Matrixnobu
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 3, 2012
- Posts
- 311
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- 24
Lol!
Hmmm... To my ears, HD540II improves on the HD540I performance. I hear it every time. The HD540I has less bass extension than the II therefore the treble is little more forward, giving the impression of more detail when actually this is not the case. The HD540 and HD560 models both give a neutral playback but are very subtly different in forwardness of treble and bass. I actually have two pairs of HD540 Reference I that I want to sell. £150 for one. They are very good but because of my HD540II, I have no use for them now.
We don't need to.
I simply feel that HD540I, HD540II, (probably HD560I), HD560II, HD250I and HD250II are all excellent headphones for both the audio professional (the real professional) and for music lovers. If a headphone user cannot appreciate any of these models then clearly high-fidelity reproduction is not their goal.
hahaha, français..? grenoble? on n'est pas loin, suis à Genève.
pour 50 euros tu risques pas grand chose de toutes façons...
mais l'Ovation II a selon moi une signature plus équilibrée, une spatialisation très largement supérieure (mais je crois que tout dépend surtout de l'état de fraîcheur du casque, si son ex-propriétaire était soigneux, etc.), c'est comme avec les voitures d'occasion, etc.
[...]
So I packed the HD-540's and some favourite CD's in by backpack, and headed out to try some of the competition...
[...]
Makes me wonder if the non-original velour pads I use (probably intended for the HD-540 Referece II) might have some detrimental impact on the bass response?
All in all an educational afternoon.
Just to prove a point to myself (that I don t *really* need to upgrade) I need to find a local dealer who carries the HD-800.
Best regards,
Patrik
Makes me wonder if the non-original velour pads I use (probably intended for the HD-540 Referece II) might have some detrimental impact on the bass response?
They will. See my earlier post #64 in this thread. This describes a fully reversible tweak I have done to my HD540 I (older 600Ohm version) with the later velours pads.
The velours pads place the drivers closer to the ears than the original pleater/cloth pads did. This makes the bass sound a bit fuller, but:
The older style pad's base was formed from a wider soft plastic ring, giving a smaller opening into the headphone rear cavity and hence higher acoustic resistance for the very lowest bass register. The newer style velours pads have no significant restriction to speak of into the rear cavity, and the lowest bass register suffers as a result.
Placing the described cardboard rings underneath the newer velours pads addresses these effects. With this modification the bass will sound a little lighter, but actually has lower extension (i.e. the roll-off at the lower end happens at a lower frequency)..
If I'm not wrong, there were two versions of the 540 I: 300 and 600 ohms.
I suspect that my 540 I is the 600 ohms version, but I don't have a multimeter to check their impedance.
Would that possibly explain the perceived sound quality and signatures differences? (especially timbre and soundstage/imaging)