[Faab]

I'll happily wait for you to establish a well defined opinion I really get pissed off by the sibilance of the HD25, that's the biggest reason why I'm looking for a different portable.
 
I do like the treble, I guess. I mean, I gifted my sister a pair of Grado SR-60i and I've listened to them a few times, but they're just lacking in sound quality. I don't know how to describe it, but the instruments/beats clarity just seem off, not natural.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Not yet unfortunately. Only got these as of right now because I took advantage of a deal I got and the timing was right. I'm not sure if I can afford having both at the same time but if anything changes and I score some M-100s while still having these, you can bet I'll do a little comparo.
 
Still dying to try the Momentums as well.

There is a person who have owned both
http://www.head-fi.org/t/627587/sennheiser-momentum-review/765#post_8890383
Quote:

Interesting comments about the MDR-1R and the Momentum. I had the 1R until I made the mistake of returning them for NC model which turned out to be a major mistake. So I returned the NC's today and had a chance to get the Momentum for a very good price and decided to take a chance on them. I find both headphones to be similar but different in key ways such as the Momentum being warmer and a bit more laid back. The 1R has slightly deeper bass but slightly less mid bass and a bit brighter upper mids.
The 1R is more comfortable but I find the Momentum to be very comfortable even though they are mostly on ear for me. I think the Momentum has a bit more isolation though and I find the overall build of the Momentum to be better and more portable. The cable is also more supple which is important where I live because of the cold which caused the 1R's cable to get very stiff.
I may decide to go back to the 1R in the end but I like them both. I will see how feel about the Momentum after a few days of use.

 

[roma101]

Thank you so much for lthat link Andrew!! And of course thanks to dweaver for those impressions. I believe AnakChan said that in comparison the bass and treble is slightly more forward on the Momentums. Eager to try for myself but if anyone as any more impressions regarding both please share!

Faab - TBH I'm not sure how you will like these. These sound slightly more neutral than the HDs but theyre still bright on top. I will do some ABing tonight. I still say the bass is more impactful and punchier on the HDs but these are not lacking in PRaT. Soundstage is decent for a closed can. Definitely better than the HDs in that regard.

 

[AdDicTiVe]

burn in for 20hours++ ,i need more bass then switch on bass gain II on arrow 4g & WOW!!

  
 
i did try to close the air vent on the driver cups, then i got the ugly bass sound
 
female vocal = good.... sweet & tender

 
comfortable piece of stylish cans, feels sturdy,not experienced any creak from the parts

 

[roma101]

As is the case with many things in this hobby, it all boils down to preference and taste. Both are good headphones, but IMO both are a bit overpriced. If they were $75-$100 cheaper either one would be a steal.

As I listen to these tonight (I still haven't properly compared them to my other reference cans, the HD25 and DT1350) I was trying to figure out if this can is really worth the price tag. The truth is I'm not sure. I think, technically speaking, a can like the DT1350 does things better (overall instrument separation and deeper bass extension/detail).

However, these are just so damn enjoyable to listen to! Finally a comfortable portable circumaural that's balanced across the spectrum, has decent isolation, good looks, and the sound is very musical and natural. Timbre is way better than I expected and instrument separation is very good. Bass extension is good but the detail is not as easy to discern as with the DT1350. Bass is good and punchy to my ears though not as punchy as the HDs. Doesn't bother me in the least honestly. Midrange fits well with the rest of the spectrum. Treble is a little bright to my ears but not fatiguing.

Overall I'm really enjoying these cans for their rich natural timbre. I listen to all genres but mostly rock and so drums and guitars matter a lot to me and they sound unbelievably good on these cans. I'm pretty surprised. With all the mixed feelings about these cans, I really didn't know what to expect. So far I don't hear any sort of veil. Everything just sound rich and full to my ears.

So are these worth the price tag? I agree with dpippel at $300 may be a bit of stretch but for $200 to $250, I think these are very much worth it, especially considering their portability, great sound, comfort, and style.

 

[Mickice]

I would say there is a definite veil. The clarity just isn't there even tho the driver is hardly covered.

 

[k1n0n3]

I have both the 1R and the 1RNC in my possession at the moment. The 1R has about 30 hrs on them, the NC is pretty much brand new out of the box. For me the NC falls out of the equation immediately, they are bigger in appearance both on and off the head, and a lot heavier than the standard version. Aside from appearance their sound is just not on par with the price. The 1RNC does have more bass than the 1R, in this case more is not better, it's just boomier I imagine because of the bigger driver size. Everything else on the NC sounds worse, it's veiled and muddy in addition to being distant sounding (to emulate soundstage?). With the NC on, they're a lot cleaner but the gained bass disappears.
The standard 1R do sound good, however for me there is not enough bass (when called for). It's there, but you have to listen for it and not just enjoy it.
I am used to more bass that is why I can't call these have a flat response, as if they were used for mixing/mastering in a studio evironment you would wind up with way too much bottom end, there for I can't say they portray anything with enough accuracy, especially the low end.
As a comparison, I have a pair or M-Audio DSM 3 monitors using a full digital path in a semi treated room with a very linear measured response, no sub, and they give out tons more low end. That may not be an equal comparison, but for me it is, as I would like to experience my home sound when not at home, and the closest I've gotten was the Yamaha EPH-100 in ears, which I've been using for about a year now having sold off all of my other portables. However with the cold season about I am looking for full size set, and as beautiful and comfortable as they are, sadly the 1R's are not it. If anyone can recommend a full sized set that is similar to the EPH-100's tuning, please do.

Lastly, just for curiosity I purchased an Audioquest Sydney 3.5 to 3.5 cable to try out with the 1Rs, and it does produce a cleaner louder signal, which I am sure will get better with a bit of burn in, unfortunately the cable is way too thick and stiff. If anyone is as curious as I was, you can grab the cable from amazon and return if not liked/done with the experiment. For the silver/brown version, Audioquest makes the "Big Sur" that matches the color scheme fairly well, I am not sure but this one may be not as thick as the Sydney (which would be a good thing).

 

[john53]

My Sony MDR 1R has almost 100 hours of burn in now.
 
I find them to be highly coloured headphones.Although the overall balance to the sound is not bad,and soundstage imaging and detail is good,the sound is covered with a veil which made the sound very warm,from midbass to mid highs.This,combined with the reduced presence in the higher frequencies,make the sound to have almost a magical timbre to it...If you adjust to it,it isn't bad,and ears and brain get used and then it seems that the balance is right...
But when I switched to some of my other headphones after listening to sony's,(like shure srh 840,akg K550 ,krk kns 6400,sennheiser hd600,koss ksc 75),they seem to be treble heavy,with unnatural thin and hollow mids...But all these don't have the wrong tonallity,sony is to blame because from midbass to midhighs is too coloured.I've never experienced such a big difference in tonality when switching between my other headphones.There were always difference between them of course,but not to this extreme extend...
I'm not sure if this is due to it's pleather erapads and fit and not the drivers,but I guess that sony gave them this tonallity on purpose,because when a company designs a product,they take into consideration every aspect of the design and how it change the sound.
 
If someone likes this sound signature and enjoy it ,then that's all that matters,to enjoy your music...
 
But in my opinion,if someone wants a normal tonality and balance to their headphones,you'd better look elsewhere.I personally find them to have a faulty sound balance that if I get used to it,I'll not be able to appreciate other good headphones out there.

 

[roma101]

That's interesting. I find the HD600 to be too warm for me but these, not so much. Sure there's definite warmth to the sound but the HD600 sounds more veiled to my ears. I also don't think the treble is lacking, they are pretty bright on top to my ears. Goes to show how we all hear differently indeed.

 

[sofastreamer]

anyone improved isolation somehow?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

My Sony MDR 1R has almost 100 hours of burn in now.
 
I find them to be highly coloured headphones.Although the overall balance to the sound is not bad,and soundstage imaging and detail is good,the sound is covered with a veil which made the sound very warm,from midbass to mid highs.This,combined with the reduced presence in the higher frequencies,make the sound to have almost a magical timbre to it...If you adjust to it,it isn't bad,and ears and brain get used and then it seems that the balance is right...
But when I switched to some of my other headphones after listening to sony's,(like shure srh 840,akg K550 ,krk kns 6400,sennheiser hd600,koss ksc 75),they seem to be treble heavy,with unnatural thin and hollow mids...But all these don't have the wrong tonallity,sony is to blame because from midbass to midhighs is too coloured.I've never experienced such a big difference in tonality when switching between my other headphones.There were always difference between them of course,but not to this extreme extend...
I'm not sure if this is due to it's pleather erapads and fit and not the drivers,but I guess that sony gave them this tonallity on purpose,because when a company designs a product,they take into consideration every aspect of the design and how it change the sound.
 
If someone likes this sound signature and enjoy it ,then that's all that matters,to enjoy your music...
 
But in my opinion,if someone wants a normal tonality and balance to their headphones,you'd better look elsewhere.I personally find them to have a faulty sound balance that if I get used to it,I'll not be able to appreciate other good headphones out there.

John, would you say that K550 is the best closed out of the bunch you have?

 

[dweaver]

I can't speak for John but I am currently trying the K550 and so long as you get a good fit, the K550 has a more neutral signature that I personally am finding more enjoyable that the 1R. The K550 has similar amounts of sub-bass and bit less mid-bass, slightly less forward mids that are detailed a very clean, and more extended and clean highs. The K550 also has a larger sound stage.

The 1R is more portable oriented though and more comfortable (except for it gets a bit warmer due to the cup size proximity to the ear). The 1R also has removable cables which is a better feature as compared to the long cable of the K550 (if I still am thinking I am going to keep the K550 in a week or two I will get a friend to cut the K550 cable near the cup and terminate it with a female connector and then terminate the extra cable with a male connector so I will have a detachable cable system).

Out of the 3 closed headphones I have tried recently I would rank them like this:

Sound - K550 > MDR-1R > Momentum
Comfort - MDR-1R > K550 > Momentum
Portability - Momentum > MDR1R >> K550
Quality - Momentum > K550 > MDR-1R
Durability - K550 > Momentum > MDR-1R
Accessories - Momentum > MDR-1R > K550
Cable - MDR-1R = Momentum = K550

I ranked the cables the same because each has an aspect the other do not have. The 1R has think durable cables that are removable but they get stiff in colder climates. The Momentum has thinner almost frail looking cables but they are good in all conditions and the most portable. The K550 is not detachable but is a very good quality cable that is long which would be good for a listening station.

Isolation is a draw between them from my use of each on the bus and train.

 

[john53]

Quote:

John, would you say that K550 is the best closed out of the bunch you have?

 
I don't have it anymore,I returned it because of some build problem,but I had it for 3 days in my home and tested it quite a bit.
 
I found the k550 to be a really good sounding headphone.It had very good balance across the whole spectrum,with good imaging depth,and good transparency and musicality.Bass detail and body was also good as long as you find the right position on the head.
I really enjoyed listening to music with it.The only negative thing I noticed,was an emphasis in some high frequencies,which made it sounding a bit sharp sometimes,but not in a bad way really,and it didn't made it a treble happy headphone.Maybe with burn in it would get a bit better though.
I also didn't find the k550 to have those peaks in mid-highs that I've read some people had problem...But it was the case with the mdr 1r,for me.Sometimes the forward and coloured midrange of the sonys was a bit fatiquing to my ears,maybe it's the combination of this midrange with some minor reverb from the closed design caps.
 
Today I plugged 1R to my xcan v8 to listen to some music,and although it performed a bit better compared to the ipod nano (it gave it a bit life to it's sound and a more airy soundstage with more 3d depth,a bit better dynamics and speed too),the coloration to the sound and the veil still remains....I then switched to hd600 and the sound was much better,a clearly improvement,the veil disappeared and the sound was clear,transparent,way more natural with better balance and more musical.
 
Sony are not bad sounding,but in my opinion you could do much better with akg k550,shure 840 at this price.I just prefer the sony's design and comfort though,compared to these two,and it's a bit dissapointing.Shure 840 is not a headphone you can take outside in my opinion,and k550 are also a bit big for portable use I think (but look less funny on the head compare to shure).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

I can't speak for John but I am currently trying the K550 and so long as you get a good fit, the K550 has a more neutral signature that I personally am finding more enjoyable that the 1R. The K550 has similar amounts of sub-bass and bit less mid-bass, slightly less forward mids that are detailed a very clean, and more extended and clean highs. The K550 also has a larger sound stage.
The 1R is more portable oriented though and more comfortable (except for it gets a bit warmer due to the cup size proximity to the ear). The 1R also has removable cables which is a better feature as compared to the long cable of the K550 (if I still am thinking I am going to keep the K550 in a week or two I will get a friend to cut the K550 cable near the cup and terminate it with a female connector and then terminate the extra cable with a male connector so I will have a detachable cable system).
Out of the 3 closed headphones I have tried recently I would rank them like this:
Sound - K550 > MDR-1R > Momentum
Comfort - MDR-1R > K550 > Momentum
Portability - Momentum > MDR1R >> K550
Quality - Momentum > K550 > MDR-1R
Durability - K550 > Momentum > MDR-1R
Accessories - Momentum > MDR-1R > K550
Cable - MDR-1R = Momentum = K550
I ranked the cables the same because each has an aspect the other do not have. The 1R has think durable cables that are removable but they get stiff in colder climates. The Momentum has thinner almost frail looking cables but they are good in all conditions and the most portable. The K550 is not detachable but is a very good quality cable that is long which would be good for a listening station.
Isolation is a draw between them from my use of each on the bus and train.

 
Wow, thanks a lot for feedback, I was actually following your posts in K550 thread. Hmm, so K550 are THAT better, I believe you used by "HUGE margin" in one of your posts. Interesting that Jude liked MDR-R1 better than K550 he owns. Geez, feedback on these ones is killing me, never seen such a controversy.

 

[john53]

Quote:

I can't speak for John but I am currently trying the K550 and so long as you get a good fit, the K550 has a more neutral signature that I personally am finding more enjoyable that the 1R. The K550 has similar amounts of sub-bass and bit less mid-bass, slightly less forward mids that are detailed a very clean, and more extended and clean highs. The K550 also has a larger sound stage.
The 1R is more portable oriented though and more comfortable (except for it gets a bit warmer due to the cup size proximity to the ear). The 1R also has removable cables which is a better feature as compared to the long cable of the K550 (if I still am thinking I am going to keep the K550 in a week or two I will get a friend to cut the K550 cable near the cup and terminate it with a female connector and then terminate the extra cable with a male connector so I will have a detachable cable system).
Out of the 3 closed headphones I have tried recently I would rank them like this:
Sound - K550 > MDR-1R > Momentum
Comfort - MDR-1R > K550 > Momentum
Portability - Momentum > MDR1R >> K550
Quality - Momentum > K550 > MDR-1R
Durability - K550 > Momentum > MDR-1R
Accessories - Momentum > MDR-1R > K550
Cable - MDR-1R = Momentum = K550
I ranked the cables the same because each has an aspect the other do not have. The 1R has think durable cables that are removable but they get stiff in colder climates. The Momentum has thinner almost frail looking cables but they are good in all conditions and the most portable. The K550 is not detachable but is a very good quality cable that is long which would be good for a listening station.
Isolation is a draw between them from my use of each on the bus and train.

I agree with your comparison between akg k550 and Sony mdr 1r.
 
I haven't tried momentum,but I would rank the four full sized closed cans I have/had like thismy opinion)
 
Overall sound quality: AKG K550 > SHURE SRH840 > KRK KNS 6400 > SONY MDR 1R
Build quality/design: SONY MDR 1R > AKG K550 > KRK KNS 6400 > SHURE SRH 840
Comfort: KRK KNS 6400 > SONY MDR 1R > SHURE SRH 840=AKGK550 i'm not very sure about the last two...
Portability:SONY MDR 1R > KRK KNS 6400 > AKG K550 > SHURE SRH 840
Easy to drive: I didn't have problems with any of them out of my ipod nano 5g without external amp.