I don’t think so, they are definitely a little Bass biased, but they they are nothing like listening to Beats. I think you’d be happy with either choice, but if you’re unsure, I’d save the money and buy the M40xs (which I preferred).
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It has been a while since I heard the M50x but when I did, I purchased the M40x.
Personally, I found the M50x to be too boosted in the bass and also less clear and defined than the M40x. The M40x is more of a neutral sound signature than the 50’s. I will say that the M40x is not very comfortable with the stock pads, I swapped them out for Brainwavz angled pads not long after buying them and this increased comfort by a lot and also improved the overall sound signature a little (again, in my opinion). I don’t know if the M50x benefits from the same pads or not as I don’t own them.
Around the price mark of the M50x or the M40x (plus pads), I would say it is worth checking out the AKG K371. I have only tried it briefly but it left me with the impression that it is a better all round headphone than the M40x (and the M50x).
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For sure! The tracking studio my band uses has like a dozen pair of these. The point of these headphones, imo at least, is isolating the sound in a musician/singer’s ears and keeping it from bleeding into the mic during recording. At the same time, it provides a decent (not audiophile-grade, but decent) amount of clarity and balance for whomever is using them while recording.
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I have a m50x and enjoy it. Though I want to add another headphone to it with as much different characteristics as possible roughly in the same price range. I was thinking about the hifiman he400se or the Sennheiser hd560s. But open to other suggestions as well. So, question is what do you suggest. Where I live all three are roughly similar priced. Further not many places that I could listen to them here (actually none at all)
If you don’t need the isolation, then I’d try an open back headphone, maybe along the lines of the two mentioned. If you can afford to spend a bit more, then you’ll have more and possibly slightly better options to choose from.
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No need for isolation. My feeling is that the he400se is more different than the hd560s. If spend more, let’s say another 25 to 50% what are then the best options? Sundara? What else? Though sundara is probably more than 50% .
There are quite a few new open-back models that have some potential. Since I haven’t personally used or heard any of them myself (just the reviews), I can’t really give good advice on which might provide the best combinations of sound quality, comfort, and durability. I’m not even sure which ones interest me the most at this point! Or if I’ll even dip into the headphone reservoir again (since I still get pretty decent results from my current DT-770, and just happened upon some new graphs to use for EQ-ing them).
I’m looking at a variety of open and closed headphones though, including headphones like the two you mentioned, and others by Sennheiser, HiFiMan, Focal, DCA, Denon, Neumann, Shure, Audeze, and Fiio, to name a few. The 6 series Sennheisers have always been of some interest to me, for example. I’m a bit spoiled by the bass/sub-bass on my closed-backs though. So I’ve been looking at the newer open models with a little better extension there, like the HD490 Pro, Focal Hadenys, etc.
There might be a couple AKG and Beyerdynamic headphones I’d consider as well. I’m already pretty familiar with these brands though. And would like to try somethin new… AudioTechnica also makes an open headphone, called the R70X that some folks like btw. It has an unusual headband though… I don’t know enough about companies like Aune, Austrian Audio, or Rode. Rode is known for their mics though. So they have some transducer experience.
A planar magnetic headphone would probably give you a more different sound than the dynamic drivers in the M50x. Some folks prefer the sound of good dynamic drivers to planars though. They have different qualities.
This headphone finder by DMS might also give you a couple other ideas…
