CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Headphone Measurements => Topic started by: Solderdude on May 31, 2014, 07:01:05 AM
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The ATH-40X is the cheaper (€ 100.-) brother of the M50(X).
It differs VERY much from the ATH-M40fs in looks, comfort, size and above all sound and is closer to the M50(X) but slightly less bassy.
(http://diyaudioheaven.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/ath-m40x.jpg)
(http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/solderdude/m40x110dbsmoothed_zpsf3aeee8f.png) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/solderdude/media/m40x110dbsmoothed_zpsf3aeee8f.png.html)
Above the frequency plot of the ATH-M40X (smoothed 1/6 oct). There seems to be a little quality control / matching issue going on here. I measured it several times and in several positions and even reversed it on the test rig and the (substantial) difference between L and R is really present. 4 dB difference in the 100Hz-400Hz region is a bit strange.
According to some reviews and Audio Technica this headphone is ‘flatter’ than the M50X and indeed it sounds ‘flatter’ than the M50X but still has ‘big’ bass. Personally I like a bit of bass so would not mind it IF there weren’t that much difference between L and R.
Product variance or issue ?
The headphone sounds better than it measures and has a (somewhat fatty and elevated) bass but no ‘warm’ sound. This is caused by the ‘dip’ between 200Hz and 1kHz. This gives voices a ‘clear’ sound and because the FR drops off above 2kHz there is no ‘shrill’ sound. The highs are ‘clear’ and soft but the ‘details’ (the part above 10kHz) is elevated too much but not annoyingly high. The overall sound is ‘good’ albeit a bit on the bassy side and the treble is smooth but a bit ‘artificial’.
Time to investigate and modify.
My efforts are 'logged' here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/y5i5wbnmn43xn15/ATH-M40X_modifications.pdf (http://www.mediafire.com/view/y5i5wbnmn43xn15/ATH-M40X_modifications.pdf)
With only 2 simple mods the FR has changed to:
(http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/solderdude/m40xmodified110dbsmoothed_zps6f578083.png) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/solderdude/media/m40xmodified110dbsmoothed_zps6f578083.png.html)
The FR flattened out and the HF is much improved. The familiar 'dip' around 3kHz is introduced but as dips aren't as obvious as peaks and dips in that part of the FR aren't that obnoxious the overall sound has improved. Even the L-R difference is much smaller, Highs are very well extended and smooth. No sibilance or harsh sound at all. Bass is good. Bassheads may prefer the stock M50(X) over this,
I never cared much for the M50 and could not get it to sound the way I liked it.
This one does.
For the money (headphone + pads) you get a good sounding closed headphone that can be driven directly from portable gear which doesn't sound 'closed' at all.
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Nice work! I do appreciate the more raw graphs on your pdf page versus these Audezed graphs though. ;)
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Your wish is my command.
And I agree with you and like the non smoothed and dB scale 'strectched' plots better myself and is why they are used in the 'article'.
I noticed most plots here are somewhat smoothed and have a dB scale with steps of 10dB so made the plots especially for CS to 'blend in'.
For completeness non-Audezefied ;D , stock:
(http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/solderdude/m40x110db_zpsb49644a5.png) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/solderdude/media/m40x110db_zpsb49644a5.png.html)
and modified:
(http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/solderdude/m40xmodified110db_zps22c129a6.png) (http://s837.photobucket.com/user/solderdude/media/m40xmodified110db_zps22c129a6.png.html)
For most people the dB scale used in the document is too 'enlarged' and not showing/relating how it actually 'sounds'.
It does actually sound very good, certainly for the money and would recommend on over the M50X any day.
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The blog is in my reader list. I see Rabbit also writes for the blog p;)
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Wow would have never tried the rest of the line-up if not for your post! Need to try them out.
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I never found the M50 appealing as I prefer a more present midrange. The M40X as the follow up of the M40FS is much more interesting.
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The blog is in my reader list. I see Rabbit also writes for the blog p;)
Yes, but I have been very lax since it attracted much less attention than the technical aspect. Seems that Music revews aren't as popular as tech stuff. So at the moment, I stick to DIYAH while Solderdude does all this amazing work on headphones.
Have a look on DIYAH for the amazing amp that will adjust its response for your headphone with a filter board inserted!!! Absolutely amazing work on Solderdude's part.
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The Kameleon amplifier, it looks very interesting. When it works with AKGs 120 ohms headphones and beyond I want to know more.
I might read up on some reviews while listening to more music today. I am now on a musical Boards of Canada trip. I just keep listening...
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I picked these up a week ago as a portable pair to replace my modded TH02 and have been satisfied so far, they have a 'fun' FR which is not quite overdone and great HF extension, with the caveat of exaggerated energy from 10 KHz onwards which I had to tame to prevent fatigue (non-piercing but fatiguing treble was a first for me). They respond OK to equalization and the recession at 3-5 Khz can be fixed to bring back some missing clarity and presence in good recordings; the bass hump can be reduced to gain some clarity as well.
I haven't had the chance to listen to many closed pairs but I can't imagine these doing many things wrong. They are not huge, well-built, light, comfortable and not an eyesore. All things considered I think these are worth the cash.
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This is caused by the ‘dip’ between 200Hz and 1kHz. This gives voices a ‘clear’ sound and because the FR drops off above 2kHz there is no ‘shrill’ sound. The highs are ‘clear’ and soft but the ‘details’ (the part above 10kHz) is elevated too much but not annoyingly high.
One of my pet peeves is that trade-off between clear highs and a softening of the sound which takes life out of the vocals vs. the potential for shrillness. Since shrillness is actively annoying I tend to side on the slight upper mid depression, as with Omegas and my (older) HD650. Still when taken too far, as with the LCDs, it makes for a boring flat sound. The original Omegas had a very nice balance and the HD800s are definitely vibrant and resolving, but they need to be tamed in that 6khz peak or else they definitely enter the danger zone.
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Nice cans :)p7 I have old M30 at work and they are really nice sounding and veeery well built !!! I might check out these as an upgrade
Thanks for measurements :)p1