The case of the all powerful Cooler Master MH751?

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
1

I live in a 3rd world country where headphones are hard to come by and even something cheap like the SHP9500 is 2-3 times as expensive as over in the US so I have a very strange selection of headphones.

I have the following: AKG K7XX, AKG K361, Turtle Beach Elite Atlas, Logitech G-Pro X, original Fidelio X2 and the Cooler Master MH751.

The crazy thing though is that the MH751 seems to beat out all the others despite the 40mm driver disadvantage.

Let me explain what I think of the headphones:
AKG-K7XX: sound great but it’s a bit like having a low power boombox in the Alps, the sound is just never big and enveloping it’s always floating off into the distance.
AKG-K361: Probably objectively the best in my selection but sometimes they sound very narrow, almost as if I am listening to the sound through a tunnel rather than a space/room.
Turtle Beach Elite Atlas: Sound awesomely lively but apparently in the local climate they would rather be a mushroom than a headphone. So they are busy growing on the shelf.
Fidelio X2: Also sound really nice and lively but I can tell certain frequency ranges are just not represented at all so I always feel like I may be missing something when using them.
Logitech G-Pro X: Eh, comfy but small and narrow sounding, the worst of the lot, I just thought I might try what is considered one of the best actual gaming headphones currently.

And then we come to the case of the MH751. So each of the other headphones I would say “crushes” or “underrepresents” this or that frequency, or doesn’t have the space for say a game with a lot of sounds with the smaller sounds disappearing under the bigger ones. Somehow however the MH751 seems completely immune to this. No matter what I am listening to or or much is going on I can hear each and every single thing better on this headphone than the others. And I don’t know why.

To give you an example of what I am talking about: Forza Horizon 4. There is a lot going on in this game, engine sounds, tire sounds, the “radio”, and occasionally an announcer and on the MH751 I can them all whereas the K361 just doesn’t have the space. For instance the K361 might put the radio sound ahead of the other game sound so the engine feels underrepresent, likewise on other headphones I can no longer hear the songs clearly. The MH751 is the only one that gives each sound the space to be perfectly clear and not overshadow any of the other sounds.

The drivers are smaller than the others and sometimes this is apparent, sometimes the sound is clearly smaller than on say the X2 or K7XX or not as lively as on the K361 or the mushroom, but yet I never feel like anything is being hidden from me and instead I hear things the X2 is simply not playing or the K7XX is not reproducing powerfully enough or the K361 and G-Pro X do not have the space to reveal.
I just don’t understand it.

But ok here’s the thing, knowing my read on some on some of these headphones now what would be your recommendation for a more audiophile MH751? Something that is easy to drive yet is bigger than the MH751 both in sound and cup size?

Easy to drive because I am a surround whore and therefore tied to running all these headphones on my Sennheiser GSX1200. Why you ask? Because I can’t stand the exclusive directionality of stereo sound. By that I mean I can’t stand a sound to my left basically only coming through the left cup, that’s not how sound works. It always needs to come through both sides, just slightly louder obviously on the side it is actually on, hence the GSX. I also like the sound to be bigger and envelop me and that is what surround provides. And lastly the ease of switching between Stereo and Surround it provides just can’t be underestimated. Some day I will get an amp/dac that is more audiophile with crossfeed but those are rare and even harder to come by here. So for now whatever I get has to be efficient enough to run off the GSX1200.

So…any recommendations now that you know a little of my tastes? Or is there maybe some tuning/modding trick I should try with my other headphones to get them to behave more like the MH751 (pad swopping is not possible though)? Or is my hearing just weird (aside from the surround DSP whoring)? I just want some idea of where to aim next.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide as well as maybe an explanation of how the MH751 is managing to emerge king of the hill.

2

While I haven’t personally heard either, I think the Sennheiser HD560s might be a similar sounding upgrade to the MH751. Maybe someone else with more experience can help better.

One other thing, maybe try the K7XX without the surround sound. They are known for being very wide by default do the surround might be overdoing it and making them sound too distant like you described.

3

Hey thanks for replying.

I have tried the K7XX and all the others in Stereo too. And yeah the K7XX is definitely a little closer in Stereo though still lacking the impact of most of the others. But then when I am playing a game and walk into a room/building and someone off to the left or right says something and it comes only from that side of the headphone, I go into a fit of rage and switch back to Surround. I just absolutely can’t stand that, as I said that is not how sound works.

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4

Oh I almost forgot to reply to this part. Sennheiser and I don’t get along, I may be using a GSX1200 but their headphones I want to stay far away from (including any Drop variations).

I forgot to mention that I own another headphone as well, the Sennheiser G4ME Zero (not the One everyone says one should use) and this headphone clamped so hard it made my physically nauseous. Now I know one can adjust clamp to some degree but I hadn’t done that yet because it seemed to fit fine. And once I did I actually snapped something and made it have a weird kink in the headband. So that oval shape never ever again, I don’t care how good it sounds.

I also get the impression that Sennies don’t have the bass response I want from whenever I have watched a review on one of them. I don’t just want to hear bass, I want to feel it if at all possible (not that my musical taste is basshead in any way). The mushroom (Elite Atlas) was great in this regard, they were so alive and I could actually feel the movement of air from the driver and that’s more what I am after, although at the same time I don’t want the headphone to be completely bass dominated.

And finally Sennies are usually harder to drive and I think ironically may be beyond the GSX1200’s abilities.

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5

As K-712 Owner, there is your problem.
Without an amp to make it do what the musics asks for, it will kinda “eh?” the sound at you.

You have a solid selection of headphones. Maybe an amplifier?

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6

In other words I really need a THX Portable. Only amp I can think of with crossfeed, because I am not going pure stereo.

That said on paper the K7XX should be fine and it does get plenty loud?

7

Can’t the Gx1200 output line level?
Then you could use that as your DAC/processor and connect any amplifier after it.

Going loud and driving a headphone properly are different things.

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8

Sigh, finding quality amps around here is far more difficult than headphones. But I guess I will have to try that then.

So basically by suggesting the amp to me you are saying that once the K7XX has an adequate amount of juice behind it will reveal itself and leave the MH751 and the rest of my collection in the dust?

That said I would still be curious whether there is something that will follow the never veiled signature of the MH751, just more, both in quality and cup size.

9

Something like the magni 3+ or haresey might be a good option. If those are not easily available (like in Europe) then a monolith liquid spark or JDS labs atom are both great.

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None of those is. Amps/dacs are really hard to come by here because they are not sold locally at all so your only resource is basically the second hard market or imports which don’t really work during this covid nonsense. And the only stuff available there is little Fullas at the moment, and then some very expensive higher end amps or amps for specific uses like a guitar. Stuff like the Atom, Magni or Liquid Spark come by like maybe once or twice a year max.
By contrast at least some higher grade headphones are sold locally like AKG, Audio Technica or Beyers (and of course Sennies).

11

You might like the tygr 300r. It’s 32ohm and might be the sound signature your looking for.

12

I get the impression that Beyers are usually very V-shaped and sometimes peaky? Which means I think I would again be missing stuff in the mids like am with the original X2 (at least that’s where I think it’s not playing things).

13

I think the tygr 300r are more balanced like the DT880. DMS gave them a glowing review and I think Zeos did as well.

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14

Yeah I know they did. Although they give glowing reviews to lots of things, even things I don’t want.

If I was going just off Z reviews then I think the ideal upgrade would be the Harmonicdyne Zeus or that Emotiva headphone he reviewed shortly. But I was just curious what others thoughts on it were.

And also curious if anyone else has a headphone they feel doesn’t ever under-represent or crush any frequency as I feel about the MH751 currently.

15

If you can read FR graphs, Ratings has the MH751 and Crin has the tygr 300r. They both look like a slightly bright and warm-ish neutral sound.

The Zues may also be a good choice.

I think the emotiva is a bit more V-shaped so that might not be the best if you are looking for the same kind of sound signature as the MH751.

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16

Hmmm there was a reason why I wasn’t considering the TYGRs but I don’t remember what it was. I think it may be the attached cable. Not that I am trying to be a cable snob but I’ve broken tons of admittedly cheap headphones and headsets by having the part where the cable goes into the headphone repeatedly crash against my shoulder and then the thing going mono on me unless I fiddle with the cable.

If not for that there would probably be a AD500x or 700x in my collection as well.