[mRfRag]

Quote:

So I have had my M50s for about 3 weeks now. I spent a week and a half or so playing them on and off during the day and overnight whenever my computer was sitting still. While I have read that some argue against burn in and consider more of a psychological trick than actual fact, I would have to place myself in the opposite camp. There is a noticeable difference in the phones. The instruments are more crisp and seem to have better separation. The bass has also really opened up. After reading that they were a "bassy" set when compared to others that are considered natural or flat overall, I was a bit worried at first. Over time, the bass has definitely come forward some and is much more crisp and pronounced with the EQ set flat. Playing through Audirvana or Decibel also makes a very noticeable difference over iTunes. Next will be a DAC.
 
And after that....maybe another set of cans? I only wanted one set of good phones to roll with, but dear Lord help me, the bug has bitten. I gotta get off this forum.

if you are looking for another headphone set i think you should buy a HD598 headphones I have the M50 and HD598 and i think they are very compatible, because they are different sounding headphones and very good in many generes. For acoustic, vocal, jazz... i use HD598 and for electronic... the M50. I-m very happy with both

 

[S0onZai]

Today i went to try pairing some amp with m50. Firtstly, the sound signature is almost the same when pairing with fiio e7 amp/dac through my laptop. The treble and bass are still the same. However the mid just bring a little forward and warmer but it is not noticeable. It's not as exaggarate as the review whereas m50+ e7 which can change the whole cans into a "MYTH". On the contrary, when i pair m50 with GoVibe Peak amp/dac thorugh laptop, the mid indeed become warmer and slightly more neutral. The bass is less punchy but tighter. The high is become slightly more detail. I think that m50 unamped still on par with the amped m50. Nothing big changes i can say. If u want a neutral and forward mid signature, i suggest invest your money on headphone instead of amp/dac with m50.

 

[johnman1116]

finally got my m50s, first headphone, and love them! 
i think they are pretty comfortable but i havent really tried other headphones so cant really compare. 
i cant use super-aural at all though. 
um commenting about the ears touching the ear pad cover thingy: at first i had no idea what everyone was complaining about, i have big ears and a big head( 7 1/2 - 7 5/8) and i felt no discomfort but as i continued using them hours a day for days, i could finally feel the discomfort. i only feel it after about.... 3-4 hours or so, so its not that big of a problem for me. lets me know that ive been at my desk for way too long
btw i kinda have long hair that covers by ears (im a dude!), so that may contribute to my lack of comfort.
 
anyways, about the sound. i love it but what the m50 actually did for me was open my mind and ears to more music. my musical preference was pretty limited, hiphop/rap/top50/indie etc, but because of these headphones, i wanted to try listening to music people generally thought was amazing or like best of all time kind of stuff to experience "audio bliss". been listening to ray charles, pink floyd, ac/dc, jazz (jazz at the pawnshop?, i dont want to start a flame war but i really enjoy the album)  and classical, and im SO GLAD i did. there so much great music out there, from different genres and time periods it really is amazing 

im using a pa2v2, with lod. um definitely feel a difference using the pa2v2, like feels more open?bigger? soundstage/bass or something. not really sure how to explain but definitely something (or maybe im a liar). 
 
having listened to the m50s, a closed headphone which i think are great, makes me really want to get an open headphone, maybe hd 598, and experience that open soundstage. the way how i feel an open headphone will sound is like the music will be everywhere, flowing in front, behind, just everywhere all around you. as if the sound isnt coming from the headphone but you are in the music? lol like in animations where musical notes appear around the character. hopefully someone understands me...
haha maybe im a bit crazy and overestimating but i still wanna try  

 

[DarkAndroid]

Quote:

 
having listened to the m50s, a closed headphone which i think are great, makes me really want to get an open headphone, maybe hd 598, and experience that open soundstage. the way how i feel an open headphone will sound is like the music will be everywhere, flowing in front, behind, just everywhere all around you. as if the sound isnt coming from the headphone but you are in the music? lol like in animations where musical notes appear around the character. hopefully someone understands me...
haha maybe im a bit crazy and overestimating but i still wanna try  

I have both the M50 and HD598 and both of them are great headphones. I would say the main difference between the M50 and HD598 is the bass. The M50 is capable of heavy impact bass when paired with the right source and song, while the HD598 has nice and tight bass but does not get to the point where you can "feel" it. You just hear it. The bass on the HD598 sounds cleaner than that of the M50 though. The HD598 on the whole sounds alot smoother than the M50.
 
As regards soundstage, I think its debatable. Some people say that soundstage isnt determined by the headphone but by the imaging of the song itself, and that even cheap earphones like the Apple iBuds are capable of decent soundstaging given the right source. I think the HD598 may have the better soundstage than the M50, but not by much. If you play audio clips like the Naturespace Demo or the Virtual Barbershop where spatial imaging is used to make the listener feel as if he is right there live and he can hear the sounds all around him, believe me, you will be floored, whether you are listening to it using the HD598, M50 or even earbuds. Its hard to get that "music-will-be-everywhere-flowing-in-front-behind-just-everywhere-all-around-you-as-if-the-sound-isnt-coming-from-the-headphone-but-you-are-in-the-music" effect though from any headphone though. The only way I think you can do that is if you invest in a surround sound speaker system.
 
In terms of comfort, the HD598 is the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn in my life. The headphone is almost feather-light and the luscious velour earpads and headband make it so that you can just barely feel them on your head at all. The oval shaped openings of the earpads also ensure that they dont touch your ears at all, just surround them, even if you have big or long ears. The HD598 was my first headphone, so when I got the M50 I was immediately disappointed at how relatively uncomfortable they felt on the top of my head and ears. Using the HD598 had spoiled me.
 
To sum it up, the HD598 sounds smoother than the M50, is waaaaay more comfortable, and is pretty much an all-rounder in terms of genres of music that sound good on it including Classical, Acoustic, Rock, R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, etc. The M50 has heftier bass impact so is suitable for genres like Hip-Hop, Electronic, Dubstep, Hard Rock, basically anything that is bassy and has heavy hitting drums in it.

 

[johnman1116]

thanks for the comparison DarkAndroid!
 
yea thats kinda how i saw these two headphones, both good allrounders with the m50 having a deeper bass and hd598 being open. i really do enjoy the m50 bass. it feels controlled and tight, but i can still "feel" it, the oomph if you know what i mean.
sorry for bring up things like soundstage, i actually dont understand it too well yet and know that they are alot of different components that attribute to the sound other than the headphone ie amplification, sounce etc.
 
as long as they sound open (not closed), ill be happy. plus i wanna see what the whole "Sennheiser veil" is all about
they seem pretty dang comfortable with their "Plush, luxurious velour ear pads"  but im still skeptical about the color... its rad, retro, chic or whatever but i dont know if i could rock it hahha
 
ill probably get it anyways ^^

Spoiler: Quote

 
I have both the M50 and HD598 and both of them are great headphones. I would say the main difference between the M50 and HD598 is the bass. The M50 is capable of heavy impact bass when paired with the right source and song, while the HD598 has nice and tight bass but does not get to the point where you can "feel" it. You just hear it. The bass on the HD598 sounds cleaner than that of the M50 though. The HD598 on the whole sounds alot smoother than the M50.
 
As regards soundstage, I think its debatable. Some people say that soundstage isnt determined by the headphone but by the imaging of the song itself, and that even cheap earphones like the Apple iBuds are capable of decent soundstaging given the right source. I think the HD598 may have the better soundstage than the M50, but not by much. If you play audio clips like the Naturespace Demo or the Virtual Barbershop where spatial imaging is used to make the listener feel as if he is right there live and he can hear the sounds all around him, believe me, you will be floored, whether you are listening to it using the HD598, M50 or even earbuds. Its hard to get that "music-will-be-everywhere-flowing-in-front-behind-just-everywhere-all-around-you-as-if-the-sound-isnt-coming-from-the-headphone-but-you-are-in-the-music" effect though from any headphone though. The only way I think you can do that is if you invest in a surround sound speaker system.
 
In terms of comfort, the HD598 is the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn in my life. The headphone is almost feather-light and the luscious velour earpads and headband make it so that you can just barely feel them on your head at all. The oval shaped openings of the earpads also ensure that they dont touch your ears at all, just surround them, even if you have big or long ears. The HD598 was my first headphone, so when I got the M50 I was immediately disappointed at how relatively uncomfortable they felt on the top of my head and ears. Using the HD598 had spoiled me.
 
To sum it up, the HD598 sounds smoother than the M50, is waaaaay more comfortable, and is pretty much an all-rounder in terms of genres of music that sound good on it including Classical, Acoustic, Rock, R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, etc. The M50 has heftier bass impact so is suitable for genres like Hip-Hop, Electronic, Dubstep, Hard Rock, basically anything that is bassy and has heavy hitting drums in it.

 

 

 
 

 

[B-Dawk20]

Anyone got any EQ tips for the M50s? Specifically the mids? Wondering if I can get them to stand out like a grado or something with a bit eq. I just don't know which frequency range to eq lol.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Mids: 250 Hz - 4 kHz or so. What EQ would you use?

 

[B-Dawk20]

The one on winamp or the precision plugin I got. Allows for precise eq on the whole band

 

[B-Dawk20]

nvm, got help from somewhere else

 

[biggerliz]

just got these on monday, and have been testing them out.
 
i don't want to go over the pros because i agree with much that has been said, but rather i have a few questions.
 
i can't listen to music for a long time on these cans. not sure if it is due to the clamping, the music profile, or something else.?
when i listen to pop songs, the vocals seem a bit louder than the instrumentals. is this typical of this set of cans? is this what they mean by bright and fun? to be honest, i prefer a better balance, and more instrumentation than vocals, so if that's the case, maybe i will have to do some digging.
 
aside from that, i like these a lot, especially the fact that they run pretty well w/out any additional gear. i'm hoping to make these my primary headphones!

 

[DarkAudit]

Ordered mine last night/Tuesday morning. They're due today. Wheee! 

 

[B-Dawk20]

hmmm....the vocals on mine are a bit recessed. Well, at least female vocals. And I wouldn't call them bright and fun. They're more of an analytical can imo. Nothing like a K701 or something but they're usefulness in a studio shows.
 
 
edit: Oh and did you get white box or blue box version?

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

Anyone got any EQ tips for the M50s? Specifically the mids? Wondering if I can get them to stand out like a grado or something with a bit eq. I just don't know which frequency range to eq lol.

Never going to happen.  If you want Grado midrange you got the wrong headphones.  The whole charm of the M50 imo is that the mids don't stick out like a Grado. 

 

[SanjiWatsuki]

Quote:

Anyone got any EQ tips for the M50s? Specifically the mids? Wondering if I can get them to stand out like a grado or something with a bit eq. I just don't know which frequency range to eq lol.

 
Best of luck. You won't be able to make them quite like a Grado (they're very unique in character), but this should be a good start. 

 

[B-Dawk20]

I didn't get the wrong headphones, I'm messing with EQ for the first time. Just wanted to know if anyone had some suggestions for bringing out the mids. Of course I can't get the full on grado sound, I was just looking for something Grado esque. If that's not possible either than oh well, at least boosting the mids some is possible for balance purposes.