Oh wow, I've just invested in an HRT Microstreamer and these MA900s that I've had for just 2 days are quickly becoming favourite out of all my headphones. There's something in the presentation that none of my other headphones can do!! Yikes!
better than nad 50 598 and sr80....?
really...?
I need to expand on this. I'm not saying they are the 'best' of my headphones. I am a professional musician and I conduct as well as play (trumpet), so my knowledge of music is deep and pretty encyclopaedic. Given that diverse taste in musical styles, I've never been able to rank my top few cans because (looking positively) each one of them has attributes that the others don't. Regarding my statement about the MA900, they are giving me an open, dynamic, speedy and alive treble response in a way that I've not been able to get with my other cans, which is addicting. I am yearning for more presence in the bass to balance that. This is something I can definitely live with though.
I think more to the point though, EVERYONE SHOULD BUY AN HRT MICROSTREAMER! I'm 37 years old and have spent a lot of money on sound gear since my teens and I can safely say that even after 2 days, this is probably the most cost effective upgrade I have ever made. Just last week, I was debating with myself whether to be looking at upgrading and despite my efforts to stop it, my eyes and fingers were groping inexorably towards a pair of HD800s. I know I can't really afford that and was looking used but then realising that I really don't have suitable amplification for them and would be entering into territory that I'm in all honesty out of depth with. My reasons for wanting to upgrade are that no one of my headphones is totally satisfying me. This may always be the case, I understand. But, in case it's of any use to anyone, I'll expand on that:
PROS AND CONS FOR ME WITH THE FOLLOWING CANS:
HD598: I love the soundstage, liquid smooth presentation, comfort and ability to really 'relax' late at night and listen. They are truly great for movies, movie soundtracks, large scale slow orchestral music, chamber music (small group ensembles), smaller group jazz, Pink Floyd style soundscape rock/psychadelic, singer/songwriter acoustic, ambient and downtempo electronic. However, for more upfront and dynamic music, such as fast rock, metal, death metal, thick, fast and complex orchestral, big band, latin/percussive stuff, they are too polite, slow, lacking in dynamic punch at presence at both frequency extremes. Despite their beautifully open and warm presentation of the midrange, they are not neutral enough for me - string sections and other midrange 'real' instruments' seem to have a VERY slightly 'boxy' or 'nasal' quality that isn't entirely natural to my ears. I know what they should sound like too as I'm often sat in the middle of a 50-100 piece symphony orchestra. That last point about the midrange shouldn't be taken as a major flaw, it's just something that niggles me slightly but I can soon get over it after listening to them for a while.
NAD HP50: I love their unaffected and natural presentation of everything. I haven't heard anything sound 'wrong' on these cans ever. They are truly the best all rounder of my phones and I just wish I didn't look like such a dick wearing them! The bass is very well balanced and extended and packs a better thump than even my planar HE400s. There is never even a hint sibilance on anything and I can end up pushing the volume to higher levels because of their total lack of harshness. They have a certain roll off on the treble, but that makes toal sense to me given that most albums are produced with the expectation of listeners using speakers and not having drivers shoved right up to their ears! I just don't know how they manage to maintain such an impressive level of detail with the rounding off of that treble - stunning cans and my endgame closed can, thank you NAD! The issues I have is the very fact they are closed and feel very closed and isolating to me. Many people want that, but I much prefer open cans and am happy to have noise leak both in and out, just like listening to speakers, hence my immediate love for the MA900. The have quite a clamp as well, so even on my smallish head, they feel a little claustrophobic, especially when it's hot. Another thing, like the 598s above, but not to such a degree, is their slight politeness and lack of edge and excitement. They definitely have more speed and dynamic slam than the 598s and more punch throughout the frequencies, but it's so refined and slightly warm that is just doesn't become aggresive enough for me at times. A tiny flaw, but one that's quite significant for me with some of the stuff I listen to. Which leads nicely onto:
HE400: Now, these cans have the speed and aggressiveness I need. Unless you've heard planars, you can never understand the difference in presentation. There is something about the physical 'texture' of sound that the planars do for me that no other headphone I've heard before does. It's hard to explain. With electronic music, the myraid of clean and synthesised sounds become almost visual textures to me, bubbling, cracking, grating in such a vivd way! That quality alone is enough for me to keep these cans. I, like many others, struggled for a long time with buyers remorse after buying these. They were the most I had ever spent on headphones and my expectations were so high after being dragged in by this forum. I have ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS NOW though. I loved absolutely everything about them except that treble spike, which was unbearable for me and lent an unnatural sheen to nearly everything. Forum poeple were suggesting EQ, pad mods and all sorts of things to remedy it. I was skeptical and didn't feel like I should have to do all that to get the best from these cans but I was wrong and after getting the modded jergpads, I was convinced. I did not expect the change to be that drastic, but it NEARLY cured the ills of this headphone for me. Now, withe the HRT Microstreamer, I can say that without ANY eq, every ill I had with this phone is gone and I am over the moon with them!
Pros of the HE400 are dynamic slam, speed, ruler flat bass extension and texture, detail and top end sparkle, realism, ability to go LOUD without ever breaking sweat. Cons however are the recessed midrange, which although there is detail and realism there, you have to listen IN to the midrange to appreciate it, as if it is further away from you. It doesn't sound tonally wrong, just recessed in the very areas that I think should be upfront. Although you can get used to it, switching instantly to my NADs for a big. dense orchestral work, I immediately hear the complex and thick tonalities of the 'middle' of the orchestra come full bloom with all the lushness needed. Lush mids is not the HE400s. Dynamics, impact, speed and detail are.
Now onto the
MA900: You might not have noticed, but one common denominator running through my issues with the above cans is that of something 'missing' rather than being 'too much'. Whether that be, as for both the NADs and the 598s, lack of spped and 'aggression' in the treble, or lack of fullness in the midrange for the HE400s. Ultimately, this shows that they are all more towards the category of either 'darker' or 'slower' sounding headphones. I didn't engineer these choices, it's just what I've ended up with, most likely in the pursuit of 'neutrality' and lack of hype in my choice of cans. BUT, the moment I put the MA900s on my head, I was hearing an openness and speed of treble and an exciting and ravishing presence of detail in the top end, something that I have never been able to get out of my present cans (except maybe to some degree the
SR80). I haven't added in depth comparative impressions of my Grados because I haven't listened to them enough in recent weeks to be accurate about that. But, from memory, it's that very openness and speed in the top end that I love about my grados too, they just do not have anywhere near the soundstage of these MA900s. In fact, I've had the Grados the longest in my collection and I know that's why I had a hard time adjusting to the 598s at first. They were just slower, duller and less exciting on first impressions. I'm glad I persevered though.
I've persevered with a number of cans and proved myself wrong by letting my brain adjust, and very importantly,
getting into the headspace of appreciating what a particular headphone CAN do rather than CAN'T do. That's the logic if you want to be happy in this game and I love having different flavours of headphones to enjoy different things and be appropriate in different settings and set ups. The MA900s are my 'favourites' at the moment because they are giving me an openness and an in your face detail that my others cans can't deliver at the same speed or intensity. I'm looking into the music a bit more with these at the moment, or maybe just looking through a different lens. However I say it, they are so refreshing and, alongside my NADs, SR80s and KSC75, the only headphones that I have loved from immediately hearing them. Their design and construction really intrigues me too. I do crave for more bass though and at the moment, I'm listening to my HE400s through the Microstreamer playing Respighi's Pines of Rome and my God, does that vibrate through the air!! The MA900s do have a bit of shoutiness to the upper mids for me, which has made me knock the volume down a couple of times, but they are a perfect compliment to what I already have and just seem to fill that gap that I was craving!
Back to the Microstreamer - I must say that this device has completely convinced me to forget that upgrade I was considering. Every single one of my cans has a new lease of life and are more open, alive, rounded, refined and authoritative than I have ever heard them! The treble spike is gone withe the HE400s. In fact, they may even sound too dark now! The bass is more extended and present with my 598s, the whole sound is just popping out of the NADs in a vivid way and the Sonys are the meanest, forceful rock/metal headphones I've heard!
GET AN HRT MICROSTREAMER!!!!!
