First Impressions:
Well, when I first used these, I used them in the same place I'd expect myself to continue using these, on the go from place to place, and while at places outside the home. When I first plugged them in, I was planning on letting them burn in for 10, 15 minutes, but I couldn't resist and decided to listen less then 5 seconds after starting that process. I pressed random on my music player, and I was greeted with an 8 bit chiptune track. The first thing I noticed was the slightly recessed treble. Not recessed to the point of disappointment, but it was recessed. The treble contains a very smooth quality overall, making any higher pitched instruments sound laid back and calming. I liked it! So I moved on to the next song. Levels by Avicii. Might I say, the bass on these is glorious. Very powerful. the synths are pretty strong a well.
Next was Small Two of Pieces. Sadly, I wasn't as entertained by this song as I am on the HD 280s. After going through some more songs, it turns out that these things don't play female voices as well as I hoped. Male voices are amazing, though. The next song was Baba Yetu. It was at this point I realized that these just don't have enough treble and upper mids for orchestral music, and female vocals. I've designed an EQ for those songs, but I'll more often then not be turning to my 280s for that. It makes me sad, because orchestral is my favorite genre. Baba Yetu does have male vocals, and they are very well textured and detailed. Male vocals work better here then on my 280s. At times, the male vocalists can get slightly muddy, but that could easily be the mastering of the music more then the headphones.
Next up was a few Queen songs. Many songs are handled very well here. I like it. First up was "Is this the World we created". I loved the acoustic guitar on this track on these. Very nice and laid back when called for it to be. Freddie Mercury's voice is well presented here. Next up was "Somebody to Love." YES! This is amazing. Better then my 280s. Lovely. No others words could describe my feelings when this song came on. Its just exactly what I want when I listen to this song. I was there. I MELTED INTO THIS SONG! I don't know if this is what is meant when people say transparency, but jeez, man, I jumped up and started singing, no, belting the lyrics along with the song. At this point in the session, I felt that if I could only have one song to listen to on these headphones, it would be this.
After about 30 minutes of music there is when I realized a huge problem. These things are painful to the ears. They are so uncomfortable. I thought I'd be fine, I own the HD 280s, and those things clamp down hard on your head. These things don't clamp, but man, the earpads feel like bricks on your ears. It's actually helpful to wear these backwards, which I find strange. Its caused by the fact the headphones can't swivel so that they'll angle themselves to follow the ears. If you wear them backwards, the angle can conform to the ear. It only helps a little.
Later Impressions:
So I've now used these for 3 hours in total. They don't seem to have a burn in like people keep saying. I am getting more used to the sound signature, which is making them sound better and better, but the drivers themselves aren't physically changing from what I can tell. Maybe the burn is is really that slow, but I'm doubting it'll change much past this. I like it anyways, so it doesn't mean much to me.
I ended up listened to a hard rock song. These things pull you in there, too. such strong and powerful drums. I just listened
to "Welcome to the Black Parade". That also sounds great on these. These kind of made me want to jump up and dance. I don't like dancing when I listen to headphones, I like to sit calmly and think. Kind of backwards from my normal listening style. I guess that is why these are called" fun" over my normal "analytical" headphones.
Later on, I finally decided to listen to the genre I had bought these for, dubstep. When I say these things have bass. I mean they have BASS! So much bass it is unfathomable to me. I have to turn the bass down after 5 minutes because it is so strong here. Wow. But it sounds GREAT! These things are designed for techno. When I said I would only listen to "Somebody to Love", I didn't realize how well these handles dubstep! I'm loving it! Once again, these have incredibly strong drums. I will definitely be using these to make sure the tracks I make have strong enough drums. I love that these things aren't lacking in all the detail I wanted, like I was expecting them to. The instruments are really well done on here, with the midbass and the lower mids making them sound really full. I'm not used to that, the 280s have really weak lower mids and midbass. Tons of subbass, though.
I decided to get goofy and listen to some country music. It actually sounds really good. I then tried some gospel music. Also great. These things can handle almost anything that you throw at them... Unless you want orchestral. Now, these can be EQed to handle orchestral pretty well, but not as well as I was hoping.
Final Thoughts:
If you like rock music, whether that be acoustic ballads or metal, these are great. If you like electronic music, especially dubstep, get these. If you like orchestral music, and female vocals, these might not be the best in the price range. You'll want something with strong upper mids. and stronger treble. Closer to neutral then these. If you are unable to handle the horrid comfort, and you can not get the HM5 mod, these might not be the best for you. These things are just not good on the ears! Also, I'm kind of concerned about the build quality. I don't know if I'm going to be able to throw these haphazardly into a backpack like I was hoping I could. Note: if you stretch it out every so often (very slightly and carefully), and push on the pads to try to break them in, this really helps.
I give it 2/5 for comfort, 2.5/5 for build quality, and 8/10 for sound. Man, do I love this sound. If you can withstand the comfort until it gets better, or get a pad mod, please go get these!
Edit: Oh, and someone in the postal service cut open the box and took out whatever the present was. Thanks for that, postal service >.>
it came with a crumpled up Japanese newspaper as padding, though. Which I find even more interesting. They have a section devoted to help teach you English, and tons of English words throughout the newspaper. Its incredibly neat.
More Thoughts:
I changed my mind, and I'm going to continue working on this until I can describe everything I can about the sound.
Daft Punk. They sound really good. Their songs are slightly more laid back then I'd expect on these, though. Still great.
More Queen. Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon is great, the bass fills out the song well. The lack of treble makes the guitar solos not as good as I hoped, but still great. Bohemian Rhapsody. AMAZING. Exactly what I said above, but more. The vocals are amazing on these. If the treble was turned up just a little, the guitar solos would be better, but that would ruin the magic of the vocal sections I feel. This is a great song. Only thing I would do is turn down everything below 100 hz by 1 db, at most here. The bass guitars lowest notes are slightly overpowering.
Piano solo songs. These are just slightly worse then on 280s, sometimes. It really depends on where the song puts its emphasis on notes
if it focuses on the higher notes, it won't be as good. Lower piano notes are amazing.
Phil Collins on the Tarzan Soundtrack. Its pretty sweet, I must say. Still, I give the upper hand to my 280s here. Its just funner to listen to. Though, the S500s are more sibilant here (how, I have no idea), so if you can't stand that stuff, be careful. Haven't heard these be sibilant anywhere else, so its just an anomaly. My 280s are never sibilant, somehow. Makes no sense seeing as it has a huge spike at 8 khz. These have a spike, too, but its much weaker then the 280s. Speaking of Disney, how about Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Elton John' version is incredibly laid back on these. The movie version... I love it... Wow. I wouldn't say its better then my 280s, which I already loved this song on, but its a much different take on it. Tons of detail in there, which was completely unexpected after listening to the Elton John version. All the voices are great. I even like the female vocals here, but they're laid back as well. In fact, the entire song is laid back, but its a nice kind of laid back, makes me just want to sit back and relax. Such a lovely song (I need to stop using that word, but I can't think of any other words to describe the sound of these.) Everything is just more detailed on the S500s then the 280s. Be A Man from Mulan. I decided to go in reverse order here, and listen to it on my 280s first. I didn't think the s500s could top the 280s performance on this song, And well, it didn't. Just like with Can you feel the Love tonight, it provided a more detailed, yet more laidback sound to the song. It depends on what you want there. Still very enjoyable, but you'll have to turn up the volume to get it to *I accidently had an EQ on* Oh... hmm.. This isn't as laid back anymore. I like it. Its a lovely sound (there I go again), I'm really enjoying these a ton.
Okay, off of Disney and on to KatamarI Damacy's soundtrack. What a crazy soundtrack. Fugue 7777 is really nice and full. Lonely Rolling Star had a stronger drum then I was used to, of course. The vocals were not as powerful as I was used to, also. Its female vocals, so I saw it coming.
Rap music. I wasn't (okay yes I was) expecting rap music to become this laid back. For some rap songs, this sounds amazing, for others, it doesn't fit as well. It will still sound great, though.
Blarsa's Garden Party. Jazzy songs are incredibly laid back for what I'm used to, but its very nice. I like it.
Chrono Cross soundtrack. Scars of Time is very full and warm. Nice to the ears. The flute is WAY more enjoyable then I expected, haha. Great!
Theres a slightly muddy instrument in the lower end when the main part comes in though, sadly... I just went back and checked the 280s, this muddy instrument isn't even there... So the S500s were able to find an instrument I can't even hear at all with the 280s. Pretty nice. Chrono Trigger's Corridors of time is nice, almost as good as the 280s. So far, because the 280s suit orchestral music better to my ears, most of this soundtrack stuff isn't working out as well as them, but still great. Some of the songs, like Dream of the Shore of the Other World, Voyager, and Star Stealing Girl, are just more laidback, which also sounds amazing. I guess it means that more agressive orchestral songs just don't work with these. I don't find them as being slow, though. I wonder what could cause that. Okay, back to Star Stealing Girl. WOW. This song just moved me here. I don't know if thats the headphones or the song itself, but its never this pleasant and relaxing before, and I like it. Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. Its pretty good on these. the panning of these songs sound great (no soundstage though). Its all laid back still, which I am liking the sound of more and more. Water Ambiance in particular is relaxing me like a lullaby. I'm happy with these.
I need to try one more soundtrack song before I move on. Advent Childrens's One Winged Angel. The intro manages to be laid back as well. Kind of cool. Then the metal guitar comes in and everything moves to the aggressive end of the spectrum, while still retaining this pair of headphones signature smoothness. The opera is rather wet, very reverberated, but its what I would expect out of this song, so plus points to that.
Okay, I think I've covered as many genres as I am willing to listen to on these.
I think that the comfort will get better as you use it now. Just make sure to stretch it out slightly every so often, and then to try to make the pads softer by pinching them to make them deeper. Good luck!
I used a glue gun because I don't feel like waiting another 7 days for O rings, The stock pads were making my ears feel tender after an hour of use. I really hate on ear style headphones and I don't ever plan on going back to stock or upgrading to different pads, these ones are perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I'm going to go get some electricians tape to hide the glue gun on the outside and nobody would be able to tell that they were modded.
These are great.
![size]](http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies/smily_headphones1.gif[size=13px][/size])
