Hi am a total Headphone Noob. Didn't like the sound over hi-fi. just not enveloping enough.
But got the SRH 840's with 100USD off on amazon, as I wanted something to track stereo recordings with... have not tried it yet, my recording laptop shed it's MOBO...
Thus far listened to some of my reference cd's on the desktop, (Realtek HD soundcard - goes loud enough, controls well enough, sound is a bit so-so..) also some 320kbps on the Archos 405 and it sounded nice, bass was less, volume less, sound so-so... and some LP's through my baby focusrite audio interface - luckily it can save settings to hardware - which I did before mobo died, and they sound very natural, but beware of the woolly bass on some LP's it'll just get worse. I can't here the diffs between cd and 320kbps mp3 on the desktop soundcard... and on the hi-fi it is usually fairly clear with my music, so take everything with a bit of salt untill I got the dac linked to the focusrite, or headphone amp...
I dislike:
1. the comfy settings are too loose-fitting can't move around.
2. I can see that I'm going to be spending more money on this headpone thingy... maybe better portable player, USB dac's... amp not for volume, but more definition...
3. The sound is a little fatiqueing at the moment - haven't heard headphones that aren't - Senn px100, px40, igrado, ancient Sony mdr-v100 - well they aren't too fatiqueing, but they aren't nice at all... maybe it'll get better.
I like:
1. sound is nice and laid back, I can play softer and still work.
2. I can play a bit louder and listen into the music, picked up some Turntable set-up issues that is not so audible in main rig... also musical detail. I am not too fussy with the tt - it just sounds nice... I prefer the analog sound, even though techically it is behind my dvdp and DAC.
3. Isolates good enough I think.
4. Don't find the bass too much, mostly because it doesn't have the issues surrounding too much bass, so it is just a flavour difference, it doesn't stuff up the rest of the sound, that too much bass often does. It's almost like good bass from hifi speakers set up just right the room augments a little, but doesn't muddy it up. Some low-level pink noise killed the fudge in the bass after an hour or two... Kudos to burnin wave generator, must say I didn't play it louder than I could comfortably endure for a few minutes.
5. do get good ambient cues from the music, I don't get a soundstage from headphones as my one ear is a bit weaker above 3kHz than the other, the wife is impressed, and says it actually stages, just behind her...
6. Sound Gels on good recordings, so does not on bad ones... Analog is cool
Have listened to:
LP
Ashkenazy rachmaninov 2 klavierkoncerto
Oscar Peterson - My favourite instrument 2
Charlie Byrd - can't remember LP live in las vegas???
The modern jazz quartet featuring Laurida de almeida, sucky recording, on the hi-fi it sounds good enough.
Digital
Sketches of standards domnerus and gustafson - Sounds good prefer my hi-fi still - just for spaciousness etc. Detail on my hi-fi is about the same, but headphones project the details a bit more forward.
Diana krall stepping out,
These: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/recording/1.html convinced me one day I should follow my dream of doing live stereo recording.
Peter Malick trio featuring Norah Jones... sucky recording, but sounds fair enough on the hifi, courtesy of added room acoustics
So actually thanks for all the reviews and helping me out about what to buy...
I was actually fed-up with all the tech things in headphones, as it seems good sounding phones can measure quite bad... In the end I took the phones that would work for tracking and had relatively low distortion as the FR your ear/brain gets used to... My choices on amazon were the sennheiser hd 555, 595 BD DT 660-990, AT AD1001 and etymotic ER4s... the ety's were my almost choice as they have a good rep and good FR, just very poor distortion... and it didn't look like 200USD on special is a bargain with them... I like the philosophy, but those distortion figures scared me a bit.
Long first post but hope it helps someone.
Oh yes compressed music especially bass sucks big time. - I find that a pro... allison Krauss and Robert Plant raising sand, acceptable on hi-fi, the headphones NOT!
Update... it is true they do get smoother with play-time, who'da thunk that?! The wife can't keep away from them though... she also commented on sound improvements, she only listens a little every day or two...
The person who said the PX100 beats this one out... you lucky fish, no need to spend any money on audio type nonsense, keep spending on the weed though...