ze kink
THE BLACK WIZARDS
I guess I'm a part of the minority here, since I really didn't think the M50's were anything special. For the price, yeah, they're cool, even if their bass is slightly bloated and the mids are pretty scooped. And at least to me there was a nasty treble spike that sounded a bit uncomfortable to my ears. I could've lived with all of that, but the main reason I sold them was that they were -really- uncomfortable for me to wear. I have a big head and ears I guess (stretched lobes surely don't help either) and they would grip so hard that I'd get a headache from wearing them for more than 45 minutes at a time.
So in the end, even though I owned the M50's for a bit, I reached for the HD-650's all of the time. The M50's I'd only use if I had to. Yeah, I also have (and love) the HD-650's, and I didn't think the M50's were a good companion to them. The HD-650's, at least to my ears, just sounded better in all aspects, so I really didn't use the M50's much at all, so I sold them.
I got the AKG K-550's to replace the M50's for mobile tracking and such, and I really like them a lot. Actually, the other driver on my HD-650's broke a couple of months ago, and I still haven't bothered to replace it; I just went to using the K-550's all of the time. I really like how comfortable they are, and they sound as if they were "open" even though they're closed cans. Only minus might be a weaker bass than on the HD-650's, but I think the top end on the K-550's is much clearer and better than on the HD-650's, so they actually compliment each other very well.
Only thing I have to say about the K-550's is that they can be a bit difficult to get to fit and seal properly, if you've got a smaller head and ears. I personally never had an issue - actually, reading about them made me more confident in buying them, because of the comfort issues I had with the M50's - but there's a lot of cursing about that e.g. on Head-Fi. That, and the cable isn't replaceable, but it isn't on the original M50's either. There's other alternatives obviously too; my friend was just raving about some MrSpeakers Mad Dog cans that he wanted me to try, but we haven't had the chance to do that yet.
Here's a good list of closed cans to try BTW: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelitys-wall-fame-full-size-sealed
So in the end, even though I owned the M50's for a bit, I reached for the HD-650's all of the time. The M50's I'd only use if I had to. Yeah, I also have (and love) the HD-650's, and I didn't think the M50's were a good companion to them. The HD-650's, at least to my ears, just sounded better in all aspects, so I really didn't use the M50's much at all, so I sold them.
I got the AKG K-550's to replace the M50's for mobile tracking and such, and I really like them a lot. Actually, the other driver on my HD-650's broke a couple of months ago, and I still haven't bothered to replace it; I just went to using the K-550's all of the time. I really like how comfortable they are, and they sound as if they were "open" even though they're closed cans. Only minus might be a weaker bass than on the HD-650's, but I think the top end on the K-550's is much clearer and better than on the HD-650's, so they actually compliment each other very well.
Only thing I have to say about the K-550's is that they can be a bit difficult to get to fit and seal properly, if you've got a smaller head and ears. I personally never had an issue - actually, reading about them made me more confident in buying them, because of the comfort issues I had with the M50's - but there's a lot of cursing about that e.g. on Head-Fi. That, and the cable isn't replaceable, but it isn't on the original M50's either. There's other alternatives obviously too; my friend was just raving about some MrSpeakers Mad Dog cans that he wanted me to try, but we haven't had the chance to do that yet.
Here's a good list of closed cans to try BTW: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelitys-wall-fame-full-size-sealed
