[WhiteCrow]

yea but have you seen the way he EQ's them? boosting the bass and highs but really REALLY droping out the midrange.
 

 

[bisayaboi]

If you want to reduce sibilance on the SRH840:
Lower frequencies 4khz-10khz. Play around with those frequencies by lowering them back and forth. Don't blind EQ make sure you do it while listening.
 
And personally I'd raise 1-2khz to raise the midrange.

 

[zpolt]

On topic, I have to say that the you really need a good source to fully experience the 840s IMO. Preferably high bit rate ( 320 kbps ) and of course uncompressed ( FLAC ).
 
These sound okay with a not so good source but sound MAGICAL with a good source. If you know what I mean. =)

 

[Deep Funk]

I read this thread out of curiosity. After two pages I suspected: crap in, crap out. Guess what? 
 
Next time when you want advice also mention the audio set up you are using. The headphones are the second to last link in the audio chain (you being the last, the recipient) so if you get 'bad sound' usually the set up is 'flawed'. 
 
Learn the secret of a setting up your audio system and you do not have to change headphones that often. 
 
My main set up now consists of an old Sony CDP-750 (more midrange oriented) and the LD Mark V (neutral, slightly bright) with the K240 DF and K400 mostly. I used to have a new Yamaha CD-player but it had an unpleasant brightness and proved unreliable. 

 

[electropop]

Heh, my experience is: good stuff goes in (both music and electronics) and crap comes out... I dun really like these either. The 440s are better, but I've yet to try the 940s. 

 

[WhiteCrow]

well these are unforgiving headphones. you put poorly mastered or recorded crap in, you get poorly mastered and recorded crap out.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Meh, I  don't see how loudness compression could lead to "harsh vocals, sibilant, muddy" sound; this is bs.
Maybe lossy compression.
Anyway lot of music is "loudness compressed"  and sound fine to me, unless if the music is crushed to insane levels, but this doesn't happen often and the graph I  saw, indicate that enough dynamics  remain.

 

[electropop]

I don't think they're very unforgiving...  I think they're very forgiving in this sense. They just fail at pulling out the information I'm interested in.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

I read this thread out of curiosity. After two pages I suspected: crap in, crap out. Guess what? 
 
Next time when you want advice also mention the audio set up you are using. The headphones are the second to last link in the audio chain (you being the last, the recipient) so if you get 'bad sound' usually the set up is 'flawed'. 
 
Learn the secret of a setting up your audio system and you do not have to change headphones that often. 
 
My main set up now consists of an old Sony CDP-750 (more midrange oriented) and the LD Mark V (neutral, slightly bright) with the K240 DF and K400 mostly. I used to have a new Yamaha CD-player but it had an unpleasant brightness and proved unreliable. 

If it impacts things at all I have a Fiio E7 and I hear no difference between on board. But keep in mind how old this thread is. Opinions change.

 

[TheWuss]

A neutral and revealing headphone.  That is what the SRH840 is.
The point has been made, but it is worth repeating:  If you don't at least like the sound of the SRH840, then you need to look at what it's plugged into. 
 
This is a pretty extreme example, but nonetheless i will use it to prove my point:
 
I play the SRH840s from my Bryston BDA-1 DAC, and Peak/Volcano headphone amp.
The sound I get when listening to high quality rips of high quality recordings is holographic, detailed, organic.  And the instrument separation is stunning.
The 840s sound sensational from this rig.
 
Too many times on Head-Fi, people dive headlong into the hobby by starting with the headphones.
And then proceed to listen to them from poor sources.
 
And another mistake I see made CONTINUOUSLY on this forum is this bit of misinformation:
"these don't need amping"
 
Does anyone not understand that an amp is always used when listening to headphones? 

I mean, i get what they are saying, when they say "these don't need amping."  what they mean to say is "the amp inside your iPod will drive these to sufficient volume."
 
Does anyone understand that the higher quality the amp, the less signal loss at the headphone?
Power is only part of the equation, guys.
 
And, no, the 840 does not need gobs of power.
However, until you have heard this headphone played through an amp that achieves less signal loss (blacker background, finer micro-detail, better instrument separation), then it will indeed all sound the same.
 
Thus, the minions who go around preaching "these don't need amping."  Because they DO sound the same out of a FiiO as they do out of an iPod.
But that doesn't disprove the benefits of a nicer amp.
 
I have $1500 headphones at home.
And the 840 is the only "less expensive" headphone i own.  It's the only one that has stayed with me the whole time.
 
I have come down from Summit-Fi just to plead with you guys to please stop the madness. 

Throw the FiiO s#!t in the garbage, for godsakes.  Something.
Anything.
 
Just stop trashing the headphone until you've heard it at its very best.
 
believe me.
or don't.
 

 

[s1rrah]

Personally. I *love* my Shure 840's ... they're my go-to headphone for regular, casual listening. Great isolation ... a little warm on the ears but (like most of Shure's phones/IEM's) very forgiving and "middle of the road" when it comes to emphasis on any given freq. Fairly neutral ... "accurate" ... an ideal headphone for studio music production.
 
That said ...
 
Sounds like you'd like a decent Stax system better ... or, as others have opined ... something from the Grado line (but the latter requires lots of work and research in regards to source and amp ... so ... break out the checkbook, yo!) ...
 
Buene Suerte!
 
.j

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Well like I said my opinion on these headphones has changed since I started this thread. I love them now.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I'm surprised that the quality of the recordings is sometimes seen as a surprising contributor to sound quality, espescially with rock, rap, pop, electronica. These genres have been uber compressed for many years (brickwall limited to the hilt), sacrifying sound dynamics for loudness. In a simple way, the brain interprets louder sounds as more engaging, but of course there is a point of diminishing return which has long been exceeded with those genres of music for sure. If I'm not mistaken, once people on mass started to use portable devices and computers for listening (I mean average no thought into sound quality computer sytems) then all bets were off and to compensate for the inherint weaknesses in these devices the labels press their engineers to just blast the volume up beyond belief.
 
I like my iPod video very much, but if I put music (Apple lossless format always from commercial CD) onto it that is old and not overly compressed then it does sound kind of unengaging and quiet. I liked the waveforms shown in this thread, and I concur that newer Tool manages to strike a decent balance between stupid loud and dynamic retaining loud. So many artists that I love are just unlistenable to me because of brick wall limiting, but I'm glad because I found Jazz and classical music when I was desperately trying to fill the void. I find most of that A Perfect Circle album fairly listenable, I'll have to look at the waveforms myself. I like Disapear and Weak and Powerless most off that album.
 
I dream of a day when we purchase our music electronically, but we have a choice bewteen mastering versions either compressed or dynamic balanced for audiophiles. I would think it will be possible oneday, but I guess if there is no perceived advantage by the labels then why would they bother. Not enough audiophiles out there I guess?

 

[Rawrbington]

ive never understood the sibilance complaint on the 840s, theres almost none.  especially when compared to some other brands out there.  Of the cans i've had they are still the ones i won't get rid of.  they take the middle of the road and jack of all trades master of none.  but that really makes for a great reference point.   And you can crank the heck out of them and get minimal distortion.  and there is a pretty clear difference in their sound out of a good source with some power and an ipod.

 

[electropop]

Quote:

A neutral and revealing headphone.  That is what the SRH840 is.
The point has been made, but it is worth repeating:  If you don't at least like the sound of the SRH840, then you need to look at what it's plugged into. 
 
This is a pretty extreme example, but nonetheless i will use it to prove my point:
 
I play the SRH840s from my Bryston BDA-1 DAC, and Peak/Volcano headphone amp.
The sound I get when listening to high quality rips of high quality recordings is holographic, detailed, organic.  And the instrument separation is stunning.
The 840s sound sensational from this rig.
 
Too many times on Head-Fi, people dive headlong into the hobby by starting with the headphones.
And then proceed to listen to them from poor sources.
 
And another mistake I see made CONTINUOUSLY on this forum is this bit of misinformation:
"these don't need amping"
 
Does anyone not understand that an amp is always used when listening to headphones? 

I mean, i get what they are saying, when they say "these don't need amping."  what they mean to say is "the amp inside your iPod will drive these to sufficient volume."
 
Does anyone understand that the higher quality the amp, the less signal loss at the headphone?
Power is only part of the equation, guys.
 
And, no, the 840 does not need gobs of power.
However, until you have heard this headphone played through an amp that achieves less signal loss (blacker background, finer micro-detail, better instrument separation), then it will indeed all sound the same.
 
Thus, the minions who go around preaching "these don't need amping."  Because they DO sound the same out of a FiiO as they do out of an iPod.
But that doesn't disprove the benefits of a nicer amp.
 
I have $1500 headphones at home.
And the 840 is the only "less expensive" headphone i own.  It's the only one that has stayed with me the whole time.
 
I have come down from Summit-Fi just to plead with you guys to please stop the madness. 

Throw the FiiO s#!t in the garbage, for godsakes.  Something.
Anything.
 
Just stop trashing the headphone until you've heard it at its very best.
 
believe me.
or don't.
 

 
Madness..? 

I agree with you to some point. Though out of even a bit more expensive home amps, they weren't that good, for me. A good source does more to some headphones than a proper amp. Many of my phones sound still only decent, relatively, out of a good amp but when I plug them straight into the headphone socket of my Linn DS player, it makes wonders.
Mine and your point, though, is also very much moot since not many (in this thread at least) are looking to source 200usd headphones with 2000usd+. Also, I don't think any even supremely expensive and well matched amp makes the 840 sing all the notes to their pitch at most parts of the frequency spectrum. Sound is a different matter though and completely subjective.