I have started looking into open backs headphones and not really having much experience of headphones and never having heard open backs; I took a cheap shot at the Philips SHP 9500's off ebay.
They've received quite good reviews and one quite funny one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzhY5rbOnA
But blow me sideways they are. Amazeballs confirmed. Even before any burn-in had a chance to happen I fell in love. A massive explosion of the endorphin kind took place, even a little one in the trousal area, then a while later doubt, am I having a case of confirmation bias here? I had to take out the rest of my headphones and do a direct comparison.
First off were the HD800. Yeah I know, not fair. But the 9500's remind me of them much more than I wanted to believe, so I had to check. Yep. The 800's were clearly better, but omg they were a lot closer than I liked. Just having paid $1000 for the 800's made me feel a bit daft. And made me question the sanity of all of us headphiles. Sure, they lack a little of the microdetails, and the texture on the instruments is a little rougher, but the sound stage I enjoy so much on the 800? Almost as good on the 9500. Treble is a tad rolled back, but it has a nice sparkle to it when needed. Mids are fine. Not forwards or laid back. Neutral. Bass is great. Not quite as good as the HE-560 but close, could it be better than the bass on the 800? I think it is. Only the sub-bass isn't quite there.
I've been listening to them on my uDSD and they just keep on getting better and better. For R900 odd souf efrikin rend, they are really good value for money and I cant stop listening to them. With good quality hi-res files, the detail and sound stage is magic. Its not bass heavy, which suits me as my personal preference, even on speakers, is for an understated bass timbre - rather than big bang stuff..
For a budget set of headphones, they are worth every cent and from clicking buy on ebay, to delivery was a week and a half. I even got WAF approval on them....
They've received quite good reviews and one quite funny one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzhY5rbOnA
But blow me sideways they are. Amazeballs confirmed. Even before any burn-in had a chance to happen I fell in love. A massive explosion of the endorphin kind took place, even a little one in the trousal area, then a while later doubt, am I having a case of confirmation bias here? I had to take out the rest of my headphones and do a direct comparison.
First off were the HD800. Yeah I know, not fair. But the 9500's remind me of them much more than I wanted to believe, so I had to check. Yep. The 800's were clearly better, but omg they were a lot closer than I liked. Just having paid $1000 for the 800's made me feel a bit daft. And made me question the sanity of all of us headphiles. Sure, they lack a little of the microdetails, and the texture on the instruments is a little rougher, but the sound stage I enjoy so much on the 800? Almost as good on the 9500. Treble is a tad rolled back, but it has a nice sparkle to it when needed. Mids are fine. Not forwards or laid back. Neutral. Bass is great. Not quite as good as the HE-560 but close, could it be better than the bass on the 800? I think it is. Only the sub-bass isn't quite there.
I've been listening to them on my uDSD and they just keep on getting better and better. For R900 odd souf efrikin rend, they are really good value for money and I cant stop listening to them. With good quality hi-res files, the detail and sound stage is magic. Its not bass heavy, which suits me as my personal preference, even on speakers, is for an understated bass timbre - rather than big bang stuff..
For a budget set of headphones, they are worth every cent and from clicking buy on ebay, to delivery was a week and a half. I even got WAF approval on them....
