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Choosing headphones

You say to yourself that good headphones have to play everything? With the equalizer, yes. The HD 650 has served as a reference headphone for many generations, and the reason is that they really do play everything, even though the quiet details of the mids and highs are not amplified as some would like. If the headphones boost some frequencies, they will negatively affect others. We all like a different sound – some like strong bass, some like accentuated mids.

Because of the price, everyone picks headphones from the bottom and changes the headphones for better ones. Unfortunately, this is a disadvantageous direction in terms of quality, price and, most importantly, time. You have to have many years of bad headphones before you get to the ones that show you the abysmal difference you didn’t believe in.

If you go from the top, you’ll probably end up looking for better sound right away with others. Each manufacturer is good mainly in how many inferior headphones it can produce graded up to its best. That’s how they make a gradual profit on all and many of us several times over.

If weak or clear bass is mentioned in headphones, such headphones are for many listeners headphones without bass. They’re not ideal for metal or rock, much less electronic music or movies, unless you’re willing to sacrifice significant bass for which you get rich detail elsewhere.

The headphones in the review are ones I had the opportunity to try out at home in peace and quiet. There are more manufacturers, of course, but I don’t think you’ll come across anything completely different. Physics will keep them all in a similar trend. The overhangs and dips described are indulgently up to 5dB.

HIGH-END

brings a lot to the sound. Headphones in this class can play instruments separately in space and, more importantly, equally loud, an important feature to hear everything.

Sennheiser
HD 650(600)
Sennheiser
HD 700
Grado
SR225e
Hifiman
HE-400i
price9000,-17000,-7000,-(9000,-)
basspleasant energetic bassclear bass as expected from high-end headphonesweak clean bland bassthey don’t have the whole lower bass
midsif you focus on the quiet details, you can hear themstrong mids, quiet details are clearly audibleif you concentrate on the quiet details, you can hear themaccurate centres with consistent response
highsthe highs are clear, unexcelled, you can hear any singing and a perfect sounding trumpeteven quietly sounding details are loud, but pitches have a problem e.g. with the trumpet and singing containing hisses makes the song unlistenablepitches inaccurate, listening to singing fortunately had no serious problemsthe overlap in treble is from 7kHz, it’s not without problems, but it’s not extreme either
overlapsdips 11-17kHzoverlap extreme 5.5kHz (use equalizer), drop 10kHz and 13kHzoverhangs 2kHz, 4.5kHz, extremes 8-13kHzoverlap 7-10kHz, dip 10-13kHz
specialtythey’ll play anythingloud even quiet detailsplanar headphones

MIDDLE CLASS

should be able to play instruments in detail in space together, it will not play everything equally loud, somewhere will still lack liveliness.

Sennheiser
HD 595(555)
Beyerdynamic
DT 990 PRO
Sony
MDR-1A
Sony
MDR-MA900
cena4000,-3000,-(6000,-)(5000,-)
bassmid-bass, does not tire, does not dazzledark detailed bassextra bass only for strong individualsweak bass
midsinstruments play beautifully in space, but not everythingmiddle space, accurate but sharper mids, not reaching high-end detailfor strong bass for someone hard to perceive the mids, no spacepleasant mids in a decent space
highsnormal heights without worriespitches still under control, hisses are on the edge, trumpets are okpitches and vocals are finenormal heights without worries
overlaps
overshoots and dips (fine 4kHz) from 9kHz
overlap 9kHzoverlap extreme 9kHz and then dips
specialtyif you have these headphones, the Sennheiser HD 600/650 is your final destinationbest value for money; beware of drivers that don’t match – claim ittoo much basssuper lightweight construction

LOWER MIDDLE CLASS

bez prostoru, živosti, plnosti nebo detailů.

Sennheiser
HD 4.50 BTNC
Audio-Technica
ATH-M40x
JVC
HA-S70BT
Marshall
Monitor
cena4000,-3000,-(6000,-)(5000,-)
bassstrong bassmid bass, the headphones have no punchnormal bass without punchwithout bass
midsthey have no space, something is missingrich inaccurate centres without spacethey have no space, something is missingsome mids in a strange space
highsweaker heights but without problemson the one hand, you can hear from the mids to the highs even quietly sounding details loudly, but it does not always sound good, and such singing in the highs contains unpleasant hisses and even grunts, and for example the trumpet sounds like a blowerpitches and vocals are fine
overlaps4kHz extreme dip and 7kHz dip10kHz and 15kHz overlaps
specialtybest price/performance ratio BT headphonesif you have these headphones, the Sennheiser HD 700 is your final destinationBT signal is intermittentthe nicest and worst sounding headphones