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Today's Bonus:
- Exceptional audio quality for professional monitoring and mixing
- Collapsible design ideal for easy portability and convenient storage
- Adjustable padded headband for comfort during long mixing or recording sessions
- Frequency Response: 15 - 28000 Hz
- Cable Length: 3.50 M
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I'm not a professionalI'm just a person who really loves her music, and I don't know much of anything the specs on this pair of headphones. What I can offer is what I did and how these headphones sound from an average person's point of view.
First off, I got this pair of headphones about a year ago, and I got them for about $130, tax included. When I got them, they sounded pretty good; just about as good as my pair of skullcany ink'd earbuds (those earbuds are pretty awesome even though they do break after about three months). Before purchasing the headphones, I read a couple reviews about how this pair of headphones need to be "burnt in". I did some research on google, and found out what "burning in" was (basically you plug in the headphones and play white noise/ pink noise for a certain number of hours). So I burnt in my headphones for about 60 ish hours (I wasn't really countingI was just playing the noise while I labored over homework). To my surprise, they sounded better after that. The m50 headphones actually gets better as it ages (the voices get crisper, the sounds sound more natural).
Honestly, I love this pair of headphones (they sound way better than my (5th) pair of skullcandies now) for several reasons:
I don't feel them after a while. It feels like I'm just plainly not wearing them
The material's comfortable (I have really flat straight hair and an average head) and isn't too big or small.
The sound quality is amazing. I'm not kidding when I say that the voices are so much crisper. The sound quality is really balanced too. The skullcandies tend to put more emphasis on the well, heavier side of music (beats, etc). A classical piece sounds as good as say a deadmau5 song though the m50's (which is pretty darn good).
The headphone jack is really well built. It's not going to fall apart like my skullcandies anytime soon.
A couple things that might be helpful to know:
The cord's insanely long. I had to get a ribbon to tie up most of it. Otherwise I end up tripping on it or tangling it.
The sound quality's still really amazing at low volumes. My ears are really sensitive (more than an hour or two with the skullcandies at the lowest volume on my I-pod will make my ears feel awful), and the m50's don't hurt my ears. I listen to the m50's for 4-5 hours a day, and my ears are fine (the volume is usually on 2-4 on my laptop, which is a Dell Studio).
I wear glasses, and after a while, the glasses frame will leave an indent on the sides of the headphone cushions. I wouldn't advise wearing flimsy plastic frameless glasses with this pair of headphones.
The headphones block sound pretty well. When I put them on, I definitely can't hear my mom talking (sorry, Mom). I can hear her voice if she shouts, but I can't make out the words. I travel with my family a lot, and the headphones did a good job blocking out the airplane noise.
These fold in pretty well. It took me a while to figure out how they fold in since they can flip, turn, and twist in every which way.
What I actually listen to: J-pop, J-rock, rock, pop, classical, techno, a bit of country, well, a bit of everything.
The only thing I'm worried out for this pair of headphones is where the cord connects to the left "ear cup". It's not as strong as the headphone jack. I guess it's not supposed to be?
I don't have any other pair of headphones, so I don't really have anything to compare the m50's to, but if the price ever falls below 130, I'd get a second pair (my current pair never leaves home). Some of the old reviews say that these headphones used to be below 100, but I doubt that the price would ever fall that low again. I should probably stop procrastinating and get back to my homework now.
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I've had these headphones for about a week and a half now, and I love 'em. They are not ideal for all listening situations, however. I typically use the M50s with a FiiO E11 Portable Headphone Amplifier connected to my iPad via a FiiO L3 Line Out Dock (LOD) Cable, or connected to my laptop via the cable the E11 comes with (which plugs into the headphones/audio out jacks on computers, MP3 players, iPads and iPhones, etc). This gives me great sound when I listen to various alternative and rock stations through the TuneIn Radio app for iPad or to lossless music on my laptop. But when I watch a movie on my iPad or laptop, I prefer to listen through my Sennheiser HD555 Professional Headphones, because they have a better soundscape than the M50s. Open back headphones, such as the 555s, typically have more spacious soundscapes than closed back headphones such as the M50s. ("Soundscape" refers to perception of distance from the source. If an automobile is approaching from the rear left in a movie scene, with the 555s I can easily discern its location and can hear/"feel" its approach, whereas I do not get such a sense of depth or soundscape with the M50s. But when listening to rock with the 555s, I do not get the sense of immediacy and presence nor anywhere near as much bass as I do with the M50s, which is why I'm glad I own both headphones.)
I wanted the straight cable version of the M50s because of previous experience with coiled headphones cables becoming stretched out and unsightly over time. The straight cable is 11 feet long, which means that it needs to be folded up and rubber-banded or twist-tied when the M50s are used with a portable music player by someone who is out and about or moving around a lot.
I like that the M50 ear pads can be replaced for around $20 a pair (at present, and apparently not through Amazon). I own a pair of Sennheiser HD580s that are now over a decade old, and the ear pads are pretty much worn out, making wearing the 580s very uncomfortable as well as no doubt negatively affecting their audio quality. Replacement ear pads for the 580s cost around $50! (Replacement ear pads for AKG's Quincey Jones Q701 headphones retail for about $35 EACH or $70 a pair!) The M50 headphones are circumaural, meaning that their ear pads cover the ears (as opposed to sitting on the ears like supra-aural headphones), and cover my ears just fine (I'd say that my ears are somewhere between medium and large in size).
And I like that the M50s can be folded up and stored and carried in the soft pleather protective pouch they come with. When folded up the M50s and folded up cable could fit, tightly, in a box that is approximately 5" x 7" x 4".
My hat size is about 7 5/8 (about 23 7/8 inches), and while the M50s fit me fine and are reasonably comfortable, after an hour or so they begin to feel a tad uncomfortable, meaning that I start to get that "clamping" sensation that headphone wearers talk about. At this point I begin adjusting the headphones a bit. Some folks deal with this kind of problem by putting their headphones over, say, a head-sized speaker cabinet to stretch them out, but I'm reluctant to do that because I take it for granted that my head will cause the M50s to stretch over time, and I wouldn't want to risk pushing them in the direction of becoming not tight enough. And as many reviewers of the M50s note, they get hot after a while (very quickly when I wear them while working out on an exercycle or elliptical, otherwise after about an hour). When wearing them during exercise I need to have a towel, rag, or cloth handy in case I need to wipe sweat off the pads. I'm bald but find the headband reasonably comfortable.
I like the M50s for listening to some classical music, whereas there is some classical music that I prefer to listen with the aforementioned Sennheiser HD555s (e.g., opera, which I find benefits from headphones with more spacious soundscapes).
If you are in the market for headphones and are considering the M50s, I recommend that you check out Tyll Herstens' positive (he recommends them) YouTube review of the M50s (which is available both on YouTube and at Mr. Herstens' excellent site, Inner Fidelity; there is also a written review at Inner Fidelity). Mr. Herstens has done some serious technical research on the question of headphone burn-in, and you can find his articles on that at Inner Fidelity (once at the site, search for "burn-in" or "break-in"). If you are interested in reviewing technical data and graphs for headphones, including the M50s, check out the "Build A Headphone Graph" section in the "Learning Center" of the HeadRoom site. There you can create and compare graphs for up to four different headphones at a time.
Finally, the M50s are marketed as offering "maximum isolation," so how good are they at noise isolation? I wouldn't wear them for noise-cancelling purposes (we don't want to confuse noise-isolating headphones with noise-cancelling headphones; see the Wikipedia entry for noise-cancelling headphones for more information), such as when I ride my lawn tractor. They are too nice for such use, but if I didn't care about that I would still prefer my AblePlanet active noise-cancelling headphones for such use, because they work really well at blocking out loud noise like the sound of a lawn tractor. The M50s are more than adequate for noise-isolation when I use an exercycle or elliptical, and probably do offer the maximum amount of noise-isolation that closed-back headphones which are not active noise-cancelling headphones can offer.
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These are the best sounding headphones I've had, even right out of the box, and the bass showed noticeable improvement after only a few hours of use.
They're light, comfortable, and have amazing clarity even with their bass response. No muddy bass at all, it sounds crisp and heavy even at lower volume. They're a noticeable improvement over the other sets I have, a Grado SR80i and Sennheiser HD280 Pro's; the construction seems better than the 280's, too, with solid mountings and rotation on the cups and a reinforced cable at the jack. The cable is long enough to reach across my living room to my receiver with extra slack to spare, and with this straight cable version I don't get the tangles I have with my 280's.
All around great headphones, and I'm really happy with them. Awesome music headphones, but the clarity makes them great with dialog in movies and the bass in games is powerful without being overbearing.
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These headphones are great! I chose these since I didn't want the coiled cord version (I think it looks tacky in the year 2011) but they are identical in every other way to the ATHM50. These are great all-around headphones, and you'd be hard pressed to find anything at this price-point to give you an all-around experience aside from open headphones (Grado SR125i being one of the open headphones at this level to potentially challenge the ATHM50S).
Sound: 4.5/5
Wow. I prefer these to its famed open "little" brother, the ATH-AD700 due to more accurate and tight sounding audio. It sounds great, the bass can be heard and is not muddy. However, if you prefer bass like Beats headphones, these are going to be a little disappointing, as they don't bring skullcrushing bass. There is no lack of bass, however, as Daft Punk bass gets the drivers bouncing with lots of bass. Now, I know these are closed headphones, but the soundstage is a bit lacking. I personally don't mind as much, but for those that like immersion in their music, a quiet environment with open headphones will be better for you. If you just need seclusion and want to listen to music in a louder environment or want to be considerate to others, these headphones are going to fit all but the pickiest Basshead (I missed the call for dinner a few times with these on, and trust me, I was quite hungry at the time). Very balanced sound.
Comfort: 4.75/5
These headphones are nice, and I can wear them for hours. The issue with this is that they can get a pit warm on your ears (sometimes I think my earwax feels like its melting, but maybe I just want that to happen because I think that would be cool). Now, those with large ears and/or ears that stick out might find these a little small or constricting, but for me, they fit just fine.
Value: 5/5
Unless you go to open headphones at this price-point, you won't find better overall headphones. These aren't the best possible headphones you could find, but then you're talking about $500+ headphones. Check out head-fi and audiophile forums. These get quite a lot of praise, and are frequently considered the best at this price point, and the quality of these headphones shows it.
After researching lots of closed back cans and listening to several I agree with all the other rave reviews for these. The ONLY criticism I could say is that they don't have a removable plug. For sound quality though you will have to spend north of $500 to come close to these. DONT waste $$$ on Beats! It's just marketing.
