[Ak-Boss]

And I wasn't overly impressed to be honest. After all the hype on Head-Fi I was expecting to be amazed by them. I'd probably put them on par with the Beats By Dre Solo HD only with a weaker, less punchy bass and not as much treble. And I'd have to say the Beats look a lot more stylish and are more comfortable. However what is quite obvious is that they are much better value for money than the Beats as they are a lot cheaper yet still compare, I think we all know Beats are overpriced anyway though so this is not a surprise. I also thought that the M50's felt a lot better built but then again the Beats are made from plastic...
 
When you move up to the Studios/Pro's the difference becomes even more greater in terms of sound quality, however that isn't saying the much higher price is justified.
 
So why am I comparing the ATH-M50's to the Beats you ask? The answer to that is because of all the Beats haters on here that tell us how the ATH-M50's blow the Beats away when in actual fact that isn't the case. These people probably haven't even listened to the Beats. Let's not forget here that some claim the M50's to be better than the Studios when actually I found the inferior model (Solo HD) to be better than the M50's. Odd eh?
 
If anyone is interested, the following songs are what I used to compare both headphones from an iPhone 4 (all songs 320kbps as far as I'm aware);
 
Tupac - Ambitionz as a ridah
Fat Joe ft Ashanti - What's Luv?
Inna - Amazing
LMAO - Party rock anthem
Chris Brown - Beautiful people
Eminem - Lose yourself
Green day - American idiot
 
I found the Beats to have clearer and more responsive bass, higher treble, better soundstage and crisper vocals.

 

[Quote]

The thing is, the only song on that list(to my knowledge) that isn't the Hip-hop/R&B that they weren't meant to be used for is Green Day. That's why they sound good. Anything beyond those genres, though, they sound terrible, as most people here listen to classical or rock, from what I've gathered.

 

[jerg]

I have the M50s (extensively modded with some parametric EQ) but anyway I auditioned the Beats here in a Futureshop. The thing is, the sound signature with the Beats is extremely coloured, nothing is presented faithfully, and although the Beats have quite a bass slam (which, mind you, the M50s can achieve as well with a bass enhancement mod which I explained in another thread), it is boomy as HELL and bleeds well into the mids.
 
You don't judge how good a pair of headphones is by how souped up its bass and treble frequencies are (which seems to be what you are judging entirely based upon... "responsive bass", "higher treble", "crisper vocals" ), but how well they are balanced to provide a sound signature that is neutral with appropriate colouration (or none) that does not cause bleeding / blending - the asymptote of that is a truly hi-fi sound. The Beats' sound signature is incredibly farther from that than the M50s.
 
tl;dr - when you compare the Beats' (not Beats Studio, thats much better though not for that price) sound against M50's, it is more or less a low-fi mess with souped up bass and treble.

 

[crinacle]

Give it some time. Currently, you're too used to the coloured and loose bass that the Beats are so notorious for. After a week or so of PURE listening to the M50s, try switching back to the Studios.
 
At that point, the Studios felt like a gorilla, while the M50s sounds very controlled. Unless of course, you truly hate the M50s sound signature, then you could go for the XB700.
 
I don't know, personally I feel that the Studios are no match for the M50s, but that's just my preference.

 

[bcpk]

>less bass than Beats
 
You say that like it's a bad thing. Heaven forbid you might be able to hear mids over the vibration of your cranium.

 

[crinacle]

Yeah, forgot to add on. Ever heard of quality over quantity?

 

[slapshot30]

Hey man you're in the same boat as me. The M50 was weak to me also. Go ahead and sell/return those puppies, no amp is going to magically make a ton of bass appear. If you don't like them now, don't expect an amp to change that. You should be glad you've tried the M50's though, they are a great pair for reference when you ask for suggestions for your next purchases. Throw out the beats, I agree that the bass is big but you can find as much bass and better quality for less. Just start a new thread stating your budget, genres, etc and make sure to include that you want much more bass than the M50. I did the same and got a ton of help. Currently I am waiting on getting my Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro 80 ohm. They are said to be as bassy as beats but much better quality (and only around $170). Those might be a good pair to start your search on.

 

[Curly21029]

 
Quote:

Tupac - Ambitionz as a ridah
Fat Joe ft Ashanti - What's Luv?
Inna - Amazing
LMAO - Party rock anthem
Chris Brown - Beautiful people
Eminem - Lose yourself
Green day - American idiot

Not to bash the OP, but that's one of the worst collections of "music" I've seen in a while.  Perhaps you should try something more complex than 4/4 time signatures and marvel as the M50 maintains clarity while the Beats turn into a muddy, unlistenable mess.
 
Of course, if the above is indicative of your listening habits then that's fine.  If you stick with pop (and yes, from top to bottom it's pop: made to reach a mass audience solely for monetary gain) and are happy with the Beats' reproduction of them stay the course and enjoy.

 

[slapshot30]

Quote:

 

Not to bash the OP, but that's one of the worst collections of "music" I've seen in a while.  Perhaps you should try something more complex than 4/4 time signatures and marvel as the M50 maintains clarity while the Beats turn into a muddy, unlistenable mess.
 
Of course, if the above is indicative of your listening habits then that's fine.  If you stick with pop (and yes, from top to bottom it's pop: made to reach a mass audience solely for monetary gain) and are happy with the Beats' reproduction of them stay the course and enjoy.

Nothing wrong with liking your bass. All the OP needs to do is realize they are overpriced and that he can find much better quality bass for less. Don't bash his music either. Each person has their preferences on genres, none is better than the next. You make yourself sound stupid when you critisize what others listen to. I youtubed a couple of the artists in your sig and I happen to think that music is terrible. I would never listen to it. But I'm not going to openly critisize it for no reason.
 

 

[crinacle]

HEYHEYHEY Party Rock Anthem is a nice song, albeit mainstream...
 
Agreed with Curly though. If you just want "BASSBASSMOARBASS" and heck cares about its quality, stick with the Studios and never set foot upon Head-Fi ever again.

 

[TMRaven]

Perhaps it was a bit of a bash, even with its own disclaimer, but it's more or less trying to hint at perhaps changing the music up a bit to really test the detail and clarity of the M50 compared to the Beats.  When I first saw the list I too was kinda hmmm.  It's a well known fact that a lot of modern day popular music is mixed and mastered to sound good even out of lower quality systems.  One particular evidence of that is that most popular hip-hop music's bass never extends too low (something which the beats excel at btw, they have considerably huge midbass spike but don't extend too low at all)
 

 

[slapshot30]

Quote:

HEYHEYHEY Party Rock Anthem is a nice song, albeit mainstream...
 
Agreed with Curly though. If you just want "BASSBASSMOARBASS" and heck cares about its quality, stick with the Studios and never set foot upon Head-Fi ever again.

Ehhhhh. Is that what you say to those who spend hundreds and hundreds on Darth Beyers?? ThunderPants?? Ultrasone Pro 900?? "never set foot upon Head-Fi ever again!?!?

Bassheads have their place on head-fi too.
 
 

 

[crinacle]

Sir, you don't get it. Here, have some bolded words:
 
Quote:

Agreed with Curly though. If you just want "BASSBASSMOARBASS" and heck cares about its quality, stick with the Studios and never set foot upon Head-Fi ever again.

The Pro 900s, Thunderpants, Darth Beyers all have massive bass with out-of-this-world quality. Those belong in Head-Fi. The Studios do NOT.

 

[slapshot30]

Quote:

Sir, you don't get it. Here, have some bolded words:
 


The Pro 900s, Thunderpants, Darth Beyers all have massive bass with out-of-this-world quality. Those belong in Head-Fi. The Studios do NOT.

Fair enough, I just saw it as another bash on bassheads like the other dude was doing, but I guess not. He listens to some pretty weird music (I'll call his music weird since he called eminem and tupac bad lol) that doesn't even involve bass so I'm still not sure why he feels he has a say

.
 
 

 

[Curly21029]

Sorry for those offended.  I get into some pretty heated music discussions at times.  While I'm not without my obvious guilty pleasures, I largely appreciate an artistic approach over a cash grab.  Art has no target audience and is wholly open to interpretation.  There are very few whom I can claim to be a "fan" of as a true artist will evolve or entirely change their output release to release in the endless pursuit of challenge, but those listed in my signature have discographies that I enjoy more often than not or, at the very least, respect every ounce of their ambition.  If you give something a listen and don't like it that's your opinion... and it's both invited and appreciated.  But please, don't check out a few things posted on YouTube and write off an entire body of work.  For instance, The Legendary Pink Dots have released approximately 70 albums not counting EPs... good luck drawing genre associations.
 
Quote:

Fair enough, I just saw it as another bash on bassheads like the other dude was doing, but I guess not. He listens to some pretty weird music (I'll call his music weird since he called eminem and tupac bad lol) that doesn't even involve bass so I'm still not sure why he feels he has a say

.
 

If I'm bashing "bassheads" then I'm a self-hater... because I adore a good low-end presentation.  A few posts above list a few appreciated "basshead" 'phones.  I have yet to try Thunderpants as I've read too much conflicting information to make the investment unheard, but I've owned the PRO-900 (didn't like the treble) and both the V3 Darth Beyers and V4 Terminators.  Those Headphile'd Beyers... damn are they special.  Oh, and Chris Clark produces tons of great bass test tracks.