[shivohum]

Everyone rightly praises their high-end phones here, but often I think the most educational thing you can learn from a review are what's *wrong* with the cans in question. In the spirit of fun, then, I propose that we write about all the high-end headphones we've experienced as if we could see only their flaws and we were absolutely clobbering them in a review.

I'll start.

Etymotic ER4S - sterile, analytical, thin, closed off

Sennheiser HD-580/600 - dark, veiled, uninvolving

AKG K1000 - grey, bland, coarse, artificial

Alessandro-Grado MSP - thin, peaky, colored, distant, dry

Stax Lambda Pro - lightweight, harsh, compressed

Grado SR-60 - colored, smeared, tinny, grating

Koss KSC-35 - dark, plasticky, boomy

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Quote:

Originally posted by shivohum Sennheiser HD-580/600 - dark, veiled, uninvolving Koss KSC-35 - dark, plasticky, boomy

Hmm... I'd agree this is a fun exersize except that the two headphones you mention that I'm actually quite familiar with aren't as you described them at all.

The HD580s are neither dark nor veiled. It has mystified me on two or three occasions when someone has described them this way. Let me be clear, too -- I'm not just saying it's a matter of degrees. I don't think they're dark or veiled at all. "Uninvolving" is a totally subjective descriptor, so I won't bother trying to refute it, other than to say that I find my 580s to be quite involving.

As to the Koss KSC-35s -- again, I don't find them at all dark. My definition of dark may not agree with yours, though -- I don't equate dark with boomy. To me "dark" is a lack of sparkle in the treble range. I also don't think they're boomy, though they do have that midbass hump. I just don't think it's enough of a hump to call them "boomy." The Sony MDR-V600s and the Koss UR-20s are "boomy." I do agree that the KSC-35s are 'plasticky,' though, since they're made mostly of plastic.

Last I checked, though, the only way something could sound plasticky was if you flicked it with your fingernail.

If I had to contribute anything to this list, it'd be this:

Sony MDR-V6: Somehow sterile and slightly bass-heavy at the same time. Not very musical.

 

[pigmode]

One more post, then I gotta go out...

HD580:
-doesn't have a lush midrange like my AKG 501.
-doesn't have a sweet treble like my AKG 501
-doesn't have a tight bass like my AKG 501

AKG 501:
-Doesn't have enough bass impact, but it's only off by an RCH. A thick one, at that.

 

[shivohum]

Well that's all right Russ... it's perfectly OK for us to disagree

. But I've had extensive experience with the Senn 580 and have auditioned the 600 for a few weeks as well. I think both of them have a tendency to smooth the sound out excessively. They are what you would call overly polite. Veiled is just another word for that IMO...

 

[Xander]

AKG K401 - Could use a bit more low bass. Highs are a little peaky. They eat power for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight snack. Midbass and lower bass is a little bit "loose". Could use a bit more definition. Not to sound as though the phones are way out of line.. Infact, I think that the bass is superior to the HD600 as far as definition goes.

Ok, not exactly high-end.. But I thought this would be funny.

Coby CV-220's - Now heres a headphone. No bass to speak of, SEVERELY veiled and colored, fuzzy, harsh, grainy, sandy, pebbly, asfalty, sidewalky, curby, dusty, nasty, raunchy obnoxiously peaky midrange, upper midbass peak the size of the grandcanyon inverted 10^, they hurt your ears, they image worth a penny, one drivers sensitivity is so poorly matched that the image is off center, they have honky midrange, clouded upper midrange, and they have weak shrilly disgusting ear bleeding treble. They have no upper treble. After 6 minutes they make my ears sore and raw. They give you a headache. They arent even worth being free. - All this for $6.99.

 

[kwkarth]

Where's Team Coby when you need 'em?

 

[shivohum]

Quote:

Not to sound as though the phones are way out of line..

No, no, that's the point!

Good job on the Cobys, though

 

[Vertigo-1]

Does this have to be current headphones or can it be headphones we've had extensive experience with in the past?

Cause if headphones from the past are allowed, boy am I gonna trash the HD-600s...

 

[shivohum]

Headphones you've had experience with in the past are fine. But do try to trash *all* the headphones you've had experience with--they're all terrible in their own way

 

[Xander]

Sorry, I just cant bring myself to trash the K401s. The Coby's were there to pick up the slack.

Besides, what if someone were searching, looking for information about the headphones, saw this thread, and decided not to buy them? That'd be bad.

 

[kwkarth]

Xander,
Your tag line cracks me up everytime I read it. It says it all. A perfect exposure of most of modern society's collective idea of hi-fi.

 

[r3cc0s]

SONY SUCKS
except for the mid-bright V6
Super active 3000

and SUPER EXPENSIVE R10
haha

Stax you suck at portability
haha

Sennheiser 580/600 u power hungry headphones
You need your amplifiers to make the sound in you good

Grado DAMNED BAD MANUFACTORING!
ENOUGH WITH THAT GLUE GUN
It's not arts and crafts time anymore


oh well
enuf venting

 

[a1leyez0nm3]

I could start a very long list about the bundles that come with the pcdps.......

 

[Xevion]

Sony V-200

Fautiging, harsh, dark, boxy, peaky mids, peaky treble, distant, dull, painful, uncomfortable, terrible imaging, sound worse then some headphones that come with players.

Sennheiser M-X4

Honky, thin, harsh, severe lack of treble and bass extension, mashed treble, NO lower bass, no midbass, no upper bass, no lower mids, all mids, upper mids, lower treble


Sennheiser MX500

No detail, lack treble definition, hollow mids, no bass (FYI my ears don't seem to work with earbuds, or my standards are way too high for em)


Sennheiser HD600

Uhh, umm, I am at a loss for words.

Sometimes uninvolving. Too honest. Hard to drive, perhaps a bit wooly


Koss KSC-50

Mids just sound wrong, maybe recessed upper mids? Mashed treble, rather boomy, lack detail, bright, poor build quality


Koss TD-65

Awful mids, CLAMP on your head, dark, very boomy


Sennheiser HD500

Incredibly warm. I have never heard a headphone so warm as these. Dark, somewhat peaky treble, boring, boomy, boxy, wooly, slow


Grado RS-2

Forward, silibant, colored, uhh, I have only listened to one for 15 minutes

 

[Xander]

Quote:

Originally posted by kwkarth Xander, Your tag line cracks me up everytime I read it. It says it all. A perfect exposure of most of modern society's collective idea of hi-fi.

Indeed it does. Quite depressing, actually.