[ilmothedude]

Question for folks who have owned the 1840s for a while, how are the MMCX connectors holding up? Do you leave the cable plugged in all the time, or remove them often?
I like keeping my headphones in their case when not in use like every other pair I own, and it seems like there might be extra strain on them if left connected.

I have had my srh1440 from 2013 june which use the same connector and they're holding up well. However I don't remove them very often, only when I transfer them to other location in carrying case. But there has still been many connects and disconnects over the years and I think connectors are still really snappy and feel reliable. Also worth to mention that I have never encountered any kind of signal cut-off issues with those connectors, so they're really reliable. I'm confident they'll work as long as I have and use those phones.

 

[frogmeat69]

Thanks for the reply. They seem more durable than say the FiiO F5 or Onkyo ES-CTI300 connectors, and I had problems with the Onkyo headphones, so just a bit nervous about them.

 

[329161]

I have my 1440 for sale on the forum here. Sydney pickup only.

 

[trellus]

Thanks for the reply. They seem more durable than say the FiiO F5 or Onkyo ES-CTI300 connectors, and I had problems with the Onkyo headphones, so just a bit nervous about them.

+1 on the Onkyo, I have the ES-FC300 who I believe are basically the same model but different color and without controls on the cable, and the MMCX connections on it are very fragile. I've not had the same issue with the SRH1540, which like the 1440 and 1840, uses MMCX. It seems Shure just has a better implementation.

 

[frogmeat69]

+1 on the Onkyo, I have the ES-FC300 who I believe are basically the same model but different color and without controls on the cable, and the MMCX connections on it are very fragile. I've not had the same issue with the SRH1540, which like the 1440 and 1840, uses MMCX. It seems Shure just has a better implementation.

Yeah, same headphone, just different cable and colors. On both FiiO and Onkyo there seems to be a bit of play or slack on the connections, they wiggle a bit, and the left side on the Onkyos cut out on occasion because of it.

 

[Thunder240]

I keep my 1840s on an omega style headphone stand with cable connected, and I haven’t seen any signs of wear in ~4 years since I bought them

 

[llysender]

I've had the 1440 for a couple of weeks now and honestly I'm shocked that there is practically 0 buzz reguarding the headphone. IMO its cleaner and much more well defined than the HD600 while still having timber memes. Soundstage and imaging is really good and it can be powered off anything. What I have to love most is the vocals that beats Audio technica's imo and the elevated but not spiky or fatiguing treble. Sure Bass isnt very good but nither is the hd600 and I still have the r70x when my inner basshead wants that sweet detailed bass. All in all a wonderful headphone that I think was late to the party and ignored by the majority sadly.

Edit:
Actually scratch that, while the bass isnt at R70X levels of control. The subbass extention alone beats hd600.Slam is really good. A/Bing to the HD600 it just further confirms how meh the HD600 is.

 

[Thunder240]

After 5-6 years (during which time they’ve received a lot of wear), the leather (pleather?) on the headband of my 1840s is wearing out, ie starting to flake off.

Can anyone recommend a headband cover that fits properly and is comfortable? Doesn’t need to be leather. Or, is anyone aware if the cushion is replaceable?

Thank you!

 

[evonimos]

I've had the 1440 for a couple of weeks now and honestly I'm shocked that there is practically 0 buzz reguarding the headphone. IMO its cleaner and much more well defined than the HD600 while still having timber memes. Soundstage and imaging is really good and it can be powered off anything. What I have to love most is the vocals that beats Audio technica's imo and the elevated but not spiky or fatiguing treble. Sure Bass isnt very good but nither is the hd600 and I still have the r70x when my inner basshead wants that sweet detailed bass. All in all a wonderful headphone that I think was late to the party and ignored by the majority sadly.

Edit:
Actually scratch that, while the bass isnt at R70X levels of control. The subbass extention alone beats hd600.Slam is really good. A/Bing to the HD600 it just further confirms how meh the HD600 is.

Can you talk a bit more about sound-stage width and depth among the three (HD600, R70X and SRH1440)?

 

[llysender]

Can you talk a bit more about sound-stage width and depth among the three (HD600, R70X and SRH1440)?

My current source is a hidizs S8 into iHA6 and i can only test the srh1440 and r70x. Listening was done using the low impedence 6.3mm port. From memory hd600 has about the same soundstage width as the srh1440(slightly beyond the cups) but has a pretty nebulous center image while the srh1440 has a very tight center image and has very clear imaging to the outer boundery.

The r70x doesnt have as clear a center image as the srh1440 but expends significantly further in a dome patten as compared to the srh1440 disc patten soundatage.

All in all i would say
Srh1440>r70x for imaging
r70x>srh1440 for soundstage

Not sure what you mean by depth.

 

[evonimos]

My current source is a hidizs S8 into iHA6 and i can only test the srh1440 and r70x. Listening was done using the low impedence 6.3mm port. From memory hd600 has about the same soundstage width as the srh1440(slightly beyond the cups) but has a pretty nebulous center image while the srh1440 has a very tight center image and has very clear imaging to the outer boundery.

The r70x doesnt have as clear a center image as the srh1440 but expends significantly further in a dome patten as compared to the srh1440 disc patten soundatage.

All in all i would say
Srh1440>r70x for imaging
r70x>srh1440 for soundstage

Not sure what you mean by depth.

Thanks.

Sound-stage depth is the image space projected in an axis forward of you, in a 3D fashion so to speak.
Assuming you were facing a live stage, it'd be the sense of depth of that stage in front of you.
Some gear for example are good at projecting a wide image from left/right, up/down but lack a particular sense of depth.
Making that sound-stage appear a bit 2D if you like. And vice versa of course.

Imaging as you know is more straight forward and relates to how well defined and accurate is the relative positioning within a given sound-stage.

So now that you mentioned a more expansive stage for the R70X, can you elaborate a bit more in regards to its overall timbre and especially its body at the lower end?
I'd like it to have a warmer rendition than the HD600 and not be pronounced towards the top.

 

[llysender]

Thanks.

Sound-stage depth is the image space projected in an axis forward of you, in a 3D fashion so to speak.
Assuming you were facing a live stage, it'd be the sense of depth of that stage in front of you.
Some gear for example are good at projecting a wide image from left/right, up/down but lack a particular sense of depth.
Making that sound-stage appear a bit 2D if you like. And vice versa of course.

Imaging as you know is more straight forward and relates to how well defined and accurate is the relative positioning within a given sound-stage.

So now that you mentioned a more expansive stage for the R70X, can you elaborate a bit more in regards to its overall timbre and especially its body at the lower end?
I'd like it to have a warmer rendition than the HD600 and not be pronounced towards the top.

Ah ok.on the horizontal axis the srh1440 is significantly better than the r70x at relative positioning although the scale is different as with the srh1440 its in your head while with the r70x its around your head.Vertical wise while i have yet to hear a headphone do it well the r70x wins for having some vertical depth while the srh1440 is pretty flat in this reguard.

With reguards to how the r70x sounds its a natural sounding with well damped treble for long listening and slight colourion in the the 3khz to 5khz range leading to slightly breathier female vocals but otherwise there is no bias between male and female vocals.

Bass would be full decay natural and slightly warmer than the hd600 and on par with the hd650 if memory serves. Although the strengh of the slam is the same kick drums sound duller due to full followthrough of the decay which makes it sound more realistic imo.

Bass texture wise its a very honest headphone and will be as smooth and as rough and sharp as the signal calls for within its resolution limits.

Maybe @Hooster can chime in as he has had the r70x for longer than me.

 

[evonimos]

That is helpful, since I'm considering R70X as one of the pairs to try out in the future.
Right now I am using an HD599 with an upgraded DIY cable (2 twisted pairs of 24AWG solid copper) and I am pretty happy with it.
I use it daily for long hours and when I first tried it I became so enamored with it that it revitalised my interest in headphones again.
The only other headphone that did a similar thing was the KOSS Porta Pro years ago.
For its time it was simply amazing and I used it as a reference for many years.

Then I invested in an HD600, as a kind of a reference and a reputed classic but in the end I'd probably be better off with an HD650.
After purchasing it I tried the HD650 in a demo and I prefered it in terms of sound-stage and handling of low frequencies, but I was not ready to pay the asked price.

Anyhow, I'm now on the lookout for something different and been looking at either the R70X, the SRH1440 or the 712Pro.
The Audio Technica and the Shure are both pretty hard to come by and impossible to demo.
The latter is definitely easier to find a better deal on but impossible to demo as well.

Regarding the AKG 7xx line I remain a bit sceptical overall, since I have been scared off by the performance of the 702.
To my ears it sound off but I hope the 712 Pro takes a different approach.

 

[llysender]

@evonimos It really depends, do you have or are planing to invest in a decently powered amp, if so get the r70x.
If you plan on sticking to dongles or inbuilt headphone out the srh1440 is a better option.
sure the r70x can be powered off a potato but it will sound "slow" and cluttered even if at the same loudness as on a amp.

Personally I'm not a fan of how AKG tunes their pro line, sure its pretty flat but there is always something off with the treble that makes vocals sound strange. K612 is the usual rec due to pricing over k712.

Although if you are looking at the K7XX I wonder if you are looking for something bass heavy but still have decent mids and tame highs.
I can recomend the ath-a990z if thats the case.

Otherwise just go with the srh1440 if you are looking for a more neutral headphone with decent sub bass.

Edit: Just took a peek at europe pricings for the r70x, unless you can get used srh1440 is better value imo.

 

[evonimos]

@evonimos It really depends, do you have or are planing to invest in a decently powered amp, if so get the r70x.
If you plan on sticking to dongles or inbuilt headphone out the srh1440 is a better option.
sure the r70x can be powered off a potato but it will sound "slow" and cluttered even if at the same loudness as on a amp.

I mainly use two head amps, a solid state and one with valves.
One is the Lehmann BCL (modified quite heavily) and the other one is a DIY tube OTL design with SRPP topology.
Both are desktop-type with linear power supplies so no real issues with power-hungry cans.
They are fed by a separate XMOS DAC unit from Audiophonics, utilising AKM AK4495SEQ.

Do you think the AKG 712 Pro is rather towards the bright end?
They are supposed to be one of the warmer ones in the 7xx line and I can find them pretty easily.
These are main motivations for giving them a try.

I'm really sensitive in the presence and treble region and I need to preserve what hearing I have left, so I can't stand a pair with more energy up there.
The current pair I'm using (HD599) is relatively warm in comparison to the standard HD600 and I'm looking for that kind of similar sound signature.
Looking at the frequency response graphs a headphone like the HD700 for example would be almost ideal for me, if it didn't have that unfortunate stupid treble peak.