Thank you sir. Direct works fine. My only concern is this:
The contact surfaces and inner diameters are lined with Alcantara. The outer diameters are lined with protein leather, which are beautifully plush and impeccably constructed;
From personal experience living in humid places, this PU finishing will last 2-3 years before starting to crack. And I have a wife with tons of PU stuff. It’s always a drama when that happens.
If 2-3 years is a good replacement rate, and the sound and comfort follows, why not give this a try, right?
Yes, protein leather has an absolute upper limit on the number of bending events before cracking. We’ve had the covers on a $$$$ massage chair, ottomans, etc. degrade and fall apart with use. The stuff feels great at first but doesn’t have a fraction of the durability of true leather.
I don’t know how to label “natural animal skin leather” any more, as many recent leather products are faked in some way. Polymers, protein, pulverized, painted, etc.
I looked at these last summer and ended up buying a used pair in the fall. I was Really impressed with the sound and there are my favourite Senns yet.
They were the first Sennheisers that I actually found fun and had some fairly strong bass.
For a time I actually owned these and the HD600’s together. Running these through all my amps ended with me preferring the HD58X’s. Although at the same time, I had a guy strongly advising me that I Needed to try the HD600 on a tube amp. I did eventually buy a tube amp and the HD600 did really excell.
But these headphones were a great surprise and certainly punch way above their weight.
If I was ever going to recommend a budget system for a young person, someone new to the hobby or someone that has much bigger financial priorities than audio gear, this would be it:
Senn HD58X’s
Liquid Spark amp
D10/D30/E30 DAC.
If you look for sales, or buy used, this would a Great, cheap audio system.
I’ve spent the last several months designing and building a new pair of headphones. I was so focused on the engineering that I ended up taking a hiatus from actually doing much headphone listening. Now that I’ve gotten my headphones to a listenable state, I’ve started going back to the HD58X for comparison purposes. I think the thing that makes the HD58X (and really all of the HD6?? series Sennheisers) so wonderful is that they never sound wrong. Putting on the HD58X for the first time in months and listening to my library, everything just sounded right.
Sure, after listening for a while it’s easy to nitpick - maybe they sound a bit muffled, maybe they lack a little excitement, maybe the sound stage is small and a little 3 blobby, maybe the treble is a bit grainy, maybe the sub-bass needs to extend more, etc. But in all my time with the HD58X, I can’t think of a single time when I had to cringe because it just sounded off in some way. That may seem like damning with faint praise, but making natural and correct sounding headphones is difficult, and other than maybe the Focal Elex, I’ve never owned or auditioned another headphone (even very expensive ones) that didn’t have at least one song on which they sounded somehow wrong.
This week I reorganized my layout a bit which favorably gave the HD58X more listening time while working, over the other HD6(00/XX/60s) I have here.
And for a few times I had this thought: “OMG, this sounds so good. I should listen to this one more often”.
For quick turnaround time, my 58X is with the stock 3.5mm cable while the 6XX is with the 6.34mm. The other two cans are in their cases, waiting for “special” occasions.
@pwjazz Though I also have the Elex, I can’t seem to find the heart to part with the HD58X as it was my first taste of this hobby. I’ve been wading into (actually jumping straight into the deep end of) the pool of IEMs lately but I always reach for the HD58X if I just want the music to get lost (or I get lost in it) while I’m pounding away at the keyboard working from home during this pandemic.
I have HD-600s, Elex, and Clear. I’d personally get rid of the Elex before the other two. Sennheiser’s tone profile is great. Elex…oh, that glare…oh, the piercing dynamics… Clear is on another level and amazing with the right amp.
I’ve not had the heart to part with my HD-580s since the 1990s.
I’ve not had the desire to part with my STAX SR-5n since the 1980s
I’ve not had the heart to part with my Audio Technica ATH-2 since the 1970s
So I know how you feel.
The STAX and the HD-580 still get listening time. The Audio Technica not so much. Too bassy, and I can find any replacement pads, they’re an odd size. But in their day, they were the fastest phones I could find.
I love my Elex. Maybe my ears aren’t as sensitive to the glare. Or maybe I enjoy the glare? Whatever the case, I have no reason to get rid of them other than if/when I get sick of the bland color scheme. I was in fact deciding between the Elex and the Clears at time of purchase and went with the cheaper decision in that blind buy. I’ve never auditioned the Clear so until I get that chance, I can’t say I regret my decision.
Mostly serious, but also hesitant. As a very curious person I’d be interested to know how they compare. As a (future) recent purchaser of the $1500 Focal Clear, I would not like to find out I should have saved $800 and bought the Elex.
I own the Elex and Clear, and also demoed the Utopia.
If buying again, I’d skip the Elex entirely as I never use it and am close to selling it. I honestly, sincerely prefer HD-600s over the Elex. But, I MUST use a balanced cable with the HD-600s to avoid hiss.
The basic issue (e.g., see the Focal threads and @Torq’s earlier detailed reviews) with the Elex is their excessive intensity. While clean and highly dynamic, once the drivers start moving they seem to never stop moving. This exaggerates dynamics, creates a brassy/trumpet-like tone, and makes them downright painful for long listening sessions with energetic sources. If you listen to vocals and acoustic instruments exclusively, the Elex may be fine. It depends on your sensitivity to dynamics.
Still, the Clear very “clearly” distinguishes between the music and the room/background noise. It reveals subtlety, decay, and nuance on another level. With the Elex, background noise turns into dynamic intensity.
I understood the differences between the Elex and Clear long ago, but held off on upgrading until my (then daily driver) HE-560s died. I bought the Clear within a week.
Note that the Clear can be had for well under $1,500 on sale or as open box.
Agree 200% with what @generic just post, he put in words my feelings. I had the Clear for about a month and own the Elears and also have a pair of Focal’s Elex earpads.
The Elears with the original Elex pads installed is supposed to sound extremely close to the Elex sound ( if not the same) and I prefer the “dreadful” sound of the Elears anytime.
It is also true you don’t have to pay over $999 USD for the Clears If you look for open box.
I don’t want to go even further off topic here except to say that I appreciate the help, but this is a decision I have already made after a lot of research, experiences, and thought. If you’re interested as to why I’m going with the Clear, you’ll just have to read my current and future posts here because there’s a lot that went into getting to where I am right now.
Also I am aware of headphones.com open box. I bought the Hifiman Sundara that way. However I am at a loss as to what exactly “open box” means and I can’t find any more details. Is it a return? Is it a factory refurbish? Does it have the full warranty? Etc. I do know that the 365 day return policy does not apply. Can someone point me to the answers because I have looked and I don’t see them.
Hi all, as we’re getting a little off topic and me being the cause of it on this HD58x thread I just wanted to finalize by saying thank you @Hansel and @generic for your helpful impressions! @AudioTool feel free to reach out via PM any time if you want to explore the possibility of audition swap. I am definitely curious about the Clears but just haven’t had the itch to purchase it.
