[xeizo]

What's not to like, a reference class neutral sounding headphone with strong isolation and good comfort for 100-200$? It's been in the market for ten years, I've seen it has a solid following on musicians forums but not here.

I bought these for tracking, but after almost 2 days of listening I must say they are great fun for consuming music too.

Using Tidal Masters through the Motu M2 interface I'm greeted with studio like sound on everything from 70:s progressive/classic rock to thrash metal to Billie Eilish or Halsey. It's great fun hearing everything being reproduced solidly. No strange tuning or mismatch, one can pretty much hear what the intension of the sound engineer was. And playing demos from various bands it sounds much like it sounds when rehearsing with a band(I play in bands on and off).

It could be the synergy with the Motu M2 is extreme good, I haven't tried other sources yet, but comparing with Sony MDR-1AM2 these sound less tuned and more like playing a studio tape on excellent monitors. The Sonys are great fun, but they definetely have a more consumer audio sound.

The Sennheiser HD600 is a obvious comparison, and I would say these are at a similar level musically but the SRH840 tends to sound more accurate and the HD600 sounds sort of in technicolor. The bass is also clearly better defined in the SRH840, one of the weak spots of the HD600. Considering the HD600 costs more than twice as much, and is a open can with no isolation, the SRH840 must be considered great value for money.

The obvious con of the SRH840 is it's heavy and ugly(but nice looking in a technical way), but that shouldn't matter in a studio or at home. I would never wear these in public, that's what I have the MDR-1AM2 or the WH-H900N for. But the sound quality is really amazingly good, HD600 already was my favorite can and this is in the same territory but closed.

I've read that the hinges can break, a clear con vs the modular HD600, but for gaining sound isolation it's worth the risk imo.

So why no love? Something I may have missed?

 

[CTR640]

I wanted to get the Shure SRH1540 untill I saw how the headbands are, they look way too much uncomfortably and in the reviews people have complained about the pain on their head. Unacceptable considering the price and they design that dumb headband.

 

[xeizo]

I wanted to get the Shure SRH1540 untill I saw how the headbands are, they look way too much uncomfortably and in the reviews people have complained about the pain on their head. Unacceptable considering the price and they design that dumb headband.

Yes, that may be true, but the SRH840 headband is totally different and has quite ok comfort. Also, the SRH1540 doesn't have reference qualities as it has a tilted tone curve towards bass. The SRH940 on the other hand is tilted towards treble. It's the SRH840 being the neutral one. And probably SRH1840, but open.

SRH1540 being more expensive doesn't explicitly mean it's better, in this case it mostly means it looks nicer.

 

[CTR640]

Yes, that may be true, but the SRH840 headband is totally different and has quite ok comfort. Also, the SRH1540 doesn't have reference qualities as it has a tilted tone curve towards bass. The SRH940 on the other hand is tilted towards treble. It's the SRH840 being the neutral one. And probably SRH1840, but open.

SRH1540 being more expensive doesn't explicitly mean it's better, in this case it mostly means it looks nicer.

It indeed doesn't mean it's better but that headband is not-done for the price they're asking. The SRH840 has better headband but the pleather earpads can be a problem to some people like the easily sweating. Fortunately Greekia sells different earpad covers for big headhones and they are very nice, I have them to protect my earpads. Maybe the headbands are the reason people hates it? From the reviews they do have good sounds but one person was even complaining about the veins beind pressured. Might look for more into SRH840.

 

[xeizo]

It indeed doesn't mean it's better but that headband is not-done for the price they're asking. The SRH840 has better headband but the pleather earpads can be a problem to some people like the easily sweating. Fortunately Greekia sells different earpad covers for big headhones and they are very nice, I have them to protect my earpads. Maybe the headbands are the reason people hates it? From the reviews they do have good sounds but one person was even complaining about the veins beind pressured. Might look for more into SRH840.

I seem to have no big comfort problems, I have listened for hours and I have a large head and large ears. It clamps yes, but that probably contributes to the good bass as leakage is minimal. One can that has serious discomfort is my Samson SR850C, I get different pains rather quick. Also, I get more pain on top of my head from the K612 Pro. The HD600 is very comfortable, as is the MDR-1AM2 which is also extreme light.

But overall, for the asking price the SRH840 punches way above and none of the shortcomings are in the sound quality

 

[metal571]

Because of K371

 

[xeizo]

Because of K371

That's a great observation, K371 was on my shortlist, but as I could get the SRH840 for 50€ less and being exactly the same type of can.

And K371 follows the Harman curve, I'm not totally convinced it's the same type of neutral from the Samsung engineers as from the Shure team.
But yes, I guess I could as well have gone for the K371. Price was the most decisive factor, but I'm happy I went for the SRH840. Enjoying it a lot.

edit. I forgot one thing, K371 looks to have subpar sound isolation judging from user reviews. The SRH840 has excellent isolation which is a big pro.

 

[metal571]

If isolation is a primary concern I haven't found much that can top the 280. Big hit to sq of course there though. I do seem to remember the 440 I owned a while also having really good isolation. Don't think I payed as much attention to that when reviewing the 840 but that doesn't surprise me. I really don't find the 371 to leak much, but if I remember right yeah the 840 isolates even more

 

[xeizo]

The obvious pros of the K371 is it's much lighter, and probably much easier to drive. None of those are a dealbreaker for me. Sitting happy

edit. the devil is in the details, maybe the SRH840 doesn't get much love because there isn't much to mod. It already sounds as it should straight from the box. Boring

 

[RONJA MESCO]

Because of K371

No... The buzz died 2-3 years before the K371s were ever introduced. Its not that. It's these two items exactly: First... Shure stopped innovating with their headphones. No second editions on the current lineups or new offerings outside IEMs. And once you went above the 840s closedbacks..it was the 1540s and then you classed out their closed back series . And there are better sounding closed backs above the 840/1540s.

On top of that, the 840s still have the issue the 440s have (and I've owned both multiple times)--its the cheap plastic build and the sliders breaking. Everyone of course have said this, but Shure hasn't done a damn thing. After you've had two pairs do this, you don't go back.

 

[RONJA MESCO]

The obvious pros of the K371 is it's much lighter, and probably much easier to drive. None of those are a dealbreaker for me. Sitting happy

edit. the devil is in the details, maybe the SRH840 doesn't get much love because there isn't much to mod. It already sounds as it should straight from the box. Boring

And it has nothing to do with mods. Nobody cares about mods if the cans are good, as is, out the box with the components it has.

 

[xeizo]

And it has nothing to do with mods. Nobody cares about mods if the cans are good, as is, out the box with the components it has.

That is correct, I was just trying to be funny maybe not successful.

Yes, the quality issues with breaking sliders is a turn off . Shure should have released a more durable mk 2 by now, it has been 10 years. Even if the sound would be exactly the same. Some would probably want to have velour pads and a straight cable too. And maybe lighter. But probably not as the pro market goes for wireless IEMs, and the consumer market wireless in general.

But still, for the 90€ I bought them for it's a lot of SQ for the money in a closed can. I hope the sliders will last at least a while.

 

[RONJA MESCO]

That is correct, I was just trying to be funny maybe not successful.

Yes, the quality issues with breaking sliders is a turn off . Shure should have released a more durable mk 2 by now, it has been 10 years. Even if the sound would be exactly the same. Some would probably want to have velour pads and a straight cable too. And maybe lighter. But probably not as the pro market goes for wireless IEMs, and the consumer market wireless in general.

But still, for the 90€ I bought them for it's a lot of SQ for the money in a closed can. I hope the sliders will last at least a while.

Lol, I get what you were saying in part.. It's all good. Yeah, those are some good cans like you said. I was late to the game when I first got them, trying to find alternatives to the much lauded and hated Audio Technica m50x craze. Glad you found em for a good price... Use the till the wheels fall off. Not gonna lie.. For a very neutral, clean sound signature, they're good. The last paid I had, I gave to my father with a Brainwavz pad upgrade, and he rocks hard them during his listening sessions!!

 

[davide256]

I needed some headphones that worked well in a noisy environment using an iPhone with dongle, these do well. The cords ridiculously long for that purpose but the locking arrangement keeps it from pulling out or stressing the jack when its accidentally caught vs using a shorter Bose cord. Overall sound is neutral, excellent treble detail but it does have mid range and bass driver colorations that remind me of Koss headphones in the 70's. And it can play very loud indeed with an iPhone. I did compare these to the Audio Technica ATHM50x before buying, found these to be far superior on voice and symphonic music.
Well worth the $150 paid and far more practical than the Audeze Sines I was using... the Sines sound better but have zero noise damping and can't really be driven
loud enough with an iPhone to compensate for outside noise

 

[xeizo]

I needed some headphones that worked well in a noisy environment using an iPhone with dongle, these do well. The cords ridiculously long for that purpose but the locking arrangement keeps it from pulling out or stressing the jack when its accidentally caught vs using a shorter Bose cord. Overall sound is neutral, excellent treble detail but it does have mid range and bass driver colorations that remind me of Koss headphones in the 70's. And it can play very loud indeed with an iPhone. I did compare these to the Audio Technica ATHM50x before buying, found these to be far superior on voice and symphonic music.
Well worth the $150 paid and far more practical than the Audeze Sines I was using... the Sines sound better but have zero noise damping and can't really be driven
loud enough with an iPhone to compensate for outside noise

My Motu M2 interface died this morning, worked flawless yesterday. It started by choosing the wrong samplerate, then crackling noises and then dead output. The TRS outputs works at very low volume and with distorsion. Seems some power part was fried.

Anyway, so I had to revert to listening through my Presonus HP4 headphone amp fed from a Steinberg UR22C(the UR22C has a weak 15mW max in it's own headphone out so better be avoided). It still sounds good but the sound is a lot more colored than using the Motu M2. Motu M2 looks to have a killer headphone amp, if it only was reliable .... I suppose the 0.05 Ohm output impedance is what contributes to it's great sound. Particularly with the SRH840 which has a rather low 44 Ohm impedance vs the Presonus 45 Ohm output. Rule of thumb is a factor of eight, a ideal amp for the SRH840 should have no more than 5-6 Ohm impedance.

Even if more colored through the HP4, it's still a very attractive sound, powerful and meaty and with a surprisingly large soundstage for a closed can. Bass is good, and treble is good too, it's the midrange that is less transparent than with the Motu M2. Still, great for the price!

I will have to return the M2, will be interesting to hear what happened to it, I'm not sure if I will keep it after repair. Maybe I will change it for something else, stellar soundquality but if it regularly gets fried it's a moot point.