[Drastion]

I always wanted to try the Q40, but never pulled the trigger. I actually inquired about replacement pads on the Q40 and M-Audio said they were not replaceable. What the heck? How is that not possible? The pads look kind of uncomfortable.

I imagine the Q40 is a bass monster compared to the KRKs. Wish I knew.

The DJ100 doesn't absolutely require an amp, but it's more picky with source. Strangely enough it sounds great from a Sansa Clip, but not as much with other sources that are even larger such as the Fuze or even Portable CD players. Right now I can easily make it sound bad, which is kind of sad.

BTW I think most larger phones could drive it. Well, maybe the Iphone or an Android device.

Been reading threw a three year old thread on them with some of your posts in there. Most people bought the beyerdynamic velour pads since most people agreed they were not comfortable. Just they had to glue on the seperate pad that comes with the beyer since its attached to the stock pad.

Your description of the 8400 sub-bass made me want to see what was good for sub-bass. Not looking for bass monsters but maybe that goes hand and hand with good subass I dont know.

 

[Drastion]

Tdockweiler

If you are still thinking about them. Be warned the threaded headphone jack is cheap. Unless they have fixed it it tends to break the wires in the detachable cord. Considering how much you like to recable that might be a bonys excuse for you to do it.

 

[UnarmedLad]

Thanks Zoom25! I think I might indeed go for the E10, and then save up to buy a portable amp later. I noticed that these headphones are a lot less fatiguing to listen to when driven from my iPod than when driven from my onboard sound. What I also noticed is that while there's definitely less bass volume than a lot of other headphones, I find the bass actually a lot easier to make out because it is more of a distinct sound. I previously thought of a bass guitar as just sounding like a low tone, probably with some overtones from distortion and finger-string contact, but with the KRK I can appreciate it as a textured and complex sound. I was used to cheap Sennheisers, so that might explain a few things. Unfortunately these headphones also made me realize that the hearing of 16Khz+ sound has severely degraded in my left ear, as rising monophonic tone sweeps seem to pan to the right before fading out...

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Thanks Zoom25! I think I might indeed go for the E10, and then save up to buy a portable amp later. I noticed that these headphones are a lot less fatiguing to listen to when driven from my iPod than when driven from my onboard sound. What I also noticed is that while there's definitely less bass volume than a lot of other headphones, I find the bass actually a lot easier to make out because it is more of a distinct sound. I previously thought of a bass guitar as just sounding like a low tone, probably with some overtones from distortion and finger-string contact, but with the KRK I can appreciate it as a textured and complex sound. I was used to cheap Sennheisers, so that might explain a few things. Unfortunately these headphones also made me realize that the hearing of 16Khz+ sound has severely degraded in my left ear, as rising monophonic tone sweeps seem to pan to the right before fading out...

Yea I agree. Comparing sound from my macbook pro, iPod and sansa fuze - the sansa fuze sounded the best especially with dynamics. In terms of amp and future, currently the best money and feature wise is e10, for later in terms of amp purely and good price is the E11, it has a better amp than the E17. E17 goes for around $140, this has a better dac than E7 easily and also better than E10. The E17 has a better amp than E7, although the E17's amp is not as well as E11's amp. Although overall E17 is a really good desktop and portable solution. Also when Fiio comes out with the E15, the improved version of E9, the E17 could be paired with E15 - so an upgrade from E7/E9 combo. lol just wanted to throw it out there.
 
 

 

[peck1234]

 
 
 

The M50's mids just don't do it for me. It's a good headphone, but it's about as boring as listening to the D2000 or HD-600.
Now most people find the D2000 and M50 to be fun headphones, but I guess we all prefer a specific signature. I'll take good mids or even slightly forward mids over more bass or treble.

Well I have about a week+ with my ATH-M50's.  I'd say about 60 hours of listening in.  I now, (after much testing agree) that thee above quote does hold true.   The M50's mids to me do infact feel a little rolled off, while the loose bass and sometimes metallic like treble can hurt my ears at high volume. 
 
  Hopefully I'll be enjoying my HD 598's when they arrive.  Also mite be picking up a pair of Hf3s.
 
As a final note on the ATH-M50's they are VERY enjoyable and while mixing in reason I find these to be great studio monitors.
 
I will be doing some A/B tests when the 598's arrive

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
 
 
Well I have about a week+ with my ATH-M50's.  I'd say about 60 hours of listening in.  I now, (after much testing agree) that thee above quote does hold true.   The M50's mids to me do infact feel a little rolled off, while the loose bass and sometimes metallic like treble can hurt my ears at high volume. 
 
As of right now my favorite headphone (earbuds) remain the CX-300 II  

.  Dont know what it is but I just love that 'sennheiser sound.   Hopefully I'll be enjoying my HD 598's when they arrive.  Also mite be picking up a pair of Hf3s.
 
As a final note on the ATH-M50's they VERY enjoyable, will be doing some A/B tests when the 598's arrive

 
Did you have the white boxed M50? that's the version I liked the most. Most people think I hate the M50, but I really don't. It's not bad, but just not my favorite signature. There's quite a lot of good headphones out there that are quite good, but don't have the signature i'm looking for. I think the HD-668B and the MDR-V6 were like that for me. HD-668B is about as un-musical (for me) as you can get. It's crazy how good that thing is though for it's price.
 
Hopefully you like the HD-598. It's one of my favorite headphones of all time, but sometimes with the Sennheisers you don't want to over-analyze them too much. I think the HD-598 is one of the few headphones where I have almost zero complaints. Wait, not a fan of it's color

I have the HD-580 now and i've been comparing both a little lately. HD-598 isn't going anywhere though. That thing even holds up to my Q701 (not technically as good, but maybe even more musical for some music).
 

 
 

 

[Azathoth]

Great review from the OP, I may have to hunt these down in my country for an audition. Are they circumaural like the ATH-M50's?

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Great review from the OP, I may have to hunt these down in my country for an audition. Are they circumaural like the ATH-M50's?

Yes they are. It sometimes takes a couple days for them to adjust to your ears. Sounds strange, but that's what happened to me.
Probably one of the most comfortable closed headphones i've owned.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Yes they are. It sometimes takes a couple days for them to adjust to your ears. Sounds strange, but that's what happened to me.
Probably one of the most comfortable closed headphones i've owned.

+1. Yup completely agree with that. They were really annoying the first two days but by the end of the week they were really comfortable. The headband got more comfortable and the ear cups, well let's just say that the memory foam padding works.
 

 

[roma101]

Just got the the 8400s and I gotta say, I'm really impressed! I love how balanced they are and the quality of the bass is great. Highs are usually hard to get right but on the 8400s, it seems to be pretty seamless. My one and only gripe with them is how wide the headband is - satellite dish alert lol. Would love to transplant another headband on these. Has anyone thought of doing that?

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Just got the the 8400s and I gotta say, I'm really impressed! I love how balanced they are and the quality of the bass is great. Highs are usually hard to get right but on the 8400s, it seems to be pretty seamless. My one and only gripe with them is how wide the headband is - satellite dish alert lol. Would love to transplant another headband on these. Has anyone thought of doing that?

Haha, I had that problem with the SRH-840 too. Such WIDE headbands. No way I'd ever use either of them in public, like on a train.
 
It's funny when you extend the 8400 a bit. My reaction was that they could fit King Kong!
 
They're not ultra secure on my head, but still more secure than the SRH-840 I had.
 
If you do any gaming, you HAVE to try them out! Skyrim is just amazing with these headphones and gives the Q701 some serious competition.
 
The idea that the 8400 lacks sub-bass is just funny to me when you try these with games/movies.

 

[tdockweiler]

If anyone wants a dirt cheap DAC that has some very good synergy with the 8400, try the $40 Creative X-Fi Go.
No amp needed and it sounds good with the 8400.
 
I've yet to have the 8400 sound bad from ANY amp.
The X-Fi Go has an 7.8 ohm output, but it doesn't alter it's signture at all. My DJ100 sounds terrible with it.
People say anything over 1 ohm will do this, but I haven't heard it.
 
I also think it sounds just fine out of the E9's 10 ohm 1/4 jack. Even on the 42 ohm jack the sound isn't that bad. Not major signature changes that I could hear.
 
After lots of testing, as long as the 8400 is properly driven, the 8400 seems to benefit more from some kind of DAC.
 
The X-Fi Go seems to make the 8400's soundstage even larger. It does benefit from amping, but not like some of my other headphones.
 
The KRKs seem to especially be good from Headroom amps. The Airhead supposedly has a 9 ohm output and it's fine..weird huh?
 
My only complaint is that bad music always sounds horrible

For that I just use my HD-598.
 
I think the Koss A/250 probably has the most detail i've ever heard in a headphone, but these would be second maybe. Even beating out the Q701.
8400 is crystal clear to me, but the A/250 seems even clearer. Don't know how they managed that. Too bad it's not quite as balanced as the 8400.
 
Best i've heard the 8400 is using a HRT Music Streamer II to my Micro Amp. E9 isn't bad despite people saying technically it would be a bad match.
 
Has any heard the 8400 sound bad only with a specific amp or DAC? Wish my DJ100 was like this. That thing seems to only play well with 50% of what I connect it to.
 
 
 
 

 

[Zombie_X]

I got one on the way from a local seller. It should be here tomorrow or Monday. I wonder how they will perform next to my SRH-440...

 

[avoshake]

[EDIT] ignore this post, just read previous pages
 
I'm looking for a relatively cheap/entry level portable amp/DAC for these... The greatest use will be for replacing my onboard laptop sound but I would like the portability/amp option for with my phone or otherwise. Obviously looking at the fiio e7, but was just wondering if that won't be such a complementary relationship. Anyone have suggestions/alternatives?

 

[Hellbishop]

Quote:

 
If you do any gaming, you HAVE to try them out! Skyrim is just amazing with these headphones and gives the Q701 some serious competition.
 
The idea that the 8400 lacks sub-bass is just funny to me when you try these with games/movies.

Yay verily tis good. The KRK KNS-8400 bring out with a glittering audio shine all the hard work which has gone into the audio for SKYRIM. Its way better then anything i've heard with my bookshelf speakers and brings out the vocals crispy clear. Environmental sounds are very life like with the only thing missing being the actual physical sensation thats how detailed everything is with the KRK KNS-8400.
 
Am in total agreement with the bass statement. Theres plenty and in a very balanced non-overpowering way. I definitely feel plenty of thumping action when shields are bashing and frost spells are a flying in some damp creepy dungeon in SKYRIM.
 
In a way the KRK KNS-8400 remind me of my KLH Pro6 B bookshelf speakers with a very linear crystal clarity and incredibly balanced bass one gets when playing at nearfield positioning volumes. Of course as mentioned already the KRK KNS-8400 do need a bit more volume to power compared to the KLH's which sound perfect at a low setting. I was mildly amused when i noticed my Onkyo TX-8555 was barely warm using them compared to the Insignia Bass Reflex and JBL Control One bookshelf speakers. Eh sorry about going off on a slight tangent just love it when cheap priced gear sounds so great.