[john53]

Hi,I would like to hear some opinions on how good are these headphones,compared to the shure SRH840.
 
I own 840's,and I like their sound signature,which is warm and non offensive,but in the same time has enough air,detail and energy,and good imaging capability.The sound is nice and attractive to listen to,and they are also nice with many different styles of music I like to listen to,like pop,pop rock,disco/dance,house,electronic music,classical etc.
 
My only complain with the sound of the 840's,is a little mid bass/bass emphasis,that appears sometimes(although it has to do with the positioning on the head,and how the pads seal,and I've managed to reduce that a bit),and also,when I switch from the hd 600,it's clear that the sound isn't as natural (the timbre).(Although it's good enough for a closed hp at this price).
 
I've read here that these headphones (HM5/FA003 etc) are a good closed alternative to the hd600's,with similar sound signature,so how do they fare against the 840's?Do they have similar mid bass/bass emphasis,or are they closer to the hd 600's?Do they have a similar timbre to the 600's?How is long term comfort compared to the 840's?Are they easy to drive out of an ipod like the 840's?
 
I'm planning to use them with my ipod nano 5th gen mostly,without portable amps,and sometimes with my xcan v8 headphone amp.I would like to hear some opinions,from people who have experience with all these cans,because there is no place here I can audition them before I buy.Thanks in advance.

 

[manveru]

Despite being touted as neutral by most people, I found the FA-003/HM5 to be on the dark side. The bass was rather boomy and loose with soft impact, and veils or overshadows the smooth and laid back treble somewhat. They are not flat in the bass/lower mids at all. There's a big dip at ~300Hz, and a sizable bump between 100-200Hz.
 
They are easy enough to drive off of a portable device IME though, and I found them very comfortable. However, I actually like headphones with strong clamping force, so...

 

[machoboy]

I have both for the time being (the XPT100 is an hm5 clone with an all-black color scheme).
 
Both seemed easy to drive, but the Shure was a bit easier slightly louder out of the same source. The HM5/clones do indeed have a very dark and dull sound sig.
 
I personally like the SRH840s more in every way. Both headphones are relatively (not completely) flat, but the Shures sound very high-resolution and separate their lows/mids/highs very well, while the HM5 clones sound muffled and compressed. I see SRH840 to HM5 as a slight downgrade.
 
The Shures have a more "heavy-duty" build quality and I preferred the one-sided coiled cable.
 
Both have nice ear pads, but I will give the edge to the XPT100 here. Note that the XPT100s seem to come with upgraded, enlarged, angled ear pads compared to the other clones.
 
Bass: Shures extend much lower and retain clarity at much higher volumes. They respond much better to EQ adjustments. Their bass is 10-times as detailed and mid-bass/sub-bass seem to live in separate area codes. You can always tell which is which.
HM5/XPT100 bass is more "old school" sounding with little separation between mid-bass and sub-bass, much less detailed, and less forgiving to EQ adjustments. IMO, its only strength is that it does a decent job of replicating the bass of a cheap desktop stereo if you're mixing with them.
To summarize the bass, if you EQ the bass frequencies up a little on the SRH840s while mixing a bass guitar track, you will still hear the sound of finger/string contact and the resonant frequency of the string. On the HM5s, which have a very low threshold for that sort of use, that same bass guitar just sounds like a dull "bumphhh" sine wave.
 
That's not to say the HM5s have more bass. The SRH840s have significantly more bass. The HM5s just lose their cool at far lower bass/volume levels. Flat, the Shure bass is just perfect with enough sub-bass to replicate being in a room with bassist and drummer. With an EQ, the Shure SRH840 bass about tied my HFI580s and Q-40s.
 
For electronica, there's no contest. The low-extension detail of the Shures allows you to hear the balance between your kick drums and bass synths whereas the HM5s just slush it all together.
 
Mids: The HM5s/XPT100s seemed strong here initially, but the Shures are yet again superior. The compressed bass and rolled-off treble of the HM5s may at first trick you into thinking they have detailed, forward mid-range, but after A/Bing them with the Shures (which at times even sound "V-shaped", the Shures actually have way more vocal range detail. Voices in the HM5s sound distant and slushy.
 
Treble: The SRH840 treble is a little harsh, especially if they're coming from a mediocre source, but I found it to be realistic, just like the bass. These are different approaches to "studio" headphones. The Shures do a good job of being extremely transparent and reproducing live sound (including actual boomy/harsh recordings) with great realism. The HM5s are more like "radio" monitors, which give you a standard compressed/congested sound that replicates a combination speaker with no dedicated woofer or tweeters, so treble sounds kind of more like upper-mids.
 
If the Shures could just carve out a personality of their own instead of looking like a generic cross between every headphone ever made, then they would get a lot more attention. They are the most versatile headphones I've ever tried. You can abuse them in a home studio all day then unplug them and use with with your portable amp with the bass on 10. They sound great either way because of their permanently high-resolution sound.
 
What's deceptive about the SRH840s is because they separate different frequencies so well, they actually SOUND like they have "scooped/v-shaped mids" even though they have quite forward mids.  They just extend so low and so high that they're doing in actuality what "V-shaped" headphones do via trickery. The more A/B tests I do the more this is reaffirmed.
 
I would summarize the HM5s/clones as a half-way point between my SRH840s and AKG K 240 Studios, and unfortunately, while I love both of those headphones, the mixture is not that pleasant. You get neither the ultramodern resolution of the Shures nor the comfy organic sound of the K 240s. You get something that sounds like a K 240 trying really hard to tighten up its reverb-plagued treble and muddy bass but not quite managing to convince anyone, and in the process, sacrificing its "groovalizer" status/amazing mid range for piles of boring and only semi-functional neutrality.
 
Shure SRH840, winner of 2012 Machoboy's Choice Award.
80% as neutral, 500x as transparent.

 

[john53]

Thank you very much for your replies.
 
machoboy,thank you for your detailed description,I read it carefully.Do you have any experience with AKG K550? Maybe this is a better upgrade in terms of sound quality-build quality & comfort when coming from a shure 840? Or maybe it's a sideway move with just a different sound signature?

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Mod hm5 and remove the felt covering the vent at back of driver.

Dont forget to put acoustic foam like acoustipack or silverstone foam....best is paxmate on back of cup.....remove the old foam from cup.

Polyfill it.....


Smashes hd700 out of water in SQ but PRat is inferior.

Replace the driver by fischer audio titanium driver.


Here goes 1000$ flagship.


No joke. It os better than audeze lcd 2 fazor