Flagship Headphones 40 years apart - HD540 GOLD REVIEW
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video I review Sennheiser's flagship from the 1980s! The HD540 reference GOLD and compare it to the modern HD800S
Want to chat with me and ask questions? You can support the channel on patreon and get access to my telegram chat! / dms3tv
⭐Headphones LIST (ranked)!⭐
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Analog Shirts and Sweaters: teespring.com/analog-line
I'm on twitter! / dms3tv
--------- Forums: forum.hifiguides.com/
--------- Hifiguides tool (beta): hifiguides.com/
If you want to join the discussion checkout our discord community:
--- discordapp.com/invite/hgYsgA7 - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
A series on vintage gear would be a lot of fun.
I could lend my K240 collection ahem
And hopefully some others can provide a K501, K340, etc
@@metal571 I may have a K612 lying around if he’s interested. Dead neutral according to Crin.
@@metal571 600Ohms version?
@@adamismail2883 Yes I have a Sextett LP from the 70s, 600 ohm, a Monitor 600 ohm, and a 240 MKII 55 ohm, all made in Austria
It wouldn't be right without an SR-5 in the mix.
A video on your HD800S would be very interesting. This was a very intriguing comparison.
And even a indepth vid on how to fix some of it major issues 🤔
I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD540's (non-gold edition) for $250 in around 1985. They are still going strong, though they had much more wear & tear than those gorgeous goldies presented in your video. Replaced the head band, cable and pads. They still my favorite reference headphones in my collection. Definitely got my money's worth!
Definitely like the sound of a customized 800S review. Especially with all the hype surrounding the 8XX, might be a good time.
Do I wanna see yo take on the HD 800S? Hell Yeaaahhh! 🤟.
I like the background👌. Thanks for the review
Love these vintage reviews! - please do more DMS!
Love this video. Super interesting comparison. I use my HD800S stock. I would love to hear more about your pair and the tweaks you have made to them. BTW, Cool change of scenery in the video. 🙂
Would love to see a review on the 800S. You‘ve never seemed like that big of a Fan of the 800S to me in past videos. I‘d love to hear a current in-depth opinion
Fascinating! My history with this company starts with the HD600 (which I still own) and used for years. I used HD700 for a while when I was in a small apartment with no speakers, then an HD800S with Cardas Clear cable that also helps with the slightly grainy high end. Answering your question, I would very much appreciate an HD800S review. (For reference, I’m also using the spring 2021 LCD-X with silver LCD-4 balanced cable option.)
Can we just appreciate, how Beautiful these Videos are?
I'm propably never gonna buy any of those Headphones (to happy with my dt 770 pro for that), but the video is just so well made it makes me happy to watch and listen to DMS
Great review! New camera looks crisp and audio sounds great. Really happy you enjoyed them. I agree, the vocal timbre is phenomenal. I can’t wait to get them back!
I love seeing you review vintage cans, Should have a look at the K240 Cardan/sextett and DF models, also unique sounding for their age
I have HD250 Linear II, which has a similar shape and build.
With large 3cm pads they are comfortable to me. Large pads reduce base a little bit, but it still hits really, really, really now.
Very enjoyable sound and sound really wide with those pads, even though resolution isn't as high as Ether CX that I use as a primary headphone right now.
I love my HD560 Ovation 1. Sounds amazing plugged into my Schiit Jotunheim's balanced output. The HD540 Gold and HD560 Ovation are the Sennheiser elder Gods.
Owning both the HD540 Gold reference (bought it way back in '88) and the HD600, I can wholeheartedly say that the 540 reference easily trounces the HD600. I would never have described the HD540 as "bright" nor lacking in bass. Nor lacking in detail. I would describe it as very neutral, very evenly balanced. It also, imho, has a wide soundstage with instruments accurately placed within it. I've used it with the stock cable without issue. For many years.
True, I haven't used this with a high end headphone amplifier, just using it with the headphone amp in my Audiolab 8000C preamp, and also my very old NAD 1130 preamp.
No modern headphone that I have listened to comes close.
Note: I also own a pair of Audeze LCD2s, which sound more muscular, but are nowhere near as neutral or as detailed. I'd go with the 540 any day of the week.
Ohhh dms background music is masterpiece ✨🤯
Funny thing , today I was watching Tiny Desk .
A video longer than 6 minutes! I’m in!
This one was fun. As someone who was a headphone listener in the 80s I've often wondered how the tech compares.
Would love to see that video of your 800s!
If you're looking for these vintage flagships there's actually quite a few interesting ones, but I'd like to give a small tip for those interested. If you can still grab them and have an amp powerful enough, a pair of AKG K260 are quite interesting and not too expensive.
Have a pair i refurbished myself for me occasionally helping with VA work. New filters, pads, rebuilt the suspension, and MMCX connectors and still overall rather budget-y.
Really cool video. I've never even heard of the 540, it's interesting to look at how it compares to the modern "best" 👍
the 540 gold reference is probably the best headphone I have ever used. caveat: I have never used Stax, well out of of my price range!
I love retro headphones. I have a pair of HD480 and just ordered a pair of HD520... I got them for $90 AUD and ordered some replacement covers for $40. I can't wait to hear them. They come with the original box and manual too!
How about some vintage stax reviews then you'll be speaking my language, nice to see some old gear standing the test of time, great review.
Definitely NEED your HD800s review, I'm even surprised the review of such a headphone isnt done already by you.
Whoa, I wouldn't have expected the frequency response to be so similar. Maybe companies really do have a house sound.
Always been curious about these weird Sennies!
I have two pairs of these. One pair has the same (non-orinigal) pads as the review set. The other has the origonal black pleather skin contact rings with speaker cloth-like sides. In that configuration the HD540 Gold Ref II approaches Stax-level clarity and speed.
Please make headphones rank list over $1000. Always interested too see your ratings. Headphone rank list is very useful, I think if you add another row for imaging and soundstage along with previous row like detail and tonality is going to be great. 👍❤️❤️
HD540 is a brilliant line, they take eq well and the stock FR is much more coherent and enjoyable than that of the hd800. If only Sennheiser would do such a great combination again.
HD250 Linear may be the answer to those seeking more bass. Basically a 540 closed back and also highly regarded.
Yes, please review your modded 800S!
Love the video, can you review t60rp argon
Hey DMS, I dont suppose you are in a position to ask your contacts at sennheiser to start supporting the earpads for the HD540/HD540II/HD540 gold again? There's a lot of us out there who highly regard these classic headphones, and we'd love the opportunity to bring them back to their full glory again
This
I fully agree
I hang on to my pair in hopes of this
Looks like it was the beginning of the “house sound”…at 600 ohm ..closer to the Berydynamic .
The 600’ series of “modern” headphones benefiting from tubes..ABSOLUTELY.
My 650’s do scale with different amps ..but tubes add that little something extra that’s missing ( the 789 is nice ..but a tad flat / sterile)
Another great review, thank you.
Waiting for your Sennheiser hd800s and 8xx review.
Higher end audio from the 80s was good and will always be good... it's just like higher end audio from the present.
It's almost timeless... improvements are very minor.
Unlike smartphones and PCs, purchases like these are more of an investment.
i like this new style of filming
Hd800s og and your renew as well as hd8xx would be perfect
5:20. I like to imagine he did the voice over separately and just had footage of him silently making rap hand gestures in his room.
I have this got them for £250 few years ago , they are awesome it's a shame you can't buy the original pads anymore
with headphones that "benefit from tubes" in your opinion, could you do a comparison in frequency response graph with those? it would be cool to see what actually happens :)
Inssanely good headphones for the price. I found new in box HD 54 reference gold for USD120!
What cables are you using with your HD540 reference (not gold) ?
I struggle to find a good one for a reasonable price... Thanks
10:08 - DMS says about risks associated with plugging headphones into a speaker amp. Is this if you are using the speaker amp's headphone jack or the speaker terminals? Thanks
Speaker terminals
Sennheiser HD 560 Ovation vs HD 560s would be very interesting too
From what I hear, HD560 ovation is like a warmer HD540 but without the charms the gold has.
Can someone explain to me what the anti-reflection/anti-resonance thing DMS shown as a quick side-note when he pulled some indistinct material from the back of his HD800S earcups?
I had a pair in 1989. Best headphnones i ever had
The HD 540 is a lot more pleasant than the HD 800 (imo), the 800 is too harsh.
Eyy anderson paak do be slappin
facts
Off topic: All of the IEMs and buds insert into your ear canal. Can you recommend something that has some good sound quality (preferably Bluetooth) that DO NOT insert into your ear canal? Looking for something on the go… outdoors, in the car etc. Regular headphones are too big and bulky for that. Thanks.
There isn’t something like that because you can’t get a good seal with those.
I bought a pair of generic velour pads on ebay from china for these headphones, & i use those over the stock pads due to the sound difference over them. The treble and lack of lowend impact & soundstage with the stock pads dont do it for me with the stock pads; theyre much better as they are right now. Theyre great for metal music btw
in my opinion. save a thousand dollars and get the 540, and spend 15 dollars on new earpads
I have the HD540 Reference which I bought in 1987.
Hi!. Thanks for the comparison. I had a HD 250 Linear II. Both have the same earpads and diadem, i think. Let me know about it. Aniway, after the looooong life of the headphones, the earpads and the poliuretan cover of the transductor are desintegrated, literaly. Please, PLEASE! Let me know the replacement is available today and how to get it. The famous «alice the rapid» (you know what i mean) exhibs a replacements, but i don't trust. The original replacement parts is not available apparently. Not in Europe, even by its official distributor. Sorry for my poor English expression, i hope you understand. Can you say something? Let me know. Thank you very much!
I have a vintage Sennheiser HD 265 linear model and I like them more than the Sennheiser HD600.
Please review the new Hifiman ananda 2021.
Peacock review please 😉
HD800S (with EQ) is in my opinion the best "end-game" headphone you can buy for the money.
LCD2 >
100% agreed, if we're comparing stock headphones, Arya takes the crown but when EQ comes into play, HD800s is the best
Agreed and you can eq an hd800 for the same results for a lesser price.
@@Fiend404 Nah, worse soundstage, worse timbre, worse frequency response out of the box. And Audeze QC isn't up to par with Sennheiser.
@@mcsenny4793 Only with the SDR mod, otherwise you will still have ringing problems.
Now u just gotta do the hd250 Linear or Linear ii
Do you know how different the 540 Gold is vs the original 540, 560 and 560 II? Real curious to get one now but the Gold goes for a lot more on the used market.
I’ve had 540 Ref II and 540 gold 600 ohms (I only kept the gold). The ref II sounds a lot more like an average headphone, gold is much much better (with the right pads)
540 Gold 600 ohm with original velour pads are the one to get. They are better than the 300 ohm variant, as well as the non-gold Ref 1 and Ref 2
I have a pair of 540G but don't know if it's 300 or 600 ohm. It's there a way to distinguish between them?
@@rodelisidro take the pads off. You will see a stamp toward the top behind where the ear pad sits. It will either say 300 or 600 followed by letters. That will let you know. Also, if your serial is under ~13,xxx, your pair is likely 600 ohm. Another thing you can do is measure them.
Gold is driver matched - That is the main difference. Try to find a 600 ohm golds though - same for original 540
could you review the monolith m1070
I think a 800s vs 8xx would be a good one!
That’s in the works
Ayo do the 800s pls
Great video #momapproved
Listening to this on my HD 540 Reference one, not gold version. 😊
do they sound the same?
HD800S review please
TH-cam is full of 800s reviews
@@CaptHotah Did you even watch the video? DMS is asking whether viewers would like to see an 800s review from him.
How similar is the HD540 Reference II to compared to the HD540 Gold? I own the HD540 Ref. II, it looks basically the same (minus the gold, which is silver on the Ref II) and I think your description of tonality for the Gold applies also for the Reference II. However, I never heard the Gold and do not know if technicalities are on the same level.
Different damping and seem to be different drivers. I hear multiple people say the 540 Gold 600 ohm is the best to get out of the pack. I agree they sound phenomenal.
Lucky for you, I own both of these headphones. I use Reference 2 as a daily, golds for special occasions. The Reference 1 sounds very different and much brighter, the reference 2 has a very similar/akin tonality to HD540 gold. The reference 2 is like a baby HD540 gold, it sounds like a 300 dollar headphone, whereas the gold sounds like a 1000+ dollar headphone when powered well. That isn't to say the ref 2 is subpar, there is a reason why it's my daily, it's very good on its own too.
Thanks to both of you for your descriptions. Much appreciated. Hope to hear a 540 Gold in the future. Would be a nice Addition to my three Sennheiser (HD600, HD6XX and 540 Ref II).
@@imacat8476 have you ever tried using the pads and cable from the golds on your ref II? I recently refurbished a pair of ref I pads which changed my ref II for the better (maybe its just personal preference) and I doubt I'll get the chance to audition some 600ohm golds without buying them to compare for myself
@@imacat8476 HD540 gold with oryginal earcups sounds 200% better
HD 800s Review and a painful HD 25 side by side :)
Will you be reviewing the Nothing Ear (1)s?
Yep! My set is still in the mail.
What a stupid name
sounds like this set might benefit from some deep suede or leather pads.
No, turns out the deeper the pads are, the more you lose bass with these.
@@thelastrhino2581 yeah but you'll more than make up for it by swapping from velour to something more solid like suede or thicker leather
I found good success with some real soft velour pads that make a better seal than stock pleathers
@@JuanAuribus I have a gold myself, I have tried multiple third party pads, the ones that are too soft don't at all match the sound of the original velour pads which are quite thick for velour pads, which aren't common but it gives it this really nice sound, soft velour pads often sound too thin though. The closest thing I have used to the original 540 gold velour, is the HD560 Ovation pads from sennhesier, which I think since last year, isn't sold anymore unfortunately.
@@imacat8476 I'll have to try other pads, however my 540 came with the pleather pads which have an even worse seal, as of now mine measures pretty neutral with the soft velours.
I owne a pair of hd540 gold and found that those pads don't work properly with the headphone . So I took a part the original ones and restored then like from factory , made a massive difference in sound stage and Bass . Needed to change also all of the foam in side the headphone (foam gets old and crumbuls ,40 years of time happens very easy )
If all of that is done get some silver cable and the headphone will be just amazing. They are old so all of the foam needs to be redone .
good point - the original pads were specially acoustically tuned by the engineers to work with the 540's
Velours are original to the headphone
@@jopar3292 Yes, I’m aware of the pad variations of the 540’s. The 540’s in the video are mine. The pads on them are the pads that came with them in the 80’s.
@@PrimeHiFi So you bought them brand new direct from the factory? - Interesting - could you supply the model number on the certificate so we can add the information to the Head fi forum. You might be right but it seems very odd Sennheiser would switch to a pad which performs differently to the original which is tuned specifically for that model. I've owned all the different variations of the HD 540 gold, late middle, productions, 300 & 600 ohm versions and have yet to see an original model gold coming out of the factory with velour pads on unless they were very late production model? Curious :)
@@jopar3292 Maybe I should reword what I said, I don’t want to spread false information… I bought these from a nice old Gentleman online and he stated that he has had them in his collection since their purchase from Sennheiser dealer in the 80’s. He stated that he hadn’t so much as removed the pads off of the headphones during his ownership, and he explicitly stated that he never replaced any parts - including the cable - on the headphone. I have personally seen many 540 Golds with the velour pads installed onto them, including people online who say they bought them from Sennheiser that way. I also know many people who have pad rolled the 540 Golds that vastly prefer the original Sennheiser velour pads over the hybrid fabric/pleather pads - but that’s neither here nor there. I just want to correct myself is all.
By the way, the serial number is 009437 and they are the black screen variant of the 600 ohm 540 Golds.
dms we need a 800s review
filming a video comparing HD800S and HD8XX. Plus another dedicated to an HD800S amp/stack
@@DMS3TV Can you explain to me what the anti-reflection?/anti-resonance thing that was shown as a quick side-note? When you pulled some indistinct material from the back of the HD800S earcups?
I want to try that out.
Nice
I don't think people should put foam inside the 800S. Buy better DAC and amp for better sound from the headphones.
Some things a dac and amp just can't fix. Resonance is resonance.
try this for the hd800s, good eq do wonders with HD800s
Preamp: -11.4 dB
Filter: ON LS Fc 40 Hz Gain 8 dB Q 1
Filter: ON LS Fc 75 Hz Gain 3 dB Q 1
GraphicEQ: 20 -11; 25 0
Filter: ON PK Fc 2705 Hz Gain 3 dB Q 1
Filter: ON PK Fc 5400 Hz Gain -3 dB Q 3
Filter: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 1
I remember those headphones and omg we thought they were good but lacked the dynamics of the Sonys back then (boring sound)
👍👍!
When you say that not a lot hold up from the 80s, are you specifically talking headphones and not speakers, because in my experience, 80s/90s speakers are often better than today in price to performance or in general if you don't go super high end. And with old gear being sold second hand for cheap af it's even more worth it.
Generally headphones, but a lot of speakers produced in the last several years are incredible. The modern high-end is starting to trickle down, though I do love some vintage speakers.
Would be fun to see comparision between current Beyerdynamic DT-880 and a 40-year-old DT-880.
I'd like to see a comparison between all the new DTs and the old 80s DTs. vintage beyers fascinate me
Sheeesh
according to my measurement of a mint HD540g with original pads i have to say the HD540G on DMS's hand is not that "original'. The original HD540G is a headphone whoose FR is really close to the Diffuse field, without midrange dip and treble peaks, but has a +12db pinna gain.
Add me to your list of those who’d like to hear more about your modded HD800S
PLEASE REVIEW THE SKULL CANDY WIRELESS
LOL
I love Dankpods, but Crushers just aren't good for anything, if you want bass and nothing else just get monoprice retros.
“They’re terrible”
-my review
@@DMS3TV 😂
Could never understand how people thought the HD800 was so comfortable when it has significantly less headband padding than the HD600 series at the same time being 70 grams heavier. It is almost like it's headband padding is designed purely for "show", not designed for actual use. I couldn't wear them for more than 30 minutes before developing a hotspot directly on the top of my head. Super disappointing for the price and the fact that the previous generation had no such issue. I guess the idea is the large earpads are supposed to distribute the weight? But the cups fit too loosely for that to work.
all you have to understand is comfort is as subjective as sound preference. diferrent size and head shape, diferrent comfort for each. just go get some other headphones that is comfortable for you
Next up, DT-150!!!
Stairs!
PLEASE send these in to Z for a sound test
Hahahahahaha. No.
@@PrimeHiFi ? Why not? His sound tests are so nice to listen to, and his setup now is so much better than his old ones. It'd be cool to let a lot of people get a chance to hear even a sliver of where sennheiser came from, and the differences today.
@@PrimeHiFi I can see all the graphs you want to shovel down my throat. Doesn't mean I'm going to know how they sound to my ears.
@@AlienEnjoyer a sound test wouldn’t really let you experience them either. Gets you maybe 60% there.
@@AlienEnjoyer Sound demo’s are a flawed concept by default and they should never ever be used as a reference.
Yet AKG K240s from the 80s are better than the ones made now.
He said zms
Audio seems like it was recorded from a phone. Very compressed
Might be on your end. There's little to no added compression and it's a $1000 shotgun mic.
@@DMS3TV Yeah, it’s definitely on his end, the sound is crisp on my end.
@@DMS3TV crisp audio, it's on his end.
@@DMS3TV your audio sounds a lot nozzly compared to your older video with a condenser mic
Yeah makes sense !you buy a expensive headphone and have to replace the wire cable ??? thats insanity !!!!And hi would send them to the factory to be replaced for free ,because if you buy headphones for 30€ and they work fine with the cable ,why a 200 plus one dont ???People think the seenheiser is the same company off the past but the sub 100 dollar headphones are all made in china !! If you want a cheap quality studio ones ,go with the akg k52 or k72 or Roland rs5 they blow out off the water the hd206 ,hd400s or even the hd200pro ,and they are cheaper !
oops maybe due to lack of innovation in the headphone world? same like combustion engine in cars
More or less. If amped right a lot of people say this exceeds any modern flagship.
Sennheiser HD-540 Reference GOLD is the same as the Sennheiser HD-540 Reference (without gold). Gold simply meant that it came in a wooden box and had the most perfectly matched drivers. They are NOT different headphones. So you shouldn't open the review by saying "The HD-540 GOLD was the HD-800S of its day". So was the HD-540 Reference without gold.
This is false. Please stop spreading misinformation.
@@PrimeHiFi Explain. There were two versions, Reference and Reference II. The GOLD versions were just wooden box / even more perfect driver match versions of the non-gold ones. Add to the discussion. How else were they different? (I have the 600 ohm non-gold, so I know that impedance was not one of the differences)
@@thelastrhino2581 The 540 Gold has entirely different damping than the regular 540 Reference. Go to HeadFi and take note of the differences in the hundreds of pages of the HD540 thread. Also take note of the differences of FR that have been measured as well.
While the 540 Gold did utilize better driver matching, that was certainly not the only thing that separated the Gold from the non-gold. If driver matching was the only difference, 540 Gold would sound nearly identical to the non-gold, which it doesn’t.
Even a quick google search can yield easily distinguishable differences, I just uploaded two photos to Imgur for readers convenience:
imgur.com/a/KhxXp6V
@@PrimeHiFi So same driver, different damping, leading to different frequency responses. I must have missed these points on the Wow 540 Reference thread.
IIRC, the drivers are slightly different as well.
Here is a photo of all three (Ref1, 2, and gold) all together with pictures of internals)
imgur.com/a/e4ajwOb
After seeing your list of favorite headphones and the fact that you only have a single pair of Sony's and not until 55 on the list and no sign of the 900st's or even the 7506's it's easy to come to the conclusion you're absolutely clueless when it comes to headphones...
The 900st and 7506 aren’t worth putting on the list. They haven’t been competitive or relevant for years with audiophiles OR professionals.
@@DMS3TV You couldn't be more wrong in that regard. Being deeply immersed in the Chicago music scene I know plenty of producers that still swear by them. Very few cans as as flat/analytical as the 900st's.
@@beanwithbacon except they aren’t flat all all… they measure like a wooden roller-coaster…. I’m sure SOME producers still use them, but I wouldn’t advise it at all if they want neutrality.