Art Dudley Listening

Listening #158 Contacts

Sidebar Contacts

Master & Dynamic, New York City, NY. Tel: (888) 814-5411. Web: www.masterdynamic.com.

The Electric Recording Company, 123 Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London W10 5JJ, England, UK. Fax: (44) 207-575-3047 Web: www.electricrecordingco.com.

ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
maelob's picture
Submitted by maelob on February 11, 2016 - 6:43am

Thanks for the review, but I think you can do better with the description of the headphone's soundstage. I understand you are not a big headphone fan and Off course we know they are not speakers and we know the sound is in your head but common all you have to do is close your eyes and pretend that you are at the venue. All it takes is a little of visualization and imagination. Just close your eyes, Are you in first row or are you in the middle of the orchestra? those are the things that a headphone enthusiast would understand. just my two cents.

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on February 13, 2016 - 3:42pm

Are you talking about the original HD414? I don't think it had a soundstage to speak of, unless telephones have a soundstage - the freq. response was not good.

maelob's picture
Submitted by maelob on February 14, 2016 - 10:08am

lol no i was refering to the MH40

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on February 14, 2016 - 12:43pm

I was very interested in the MH40, but things started going downhill. First it was the circuit board in the earcup. Then certain people here were less than enthusiastic about the sound. Then, their marketing settled in at Apple along with Beats, Bose, etc. I just don't have a good feeling about them. Others I have bought had/have sonic problems, but c'est la vie.

deckeda's picture
Submitted by deckeda on February 11, 2016 - 7:54am

I recall the earlier stories of the 124 and 301 restorations. They, like the hardware, still compel. So yeah I'd be interested in reading about the veneer job.

Speaking of iconic headphones, the best upgrade my SR60's ever got were replacement HD414 pads. They're an ever-so-slightly tight fit, essentially perfect if you ask me, and increase the comfort very noticeably despite being a stiffer (and more hardy) foam. What happens is that because they're slightly undersized, the pads bow a little, making more contact with the ear.

sommovigo's picture
Submitted by sommovigo on February 13, 2016 - 2:37am

Congrats on the finished plinth - looks great!

Osgood Crinkly III's picture
Submitted by Osgood Crinkly III on February 13, 2016 - 2:57pm

Those Sennheiser earphones look like the ones I had in the Stone Age, except the foam was grey. They were an "open" design and affordable, but only sounded decent when pressed against the ears with cupped hands, in other words, when made to work like regular, closed phones. So much junk, so much hype.

DougM's picture
Submitted by DougM on March 9, 2017 - 3:47pm

The original 414s were white with blue foam which soon changed to the more familiar black and yellow. I still have my 424s (deluxe 414s) 'cause I haven't found anything currently made that I like as much (in my limited auditioning). The Sennheisers and Koss pro series seemed to be the first 'phones used by the masses, with the Koss preferred by classical lovers (the AR speaker crowd) and the Sennheisers by rockers (the JBL and Cerwin-Vega crowd). The 414s were used extensively for monitoring in recording studios by rock bands in the seventies, which was a great selling point at the time.

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