So lurked around here and bought a pair of awesome IEM's for an unbelievable $20 - The Salnotes 7hz. The detail and out of the box tuning impressed me greatly. So wanted to see the hype with open backs and got the highly reviewed HD 560s. They are doing everything well, I use wavelet for EQ but They sound pretty flat out of the box. It blows my Sony ANC headphones out of the water in terms of comfort and fidelity.
I've put in a few days of heavy listening and this is my verdict. They are great headphones that suit my sound profile perfectly. I despise bloated bass and really like the refined midrange. these are resolving but not as much as the 7Hz. Soundstage is slightly bigger than the the IEM. But I have really well setup speakers - 2 pairs for stereo and a dedicated home theater setup and I can tell you soundstage is nowhere near what my speakers can do. The imaging is good and the low end extension is a little bit better than the 7Hz. I guess with the open backs I was hoping for the best of both worlds in terms of sitting between an IEM and my speakers. But really I am not feeling the open back hype, it still sounds enclosed and the narrow soundstage just makes it still pretty much a headphone experience.
I reach for my IEM to catch the details I miss from my speakers but really default choice for listening are my speakers because of the 3d soundstage and imaging.
So I guess in my Audiophile Journey I am going to stick to the experience that a good pair of IEM's / Headphones for detail but for a great listening experience for my personal taste speakers cannot be replaced.
HD 560s First open backs
Army_Elegant OP t1_j5wqmbd wrote
Reply to HD 560s First open backs by Army_Elegant
So lurked around here and bought a pair of awesome IEM's for an unbelievable $20 - The Salnotes 7hz. The detail and out of the box tuning impressed me greatly. So wanted to see the hype with open backs and got the highly reviewed HD 560s. They are doing everything well, I use wavelet for EQ but They sound pretty flat out of the box. It blows my Sony ANC headphones out of the water in terms of comfort and fidelity. I've put in a few days of heavy listening and this is my verdict. They are great headphones that suit my sound profile perfectly. I despise bloated bass and really like the refined midrange. these are resolving but not as much as the 7Hz. Soundstage is slightly bigger than the the IEM. But I have really well setup speakers - 2 pairs for stereo and a dedicated home theater setup and I can tell you soundstage is nowhere near what my speakers can do. The imaging is good and the low end extension is a little bit better than the 7Hz. I guess with the open backs I was hoping for the best of both worlds in terms of sitting between an IEM and my speakers. But really I am not feeling the open back hype, it still sounds enclosed and the narrow soundstage just makes it still pretty much a headphone experience.
I reach for my IEM to catch the details I miss from my speakers but really default choice for listening are my speakers because of the 3d soundstage and imaging.
So I guess in my Audiophile Journey I am going to stick to the experience that a good pair of IEM's / Headphones for detail but for a great listening experience for my personal taste speakers cannot be replaced.