AzN1337c0d3r
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2004
- Posts
- 302
- Likes
- 11
On Saturday evening, I sat on my 2.5-years-old Senn HD515s and fatally destroyed them. (Apparently I cracked the headband, and drove one of the plastic pieces right through the wire in the headband which connects the right driver.)
To Sennheiser's credit, I did not believe they were going to last this long. They were flimsy feeling, sure, but they took a LOT of abuse. I must have thrown them across the room at least 20 times and rolled over them with my computer chair at least 5 times.
Being as I liked the Sennheiser house sound (very neutral, although the HD515 had what I would describe as a moderate mid-bass hump, but smooth midrange and a slightly recessed treble), I asked my neighbor if I could borrow his HD650s for a couple of hours to decide if I want to go for the 580/600/650s). I was hooked. I had never heard bass that extended so low, such smooth, liquid midrange, and such detailed, non-grainy highs. Now I realize that the 650s and the 580s don't exactly have the same drivers, but they are supposed to be pretty similar sounding (some would describe the 580/600 as more neutral?)
I went onto Amazon and was confronted with a choice that I had not considered before, should I get the 580s for $130 or the 595s for $140? I asked my neighbor if he had listened to the 595s before. He said that he used to own a pair of 595s as well, but he had to sell them to buy books
I asked his opinion, and he said that the 595s were more forward-sounding and more "fun". That was pretty much is inline with the 20 other 580 vs. 595 comparisons on this forum. My music choices are rathar weird. Mostly I listen to classical (mostly string/full orchestra, quartets, solos), techno/trance/electronica, metal, and pop. But I do listen to other genres from time to time. I wanted a headphone that could do it all and I think that about 80% of the time I have my headphones on, I am studying. (Being an undergrad in EE is hard, but rewarding) Being as I'm primarily concentrated on other tasks when I'm listening, something more laid-back would probably work better for me. Thus I chose the HD580s.
So I ordered the 580s with 2-day shipping (my friend hooked me up with a free no-strings-attached trial of amazon prime, so it was like $10). They came around 10 AM Tuesday morning. When I first put them on, I felt the typical vice-grip that accompany new headphones (although I'm partially immune against this problem from wearing the 515s all the time). They've gotten a little better in that department, but I do hope the clamping force does not weaken as much this time, seeing as the band is made of metal.
Sound-quality wise, I was rathar unimpressed when I first put them on. They sounded like my IEMs (iM616) with slightly more extension in the lower and upper ranges. However, after having burned them in for 20 hours now, I can hear them starting to get some "character". The bass is a little more defined, and opened up a lot. It felt rathar restricted when I first put them on. The mids sound more liquid. Some of the female vocals actually send shivers down my spine now. The highs sound pretty much the same though (although you should probably note I have mild hearing loss (20-30%) in the very high ranges (18+ KHz)), thus I'm probably not the best person to judge a headphone's treble quality. Also, with the acquisition of these headphones, I've come to the conclusion that I can hear artifacts in 192 Kbps MP3s and will probably need to rerip/redownload most of my music collection.
I have a Cmoy at home that I didn't feel like bringing to college since my previous headphones were rathar easy to drive. I feel that Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit and my iPod 4G have enough power to drive the HD580s pretty well. I'm sure the bass would become noticeably more defined as well as similar (though probably not as prominent improvements) were I to plug them into an amp, but I'll live with it for now.
Anyways, I would like to thank the Head-Fi community for providing this vast store of information and leading me to this latest purchase.
(Sorry no pics, I don't have a digital camera ATM)
To Sennheiser's credit, I did not believe they were going to last this long. They were flimsy feeling, sure, but they took a LOT of abuse. I must have thrown them across the room at least 20 times and rolled over them with my computer chair at least 5 times.
Being as I liked the Sennheiser house sound (very neutral, although the HD515 had what I would describe as a moderate mid-bass hump, but smooth midrange and a slightly recessed treble), I asked my neighbor if I could borrow his HD650s for a couple of hours to decide if I want to go for the 580/600/650s). I was hooked. I had never heard bass that extended so low, such smooth, liquid midrange, and such detailed, non-grainy highs. Now I realize that the 650s and the 580s don't exactly have the same drivers, but they are supposed to be pretty similar sounding (some would describe the 580/600 as more neutral?)
I went onto Amazon and was confronted with a choice that I had not considered before, should I get the 580s for $130 or the 595s for $140? I asked my neighbor if he had listened to the 595s before. He said that he used to own a pair of 595s as well, but he had to sell them to buy books
So I ordered the 580s with 2-day shipping (my friend hooked me up with a free no-strings-attached trial of amazon prime, so it was like $10). They came around 10 AM Tuesday morning. When I first put them on, I felt the typical vice-grip that accompany new headphones (although I'm partially immune against this problem from wearing the 515s all the time). They've gotten a little better in that department, but I do hope the clamping force does not weaken as much this time, seeing as the band is made of metal.
Sound-quality wise, I was rathar unimpressed when I first put them on. They sounded like my IEMs (iM616) with slightly more extension in the lower and upper ranges. However, after having burned them in for 20 hours now, I can hear them starting to get some "character". The bass is a little more defined, and opened up a lot. It felt rathar restricted when I first put them on. The mids sound more liquid. Some of the female vocals actually send shivers down my spine now. The highs sound pretty much the same though (although you should probably note I have mild hearing loss (20-30%) in the very high ranges (18+ KHz)), thus I'm probably not the best person to judge a headphone's treble quality. Also, with the acquisition of these headphones, I've come to the conclusion that I can hear artifacts in 192 Kbps MP3s and will probably need to rerip/redownload most of my music collection.
I have a Cmoy at home that I didn't feel like bringing to college since my previous headphones were rathar easy to drive. I feel that Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit and my iPod 4G have enough power to drive the HD580s pretty well. I'm sure the bass would become noticeably more defined as well as similar (though probably not as prominent improvements) were I to plug them into an amp, but I'll live with it for now.
Anyways, I would like to thank the Head-Fi community for providing this vast store of information and leading me to this latest purchase.
(Sorry no pics, I don't have a digital camera ATM)
