I’ve honestly been really impressed with the Sony MDR-7506 and Shure SRH1840 with metal. They’re closer to neutral and are definitely “mid-fi,” but I can’t think of any other headphones besides the Clear and SR1a that get metal guitars right. At least for the *core I listen to.
I find that guitars have excellent bite and even when gain is blown out (intentionally) on the recording, they still sound sharp and detailed. Bass is detailed and present in both headphones, but not overpowering and certainly not at concert-levels, however, I am continually surprised at just how much slam/impact both of these sets reproduce. Drums are so satisfying. Kicks are visceral and snare cracks can get right up to the point of discomfort without ever crossing it. The RNHP helps a lot with that, I’m sure.
The ZMF Verite C are pretty decent (definitely better than the Atticus, if for no reason other than the stage is far less confined), but the tuning is weird and can make some recordings sound odd. And distorted guitars just aren’t totally right (to me). Knocked Loose’s latest EP comes to mind; it is easily the darkest and heaviest thing they’ve released and it just doesn’t sound right through the VC. Almost like it’s a middle school show and the chaperones are preventing everyone from moshing while trying to keep the band from riling the crowd up too much. But through the 7506/1840, it is crushingly heavy and doesn’t feel constrained/restricted due to the tuning.
Both of those sets are far from the final word on anything, but man, they have allowed me to enjoy metal through headphones in a way I haven’t in a long time.
I think it’s the 6k peak that throws the otherwise smooth tuning off. Typically you find this in frequency responses that want to be boost “detail”. It a shame because they’re otherwise a pleasant headphone.
Yep, LCD-5 is my go-to when it comes to metal, one of the genres that shines w/ stock tonality (where I usually have eq on.) D8KP is good too (good heft), but I prefer how percussion sounds on the LCD-5.
It’s almost there. With EQ, I can get them right. I don’t need any with the Sony or Shure. I know they’re not the objective Best, but I subjectively find them to be the best for metal.
The empyrean was a fun rock headphone. Especially for the bass guitars. Wanted a little more slam/smack at times with drums but still enjoyable.
I really like the Nutopia for rock. Never heard the OG but from what I gather the Nutopia leaning a little warmer probably would be more enjoyable to me, especially with some electric guitars. Just a fun headphone on my chain. Very addictive.
I recently picked up the Drop Ultrasone Signature X out of curiosity… yeah.
Build quality is on par with a McDonalds happy meal toy… sound is ok. It’s overall build/sound quality reminds me of an Audio Technica M40 or M50X. Bass is plentiful and punches hard. Highs are ok and not sibilant, midrange is there, overall a V or U-shaped response. Pads are not very comfortable and driver touches your ears due to clamp.
You could do worse, I wouldn’t recommend it, but for the price it’s acceptable.
I did ultrasones for many years. I know they had their limited editions but i do agree it is a plastic first construction but they fancy it up with metal here and there. To me they were leaps ahead of the AT M##s and the Vmoda people loved at the time. To be honest they were best for my commute at the time, they shrugged off bad weather walks like a pro, and are doing great as “hearing protection” and entertainments as they are now when working with tools or outdoors.
The ear pads did hurt after a few hours, which i dont miss. Mine now have brain waves which kind of arent as good a match but feel better.
Hahah I’m actually listening to them now and overall I do like the sound for the price.
It’s in desperate need of a pad-swap with my ears being mashed against the hard metal/plastic driver housing… and I don’t have big ears that stick out. Are those the Brainwavz pads on yours?
Sounds-wise for metal music it’s really good, a bit dark leaning but for the price it’s great!
Yes, definitely better sound on these than the ATH-MXXs, but build/design is very very similar.
Okay, this is my first time participating in this forum. I’ve read a couple of things, but I haven’t been able to find the part where I should introduce myself and talk about my background.
Anyway, I think we’re going to talk about metal. I consider myself very knowledgeable on the subject, and to have a headphone that responds well to this genre, we have to take into account a few points and two things:
I. There are two broad classifications for thrash, death metal, brutal death metal, black metal, metalcore, and even heavy metal.
II. And another for slightly more symphonic genres like classical, medieval, gothic, and orchestral.
Next, let’s look at the points that the headphone must meet:
The bass requires rapid channeling of stationary frequencies and of the resonant of the cup. So we need something that responds simply with a fast decay and doesn’t overlap notes. In other words, a bass that wouldn’t be natural for HIFI, but for metal, it would be perfect.
Although the tones and notes of the voice and instruments are in the midrange, we have intermodulation distortion, which has harmonics that are not in the midrange, but in the highs. Therefore, the headphone’s transient response must be crystal-clear and pristine in the highs. There must be no flashes that further distort the music.
We have percussion with tones in the 8k, 10k, and even 11k, 12k frequencies. Therefore, the frequency response must rise to those levels and not have a 10k high shelf like Harman’s to be able to hear these black and death metal percussions.
The overall profile isn’t that important, but if it’s slightly diffuse field with a slight emphasis on the midbass, it’s fine. We don’t need a large soundstage either.
Unless you want to hear symphonic metal, we can eliminate excessive high-frequency extension to avoid air tones in female vocals above 5k, so perhaps the same black metal profile from point 3 is no longer compatible with this. But it’s not that bad.
Conclusion and top:
Undeniably, the Sivga p2 pro meets all these requirements.
Sendy Aiva mk1, but with a slight extra treble, which can be tiring.
ZMF Caldera in a rustic wood version: the bass is faster than the other versions, but there is a lot of echo and soundstage.
Meze Elite: Perhaps it only needs slightly faster bass and a little less body in the treble, as it already has plenty.
Equalized LCD-4. This can be a very slow bass, so equalizing it to make it similar to the LCD-5 in this area will help. One trick is to make a hole around 170 Hz and raise it to 60-80 Hz. There’s no magic here; it’s psychoacoustics. We’ll also use raising tones between 2k and 4k.
Sony MDR100ABN. It’s a perfect Bluetooth speaker for metal.
I can’t recommend ANY HIFIMAN, and that includes the Susvara, HE1000 Unveiled (maybe ananda nano but treble is picky), and others. I also can’t include Stax models. The only one that could perhaps be included is the Stax SR-507, but the upper mids are very present in some songs.
I also wouldn’t include a Fostex TH900 or THX000. Do you want ear fatigue from excessive bass throbbing? Sorry, but NO.
The bass has a number of low-end tones that must be quickly channeled to avoid increasing the sound pressure inside the cavity. This destroys the eardrum and also blurs the blast beat. The bass for this genre must be dry.
Other models I don’t recommend under any circumstances are the HD800. Do they want to have a hole in their ears from excessive treble peak of 6.5k?
This opinion isn’t based on my tastes; it’s based on my analysis of the genre and the headphones’ acoustic performance.
Regards.
I’ve tried them with an A&K SP3000 I think (It was one of their flagship models) and I very much agree, also generally too soft sounding. I know a DAP isn’t the greatest source for them and maybe sinergy was off, but I fould them to be very lackluster, at least for metal.
Based on my experience the HD800S (and by extension would also assume the HD800 since they should be pretty similar in sound) on the right amp can work extremely well for metal, sure they are picky but I’ve found them to scale very well with the right pairing.
Solid state stuff like a Violectric V200 can work but it’s definitely a compromise. A better amp I’ve tried on that price range was the Feliks Audio Echo and it worked pretty well with them, gave them a more even frequency response so tube amps are a good match (especially OTLs).
The ideal setup would be with a current drive amp (which is what I use with my HD800S) where they do a 180 and become a completely different headphone (for the better) and end up sounding fairly neutral across the spectrum but with a much improved body and overall presentation, if the recording calls for it bass and guitars literally roar with the amount of harmonics they have, while still maintaining a pretty organic presentation with the other instruments, as in, they don’t overshadow or completely drown out stuff like cymbals or drums. Overall extremely transparent…
…maybe so much so, that it’s a bit of a fault: worse recorded stuff like Imperial Triumphant or Panzerfaust (first two that came off the top of my head) take a lot more effort to scale and hit the wall definitely faster than the rest, although when I upgraded my digital source (from PC to an Allo USBridge Signature) for less than €200 the improvement was quite good, more than one would think, so I guess a lot of factors come into play. Those albums still sound pretty decent but they are the “worse sounding” of the bunch.
Still, the improvements you get are well worth the effort, and sometimes stuff you would think should sound worse actually ends up being pretty good (Godflesh comes to mind).
Do you mean the version that was coffee brown/copper with brass? It had a rough looking finish to it. Just curious because I had a stabilized version and always thinking of which wood would be best.
IDK that it needs to be “rustic” but maybe all wood as opposed to a resin/stabilized cup. And maybe a wood that’s not super hard/dense like African Blackwood.
Resin is very dense and probably has a bit “sharper” sound to it, with faster attack/decay than all wood. Some of the one-offs have a relative ton of resin in the cup, though they sure look pretty!
