[Palartemis]

i have acquired a number of headphone# and iem’s, but currently trying to work out if my view of a couple of them is accurate or down to my own bias or lack of exposure to decent headphone# and amps/sources.

The 2 in question are a pair of a Sony MDR-1R’s and a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless On Ear’s.

To me, the Sony’s have a tighter sounding bass end, much wider soundstage and clearer more prominent vocals ad well as crisp high trebles and no sibilant sounds, exactly what you would seem to want. The Sennheisers seem to have a good bass presence, not as much, vocals not as clear and more recessed high treble.

Has anyone had exposure to these and have experience they can share? Should I give in to the Sony sounds or are the sennheiser’s more accurate and I should give my ears/brain time to acclimatize to them?

 

[Guppy_]

how long have you owned each?

 

[Palartemis]

Got both pairs about 4 weeks ago when I started the journey down the headphone path, only used speakers and cheap phone iem’s before then. Was using Sonys most of the time as I preferred the wired sound, but got a cable for the sennheisers and doing listening comparisons between a Sony / Sennheiser wired and Sennheiser wired/Bluetooth.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

i have acquired a number of headphone# and iem’s, but currently trying to work out if my view of a couple of them is accurate or down to my own bias or lack of exposure to decent headphone# and amps/sources.

The 2 in question are a pair of a Sony MDR-1R’s and a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless On Ear’s.

To me, the Sony’s have a tighter sounding bass end, much wider soundstage and clearer more prominent vocals ad well as crisp high trebles and no sibilant sounds, exactly what you would seem to want. The Sennheisers seem to have a good bass presence, not as much, vocals not as clear and more recessed high treble.

Has anyone had exposure to these and have experience they can share? Should I give in to the Sony sounds or are the sennheiser’s more accurate and I should give my ears/brain time to acclimatize to them?

I can't find comparable graphs (ie taken with the same rig) but the Momentum doesn't trail off at the low end and teh MDR-1R nosedives above 2000hz, so generally you can assume the Momentum is more accurate given its smoother response curve.

 

[Guppy_]

I can't find comparable graphs (ie taken with the same rig) but the Momentum doesn't trail off at the low end and teh MDR-1R nosedives above 2000hz, so generally you can assume the Momentum is more accurate given its smoother response curve.

yup, seems the op is more fond of the warmer sony sound

 

[megabigeye]

Seems like your findings about the Sennheiser are in keeping with others... From rtings:

The Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear are well built but mediocre wired on-ears for most use cases. They have a decent but slightly uneven sound quality that won't be ideal for more critical listeners but should be good enough for most.

And:

The Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear are an average sounding pair of closed-back on-ear headphones. They have a consistent, deep and powerful bass, a good and even mid-range, and an average treble. However, their bass is a bit heavy on the heavy side, which fans of heavy-bass may like, their mid-range is noticeably thin and recessed especially on vocals, and their treble lacks a bit of detail and could sound a bit sharp on S and T sounds. Overall, they are a good choice for a wide variety of genres especially bass-heavy music, but not the ideal choice for vocal-centric music.

According to them, the HD1 and Momentum 2.0 are one and the same.

Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter which one is technically "better," what matters is which one you prefer. After all, you're not listening with a testing rig, and you're not listening with someone else's ears.

EDIT: just realized their review was if the wired model. Don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[Transcendent Melody]

Honestly which ever sounds best to you should be the most important. Even if the sen or sony is more accurate in sound reproduction what it boils down to is if you liked the sound signature and how does your favorite track sound on it.

 

[Palartemis]

I just dug out a pair of Sennheiser HD25 BA headphones I had forgotten about I bought about 20 years ago off eBay. Now this is a sennheiser sound I can get on with, purer than the Sony sound but similar soundstage, nice and wide.

 

[Palartemis]

I just bought a pair of hd280pro headphones on eBay, hope they are similar to the hd25’s which are showing their age, should be here tomorrow, I will report back on my experience with them.

 

[Palartemis]

Seems like your findings about the Sennheiser are in keeping with others... From rtings:

EDIT: just realized their review was if the wired model. Don't know if that makes a difference.

The momentum’s I have are the wireless ones but I was using them wired with noise cancellation off, so probably very similar. After digging out my HD25’s I think the momentum’s are going up for sale.

 

[Palartemis]

yup, seems the op is more fond of the warmer sony sound

I do like the warmer sounding Sony over the sennheiser but it is mainly the wider soundstage and better vocal presence of the Sony’s that attract me, but as I just said in previous few posts, I have now fallen in love with the Sennheiser HD25’s, fickle huh! Wife suggested I just put them all on a 7 day cycle.

 

[Palartemis]

I just bought a pair of hd280pro headphones on eBay, hope they are similar to the hd25’s which are showing their age, should be here tomorrow, I will report back on my experience with them.

Well, they arrived, first impressions, still got to burn in. At first seemed very claustrophobic, reasonable soundstage, but a bit suppressed. Playing with EQ, shallow V, much more pleasant to listen to, will keep exercising them and see where it goes.

 

[catscratch]

If you want to judge accuracy, use a pre-recorded sine sweep or a test tone generator with a frequency slider, like this one. This way you can listen to the frequency response directly. You want to hear no changes in volume as you sweep the frequency up and down. Usually this isn't possible in headphones, since a) none of them are flat enough and b) there are resonances caused by the outer ear (usually around 5-8khz) which are unique to you. Nevertheless you can try to get close. Sudden peaks and dips in the response are usually easier to hear than any gradual changes in the response, and the latter will take more practice to spot.

My guess is that it will make you rethink what neutral is. It did for me (well that, and hearing speaker systems that are actually tuned to be flat 20-20).

IME Sennheiser tends to get fairly close to neutral, at least in their HD6X0 series headphones. But when it comes to the Momentum series I've only heard the original, which was just ok. A little overpriced.

In any case, careful EQ is your best friend if you actually want neutral in headphones.

 

[Palartemis]

If you want to judge accuracy, use a pre-recorded sine sweep or a test tone generator with a frequency slider, like this one. This way you can listen to the frequency response directly. You want to hear no changes in volume as you sweep the frequency up and down. Usually this isn't possible in headphones, since a) none of them are flat enough and b) there are resonances caused by the outer ear (usually around 5-8khz) which are unique to you. Nevertheless you can try to get close. Sudden peaks and dips in the response are usually easier to hear than any gradual changes in the response, and the latter will take more practice to spot.

My guess is that it will make you rethink what neutral is. It did for me (well that, and hearing speaker systems that are actually tuned to be flat 20-20).

IME Sennheiser tends to get fairly close to neutral, at least in their HD6X0 series headphones. But when it comes to the Momentum series I've only heard the original, which was just ok. A little overpriced.

In any case, careful EQ is your best friend if you actually want neutral in headphones.

Interesting, used your link, Sennheiser HD 280 Pro, through SMSL T2, from Cyrus Soundkey from windows 10 laptop, sound starts at 12hz, builds up to 30hz, loudest between 300hz and 4khz, drops off after 8khz till it disappears at 12.5khz. How much of that is my ears, the amp chain or headphones I have no idea.