WideBoy
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2013
- Posts
- 65
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- 13
I found these headphones on clearance at Radio Shack yesterday for around $130, so after hearing all of the good praise, I thought I would try them out for size. Thanks to this community, I have been on a bit of a headphone purchasing binge over the course of the last couple of months, and these are my latest infection.
First a little background... My first legit--or what I would call legit--headphones were PX-100s that I found on clearance at Sears a couple of years ago (notice the trend here?). Being the little budster that I was, I was immediately intrigued. I wondered, how could these slightly more expensive headphones add details to music that to me had previously not existed? Dark arts of some kind had to be at work. Anyway, since then I have purchased SRH440s, and more recently AT-M50s, HD518s and HA-S400s. The M50s did not make the cut for me, mainly because of their somewhat unnatural highs. I suppose my search could have stopped with the HD518s, which are pretty close to the sound signature that I like. But I wanted something portable as a replacement for my PX-100s before they got any more banged up. Someone suggested the JVC HA-S400s. How could I not try them out for the price? I did and I like them a lot, but they have their limits. The M-80s have a similar sound to the HA-S400s, but the M-80s are obviously better at everything. I am impressed with their build, comfort (trust and time help here), sound clarity, and thumpability. If there's one issue for me, it would be that they have a slight "veil" like the Sennheisers I own. I'm guessing this has to do with their lack of treble extension and may just be a factor I will have to live with given my dislike for fatiguing highs. However, I feel like I am making some ground on finding my ideal sound, perhaps at the cost of buying a bunch of mediocre headphones when I could simply pool my resources and buy one really excellent headphone. Then again, affordable headphones are what got me into this mess--I mean wonderful adventure in music appreciation--and may ultimately save the human race from the evil white bud apocalypse...
First a little background... My first legit--or what I would call legit--headphones were PX-100s that I found on clearance at Sears a couple of years ago (notice the trend here?). Being the little budster that I was, I was immediately intrigued. I wondered, how could these slightly more expensive headphones add details to music that to me had previously not existed? Dark arts of some kind had to be at work. Anyway, since then I have purchased SRH440s, and more recently AT-M50s, HD518s and HA-S400s. The M50s did not make the cut for me, mainly because of their somewhat unnatural highs. I suppose my search could have stopped with the HD518s, which are pretty close to the sound signature that I like. But I wanted something portable as a replacement for my PX-100s before they got any more banged up. Someone suggested the JVC HA-S400s. How could I not try them out for the price? I did and I like them a lot, but they have their limits. The M-80s have a similar sound to the HA-S400s, but the M-80s are obviously better at everything. I am impressed with their build, comfort (trust and time help here), sound clarity, and thumpability. If there's one issue for me, it would be that they have a slight "veil" like the Sennheisers I own. I'm guessing this has to do with their lack of treble extension and may just be a factor I will have to live with given my dislike for fatiguing highs. However, I feel like I am making some ground on finding my ideal sound, perhaps at the cost of buying a bunch of mediocre headphones when I could simply pool my resources and buy one really excellent headphone. Then again, affordable headphones are what got me into this mess--I mean wonderful adventure in music appreciation--and may ultimately save the human race from the evil white bud apocalypse...