sigh......where's my bass

[Cirkustanz]

New pair of 595's, been doing the normal routine with new phones, playing them while I sleep and while I'm at work, wrapping around some books. They've probably had about 40 hours of playback if I had to guess.

They no longer have the vulcan-death-grip(tm), and are mostly comfortable now. I do wish the pads didn't make me feel like I was wearing a couple styrofoam cups though!

I'm just used to my old (and mostly broken) HD500's I guess.

Here's the real problem.

Where's the freaking bass? I'm not amped yet, but even on songs that have a lot of great bass, there is nothing. I play some old rap like public enemy, nothing. I play some prodigy or front line assembly for that electronic synth bass, nothing. Even beastie boys.....there is no sweet bass hit. What gives?

I've always read that senn's had a "dark" sound. If I had to describe the sound of these I would use terms such as "sharp", "airy", "metallic".

Fidelity is great in them, don't get me wrong. Right now, I'm listening to some Jane's Addiction, finger snaps sound great, I can hear the quick rush of his fingers and not just the snap itself. Acoustic guitar sounds especially good, for the same reasons. Vocals are great, and sound marvelous. Live music is very fun, crowd noise is very realistic.

But there just doesn't seem to be any depth at all. I've never really been a basshead, but I feel like I went to went out for a steak dinner, and all I got were the side dishes. I listen to a lot of music that does rely on bass, and my staple artists for enjoyment, just aren't the same. Anything metal sounds HORRIBLE. Oh man, the organ-thing in this Doors song. Painful! It sounds like a cat being boiled to death.

Are these just the wrong phones for me? Obviously I've been thinking about picking up an amp in hopes of getting some better sound, but assuming the improvements are similar to upgrading to a better amp on regular speakers, where improvements will be more in OVERALL quality, resolution, and lower distortion.......I'm thinking that nothing is going to change really.

Does it get better?

 

[kramer5150]

First off... whats your source? What are you amping them with?

 

[Cirkustanz]

Currently I've tried them out of a pcdp, 1st gen ipod shuffle, headphone jack of my HK receiver, sound card.

One of the questions I was specifically wondering, is would amping them change the tone of the sound? It's really just base that's lacking. Even if I EQ and crank low frequencies up, it's still not as prominent as it should be. There is no satisfying uhm, ripple of bass, just a little pud sound, where there should be a prominent thump.

Correct me if I'm wrong, since I've never used a headphone amp yet, but when I hear people talking about reasons to buy one amp over another, it's never a specific change to the sound they seek, it's always a general improvement. I've never read an amp review where they said "this amp has too much bass, or too much treble" it's always more cryptic and less quantifiable terms such as "improved warmth". For these reasons I'm skeptical of it being as simple as the need to pick up a headphone amp. I can't seem to find a retailer in my city that sells headphone amps to try before I buy, even if it might be of lesser quality. I thought Guitar Center did, but they are just headphone amps to be used for guitar/bass practicing. Oh well.

 

[mADmAN]

LOL

its the same sort of feeling when i tried my colleague's >100 hours 595 on my rig. the lack of bass made the cans an absolute horror to listen to my music with. even my ICE with the subwoofer unplugged has more bass

on the other hand.. there was a thread here about improving the bass on the 595s by playing some real bass heavy music. topic title was sumthin like the 595s needing a kick in the ass or sumwhere around that line. mebbe u should check out that thread and give it a try?

 

[Rick Hunter]

The post about kicking 595's in the ass was mine. I found out that these cans need -*the hell of a lot of burn-in*- to show their full potential.

My advice is: make a 30-40 songs playlist with the most bassy songs you have, turn on the repeat function, plug in your 595's and let them play to the highest volume you can attain without having distortion or clipping, the sound must be clean.

Leave them running like that 24/7 for at least a whole week, better until you reach the 250 hours mark.
Bass will improve, as well as mids, highs, liquidity of the sound, etc.
Trust me: these beasts are really hard to burn-in, a bit like AKG's K701 just don't give up early: give them AT LEAST 200-250 hours of high volume burn-in, they need a kick in the rear to wake up.

Anyhow, they'll never be bass heavy, I find them not bass heavy, nor bass lean, imho they're bass BALANCED: if the recording is bass light they'll sound bass light, if it's bass heavy they'll sound bass heavy. That's it, assumed that you have properly burned 'em in.

 

[MaZa]

Wierd, i have HD595 and i find them to be very bassy. Not bass HEAVY and it doesnt have impact, but the bass is very prominent in the sound signature.

 

[SeagramSeven]

Hook up a 500w subwoofer and play it with your headphones on. That should satisfy any craving for bass you may have. After that experience, you will truly "See the Light" and go for a K501---arguably one of the most true-to-life phones that ever lived

 

[Hermitt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaZa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wierd, i have HD595 and i find them to be very bassy. Not bass HEAVY and it doesnt have impact, but the bass is very prominent in the sound signature.

X2 Not much punch, but there are a lot of deep overtones. (reason I am going to buy the MS-Pros)

 

[bludo]

I had the same impressions when I first heard the 595, but it grown on me over the time.

The main problem was with the speakers that I was listening before. I had an altec lansing quad system with a subwoofer that when I was listening to , my furniture was starting to vibrate. That was the sound that my ear was calibrated on.

Now after two months of listening to the 595 I can't listen to my speakers anymore. They sound like a mud canon. Everything is boomed and blurred. I can't belive that I liked that sound, because now it's horrible.

I find the 595 very transparent to the source it's playing, and one of the first thing that I've noticed was how much difference the mastering of the song makes. Good recordings sound superb.

Also I don't belive in burn in and the necessity of an amp for the 50 ohm version.

 

[zyxwvutsr]

Try EQing or getting a 75ohm resistor adapter. I use the resistor and find the bass to be really satisfying with it. Of course, the resistor can only do so much and compared to cans like the MDR-V6 and ATH-A500, the HD595 w/resistor still has noticeably less bass.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cirkustanz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Currently I've tried them out of a pcdp, 1st gen ipod shuffle, headphone jack of my HK receiver, sound card.

You might want to consider a source upgrade; none of those sources are especially good. The headphone jack of the H/K is only considered an amplifier anyway, and most receiver jacks are quite poor in terms of sound quality.

So, average source + no amp = average sound. There are also two versions of the HD-595: 50 ohm and 150 ohm. If you have the 150 ohm version, amplification will be even more important.

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Hunter /img/forum/go_quote.gif The post about kicking 595's in the ass was mine. I found out that these cans need -*the hell of a lot of burn-in*- to show their full potential. My advice is: make a 30-40 songs playlist with the most bassy songs you have, turn on the repeat function, plug in your 595's and let them play to the highest volume you can attain without having distortion or clipping, the sound must be clean. Leave them running like that 24/7 for at least a whole week, better until you reach the 250 hours mark. Bass will improve, as well as mids, highs, liquidity of the sound, etc. Trust me: these beasts are really hard to burn-in, a bit like AKG's K701 just don't give up early: give them AT LEAST 200-250 hours of high volume burn-in, they need a kick in the rear to wake up. Anyhow, they'll never be bass heavy, I find them not bass heavy, nor bass lean, imho they're bass BALANCED: if the recording is bass light they'll sound bass light, if it's bass heavy they'll sound bass heavy. That's it, assumed that you have properly burned 'em in.

I did a little research on break-in after reading your post... Look what i found.

"- Some like to play sonic sweeps that exercise everything from the extreme highs and lows in your headphones. Some have hoted that bass sweeps can be extremely harmful to your headphones. It's one of those situations where attempted "break-in" can actually break your headphones."

Heres where i got it from.

http://headphonebreakin.blogspot.com/

Thats from Spinali's sig.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif You might want to consider a source upgrade; none of those sources are especially good. The headphone jack of the H/K is only considered an amplifier anyway, and most receiver jacks are quite poor in terms of sound quality. So, average source + no amp = average sound. There are also two versions of the HD-595: 50 ohm and 150 ohm. If you have the 150 ohm version, amplification will be even more important.

x2... lets not all forget that an amp can be used to color the sound as well as amplify it. Pick your source wisely, with a warm DAC and you add another layer of tweeking.

 

[Zenja]

Try using an equalizer and see what you think.

 

[RedLeader]

Well really, even with break-in the 595 will never really be bassy cans. They will be balanced, that seems to be the Senn sig for the most part. If you're more into bassy music I would suggest rather than messing around with amps and such, just to pick up a can that would handle it better, and go from there. Get some DT770 or MS-1 and see how you like that bass handling, best way to figure out what you like is to try a bunch of different sounds. Then after you have your cans, work on your source and amp. I know there are people that would disagree, but I firmly believe in the cans-first mentality.