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6EQUJ5
459
Sep 21, 2016
So I A/B'd them and I am disappointed. My expectation was that they would sound much richer and have better soundstage than the SHP-9500. The results are that they are harsh, very harsh for my ears as much as a treble lover that I am even these are too harsh for my ears.
I listen to a lot of genre of music (country, rock, pop, hip hop, r&b, edm, metal, etc...) and generally EDM would be quite good on these headphones in comparison to the SHP-9500 graphs but even they are too harsh for my ears. My personal honest opinion is to skip these and go for the SHP-9500 and if you really need bass because you're a bass head you might as well jump to the mahagony Fostex THX-00. The only absolutely music that sounded halfway decent were music that had almost no vocals or EDM with female vocals but the percussions are too harsh.
Tracks tested from 15-30 seconds:
Audioslave - Like a Stone - Chris Cornell's voice is very harsh and almost burst my ear drums Joan Baez - Diamonds And Rust - decent but still on the slightly harsh side George Michael - Careless Whisper - jesus the saxaphone, percussions and tambourine make my ear ache Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - sounded good because it's purely piano The Pixels - Wild Arms Opening Theme - strings were a bit harsh, this track has no vocals so of course it will sound half decent Wolfgang Gartner - Undertaker (Kaskade Remix) - okay but still on the harsh side for those electronics Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites - same as Wolfgang track Zedd (Foxes) - Clarity - sounded nice but the percussions still a little too harsh for me Krewella - Alive (Acoustic Version) - guitar picking not as clean as the SHP-9500 and much harsher Johnny Cash - Hurt - guitar picking is on the harsh side Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son - by the time I got to this track my ears were too fatigued from the harshness
Untested tracks my ears didn't make it to: Darude - Sandstorm (Radio Edit) The Lonely Island - I'm On A Boat Robert Miles - Children Blake Shelton - Sangria Ying Yang Twins, Little Jon & The Eastside Boyz - Get Low Usher - Yeah! Fetty Wap - 679 Luniz - I Got 5 On It Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us White Stripes - Seven Nation Army Far East Movement - Like A G6 Rick James - Super Freak Big Pun - Still Not A Player La Bouche - Be My Lover Real McCoy - Another Night And many more...
I had to stop testing because my ears are fatigued and hurt.
Pros: It got revived? Good build quality
Con: Everything Else? Cable is too short Makes everything sound harsh no matter the source FLAC or no FLAC Causes fatigue quickly compared to all my other headphones
If the treble can be tamed then the headphones would probably be decent. As it stands now I boxed it back up quicker than you can say what and will more than likely end up selling it. I can't quite believe anyone would recommend these as a good entry level into the audiophile world. The only thing that tends to sound good on this headphone is if it's female vocals with electronics/instrumentals or if it's pure instruments only. Anything else and it will be way too harsh.
Now if you excuse me I'll go back to my daily driver the Purple <3.
Heefty
1387
Sep 21, 2016
6EQUJ5Did you give them some burn in time? I found that sharp 8-9kHz peak almost unbearable for a while too, but it has since calmed down some. Bass has loosened up a bit too and I'm not EQing it anymore. I still wouldn't call it flat, but it's there and pretty well extended.
lo_tse
18
Sep 21, 2016
6EQUJ5May I asked what kind of amp are you using with this headphone?
6EQUJ5
459
Sep 22, 2016
lo_tseI am using onboard motherboard OPA627AP along with Modi 2 Uber DAC with the O2 Objective amplifier.
6EQUJ5
459
Sep 23, 2016
HeeftyAlright, I gave them about 30 hours of burn in time. This is what I found out, if you're using the stock pads make sure you do not use an equalizer for any boosts at all. Any equalizer will make the music very harsh and ear aching. But there is one critical piece I forgot about this headset because it has been so long and we have waited too long to receive them.
I totally forgot that I need to put the Brainwavz Angle Earpads onto the headset before using them. I accidentally bought the Brainwavz Angle Earpads for my SHP-9500 and then bought the HM5 Velour for the 9500. Now that I have put the angle pads on they sound way much better and bass is much boomier now. I tested it with my favorite bass track Get Low. However, do be very careful with equalizer as I tested Audioslave - Like A Stone and Chris Cornell's voice is still ear piercing with an equalizer. I recommend removing any equalizers you have or straight out turning them off as they will kill the neutralness of this headset. If you use any enhancement like DFX Audio Enhancer I would recommend disabling it or turning it off. The music is much bearable now with the angled pads. I suspect it is because the pads create some distance to reduce the harshness and add some more bass. I still find my ears slightly fatiguing even after turning off all equalizers.
The biggest difference in Krewella's Alive Acoustic is how the sound is presented. The guitar picking is much more crisp but sounds more channeled to your ears like it's being projected through a tube directly pointed to your ears. More than likely it's because of the earpads creating a shell around your ears. The SHP-9500 sounds more natural and airy like you're there with the artist. The HE-350 with the angled earpads sound more like you're in a concert hall with the music resonating and echoing. The bass is slightly better with the HE-350 because of the angled pads. Otherwise, both the SHP-9500 and HE-350 had equally not so good bass.
I recommend the angled earpads if you want to remove the harshness to some degree. I burned in my headphones using random forever play list with my Fiio M3 and Fiio M12 Mont Blanc.
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