe the Dragon Fly isn't nearly the quality amp to make the Grado shine? I don't know but I wasn't getting what I thought I was missing, bottom line.
 
The bass on the Momentum is in another league completely to the Grados.  I use the Nine Inch Nails track "Discipline" from the 24/96 version of the album The Slip (available here for FREE: http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup )  At about 3 minutes into the track there is a bass note that builds and rises in pitch, the Momentums made me jump and get a bit startled the first time I heard it! I tried the track on the Grados for that bass section specifically and the Momentums bested the Grado contenders handily! The frequency response graphs on this site that you can compare up to four sets of headphones do not lie, the Momentum has a very flat and low bass extension, it's pretty awesome!  Mid bass hump my ass!
 
Bass isn't everything though and for my purposes/taste I like a tame high end and the Grados don't have a bad high end at all, the RSi1 is definitely smoother than the RS2i, but pretty similar to the darker sounding Sennheiser.  Treble response is a personal opinion thing though, some folks call it resolution/shimmer and some can call the same thing harsh and shrill.  I tend to like a darker mellow sound, but that's just me...
 
So as I said, not what I expected today.  I was prepared to get a pair of the RS1i or RS2i today and decided that the Momentum is one hell of a bargain and sounds fantastic to my ear, so I will stay with what I have, I also have a whole new respect for the Momentum, a true high end audio bargain at the price, great comfort and style to boot!

 

[koolas]

Bass isn't everything though and for my purposes/taste I like a tame high end and the Grados don't have a bad high end at all, the RSi1 is definitely smoother than the RS2i, but pretty similar to the darker sounding Sennheiser.  Treble response is a personal opinion thing though, some folks call it resolution/shimmer and some can call the same thing harsh and shrill.  I tend to like a darker mellow sound, but that's just me...

I wouldn't call M's trebles mellow. They are very crispy I'd say. If you compare to HD600 you would start seeing sibilance, which you would normally not see if you didn't try to compare.

 

[jmsaxon69]

Quote:

I wouldn't call M's trebles mellow. They are very crispy I'd say. If you compare to HD600 you would start seeing sibilance, which you would normally not see if you didn't try to compare.

This graph seems to contradict your opinion:

 

[slowk]

any comparision with ie80? thanks

 

[HiFiGuy528]

I am a Sony fanboy, but I do have to say the Momentum sounds a lot better.  However, 1R is 10x more comfy.