[astroid]

Hi all,
 
So i was in town and spotted the SRH-440 for £50 , bargain i thought and bought them.
I am powering them from a Aune Dac MK2SE , Source is a mix of Lossless and 320 MP3 over USB.
 
Packaging
 
Nice, big box , looks nice. Carry case nice addition.
 
Headphones Build Quality
 
Really surprised by this, although they are all plastic they are solid as a rock. Really strong pivots and the supplied cable is nice and thick and not at all microphonic. The pads are ok, comfy but get a little hot , think i will spring for the 840 pads.
 


 
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Sound Quality
 
Left them burning in for the last 8 hours , not listened before this.
 
Initial thought is oh that treble is a little hot!
Yep there is definitely a little peak in these around 9 -10 khz i think, it isnt apparent on all songs but Crystal Castles show it up bad.
The bass is Fat, or is it Phat , im not hip with the kids these days but the bass on these is pretty good, the bass lines on Taxman are followed well and it doesnt overpower the mids at all.
The mids, ah the mids , best thing about these IMO, remind me a bit of my old SE530s.
Soundstage is good, i like to listen to the remastered "let it bleed" to test this and the sense of spcae created with the 440 is almost as good as my open cans!
Anyway i will update this with more thoughts over the next few days (if anyone is interested!)

 

[astroid]

Guess the 440s are of no interest here , move on sir....

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

Guess the 440s are of no interest here , move on sir....

Unfortunately they are overlooked for the M50's. The M50 are FOTM here at the moment so people tend to go for them more often even though the SRH440 is just as good if not better.  I will agree they are great closed phones for the price as it doesnt' have the flaws many cheaper closed phones tend to have. The bass isn't overpowering, the mids aren't recessed, and the separation is excellent. 

 

[Ntropic]

Do your ears smash up against the plastic grill on the inside? Mine did. It made wearing them impossible.
 
(M50s are FOTM now? Surely there are better phones to FOTM with.)

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

Do your ears smash up against the plastic grill on the inside? Mine did. It made wearing them impossible.
 
(M50s are FOTM now? Surely there are better phones to FOTM with.)

They touch them but I wouldn't say the are smashed up against them as I feel no discomfort.  In the $100 closed pricerange yeah they are. Can't go into a thread without seeing them mentioned.

 

[astroid]

Yeah I noticed the m50 love , might pick up a pair.
The 440 is very resolving , I can hear stuff on songs I have missed before. I was listening to gimme shelter today and noticed Mick shouting 'yeah' after one of Merrys backing pieces , totally missed that up till now.
The only issue I have is the treble , it is bright on some songs , not sibilant but sharper than I am used to on some songs.
I only have 10-12 hrs on them and if it calms down even 5% I would be happy.
Anyone with 440s tried the 840 pads ? Are they worth the £13 ?

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

Yeah I noticed the m50 love , might pick up a pair.
The 440 is very resolving , I can hear stuff on songs I have missed before. I was listening to gimme shelter today and noticed Mick shouting 'yeah' after one of Merrys backing pieces , totally missed that up till now.
The only issue I have is the treble , it is bright on some songs , not sibilant but sharper than I am used to on some songs.
I only have 10-12 hrs on them and if it calms down even 5% I would be happy.
Anyone with 440s tried the 840 pads ? Are they worth the £13 ?

Ive read that it makes them more comfortable. No idea how it effects the sound, if it even does at all.

 

[NormaJean]

I have the SRH440 and going with the 840s pads will make them a lot more comfortable. Highly recommended!

 

[SillyHoney]

840 pads are worth every penny!

And yep, SRH440 treble is hot, too hot for my taste.

 

[Del Griffith]

Normajean.
 
Do the 840 pads do anything better for the sound? I have no comfort issues..or sound for that matter..just wondered if you notice any difference sound wise.

 

[priest]

your impressions are much appreciated astroid.

 

[NormaJean]

I didn't hear much difference between the pads, maybe a little more isolation from the 840s.

 

[astroid]

Just ordered the 840 pads, nice to have spares.

I have decided to keep the 440s , I was listening to the Black Keys new album on them today and the soundstaging was awesome , most modern mixes keep the music firmly in the middle with very little sense of artists position , this album (brothers) sounds like it was laid down in the late sixties!

 

[astroid]

I got the 840 pads and they are super comfy, one surprise was that the cloth that covers the driver is much thicker on the 840 pads, it adds a little warmth to the 440 and helps tame the highs, bonus!

 

[InFn-0]

My experience with the 440 was also pretty similar, i found the treble too hot. Also, bass seemed too powerful to me, maybe because i am use to less bassy and laid back phones.