A Headphone Hunting Review

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Really stuck in the world of headphones these days with everyone being at home. Taking advantage of Amazon's generous return policy. Keeping in mind that my opinions are not based on what would transfer perfectly to some full-sized FRFR speakers/monitors. The headphone vs live in the room experience are completely different things. I am passing on my experiences based on what is enjoyable to my ears and hands without considering how it would translate to another listening system.

Sennheiser 598 (open - 50 ohms) - Very comfortable. Very wide sound stage. Plenty of high end but not too harsh. Lots of low end but not stupidly so. Voiced about as good as I've heard for use with a modeller. Mid range is miles ahead of the rest in this post. Just a nice chunkiness to the mid range that works and is appropriate for an electric guitar. Sounds/feels the thickest of the bunch but not stuffy in anyway. By far the best of the bunch and 2nd loudest.

Sennheiser 280 Pro (new model apparently) - (closed - 64 ohms) - Not even close. The FM3 and any music sounded comically boxy. Very narrow sound stage. Sounded very mono-ish compared to the 598, 880, and M50x. I saw some reviewer on YouTube going on about them and bit the bait. I tried, gave it an hour or so at a time, started with fresh ears, blah blah blah. Just lacking below 120 and above 1000. Very noise isolating, which makes the whole experience worse for the boxy sound. A true waste of money even though they are cheap headphone. Going back.

Audio-Technica ATH M50x (closed - 30 ohm or something like that). The one and only! Decent. Pretty hard and annoying clamping pressure. Decent sound stage. Scooped in the lower midrange to my ears. Punches below that quite a bit. Maybe the most "punch" of the bunch. A wispiness in the upper midrange and lower high end. Kind of a nice effect to make the cab and speaker IRs come to life. Loud and quite aggressive sounding. If not for the missing lower mid range that I mentioned, these would be winners. I could get use to them and the price is right.

Beyerdynamic DT 880 (open - 32 ohm version) - Lacking in low end that the guitar needs. Distant or maybe just relatively quiet compared to the other. I cranked them up to give them a fair chance though. Very clear sounding headphones, but the extended/pushed high end is not in a range that is appropriate for electric guitar. Big enough sound stage, but not quite where the 598 get. Haven't look at a graph or chart or anything but the cut off in the low end is missing fundamental frequencies that the electric needs to have some muscle to it. Must be some sort of dip in the 120 to 500 hz range or something. Plenty in the low low end, but that's no good for electrics for the most part. Lack a liveliness for an enjoyable experience. Decent for music but still missed some low end. Someone mentioned the 250 ohm version working much better. Interesting and perhaps sometime in the future.

Sony MDR7506 (closed - 85-ish ohm) - I know these are studio standards and many players out there are used them, but for getting the most out of the FM3, there's just no way. I see how they make sense in a studio for session players. Isolation and extra crispy in the high end. You'll hear what you need to hear when recording.
It really came down to 2 things for me.
1) The first issue was the lack of lower mids. So much of our ability to enjoy the headphone experience is to sense some thump coming from the amp. Yeah, yeah, I know, you'll never get that through headphones... blah blah blah. Regardless, there is still the psychoacoustic perception of thump. People can still enjoy some nice low end when listening to their favourite records, so why not with modelling gear. They ended being very boxy sounding as a result.
2) Very narrow soundstage. Felt like the guitar and amp were in my prefrontal cortex.

Blue Mo-Fi (closed - 42 ohm I think) - These things are dangerous!!! I'm not kidding around. How can anyone make headphones that are capable of outputting that much volume? I had heard that you should be careful when engaging the amp built into them, but what the bleeding jeebus are they thinking? I don't know if the wild volume boost is necessary to push the drivers and "enhance" the sound, but they ought to come with a serious warning on the box, in the manual, on the headphones, and a little hand that slaps you in the side of head when you put them on to remind you to turn down your device.
Anyways... Yep! Best of the bunch by a mile...once that internal amp is turned on. That's the only catch if there is one. I mean it's built right into the headphone, so maybe I shouldn't see it as a catch. Once that amp is turned on, the FM3 is just elevated to a whole new experience. Presets that I thought were great with my Sennheiser 598's just lost their life when compared to the Mo-Fi. The high end is rolled off compared to the Beyerdynamic 880 and the Sennheiser 598 but it's in a very pleasing way that suits electric guitar tones. I was sure to take a few days and make sure I was volume matching and I'm absolutely certain the Mo-Fi are the perfect headphones for a guitar modeller. Used them with Helix and Amplitube 5 as well. Still the same results. They thump in the low end just right. The pick attack on the unwound strings has a percussive bite, which I never had from any other cans. Very amp-like in that regard. Never get exaggerated in the low end either. Absolute clarity in the high end but not by overdoing it like I found with the Beyerdynamic and ATH M50 cans. That is the one thing that really stands out. The high end just sounds like a mess of sibilance in other headphones now.
Sound stage is great as well. No narrowness like many headphones have. Not as wide as the Sennheiser 598 but that's to be expected with them being closed. Not disappointing in anyway.
I'm getting used to it now, but man are these things ever uncomfortable for me. Heavier than most would be able to handle for extended periods I would imagine. Not a bad fit, if perhaps a little hard on the clamping. The weight is just a little unsettling.
We are on the Fractal forum, but in case it matters to anyone, they don't do as well for me with regular music listening. The Sennheiser 598 are far more pleasant for that.


Get to the point? Do not hesitate with the 598's. They are voiced well for guitar, made well, comfy as heck, louder than you'll ever need.

Update... Mo-Fi incoming.
Looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about. Can't return those ones either. Actually I could, but I didn't get through Amazon (who cares about Amazon), so I don't want to take advantage of a local music shop's return policy. I'm sure I will be able to put them to good use for something else if they don't overtake the Sennheiser 598. I will post my thoughts. Not sure if anyone cares, but I'm enjoying this whole headphone journey thing.
 
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Can anyone here speak to the AKG 240 vs. Sennheiser 6xx or 650 specifically? I've got the K240, and I like them. They're good, great even when you consider the price, but can't help but wonder if the 650 are just that much better and worth spending the extra money. How do they compare?

The only thing I dislike (and it's not really that much of a problem) is that I find the high end can be a little "piercing". Piercing might not be exactly the correct word. Not that they're piercing to the point it's unusable. If I try to dial it out with EQ, it becomes a little too dull sounding. I just wonder if that's headphones in general and if you have to just deal with a little bit of that as a result of playing guitar with headphones?
 
I recently purchased a pair of Grado SR225e headphones. I think they sound really good, and haven't had much of a problem with comfort (though I will admit that is one thing people will often complain about regarding this brand). For the quality of sound, they seem to be relatively affordable.
 
I recently bought, a BD - DT 770, paired with the FM3 working with Logic Prox. Suits well my Needs, can war them for Hours with no issues. By the end of the day i think ist also About your personal preferences ist not possible to tell These are the one to go headphones. guess all of These mentioned in the first post have their pros and cons… our ears decide by the end of the day.
 
I agree with Frischerl. There are psychoacoustics involved that are too influential to be so certain of any specific pair. My experience was done in a very comparative scenario. I do wonder what my reaction to each pair would have been had I not been able to compare them.
 
Oh man I went through the exact same thing for the exact same reason earlier this year. Boredom and working at home led to me buying and selling/returning WAY too many headphones.

From memory, short reviews:

Sennheiser HD6xx - this is my favorite and the one I kept. I like it especially for guitar. Think of the 598 with additional fidelity and clarity and even frequency response. It's not too bright or too dark which is good for distorted guitar. Music is good too but it lacks low end punch and high end sparkle.

Sennheiser HD58x - similar to the 6xx but with more low end and less treble detail. I preferred the 6xx so kept those.

Beyer DT880 - my second favorite, although it is much brighter than Sennheisers. That ends up being fatiguing and overbearing, which is why I didn't keep them. Better build quality and more comfortable though.

Beyer DT770 - similar to the 880's but with a stronger and flatter bass response, a little more sucked out midrange, closed so they were good at sealing outside noise. Preferred the 880's.

Audio Technica M50x (and M40x) - really weird response to my ears. Way too much bass and sucked out midrange with a funky upper mids. Everything sounded out of sorts and unnatural to me. Returned quickly. 40's were the same story as the 50's.

Blue Mo-Fi - tried based on the recommendation here. Found them to be kind of small sounding and extremely heavy and uncomfortable. Didn't last long.

Meze 99 Noir - pretty good closed back headphones, comfortable and seals outside noise well. But pretty bassy and not natural so didn't like it much for guitar. Good for music.

Philips Fidelio X2 - there's kind of a nasty upper mid spike that made these things annoying to listen to.

I also got into bluetooth wireless headphones. I tried Bose (QC35, 700), Sony (XM4, XM3), Beats, maybe others I'm forgetting. I ended up keeping the Bose QC35 as they were a little smoother sounding and comfortable, even if the 700's were better for calls and Sony's had more bells and whistles.
 
Have owned most of the models mentioned, but my fav is my Bowers & Wilkens P7's. Have to keep the output on the FM3 low because they are only like 22 ohms. I think I like them because they are designed to sound like the companys high end stereo speakers rather than having a flat response. Also they are super comfortable.
 
I use the older Senn' 595. I'm not positive that the 598 replaced them, but they may have. They are a closed back phone and sound very much like your description of the 598s. Plus super comfortable. i use them foe PC gaming as well. The AXE3 drives them easily.
 
I got a pair of Valco’s. It’s a new Finnish company. I’ve worked with their designer and trust him with all my heart. Best headphones you can find for the price (169€). No bullshit.

DA13DD59-6CCF-4ABD-B0F1-6E09CE2A910B.jpegTake a closer look: https://valco.io/

All sold out for christmas already. They’re taking orders for January now.
 
I got a pair of Valco’s. It’s a new Finnish company. I’ve worked with their designer and trust him with all my heart. Best headphones you can find for the price (169€). No bullshit.

Do you use then with Bluetooth or wired?
 
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