RPGWiZaRD
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
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It's not about getting them sound like XB500 but how I optimally prefer it to sound like. I don't want "different" signatures, I want as close as possible to the sound signature I know I enjoy the most that I've found out by trial & error / comparing different headphones, settings, EQing etc. I didn't need more than a few mins listening with XB500 as it sounded "instantly" very close to what I personally enjoy (needed some EQing though to balance the frequency response a little but rest was nice), I don't need to adjust, by adjusting to me it means you're just trying to forget what you really enjoy as that's how it works with headphones, listen to headphones for a while and they'll start sounding more and more acceptable as you forget about how the other headphones sound like but then if you put on your "favorite" headphone you'll realize what you were missing out on again, all that "build-up" for a new sound signature goes wasted just like that in a blink. Listen to a basshy headphone for a week and towards the end of the week it'll satisfy your bass cravings a little more but then put back on a bassheavy headphone and you're like ZOMG where does all this bass come from, didn't remember it sounding this bassy? People's taste/prefers may change with time or they could stay the same for a very long time, I know my prefers haven't changed one bit for a few years at least, I've had this XB500 since June or something last year and I still very much enjoy the sound. In the past for example DT770 pro, M50, D1100, K518 DJs, M5X didn't get more than 1 - 2 weeks or so head-time, I can pretty much instantly decide whether this headphone is close to what I'm looking for or not, burn-in might only have a little impact if any.
Following part might be rather boring read to some but those interested in knowing how I got to where I am now could read on
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Sennheiser HD 212 pro was my first "decent" headphone that I had used like 2-3 years and had spent lots of time with finding those optimal EQ settings for it and back then it sounded pretty good to me (I suppose it was a fairly good starting step when looking from my own prefer's point of view) as I didn't like neither DT770 Pro and M50... I liked M50 better than DT770 Pro though (I dislike V-shaped response curves which DT770 very much all about, thin, bright but also thought there could be a bit more midbass, the subbass was more than enough), only missed a little bass quantity from M50 (at that time bass quantity had even bigger importance to me coming from 5.1 speaker sets) and could enjoy a bit better soundstage . Then tried AKG K518 DJs due to the price but missed some deep bass and soundstage was very poor (claustrophobic), otherwise they were very close except for the awful comfort. Then I finally decided to try XB700 and FINALLY I instantly got something I enjoyed more in pretty much all possible ways than the HD212 pro and was like praising them and what not for 2 weeks until I decided to give XB500 a try and then it was like instantly the first few secs I heard them were enough to tell, this is very close to what I've been looking for (I start EQing almost instantly just shortly after I've given the "out-of-box" sound a listen to various songs) and knew this was a headphone very much to my liking. After a few mins I was already certain about it.
***************
Now these Panasonics are nowhere bad headphones, amazing for the price really, I've just been talking from a subjective point of view in this thread. I mean from my subjective point of view with all EQ settings and everything (my custom dolby headphone config etc) applied to XB500 is worth like $200 to me, at least that's what I'd without question pay for a headphone that would have this sound out of box without any tweaking needed, possibly a bit more. Now the Panasonics are at least worth $150 to me but I may not have found the optimal settings or it might still improve from burn-in etc so who knows if it might yet reach XB500 in terms of satisfaction or slightly surpass it. Then if you compare price/performance, in US price (in europe it's a little different though) the Panasonics would be worth like 5x the price while XB500 "only" 4x. So yea that indeed gives a better indication of their value and thought about them.
So yea I work like that I'm on a quest to find that "holy grail" to me. When I've found the optimal headphone I'll just live with that until my taste/prefers change. I can't get "bored" of what I "want to hear", that's like stopping liking a band you're the biggest fan of... doesn't sound logical to me. Again you can force yourself to "like" another sound signature but to me that's like fooling yourself... I believe we all have own taste/prefers and to some it might not be very clear what that is, especially in sound but to me it's crystal clear at this point. I also concider myself lucky to have the taste I have, I have no desire at this point to try all those expensive headphones such as Beyer T1, HD800 etc as I know it's not the kind of sound I'm looking for so I get satisfied for a lot smaller amount spent. I think I'm probably equally satisfied right now as some people who use their $1000+ setups and again I believe it's due to the taste I have and happened to find something corresponding very close to that. A person that wants a very balanced, neutral, analytical, detailed, accurate etc probably has to spend a lot more than me to get equally satisfied. Absurd comparing some $50 headphone to $1000? Well that's my view on this hobby, never underestimate people's taste/prefers, they are the key to the holy grail.
Oh and lastly, it says "RP-HTF600E-S" on my box, the 'E' probably stands for europe/EU and 'S' for silver though. But yea I wouldn't be suprised if they came out of different factories for example with possibly some differences. The packaging is the EXACT same as Denon D1100 btw. ^^ Really poor packaging for a headphone IMO.
Following part might be rather boring read to some but those interested in knowing how I got to where I am now could read on
***************
Sennheiser HD 212 pro was my first "decent" headphone that I had used like 2-3 years and had spent lots of time with finding those optimal EQ settings for it and back then it sounded pretty good to me (I suppose it was a fairly good starting step when looking from my own prefer's point of view) as I didn't like neither DT770 Pro and M50... I liked M50 better than DT770 Pro though (I dislike V-shaped response curves which DT770 very much all about, thin, bright but also thought there could be a bit more midbass, the subbass was more than enough), only missed a little bass quantity from M50 (at that time bass quantity had even bigger importance to me coming from 5.1 speaker sets) and could enjoy a bit better soundstage . Then tried AKG K518 DJs due to the price but missed some deep bass and soundstage was very poor (claustrophobic), otherwise they were very close except for the awful comfort. Then I finally decided to try XB700 and FINALLY I instantly got something I enjoyed more in pretty much all possible ways than the HD212 pro and was like praising them and what not for 2 weeks until I decided to give XB500 a try and then it was like instantly the first few secs I heard them were enough to tell, this is very close to what I've been looking for (I start EQing almost instantly just shortly after I've given the "out-of-box" sound a listen to various songs) and knew this was a headphone very much to my liking. After a few mins I was already certain about it.
***************
Now these Panasonics are nowhere bad headphones, amazing for the price really, I've just been talking from a subjective point of view in this thread. I mean from my subjective point of view with all EQ settings and everything (my custom dolby headphone config etc) applied to XB500 is worth like $200 to me, at least that's what I'd without question pay for a headphone that would have this sound out of box without any tweaking needed, possibly a bit more. Now the Panasonics are at least worth $150 to me but I may not have found the optimal settings or it might still improve from burn-in etc so who knows if it might yet reach XB500 in terms of satisfaction or slightly surpass it. Then if you compare price/performance, in US price (in europe it's a little different though) the Panasonics would be worth like 5x the price while XB500 "only" 4x. So yea that indeed gives a better indication of their value and thought about them.
So yea I work like that I'm on a quest to find that "holy grail" to me. When I've found the optimal headphone I'll just live with that until my taste/prefers change. I can't get "bored" of what I "want to hear", that's like stopping liking a band you're the biggest fan of... doesn't sound logical to me. Again you can force yourself to "like" another sound signature but to me that's like fooling yourself... I believe we all have own taste/prefers and to some it might not be very clear what that is, especially in sound but to me it's crystal clear at this point. I also concider myself lucky to have the taste I have, I have no desire at this point to try all those expensive headphones such as Beyer T1, HD800 etc as I know it's not the kind of sound I'm looking for so I get satisfied for a lot smaller amount spent. I think I'm probably equally satisfied right now as some people who use their $1000+ setups and again I believe it's due to the taste I have and happened to find something corresponding very close to that. A person that wants a very balanced, neutral, analytical, detailed, accurate etc probably has to spend a lot more than me to get equally satisfied. Absurd comparing some $50 headphone to $1000? Well that's my view on this hobby, never underestimate people's taste/prefers, they are the key to the holy grail.
Oh and lastly, it says "RP-HTF600E-S" on my box, the 'E' probably stands for europe/EU and 'S' for silver though. But yea I wouldn't be suprised if they came out of different factories for example with possibly some differences. The packaging is the EXACT same as Denon D1100 btw. ^^ Really poor packaging for a headphone IMO.