I month is pretty long. I would say I need about a week of constant listening to fully assess something
Yeah I mean one month but half the time I’m not near my headphones. 
2 weeks on my end fir anything as thats’s just enmough time for me to see how it fares with my daily life. But with a bad headphone or a bad anything I can usually tell immediately in the first few tracks if I’m not going to like it.
I have been surprised a fair bit of times, with my initial reaction negative, and then using it more I start to like it. So to fairly judge something, I have to give it time
same thing happened to me with the 990 took time and amp swapping to really enjoy the thing. but sometimes something will offend me so much initially that my relationship with it is immediately over
wel…exercise some patience Guru…like Z just did with the Stellia. he went meh…but after letting them burn in for 100 hours he was like, ‘wow, I really like these!’.
I spent a week with the elegia, stellia, utopia, and the clear at once when I wanted to get a pair of focal, and tbh the stellia wowed me out of the gate, but as I listened for longer, the clear and elegia was much more impressive to me. I liked the utopia but didn’t think it was worth that much more then the clear. Since we were talking about the Stellia
I usually do. I don’t usually immidiately dislike headphones or anything. but sometimes something will offend right away to the point where there is no point in buying it or keeping it. usually too much sibilance to the bass is too loose and leaking too much in the mids and that’s coming from a guy that like 99 noirs and 990’s. It doesn’t happen too often. not much really offends me to be honest but sometimes there is that one can that I immediately dislike. most of the time it’s the skull candy or beats headphones or earbuds I occasionally get from family members because they know I like audio stuff that I usually end up selling, returning or giving away. but keeps me humble cause I get some on a yearly basis because of it and do notice them being less and less awful
I haven’t had a headphone immediately offend me tbh. I haven’t had that moment where I’m just done and want nothing to do with it after listening. That being said, if a headphone breaks or develops a flaw and I get screwed over because of it, I will lose my mind and be pissed off for weeks and never want it in my sight again.
you lie, M0N…the SR22te’s. 
I didn’t immediately hate them. I grew to dislike them. When I first tried them on, they weren’t my favorite, but after spending a fair bit of time, I kinda figured out that I liked them less. I was mainly talking about initial impressions
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“exercising patience” for headphones with sibilance would be suicidal for your hearing…
I already have tinnitus, no thanks, heh.
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Reviving this thread, because NAD HP50s plus these angled pads are great.
15$ CAD, prime shipped. Still the smooth, laid-back treble, but they’re no longer “boring”. These really add a decent amount of bass, and sufficient soundstage.
As a bonus, my Nad HP50s became comfy hi-res winter earmuffs. 
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I think I’ll buy a set. can’t lose at that price!
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well…I did a thing. I was looking at Visions.ca website and saw they had the NAD HP30 on clearance for $119, but only ‘in store’, so I started Googling and came upon an unopened pair on Kijiji for $80 in Winterpeg. I sent them a message saying I wanted to buy them. they replied saying $50 cash. I wrote back telling them about our unique circumstances and they agreed to $75 shipped. I had them send me photo’s of the box with a note having today’s date and a random phrase to prove it’s legit…the HP50 were $250 CAD, with the red model’s being $180 and the white at $119. these are the red one’s. apparently the person (a grandma) won them and has no use for them, so her son put up the ad.
I should be getting the tracking # later this evening. 
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got tracking and ETA for delivery is Jan 12yh. 
I should say I do like the HP50’s too. i use them all the time and have no desire to sell them off. I was gonna give them to my going-deaf grams, but then really regretted volunteering them. shortly afterwards.
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Well, if you want something similar to the standard Nad HP50 pads, these will do. 11$ USD. They’ll make em way more neutral (way less mid-oriented), though. They’ll really seal and add decent bass/drum kick slam (and treble, yes).
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Nad HP50 Review: Like closed-back HD6XX/650’s.
I honestly do not know why I did not review these. I had these for maybe two years, maybe more. Sometimes it’s like you get in this stupid mentality where you have a beautiful secret you want to keep for yourself? Maybe, unconsciously, this is why I did not review the Nad HP50’s. Until now. But above all I had just nothing to say about these… because I was too busy listening to music with these.
I usually start my reviews saying the gear used, but… these sound great on everything and are not picky at all. They don’t need power at ALL, so they even sound good with my old Samsung S7 phone (good, not great, but your smartphone 3.5mm out – if you’re lucky enough to have one – will never have sounded that good). Fun fact about the cable: You can plug it under the left earcup, you can plug it under the right earcup… But that’s a 4-pin, so the Nad HP50’s can be balanced? Nope, it’s a 3.5mm 4-pin for the microphone. Yeah, it’s odd. Convenient when receiving calls, though (the mic is just “okay”, for info… but we’re not here for this).
First, the stock pads of these are… rectangle. Yeah. Throw em in the trash (lol). Seriously, you can’t expect any kind of good seal with rectangle pads, especially if you buy em used (I bought mine used). Expect the bass and sub-bass to be even lower than what you get with open-back HD6XX’s/HD650’s. But there’s an easy fix: Cheapo amazon, fake-leather angled pads. Something like this will seal, will give you an impressively decent amount of quality bass and sub-bass and be very comfortable, very closed. Yup, with decent pads, you get a great seal, and a great sound. Be careful though, too thick pads will boost the treble region. So… just avoid angled pads altogether if you want to be sure not to make a mistake. Anyway, I’ve been using mine on the bus often, and… No, you don’t need noise-canceling headphones. These are my Hi-Res winter earmuffs!
Mids are where the music is.
The reason why the Sennheiser HD650’s/6XX’s are legendary is, imho, because Sennheiser knew “mids are where the music is”. Someone told me Nad HP50’s were apparently “their own take at the harman curve”. And as I already said, “I’m glad they failed at it, because it’s the reason I love these”. No, I don’t like the harman curve. No bass. No kick. Soulless mids. Bright an annoying treble. With the Nad HP50’s (and “round” pads for a great seal), you get bass. A very decent drum kick. Soulful mids. Clear high-mids and low-treble, but a very inoffensive treble with no sibilance whatsoever. Which means these headphones are great for absolutely everything. Just press “shuffle” and enjoy. More than Closed-back HD6XX’s, with pads that seal, these become something like closed-back HD6XX’s with bass.
Some people might find the Nad HP50’s too mid-oriented? Maybe, with the stock “rectangle” pads. But round pads will seal and add bass. I already said these sounded good even plugged straight into my smartphone, which is impressive. Why? Mids. This little mid boost will give a soul to everything that doesn’t have one (like the DACs in smartphones, hah). And by that I mean, the singers will sound alive, voices will sound full instead of low-resolution or “thin”.
High-quality headphones that don’t require, but will reward you for, using high-quality gear.
Above all, it’s not about the frequency response. Graphs don’t show depth. Graphs don’t show detail. Ironically enough also I believe these closed-backs might have more soundstage than my open-back 6XX’s. And graphs definitely don’t show how natural these sound. These are dynamic drivers done right. If I want a “reference”, I either take my 6XX’s or my HP50’s. And I seriously do not know which one of these are the most detailed. My 6XX’s are here to stay, but I have a personal preference for closed-backs. This is why I use my Nad HP50’s… more than 75% of the time.
Finally, I already said the Nad HP50’s aren’t picky at all, but only using em on your smartphone would be a disgrace. I got mine “refurbished” on eBay for like 100$, but I’m very lucky. They originally were (MSRP) 300$ or more. I believe they’re worth 200$. My signal chain is now “Moon 100D → Aune X7S → Nad HP50”, and I’m dead certain my Nad HP50’s aren’t a bottleneck. Because Nad HP50’s look, and sound, high-quality. 
What can I add… if you want your treble with “sparkle”, look elsewhere. Even the 6XX’s are better at that. But, on the opposite, if you want decent bass, and if you want to shuffle your playlist for hours without ever being bothered by a song with too much “sparkle”, this is it.
2019, here on this page:
2023, here again:
Yes, things change. Lol.
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there are my most listened to headphones aside from what I cycle through at my work desk.
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