[Makiah S]

See, and others think your perspective is the myth

This is a highly controversial issue. I know speaker designers who will tell you that speakers do break-in with some physical changes. Then there have been attempts to disapprove this with headphones that were inconclusive.

 
Honestly I like a little mystery and Myth in Audio Gear, GRANTED I would love to understand EVERYTHING, but the fun is in discovery, and in the STORY behind the discovery. People much rather listen to a tale with a little mysticism to it, than hear some tech geek rattle off numbers and math. So for my social audiophile hobby... I do have some Taboos that are pretty stupid
 
I think  "burn in Noise" is satanic screams [I burn in with music]
Using EQ will bring forth the rath of the Audio Gods [Listening to EDM invokes their rath as well... which is why it's so popular (I like it)]
And owning  Sennhessier will lead to my untimely death ( I'd die from the embaressment of wearing something so ugly]
 
why have such stupid rules... cuz it makes my hobby a more interesting one to talk about! 
 
On that note the K550 is a unicorn, IT CHOOSES IT'S MASTER [and I was not choosen :[ } 

 

[wrightanswer@ear]

The "highs" are fine for the most part. But high brass, like in fanfares, hit a nerve with the headphone. We're not talking about high-pitched voices or piano notes here, but bright, prominent orchestral brass like trumpets and horns. Diabolical, piercing sound, all the more horrible for being so artificially edgy when the rest of the sound is smooth and pretty good. Makes unlistenable any brass-laden orchestral recordings that I've enjoyed for years with any other equipment. But play a disc with no prominent brass and everything else sounds fine. Bass and general warmth seem to be exactly how I like it to be.
Gave them 50+ hours of burn-in (which I expected would be a waste of time and I was right) before getting rid of them.

 

[hiddenninja]

I was gifted a pair of these for my birthday by my bro last year, and for the time I had them, they were great. However, I ended up having an issue trying to adjust the left earcup, which simply wasn't able to move after a while. So one day, I tried to tug it really hard to make it move, but I ended up overdoing it and broke the headphones by accident, completely detaching the left cup from the rest of the headphones. And since the left cup is the one with the wires attached to it, when I put it back together, the sound only came out of that left cup, so I was left with a broken pair of cans. Luckily, my bro had connections with someone who worked in AKG and managed to set me up for a full replacement unit instead of going through the warranty service, so it wasn't all bad. I should be able to get them back within a couple of weeks.

 

[3ternalDr4gon]

Planning to get the cable detached in order to add a bluetooth receiver. Does anyone have any recommendations on which one to use? Obviously I would prefer one that isn't too bulky and would make the headphones look silly

 

[Muzzy011]

I am listening to phones 4-5 hours last few days, since i got them, and whole time there is strong odor of 'new electronics turned on for the first time' if you know what I mean?
 
Proof they really do 'burn-in' lol
 
Aside of that joke, is anyone experienced the same?

 

[Muzzy011]

I swear that this one benefits from burn-in!
 
A lot of people just left new headphones with white or pink noise looping on them for 20-50 hours, then they start to listen to them.
 
I did different, I started listening to them from very start, as I am truck driver, I have plenty of time for that.
 
So what is the thing - at very beginning, highs were really piercing, let say too much, and a bit artificial, like metallic a bit, bass quite thin, mids bit muddy. I was listening phones on moderate high, 7 on FiiO E10 with low gain. Whole experience was quite annoying, as music was piercing through my head. And it was like that for 2-3 days.
 
After a while, I decided to lower volume a bit, to 5, and continued to listen. Dido - White flag come in, and I said, ah finally something that sounds completely human. but it happened with next song, next one, and so.. I realized, while I was listening, things were changed, so no lie or cheat here, it really happened! let say after 20-25hrs of listening to them.
 
I don't know what was happened, is it burn-in or something else, but things changed from bad to better.

 

[3ternalDr4gon]

Yeah I thought the K550's were extremely bright when I just got them as well. My E07K helped with that though, maybe they're good enough to run without an amp at this point

 

[TobbelT]

I got them as well one/two weeks ago and I have to say,
that my ears are too big, they fit in, but they are touching the hard plastic on the inside
after a longer period of time.
 
I actually like the sound, it's very clear and with an equalizer they are good with any kind of music.
The bad things about those headphones are those piercing highs (listened to them longer than 24 hours),
and they are cutting right through my ears, especially if I am not able to correct the highs. (made me realize how many s/z/t there are in each song)
They need high quality mp3 (my first expensive headphone, didn't notice those differences before on cheaper ones),
and the cushions are too soft leading to the problem I mentioned before.

 

[shadowox8]

  I got them as well one/two weeks ago and I have to say,
that my ears are too big, they fit in, but they are touching the hard plastic on the inside
after a longer period of time.
 
I actually like the sound, it's very clear and with an equalizer they are good with any kind of music.
The bad things about those headphones are those piercing highs (listened to them longer than 24 hours),
and they are cutting right through my ears, especially if I am not able to correct the highs. (made me realize how many s/z/t there are in each song)
They need high quality mp3 (my first expensive headphone, didn't notice those differences before on cheaper ones),
and the cushions are too soft leading to the problem I mentioned before.

 
There are like…57,291 different mods in this thread / around Head-Fi for the K550. Like, super, super easy ones at that. They won't help with your highs / MP3s, but I had the same issue with my ears touching the driver cover, and that's not an issue any more.

 

[Lorspeaker]

post #490 try this mod

 

[georgelai57]

I got them as well one/two weeks ago and I have to say,
that my ears are too big, they fit in, but they are touching the hard plastic on the inside
after a longer period of time.

I actually like the sound, it's very clear and with an equalizer they are good with any kind of music.
The bad things about those headphones are those piercing highs (listened to them longer than 24 hours),
and they are cutting right through my ears, especially if I am not able to correct the highs. (made me realize how many s/z/t there are in each song)
They need high quality mp3 (my first expensive headphone, didn't notice those differences before on cheaper ones),
and the cushions are too soft leading to the problem I mentioned before.

I have the same problem with big ears. The K550 has huge ear pads but small ear cavity. I solved my problem by using LCD2 ear pads which are the same diameter 110 mm

 

[CorwinGraves]

Is anyone using these with a DX50 DAP? If so, how is the combination?

 

[kingofzero]

Anyone else feel like these phones get scratched very easily? I take pretty good care of my gear and I've had these lying on a mouse pad for the majority of the time, but as soon as I put em down on a wooden table once or twice this happened;
 
http://i.imgur.com/7McovZ3.jpg
 
Has anyone been using the K550 with the O2+ODAC?

 

[Whippler]

Hey, i haven't had problem with tables, since i keep em either pads down or just normally lay them down. i did scratch one of those pointy corners in to a wall when i was on my bed and turning my head around.

 

[shadowox8]

  Anyone else feel like these phones get scratched very easily? I take pretty good care of my gear and I've had these lying on a mouse pad for the majority of the time, but as soon as I put em down on a wooden table once or twice this happened;
 
http://i.imgur.com/7McovZ3.jpg
 
Has anyone been using the K550 with the O2+ODAC?

 
I can't even see anything in your picture. In any case, I have started commuting to school via bike with these folded flat in my backpack alongside my books and lunch. No issues so far. Then again, I suppose I'm not too picky if they get a little scratched up, so long as they function properly and their integrity isn't compromised.