[doctorjazz]

Great, that was a while ago, they really helped me get a good fit and seal with these. Thanks for coming up with that.

 

[Prolificaudio]

How do these compare to the p7s and focal spirit classics?

 

[emilsoft]

How do these compare to the p7s and focal spirit classics?

 
p7s - As far as I recall they're less comfy, but have a more rock'n roll sound - less bass (more neutral - better), more prominent midrange, less open back feel, quite tight..
 
I have the Focal Pros which are similar to the Classics (maybe bit less warm) - huge fan, so you know where I'm going with this one. I think the Focal's crush the Shures when it comes to neutral reference sound, there's less of an open back feeling and bit less comfy compared to the 1540s but everything else is better.. the bass is tight, punchy but not overwhelming, the high frequencies are not hyped (read U shape), and the detail retrieval is great whilst still being musical; i don't find them as fatiguing as the Shures, they're just fantastic.. for the money they also beat the P7s, I'd say the Focals are one of the best sounding closed backs you can get in any price range. Out of experience, they need bit of gentle long term stretching and wearing to loosen up and become comfortable (stretch on a pillow over few nights), and breaking in period of about 50 hours to sound their best.
 
I think the Shures would be great if they had more neutral bass and less U shaped response, as it stands they are too unbalanced considering their price and competition.. but again, depends what you like.

 

[Prolificaudio]

I want these so bad but all of you saying they sound awful at higher volumes is going to keep me away. Son of a bitch Shure you always have to do something I wont like.

 

[Change is Good]

I want these so bad but all of you saying they sound awful at higher volumes is going to keep me away. Son of a bitch Shure you always have to do something I wont like.

I think that has more to do with the pads not being able to control and tame the weight of the sound. I do not have that issue, at all, when using my alpha pads.

 

[Prolificaudio]

hmm interesting does anyone else have any input on this? I just cant risk a 500 dollar can on something I might not like and there is no where for me to audition them. I hate being poor

 

[chailee80]

  I want these so bad but all of you saying they sound awful at higher volumes is going to keep me away. Son of a bitch Shure you always have to do something I wont like.

I dont know how loud you plan to listen to music but for a reference point i listen to music from my ipad normally around 60%, if i crank it up to 75-80% it sounds fine to my ears just very loud which starts to give me a headache and at that volume i'm sure a person would suffer a bit of hearing damage over time.

 

[emilsoft]

  I want these so bad but all of you saying they sound awful at higher volumes is going to keep me away. Son of a bitch Shure you always have to do something I wont like.

They don't sound awful, just a bit tiring at higher volumes. All I can say is if you're a bass head then you will likely be ok with these headphones. They have lot of extra bass (too much for me) but also a hifi and spacious sound. I bought them without extensive listening - I wasn't completely sure about them, but obsessed and wanted to buy them (retail therapy?).. in the end I regretted my decision and returned them. Afterwards I did my homework and looked for a signature that was more my cup of tea (balanced/neutral), and now after few weeks owning the Focal Pros for half the price of the Shures I'm very happy. 
 
Moral of the story: if you really want to buy them but are not sure you'll like the accentuated bass signature, think again, try some other headphones.. 

 

[nw130d]

  They don't sound awful, just a bit tiring at higher volumes. All I can say is if you're a bass head then you will likely be ok with these headphones. They have lot of extra bass (too much for me) but also a hifi and spacious sound. I bought them without extensive listening - I wasn't completely sure about them, but obsessed and wanted to buy them (retail therapy?).. in the end I regretted my decision and returned them. Afterwards I did my homework and looked for a signature that was more my cup of tea (balanced/neutral), and now after few weeks owning the Focal Pros for half the price of the Shures I'm very happy. 
 
Moral of the story: if you really want to buy them but are not sure you'll like the accentuated bass signature, think again, try some other headphones.. 

Sorry not trying to sound offensive but reading this it seems you are simply justifying your own purchase. Things of note, you returned them thus assuming you keeped them maximum of 15 or 30 days. That honestly is not much time spent for a deep insight. Heck some people say headphones need 100hours of burn in (4+ days) if you run it none stop. If you hated the sound signature right off the bat understandable. But I don't see how you can like the Focal Pros as they have similar sound signature. At lower listening levels the 1540 is as neutral if not more so than the Focal Pros. At lower levels the Pros highs are slightly subdued vs 1540. Also both of these are "neutral" defined by the Sean Olive target response. Classic Hi-Fi neutral is HD800 or K550 both sound completely different than the Pros and 1540.
 
Again not actually angry or offended. If what I wrote sounded intense not my intent. Cheers 

 

 

[emilsoft]

  Sorry not trying to sound offensive but reading this it seems you are simply justifying your own purchase. Things of note, you returned them thus assuming you keeped them maximum of 15 or 30 days. That honestly is not much time spent for a deep insight. Heck some people say headphones need 100hours of burn in (4+ days) if you run it none stop. If you hated the sound signature right off the bat understandable. But I don't see how you can like the Focal Pros as they have similar sound signature. At lower listening levels the 1540 is as neutral if not more so than the Focal Pros. At lower levels the Pros highs are slightly subdued vs 1540. Also both of these are "neutral" defined by the Sean Olive target response. Classic Hi-Fi neutral is HD800 or K550 both sound completely different than the Pros and 1540.
 
Again not actually angry or offended. If what I wrote sounded intense not my intent. Cheers 

 

No problem at all, I appreciate your view - perhaps if I gave the Shures a long burn in time the bass quantity might have decreased etc.  However based on my few hours burn in and listening with different dacs (Lavry DA11 and IFI IDSD Nano), I always felt the bass was just asking for too much attention - it's not a bad sound, but I was looking for something more flat.. the bass is accentuated, and the difference between the Focal Pros (right off the bat with maybe couple hours burn in) was significant in this respect, and also at lower volumes- I see you have the HD600 and the HD25s, I would say the Focals Pros are bit like a marriage between those two, with more detail retrieval. I wouldn't think of using the 1540s for studio production because of their sprinkling of "fun" in their frequencies.. I think this U shape signature is reflected also at Inner Fidelity review - It's not a large U, but it disturbed me. This is just my opinion and maybe something was wrong with my seal/padding which accentuated the colouring of their sound

 

[nw130d]

  No problem at all, I appreciate your view - perhaps if I gave the Shures a long burn in time the bass quantity might have decreased etc.  However based on my few hours burn in and listening with different dacs (Lavry DA11 and IFI IDSD Nano), I always felt the bass was just asking for too much attention - it's not a bad sound, but I was looking for something more flat.. the bass is accentuated, and the difference between the Focal Pros (right off the bat with maybe couple hours burn in) was significant in this respect, and also at lower volumes- I see you have the HD600 and the HD25s, I would say the Focals Pros are bit like a marriage between those two, with more detail retrieval. I wouldn't think of using the 1540s for studio production because of their sprinkling of "fun" in their frequencies.. I think this U shape signature is reflected also at Inner Fidelity review - It's not a large U, but it disturbed me. This is just my opinion and maybe something was wrong with my seal/padding which accentuated the colouring of their sound

Cool, I agree with your insight. Guess we were on the same page all along. Ya the bass of the 1540 does ask for much attention (not super bassy but for bassy compared to some others). Ya the F.P. are in many respects in the middle of the HD600 and HD25 (depending on volume 1540 is hovering around HD25 signature). I personally owned the 1540 already or F.P. might of been a purchase. 1540 isn't best for studio, would need some compensation for it's mild "fun" coloring.

 

[nicholars]

As a bit of a basshead myself my main complaint with these is they do not have enough bass, they sound good and I have no idea how you think the "bass asks for too much attention"... When the music is bassy they will give you moderate amounts of bass, when the music is more treble or midrange the bass will go into the background, some headphones the bass is always present whether it is supposed to be or not, these only have bass when the recording is supposed to have bass and even then it is not exactly LOADS of bass compared to a lot of headphones... They could have more bass for electronic music IMO, but they have enough bass for other genres. All of this "bass intrudes into the mids" and "too much bass asking for attention" I have no idea... The bass on these is only there when it is supposed to be. Also they are not even that "V" shaped.... Just a bit compared to a lot of headphones, people buy these and complain they have too much bass.... A 1 minute look at the frequency response of these should have shown you that before buying them. They don't sound awful at all at high volumes just slightly more tiring to listen to compared to low volumes. If you want "V" shaped and tiring headphones try some beyerdynamic, HE400 or Denon Dxxx.

 

[Jackson9696]

I bought these phones for a second time after having thought I found my endgames with my custom tuned zmf vibro because I thought that if I amped them right they might be able to compete with the zmf. At first listen when I received them I plugged them into my cayin c5 and into my ipad. I was disappointed. The sq wasn't quite up to par with the zmf, though the comfort, look, and build quality is all so top notch.
Today I decided to try them out with my hifimediy sabre dac and OMG. Much much better to my ears. After further listening I do think the sq has been bumped up to the zmf level, being a bit more detailed, open and airy than the zmf. The zmf was better at hip hop but that's about it, and I find these to be better all rounders.
Like many before, I was disappointed when turning up the volume, but with the dac and cayin c5 together I can turn it up much louder and get desirable results.
After being disappointed, I am now very happy with the shure 1540, and they seem like end game phones to me. If you purchase these, I suggest getting a better dac for these to push them to another level.

Best Regards,
Jackson

 

[joey99]

I recently went to hong kong and tokyo and I was determined to get either the 1540 or the Sony Z7. Been using the 846 for 6months and I love them so much ... I wanted a closed can just for fun.
Tried a lot of headphones in numerous shops while I was overseas and I just didn't like the 1540. It sounded too closed in and muffled compared to other headphones .. I think I even liked the sony 1A better. The 1A sounded much more airy and exciting and just as comfortable. The 1540 is definitely well designed and so comfortable. For me, the 1840 was so much better. They sounded quite like the 846 in tone but really didn't want something that sounded so similar either. In Japan Sony and Audio Technica headphones were so so much cheaper. For some reason, the 1840 and 1540 were much more expensive than the Z7 in hong kong.
 
Japan is just an amazing place for trying any sort of headphones. Shure were also a bit more expensive there .. maybe cos it's imported in. In the end I took home the Z7 with 3m Kimba Kable and a set of Z5. The Z7 is really good .. the more  listen to it, the more I fall in love with the sound. Being so much cheaper in japan, it was a no brainer. 

 

[Jackson9696]

I found the 1540 to be closed in and muffled as well when driven out of a phone, but I find it opens up quite well with better gear. What was your source? I've been thinking about getting the z7 for a while now...

Thanks