[Johannes78]

Looking to get a pair of headphones that would compliment my M40x's which I really enjoy. The more reviews I read, the more I find second guessing my decision.
 
Listen to vinyl as well as mp3's through my DAC/headphone amp (Emotiva XDA-2), mostly rock (radiohead, deftones, the national) and chill electronic (massive attack, portishead, air).
 
Looking for open back cans since I plan on just using these at home - $150 - $250 range.
 
Opinions vary on these phones so Ive been waffling on pulling the trigger. 
 
Grado SR125e - poor construction, not comfortable
 
Beyerdynamic DT880 - all treble, no bass
 
Sennheiser 598 special edition - may sound too identical too M40x's
 
Philips Fidelio X2 - no midrange, too bass heavy
 
I see 41/2 stars on all reviews but then read complaints from 'audiophiles' on performance or how they aren't hd600's. Just looking for some honest advice on what would be a good alternative to my M40x

 

[serman005]

  Looking to get a pair of headphones that would compliment my M40x's which I really enjoy. The more reviews I read, the more I find second guessing my decision.
 
Listen to vinyl as well as mp3's through my DAC/headphone amp (Emotiva XDA-2), mostly rock (radiohead, deftones, the national) and chill electronic (massive attack, portishead, air).
 
Looking for open back cans since I plan on just using these at home - $150 - $250 range.
 
Opinions vary on these phones so Ive been waffling on pulling the trigger. 
 
Grado SR125e - poor construction, not comfortable
 
Beyerdynamic DT880 - all treble, no bass
 
Sennheiser 598 special edition - may sound too identical too M40x's
 
Philips Fidelio X2 - no midrange, too bass heavy
 
I see 41/2 stars on all reviews but then read complaints from 'audiophiles' on performance or how they aren't hd600's. Just looking for some honest advice on what would be a good alternative to my M40x

I have the M40X and the 598 and I don't really think they sound very similar. That surprised me to hear that. To me, the 598 is more open, wider, with a much bigger stage and more detail. Quite a bit more. That's just me, you and others may disagree but I think they sound fairly different, actually. The other thing I was going to say is that I would add the SoundMAGIC HP200 to your list. It is really terrific, IMO. I like the X2. I'm not a Grado or a DT880 person.  FWIW.  It is hard to make these decisions, I know. Information overload. You'll figure it out. --)

 

[Johannes78]

  I have the M40X and the 598 and I don't really think they sound very similar. That surprised me to hear that. To me, the 598 is more open, wider, with a much bigger stage and more detail. Quite a bit more. That's just me, you and others may disagree but I think they sound fairly different, actually. The other thing I was going to say is that I would add the SoundMAGIC HP200 to your list. It is really terrific, IMO. I like the X2. I'm not a Grado or a DT880 person.  FWIW.  It is hard to make these decisions, I know. Information overload. You'll figure it out. --)

Thanks for the expert input, really appreciate it! Agonizing over this major life decision, lol. I'll look into the SoundMAGIC's, have never come across those. More to consider! 

 

[saxophone]

You have to keep in mind three things: 1) that there is so much misinformation out there; 2) people exaggerate differences between headphones 3)noticeable differences may only happen with high quality equipment.

1) People who haven't heard headphones recite what other people have said as fact. In the cases you listed, this is not a problem. The headphones you listed are very common and many reviews exist from actual owners.

2) A member of another forum told me that "the SRH 840's mid-bass is so boosted that it becomes impossible to hear the sub-bass and mids in some songs". Not only is this absolutely ridiculous, but at the time, I owned the SRH 840 and my ears disagreed. I still can't even tell if the sub-bass is recessed on that pair.

3) Can you tell the difference between the DT 880 250 ohm and 600 ohm varieties? I certainly was not able to, when I owned both. I had a FiiO E17, so maybe that was not enough to be able to tell. Now that I have a Burson Soloist, I may be able to tell now.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johannes78 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Opinions vary on these phones so Ive been waffling on pulling the trigger. 

 

Grado SR125e - poor construction, not comfortable

 

The Philips SHP9500 is a good substitute. More gentle bumps in the upper bass but also rolls off early at the low end (so not much in the low bass) with some bumps in the midrange and treble, high sensitivity as well so no need for amps. Can be more comfortable vs default Grado settings (you can reshape the headband on those to mimic the squared shape on current HiFiMans, the Abyss, etc). Original earpads a little bit more comfortable but hard to find and replace, but Brainwavz HM5 earpads supposedly fit.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johannes78 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

Grado SR125e - poor construction, not comfortable

 

Beyerdynamic DT880 - all treble, no bass

 

Sennheiser 598 special edition - may sound too identical too M40x's

 

Philips Fidelio X2 - no midrange, too bass heavy

 

If you're willing to use EQ, the X2 is likely the easiest to fix since its relative lack of midrange is due more to auditory masking. Trim the bass and the treble peak and the midrange is easier to hear. That's a lot easier because boosting forces a transducer to produce more of what it can't by default, so you always bring it closer to the point where you can get distortion due to driver behavior, like if you had to do a lot of low bass boost on the Grado (and the SHP9500S).

 

You can do something similar to the DT880 though, but focusing more on the treble.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johannes78 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

I see 41/2 stars on all reviews but then read complaints from 'audiophiles' on performance or how they aren't hd600's. Just looking for some honest advice on what would be a good alternative to my M40x

 

That's because people who like the sound will rate them highly but those who treat the HD600 obviously won't. And the thing is, the HD600 became a reference due to its tonal balance. No headphone is perfectly flat, but it's the one that comes close that has been produced for the longest time.

 

The HD650 has a smoother treble curve since the HD600 has peaks at 3500hz and 8000hz, but since it rolls off the treble and pairs that with a taller (upper) bass plateau, the overall balance seems skewed to some next to the sibilance on the HD600 that only comes out at elevated volume levels.

 

The HE400i is as falt as you can get from 1000hz down to 10hz, but then takes a nose dive, peaks at 3500hz-ish and goes above where 1000hz is, then dives, then goes up again to a slightly taller peak somewhere before 10000hz.

 

The K701 rolls off the bass earlier than the HD600 it's practically a Grado below 150hz, but most people don't hear that similarity because Grados are a lot easier to drive and they can't easily get the same result on the AKG. They're described as "revealing," but actually they have peaks at around 6000hz (not too tall vs 1000hz) and at around 9000hz IIRC (this one's taller). That's not "transparent," that's "emphasizing" what has a tendency to hurt the ears. Think of it this way: Wikileaks reveals what official paperwork has on what governments have been doing, that's about as  "transparent" as you can get; the K701 is more like Rousseau blabbing about some "great princess" saying "let them eat cake" and Marie Antoinette (like the recording or the amp) gets the blame for it. The K702 improves on the K701 by extending the bass response lower.

 

Even going beyond the HD600's price range doesn't come without compromises (on top of price). The HD800 has a taller bass plateau that extends lower, but its slightly stronger treble response offsets that, although its imaging however is what you really pay for vs the HD600. The HD700 is even worse. The older LCD-2 has smooth response curves above and below 1000hz, and yet those two regions aren't level enough with each other, although again imaging is better.

 

[Johannes78]

  I have the M40X and the 598 and I don't really think they sound very similar. That surprised me to hear that. To me, the 598 is more open, wider, with a much bigger stage and more detail. Quite a bit more. That's just me, you and others may disagree but I think they sound fairly different, actually. The other thing I was going to say is that I would add the SoundMAGIC HP200 to your list. It is really terrific, IMO. I like the X2. I'm not a Grado or a DT880 person.  FWIW.  It is hard to make these decisions, I know. Information overload. You'll figure it out. --)

Thanks for recommending the SoundMAGIC HP200's, after reading reviews and seeing a sale for $149 on Soundmagic.us, I decided to get a pair! Looking forward to breaking them in. 

 

[serman005]

 
Thanks for recommending the SoundMAGIC HP200's, after reading reviews and seeing a sale for $149 on Soundmagic.us, I decided to get a pair! Looking forward to breaking them in. 

Let us know what you think. They should be good. --)