HD58X final review: Smooth, full perfection. Pure, unadulterated music.
Warning: Bad seal = bad sound. For the first week, the HD58Xs were really shrill to my ears, and lacked bass/sub-bass. It made no sense, because the bass/sub-bass is already (according to the mass/drop graphs) boosted. But as you can see in the rtings graph… Sorry, it’s not. I went to bed one or two times telling myself “man, Metal571 was right about the grain”. But one day I twisted the metal (not 571) headband a bit to get a better “seal” around my ears. Then, I put the HD58Xs over something to crush the pads overnight (heresy!). Annnd it fixed everything. The bass is there and the highs are not harsh anymore. At all. Just beautiful detail. Anyway, here’s the review.
First: Everything, everything sounds fuller with these headphones.
-Bass: Extends all the way down, and (with a good “seal” around your ears) you get accurate, deep bass and sub-bass. I’d be lying if I’d say they have accentuated mid-bass. IMHO, they’re bass-boosted to compensate the fact they’re open-back. I believe you need to “tilt” frequency response graphs a bit for open-backs (-5dB less bass) and closed-backs (+5dB more bass + kick “slam”).
-Mids: Remember, they’re based off the (discontinued) HD580 “Precision” headphones, which were Sennheiser’s take on “the most neutral” headphones. The graph shows they were, and still are, pretty much spot on – dare I say, more “spot on” than ever, actually – especially if you look at the 10khz-to-20khz region.
-Treble: Accurate treble, extends all the way up. Even higher than 20khz. (No, I can’t hear that – but diy-audio-heaven measured it. Where most headphones, today, start “failing” at 10khz, these start “failing”… at 20khz). So, uh, if you’re a human, you’ll hear everything. This can be a problem: All the damn recordings with boosted highs will sound harsh. Yup, “grainy” even. HD58X have excellent detail, but cymbals harmonics aren’t meant to be heard, god dammit. Lol.
Soundstage: “Shoulders wide”, more or less. I feel like I’m in the studio, or on the stage. I never knew mp3s could sound like that.
Detail retrieval: I know when I listen to 128kbps mp3s now. I notice something’s wrong. Media player on shuffle, trying to enjoy a song: “hmm, something’s missing – oh, is it 128kbps?”, and yes, it is. It happened to me multiple times now. The cymbals are screwed up, the singers sound thin, the bass isn’t as extended as it should be. Compared to my Sennheiser HD280s, my Fostex T50RPs, my KZ ZS10 Pros, everything sounds fuller with these headphones. Multiple times fuller. And because they’re so neutral (harman curve), you don’t have to concentrate to hear anything. I mean, I’m shocked. I pictured myself throwing my HD280 Pros in the garbage after A/B-ing a song… from youtube.
Finally: They’re definitely, definitely worth their price. Excellent tool for home studios, but even excellenter (sorry) headphones for people who love music. Pure, unadulterated music.