Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSony MDR7506 vs. Audio-Technica ATH-M50X
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2023
First, let me say I think these (the Sonys) are outstanding, remarkable actually. Now for the rest of my thoughts.
Okay on the AT's... nice, decent, I didn't hear the scooped mids (that "V" shape people are talking about but that would be horrendous to pull down an EQ band, making the shape of a "V"). Scooped mids: Meaning the mids might be attenuated 2-3db, thus having the effect of "boosting" bass and treble, falsely affecting the frequency response. I didn't hear that on the AT's. The reason I chose the Sony's was their *transient response*. Read on..
I was looking for a pair of good headphones for casual listening -- all pre-recorded music. My goals were to find headphones with decent *flat frequency response* and mega-outstanding *transient response.*
What is "transient response?" This is pretty simple.. First, let's think of you -- your human body. Sound waves, from where ever.. music, a band, a train going by, a lightening strike and resultant thunder, enter your ears and strike your ear drums, causing a vibration. This vibration, through the mechanism in your head, is translated into electrical signals your brain interprets as sound.
With headphones, loud speakers, etc., this process simply works in reverse: Electrical signals are converted into sound waves rather than sound waves converted and interpreted by your brain. The headphone's mechanism -- voice coil, magnet, diaphragm or "transducer," or a speaker cone in the case of a loud speaker, receive an electrical signal that vibrates the diaphragm and creates audio -- sound waves that your ears can pick up.
Simple, right? Not that simple. The task of a pair of headphones, in this case, is transmitting those electrical signals accurately. This means there can be no delay, no false vibrations, no lag, nothing that can interfere with the quality of the sound output. If these bad things happen, the sound simply is inaccurate.
Having a flat frequency response is pretty easy. Getting the transducer to vibrate on que with the electrical signal is not. Any hesitation, and you'll hear "muddy" or inaccurate sound. In other words, the transducer needs to react exactly as the electrical signals are telling it to. This basically is, "transient response." It's not easy to achieve. The Sony's, IMO, have it. The others didn't. I tested against my Bose active noise cancelling cans as well. You'll read stuff like this. People will use terms such as, "transparent audio" -- and then there is high bit-rate conversion -- FLAC and VBR -- all of which I've messed with.
During my test I listened to tons of music, all kinds. Back and forth. At first, the Sony's sounded "bright." Because I was hearing things I had not heard before. Then I noticed while listening to a rock band, I could hear the bass guitar in the mix. I couldn't hear it with any of the other phones I had, including the AT's. Then, listening to a classical orchestra, same thing, I could hear someone lightly plucking a bass violin. Then I could hear someone lightly playing a kettle drum. Couldn't hear those with the others.
The Sony's get a bad rap for "lacking bass." Okay. So... a bass guitar IMO *is* bass. This is a huge preference debate. Been going on for decades. This is why your grandparent's pretty cabinet hi-fi console had a "bass" and "treble" control. Preference. A lot of people love exaggerated bass. Okay, just "turn up" the bass control. Easy. Transient response -- the ability to reproduce everything -- isn't easy. And this is why we have very expensive speakers, headphones, audio systems.
My background: I'm not an "audiophile" nor a sound engineer. I played bass in a band. Still have a bass guitar. I've done a lot of live sound mixing. I worked in an FM station for a while. Did lots of stuff there. Back in the "golden age" of analog audio, I sold stuff in a high-end stereo store. I was one of the first in my network to say Grado was better sounding that Shure magnetic phono cartridges. I just did some testing myself -- very carefully, taking plenty of time.
IMO an audiophile who can't discern transient response is an audiophile in name only. Many people can't, at least not at first. So recommendations: If you're going to buy these, and they are the first pair of decent headphones you are buying, before you make any judgements, mess with them a long time, hours, especially if you're coming from using cheaper phones. It's like being a little kid all over again -- you get to hear things you've never heard before. A lot of the "good" reviewers will agree and this seems to be the reputation for these phones -- affordable headphones for professional audio work. As far as the reviewers saying "they lack bass" -- umm, like I said, just turn up the EQ and you'll be gtg :)
