Squonk07
Someday you'll understand
After a ton of research I finally decided on this set. I was looking for a pair of closed cans mainly for listening pleasure (lots of classic and prog rock, along with some acoustic and classical), along with some occasional studio work. I got my pair about four days ago, so they don't really have a lot of time on them yet. I'd say a little over 24 hours overall.
I did listen to these in the shop (GC) and compared them against a Shure SRH440 and the well-known Sony 7506 and the ATs beat them both hands down, though they all sounded like utter $#!+ straight out of the box. The ATs were the only ones that improved at all in the hour I had to listen, and I liked the direction the sound was going so I bought them.
However, by this point I'm not impressed in the least. The bass seems way too boomy and prevalent to me, especially in the upper bass/lower mids region. The upper mids are recessed (I expected this, so that's probably all right) and the treble sounds piercing and sibilant. Not at all the "neutral" or "fun" (either or) sound the majority of people who mentioned these on the Internet reported (*cough* Head-fi). I did look at the frequency response curve on these and noted the bump in the bass, but I've also learned that FR and other paper specs are of limited importance, especially in the face of so many positive impressions.
Note that I'm not posting a bash thread, as I'm really hoping these will improve--they'd better, or back they go.
So I have a few questions about what to do going forward. I've been running a pink/white/brown noise cycle (25 minutes of each with five minutes rest in between) for the past day, and I'd intermittently given them pink noise and various musical selections prior to that. These phones do a lot of things right, but that treble and boomy bass are huge deal killers for me. So here we go:
-Can anybody who has a pair of these tell me if continued burn-in will have any effect, and if so, how long do I need to proceed?
-I'm hearing a lot of sibilance, which is really irritating. Anybody who has these have that problem?
-Is this all just wishful thinking; is the sonic signature on these really that skewed toward the bass and treble? These aren't cheap consumer-grade cans, and I expected much better--the difference between "slightly recessed mids" and what I'm hearing from my M50s is astronomical.
BTW, I've run these unamped, through my vintage Kenwood receiver, and through a mixer with a separate headphone amp; and while the overall sound has scaled up with each item on this list, the sonic signature remains basically unchanged. I've also tried EQ (I hated even having to resort to this) and couldn't manage anything that way, either.
Finally, two more questions:
-If the answers to the above three questions are no, yes, and yes, can anybody name some alternatives in the < $150 range (possibly stretched to $200 if it's really worth it) that offer a more neutral presentation, preferably with more forward-sounding mids?
-Are there any good hi-fi shops in the SE Michigan (Port Huron or thereabouts) I could visit to try out some cans? The folks at my local GC were very good about letting me try boxed merchandise, but the selection leaves something to be desired and I'd like to try broken-in and properly-amped equipment.
It may be that I'm one of those people who can't stand closed cans, though they never much bothered me before. :scratch2:
I did listen to these in the shop (GC) and compared them against a Shure SRH440 and the well-known Sony 7506 and the ATs beat them both hands down, though they all sounded like utter $#!+ straight out of the box. The ATs were the only ones that improved at all in the hour I had to listen, and I liked the direction the sound was going so I bought them.
However, by this point I'm not impressed in the least. The bass seems way too boomy and prevalent to me, especially in the upper bass/lower mids region. The upper mids are recessed (I expected this, so that's probably all right) and the treble sounds piercing and sibilant. Not at all the "neutral" or "fun" (either or) sound the majority of people who mentioned these on the Internet reported (*cough* Head-fi). I did look at the frequency response curve on these and noted the bump in the bass, but I've also learned that FR and other paper specs are of limited importance, especially in the face of so many positive impressions.
Note that I'm not posting a bash thread, as I'm really hoping these will improve--they'd better, or back they go.
So I have a few questions about what to do going forward. I've been running a pink/white/brown noise cycle (25 minutes of each with five minutes rest in between) for the past day, and I'd intermittently given them pink noise and various musical selections prior to that. These phones do a lot of things right, but that treble and boomy bass are huge deal killers for me. So here we go:
-Can anybody who has a pair of these tell me if continued burn-in will have any effect, and if so, how long do I need to proceed?
-I'm hearing a lot of sibilance, which is really irritating. Anybody who has these have that problem?
-Is this all just wishful thinking; is the sonic signature on these really that skewed toward the bass and treble? These aren't cheap consumer-grade cans, and I expected much better--the difference between "slightly recessed mids" and what I'm hearing from my M50s is astronomical.
BTW, I've run these unamped, through my vintage Kenwood receiver, and through a mixer with a separate headphone amp; and while the overall sound has scaled up with each item on this list, the sonic signature remains basically unchanged. I've also tried EQ (I hated even having to resort to this) and couldn't manage anything that way, either.
Finally, two more questions:
-If the answers to the above three questions are no, yes, and yes, can anybody name some alternatives in the < $150 range (possibly stretched to $200 if it's really worth it) that offer a more neutral presentation, preferably with more forward-sounding mids?
-Are there any good hi-fi shops in the SE Michigan (Port Huron or thereabouts) I could visit to try out some cans? The folks at my local GC were very good about letting me try boxed merchandise, but the selection leaves something to be desired and I'd like to try broken-in and properly-amped equipment.
It may be that I'm one of those people who can't stand closed cans, though they never much bothered me before. :scratch2: