Massdrop Sennheiser HD58X - Official Thread

Another excellent review! Love the photos in this one too.

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Thanks for checking out!

Good stuff man. What is your goal when EQ’ing those cans? Do you EQ to taste (to your preferred sound signature), for neutrality, V-shapy, etc?

Good question! I always start off by listening to the headphone I am testing, and then comparing it (regardless of the price range) to my EQ’d LCD-2.

The reason for this is that I consider the tonality of LCD-2’s after EQ to be my personal neutral target curve. So regardless of a headphone’s technical performance, that is the tonality I always aim for. I’ll describe my target curve by comparing it to the Harman target curve. Compared to the Harman Target Curve, my target curve has a 3dB lower bass shelf, frequencies between 2k-5k are roughly 2-3 dB down, 6k-7k about 4dB down, and frequencies above 10k are above 2dB higher.

I think that the 58X actually get very, very close to my personal target curve, more so than most headphones–that’s why I really like it.

Have you tried it with EQ and stock pads? I recommend giving it a shot. It’ll give you a different flavor of a headphone you already love and enjoy! :smiley:

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I gave up on APO (Peace) in favor of Reference 4. Too bad we can’t run both at the same time, and I only have one computer. I’m not in the mood of reinstalling stuff either.

Nevertheless, this is what Sonarworks considers for “correcting” the 58X:

Their fix makes the 58X sounds shouty (and boring) in the upper mids. I’ll give a simple track as example: Back to Black from AC-DC. Not to mention that if the curve about is accurate, there’s minimal to none EQ needed on this can. And for less than $200.

So I do not EQ the 58X myself. Pads are still stock. But someday I may give your settings a try.

Cheers.

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I’m not familiar with either of the other two, sorry. Is that the frequency response after EQ has been applied, or is that the EQ curve being applied? Or is it just the 58X’s FR?

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Bingo. :star:

Note the Bollinger Band around the measurement. That is a variance of roughly 6dB in the whole spectrum*. In the end of the day, a custom EQ tuning will always be the best choice.


* Once again, assuming those measurements are accurate.

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Thank you for clarifying that for me. For the most most part it seems to be consistent with what I heard when testing these out. Do you know what EQ they apply to them?

Also, I agree, a custom EQ is always preferrable. However, I do think that presets can be a good template with which to start. Sort of like Audeze Reveal +.

If you ever try my EQ let me know what you think, and what adjustments you make to it. I’d be really eager to get your feedback on it!

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Reference 4 DSP boosts/cuts frequencies (green curve) according to “their” target (0 dB red curve):

Concept is quite simple. The question is, what is the target for them? I don’t know.

I found it works great for DT770 PRO. But I haven’t been engaging this DSP for my other cans: HD58X, HD6XX, HD600 and the SRH1540.

Aye aye Captain.

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I think I found a way. You know, those Saturday night experiments. :smirk:

I’m routing the signal into my DAW (Cockos REAPER) and can apply different DSPs to the music as individual tracks. So, before making a judgement into your settings, I would like to know if this is the expected correction curve (the turquoise filled line), or maybe I missing something*?


* For terminology, I believe what you call Peak, REAPER calls it as Band. Hopefully it’s the same thing. If Band it is, there’s still 2 variations of it, which may produce slightly different EQ curves in REAPER.

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It really isn’t plastic enough to pay homage to hte HD-580 Jubilee. Those backs don’t come close to 1990s pressed plastic, which might have been paying homage to the original Rectilinear III grille - seen here in the “Lowboy” speaker shape.
image

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What options does it give you per band? In Peace what I call “peak” is the type of adjustment filter I add to a band.

My EQ curve looks like this:

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I like the grill design of the original, it was very nicely styled, in my opinion. I had no idea that it could have paid homage to a speaker–looks nice!

Thanks. Definitely not apples to apples. This is the band parameters, for instance:

Thanks for posting your curve. It has very subtle adjustments and now I can sleep in peace (pun not intended). :smile:

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Seems like you can adjust the same settings, hopefully it sounds the same! Let me know what you think :slight_smile:

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The Rectilinear grill was unique for a speaker, and was introduced in 1968 (Julian Hirsh of Stereo Review named the Rectilinear III his speaker of the year). But this style grill seemed to come and go for the next 20 years or so. I don’t know if it was supposed to have any special properties, but as a Rec III
“highboy” owner who never had the right grills, the design of the 580 Jubilee headphone back seemed to me to be a variation on a theme. I finally had metal grilles made for the Rec IIIs, bought metal designed for speaker grills and had an auto restorer flange them to fit perfectly. They look pretty good, but I’ll probably never lay my hands on a pristine set of the right grilles. (Grill or grille? I’ll use both).

Someday I will get other speakers and will no longer feel this angst. I will miss the pain of not having the correct grilles on my speakers since 1974.

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I must say, they look very nice. I do wonder if it changed the sound in some way, as I’ve heard rumors that Sennheiser abandoned the design due to how they changed the sound of the headphone.

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I’m happy someone already had similar doubt before. Too bad REAPER stock plugin truncates the calculated value so there’re still a small variation. Looks now much closer to yours though:

And I’ll be on the market for other DSPs in general. :star_struck:

Quick few tests

Small list of songs given below. My preference given by a small :white_check_mark: icon.

George Michael – Praying for time

– No EQ: :white_check_mark:
– Sonarworks: too shouty;
– Yours: Too much treble;

Elton John – Rocket Man

– No EQ: sounds OK;
– Sonarworks: a little shouty in the beginning – but I do like the acoustic guitar strums :white_check_mark:
– Yours: too much V-shaped to my taste;

Carly Simon – You’re so vain

– No EQ: :white_check_mark: ;
– Sonarworks: shouty:
– Yours: too much V-shaped to my taste;

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean

– No EQ: :white_check_mark: ;
– Sonarworks: too flat:
– Yours: too much treble for my taste;

AC-DC – Back in Black

– No EQ: sounds OK to me;
– Sonarworks: too shouty:
– Yours: nailed here :white_check_mark:

Daft Punk – Instant Crush

– No EQ: :white_check_mark: ;
– Sonarworks: sounds flat (boring):
– Yours: too much V-shaped to my taste;

The 1975 – Somebody Else

A tie here.

– No EQ: :white_check_mark: ;
– Sonarworks: sounds flat (boring):
– Yours: V-shaped :white_check_mark: ;

Conclusion (from quick few tests)

– Genre dependent. Nothing new here; :smile:
– Overall, treble is a little bit too much for my taste – as of today, when compared to my regular days wanting to listen to darker headphones. But this also changes. For instance, last Thursday I was listening to my DT770 PRO without any EQ, and I did have a great time. Human brain is weird, huh?

Closure

Remember:

  • Everyone has a different preference;
  • Everyday is different as well;
  • Every song is mixed/mastered using different ears and gear.

Good stuff nevertheless, bro. :facepunch:

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Yo, this is awesome!

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some feedback on your expereince trying your EQ (I’m really proud of it getting chosen for AC/DC :love_you_gesture:t2:). We all have different preferences, that is for sure. However, I think that the biggest takeaway for me here is that slight adjustments can add a lot of versatility to already awesome cans. Thanks for sharing!

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1975 - Somebody else !

Great track!

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