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.
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.
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