The Philips SHP9500 is well established in the audiophile community as a very good pair of budget headphones. I am a low-fi owner as of now, and I don't have any high end gear yet. Recently I purchased a pair of shp9500 to try them out, and after burn in and getting used to it, they are my daily drivers now.
This is a very lightweight pair of cans, using mostly plastic with some metal in the grills and the headband. But beware, the pads are really shallow, and for most people their ears will touch the insides of the headphones. The earpads are not removable unless you destroy them, and I have just left them stock.
It comes with a 3m long black plastic cable, which is ok but a bit unwieldy to use. I recommend upgrading to a nicer cable. You can usually find good ones for 20 dollars or less, and they give the shp9500 more details.
Now the sound:
The low end is rolled off towards the lower frequencies, so sub-bass is pretty much non-existent, which I think is perfectly fine for its price. These are open back, and the bass is really easily lost in noisy places. In a quiet room, the bass is just slightly recessed. For bassheads out there, this is not the headphone for you.
The mids are not recessed, but not boosted either. In terms of frequency response, the mids are remarkably flat and the lower mids are slightly boosted. The problem for some people, which I also have noticed myself but I don't really mind, is that it is a bit grainy. When you put them on, you wouldn't immediately notice that. BUt after listening to another pair of headphones, that shows. By grainy I mean harsh and not smooth.
Detail is however damn near non-existant. Not suitable for critical listening at all
The highs are probably the highlight of the frequency response of this headphone. Some people find it harsh, But I haven't noticed anything yet. But it is important to point out that I use the ifi zen dac which is a dac amp with a Burr-Brown dac chip that is known for sounding warmer than Sabre dac chips. The treble response is a bit boosted.
The main thing though about these is their soundstage and imaging. Their imaging is accurate, making it good for both casual and fps gaming. The soundstage is wide, but not super wide.
Compared to sivga sv004, which is another pair of good budget headphones, there are major differences. The sv004 is more v shaped, and is semi open. It has worse soundstage and imaging, but better bass response. To summarise, the sv004 might actually better for listening to music, but the shp9500 is definitely better for listening to your gear, which is what the hobby is about if I'm being honest.
Music used in testing:
Carpenters- Sing 1994 remix
Goodbye to love 1991 remix
Please Mr Postman 1991 remix
We've only just begun 1991 remix
For all we know 1990 remix
One love
End of the world
Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg - Twin sons of different mothers album
Claude Debussy - Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune
Dexter Gordon - Fried Bananas
Richard "Groove" Holmes - Misty
Astrud Gilberto - Summer Samba (so nice), Tristeza, Agua de beber
Dusty Springfield - son of a preacher man
Sarah Vaughan - Lullaby of Birdland
These songs are really nice as well, if you have time check them out
