[dngl]

I guess I should turn in my audiophile tag- I'm looking not for details or anything like that. I'm looking for an emotional connection to the music and the CD1700s somehow provide it. I realize it's strange. I know I'm supposed to like the HD580s more. But the CD1700s just draw me in and make me smile (or whatever the music calls for), which is why I listen to music.

I guess I'm just trying to say that there's a sort of magic to the CD1700s. And they're not grotesquely colored and they're not lacking in detail. Yes, the 580s are more detailed and more audiophile, but I enjoy CD1700s more. I'm not reviewing CDs or equipment... I'm enjoying music.

Grados are colored and blahblahblah but who cares? Enjoy your music. There are things more important than accuracy. I want to feel like I'm there and have the music move me.

Sure I'd love it if the CD1700s were less colored and had more detail and kept the magic at the same time. I'm not done auditioning headphones but it seems like I may not be a sennheiser-type. I hope you don't all shun me

PS. the sennheisers are great headphones. Just not my type, I guess. Give me a few weeks and see if my infatuation with the 1700s wears off

I saw a symphony over the weekend. I got home and listened to the pieces (Blacher's and Rachmaninof's variations on paganini and Sibelius's 2nd) and the CD1700s made me feel more like I did at the concert than the HD580s. Guess I'm crazy.

 

[Tomcat]

Quote:

Guess I'm crazy.

I guess not. You just listen to the music and not to the equipment. Seems VERY smart to me.

 

[kwkarth]

[size=xx-small] Quote:

I guess I should turn in my audiophile tag- I'm looking not for details or anything like that. I'm looking for an emotional connection to the music and the CD1700s somehow provide it.

[/size]
Being an audiophile doesn't mean liking hd580s. The illusion of reality, causing an emotional connection to the music is what it's all about.
[size=xx-small] Quote:

I realize it's strange. I know I'm supposed to like the HD580s more. But the CD1700s just draw me in and make me smile (or whatever the music calls for), which is why I listen to music.

[/size]
Who says you're "supposed" to like the 580s more? I don't think the Sennheiser police are reading this thread! So what is this quality of the 1700s that "draw you into the music?" That's what I would like to understand. Can you put your finger on the magic? My CD3000s did that for me when I first got them, then the Grados did it for me. The Senns were always nice to listen to, and sounded good, but never quite put that kind of smile on my face that the other two did. Then I got the AKG K1000s and the 501s. The K1000s and the 501 both do that for me. They connect me. I can hear through the "stuff" into the music itself. What is it? How to qualify this? The best I've been able to figure, in terms of a common denominator between these is the ability to maintain the detail they have to start with at very low listening levels. Obviously, some better than the others, but nontheless, a common characteristic. So what's you cut on this? Why/how are the Sony's drawing you into the music? What's the magic?
[size=xx-small] Quote:

I guess I'm just trying to say that there's a sort of magic to the CD1700s. And they're not grotesquely colored and they're not lacking in detail. Yes, the 580s are more detailed and more audiophile, but I enjoy CD1700s more. I'm not reviewing CDs or equipment... I'm enjoying music.

[/size]
There's more to reality than frequency response on a graph. Now describe the "magic."
[size=xx-small] Quote:

Grados are colored and blahblahblah but who cares? Enjoy your music. There are things more important than accuracy. I want to feel like I'm there and have the music move me.

[/size]
That's what it's all about, but how does that work?
[size=xx-small] Quote:

Sure I'd love it if the CD1700s were less colored and had more detail and kept the magic at the same time. I'm not done auditioning headphones but it seems like I may not be a sennheiser-type. I hope you don't all shun me

[/size]
Well, if you're "shunned" for not being a "Sennheiser type" then you can join team AKG even if you don't own a pair! As long as you're listening for the music!! But ya gotta describe what's going on here! What is about the Senns that you're finding "not" magical?
[size=xx-small] Quote:

I saw a symphony over the weekend. I got home and listened to the pieces (Blacher's and Rachmaninof's variations on paganini and Sibelius's 2nd) and the CD1700s made me feel more like I did at the concert than the HD580s. Guess I'm crazy.

[/size]
Sound's like you've tapped into something. What is it? Try to identify what this phenomenon is...
Happy listening

 

[redshifter]

while buying a new receiver this weekend i auditioned the grado sr60, 80, 125, 225, 325, beyer dt250, and sennheiser hd600. the cdp was a rotel (sorry don't remember the model) and the amp an integra (onkyo high end). i must have a sony bias because non of these phones sounded nearly as nice as my cd1700, and i would even choose the v6 over all of them. i know i'll get slammed for saying that, but that is my honest opinion. btw, i liked the sr80 best, although i found most of the grados to have a gimmiky sound (certain "sweet" frequencies seemed to be pushed forward).

 

[dngl]

Sorry I wasn't more explicit in the previous post. I just got back from an exciting college touring weekend and was/am dead tired. Anyway, that magic to me is that the 1700s have a great balance. Smooth, but not veiled. Impactful, but realistically so- not exaggerated or fatiguing, but still involving. There's a bit of resonance in the bio-cellulose stuff that I find very musical and real. The CD1700s sort of make the instruments and voices make music. The HD580s, while great in their own right, don't bring me nearly as close to the music or the essence of a live performance. The 580s to me are not like being in the audience- they're detached somehow... recorded sounding perhaps? The CD1700s make me feel like I have the prime seats in the house. Not on stage like with Grados, but that sweet spot in the audience.

I listen mostly to classical but even with rock or bluegrass I preferred the CD1700s. They're cool because they let you see the flaws in your recordings but are forgiving enough to let you look past them when you're into the music. It's hard to describe that "magic". They just feel right. Even with the flaws, there's just a musicality and enjoyment that's conveyed.

This weekend will be a tweakfest for me and I'll post reviews of all my new stuff.