[kite7]

I believe people who use other headphones as their reference when comparing. If AD700 is the only "good" headphone someone has, his or her opinion is less valued from my point of view. Always try to use another headphone as a reference, otherwise there's no "weight".
 
Also, look at frequency response graphs as well on HeadRoom. It does not lie about the AD700 being bass light. For example this is a graph of the headphones of my interest and you can see that the AD700 is bass light
 

 

[Slaughter]

Frequency graphs only tell half the story.....
 

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

I believe people who use other headphones as their reference when comparing. If AD700 is the only "good" headphone someone has, his or her opinion is less valued from my point of view. Always try to use another headphone as a reference, otherwise there's no "weight".
 
Also, look at frequency response graphs as well on HeadRoom. It does not lie about the AD700 being bass light. For example this is a graph of the headphones of my interest and you can see that the AD700 is bass light
 

True. People often times have no point of comparison. I have the AD700and have heard the SR60, MS-1, DT440, HD555, HD238, SRH440 and DT250.  Only the MS-1, DT440 (and maybe DT250) beat it in my opinion.  The bass is light in comparison but there is enough for instumental music, light rock/pop, etc.  The M50s bass looks way too emphasized to be enjoyable, especially when taking into consideration the midrange dip. Judging by the graphs only, the AD700 looks to have the best midbass to upper midrange balance.

 

[Slaughter]

According to the graph the AD700 should be balanced from 100Hz - 3kHz, but anyone who has heard it know that's not the case. FR graphs are almost meaningless...

 

[kite7]

Quote:

Frequency graphs only tell half the story.....
 

They tell me enough to convince me that they are bass light, more so than someone who claims it has enough bass for rap or pop. I currently RS1 and AD700, that graph just confirms what I've been hearing in the low frequencies in terms of loudness. I'd rather trust the graph than someone who has no point of comparison.
 
Quote:

 The bass is light in comparison but there is enough for instumental music, light rock/pop, etc. 

True, there is enough for those genres but any claims about the AD700 bass being too much at times is odd in my opinion.

 

[Kevin Brown]

 
Obviously, I like Grados, and I do like the AT's.  I think they both make a good pair of headphones to compare and contrast for CD listening, for example.
 
What I'd really like to find is a pair that splits the difference between the emphasized mids for the Grados, and the recessed mids for the AD700's.

 

I'm not sure, but wouldn't that be the K701?
 

  I have a pair of AKG K240DF's at home now, and I'm in the process of looking for an amp to drive them properly ...

 
Headphone.com freq response graphs: I don't really know how useful these are.  If you compare the Grado SR60's to the 80/125/225 for example, their data says the 60's have the best low end extension.  But that's clearly not true.  I have personally heard the 60,80, and 125, and while the 80 and 125 have similar extension, the 60's do not go nearly as far down.
 
If you want to see something really funny, look up the freq response of the Sony XB500's there ...
 

 

[audiophile12]

Wow all of this information is really helpful and I would like to everyone for their input.
 
Ok, so I pretty much narrowed down my search to 3 options: the AD700's the Grado SR-80i's, the Audio Technica M-50's, and Sennheiser HD555's. Although I don't listen to much hip-hop, sometimes the bass is the best thing that stands out in a lot of the classic rock music I listen to (like the bass in Hotel California - VERY punchy!), however although I like bass I also want it balanced with the other frequencies across the board with good soundstaging.
 
So which of the headphones that I listed would you guys suggest fit the bill?

 

[Slaughter]

SR80's or 555. Grados are hard to beat for classic rock, but the 555 gives some balance and soundstage to the Grado sound.
 
Quote:

Wow all of this information is really helpful and I would like to everyone for their input.
 
Ok, so I pretty much narrowed down my search to 3 options: the AD700's the Grado SR-80i's, the Grado M-50's, and Sennheiser HD555's. Although I don't listen to much hip-hop, sometimes the bass is the best thing that stands out in a lot of the classic rock music I listen to (like the bass in Hotel California - VERY punchy!), however although I like bass I also want it balanced with the other frequencies across the board with good soundstaging.
 
So which of the headphones that I listed would you guys suggest fit the bill?

 

[Bigrock2150]

We might be able to better help you if you were to list your genres and give them a percentage of how much you listen to each. (ex: rock 60%, classical 30%, Hip Hop 10%)
 
All four of your finalists are decent headphones but they all have their pluses and minuses. 

 

[audiophile12]

Quote:

We might be able to better help you if you were to list your genres and give them a percentage of how much you listen to each. (ex: rock 60%, classical 30%, Hip Hop 10%)

Well I listen to a lot of classic rock (The Who, Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Queen) some hip-hop (2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z), Blues (Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan), Modern Rock (Radiohead, Linkin Park) and then I think around 15% is acoustic and electronica

 

[Bigrock2150]

If you generally listen to hip hip more than 20% of the time i'd recommend not getting the ad700 or hd555 due to their weakness in bass loops.
 
I think the M50s will suit you well, but the sr225i would be even better. Unfortunately with the 225i you loose soundstage, but for your genres soundstaging isn't really all that important. If you listened to a lot of classical i'd say no on un-modded SR Grados. The cool thing about grados is that there are numerous mods that can add things that are missing (ex: wood cups for increased soundstage and bass).

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

The Ad700s were not enjoyable to me, and I returned them. However, I bought the M50s, and they were much more enjoyable. They are missing a little something however, and i just heard the Grado SR60is the other day, which sounded much more natural than the M50s. I would definitely say Grados or Senns.