Topic by gasparka

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  • gasparka
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  • Registered: 20-07-2018
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Topic: ATH-M50 headphones not recommended for Pianoteq

You will probably come across the legendary 'ATH-M50' - which looks like a safe thing to buy. I would recommend you to save your money and instead buy Superlux HD668B.

Here are my issues with ATH-M50:
1. There is some weird/unpleasant 'metally' sound on 4-8 kHz. Could be fixed with EQ, but who wants to do that? HD668B has no issue here.
2. Soundstage is bad and it matters. I thought that people comparing headphones are nitpicking, but you can really hear the difference between 'HD668B' and 'ATH-M50'. To me HD668B sound more 'around the piano'. While 'ATH-M50' gives you the same feeling as using in-ear headphones.

I guess the main takeaway is to invest in open/semi-open headphones!

Here are the reviews for both headphones:
HD668B: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/revie...ux/hd-668b
ATH-M50: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/revie...a/ath-m50x

Reply by hag01

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  • hag01
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  • Registered: 11-04-2016
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Re: ATH-M50 headphones not recommended for Pianoteq

I have the ATH-M50X and I can't agree more, it is unpleasant and metally indeed.
I use Sonarworks Reference 4 for now, in order to make it sound reasonable.

Last edited by hag01 (18-08-2018 19:40)