Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee

On my continuous quest to find a headphone that can finally dethrone the Fidelio X1 that I've mained for the last nine years, I've stumbled upon the Jubilee 58x. I've heard and owned a lot of Sennheiser headphones, including the HD650 and HD600. I think there are great things about them, but their lack of quality bass and soundstage has always been a big turnoff. The 58x on the other hand does much better here, so for the second time, first being the HD598, I have on my hands a Sennheiser that I actually like.

But uh... I don't like them enough. The main problem I have with them is their rather aggressive sound. They sound well balanced when playing on moderate volume, but when I want to turn the music up for a bit then their shouty nature comes to the surface. Snare hits in particular are too loud often times. The other thing is that the 58x is more closed-in sounding than my Fidelio headphones, which I find contributes to the fatigue. The soundstage seems more fluid than the 650's 3 blob presentation, but for me it's still somewhat lacking. The X1 plays away from my ears a bit, which I never fully appreciated until hearing these Jubilees. Some people love the "vocals close to your ears" thing that Sennheisers do and I respect that, but I'm definitely not in that camp. It's really the tonality that kills it for me though; I can't escape a sense of the music yelling at me whenever I am enjoying a song and trying to get into it. The tonality is good, and I wanna be clear about this, most people will probably be able to enjoy the 58x without any EQ. It's a good offering for sure, but for me, it's not quite good enough when I already have the X1 and the Jubilee doesn't really beat it in any other area anyway.

Overall the 58x is a headphone that will do well at almost any genre, thanks to its extended bass and beautiful midrange. It's just not the groovy cannon the X1 is though, and as such it falls slightly short of my wishes. I'm asking myself why my review sounds so negative while I do honestly think these are impressive headphones and I suppose the answer is that I already have headphones I really like. They sincerely are very nice headphones, but kind of similarly with the HD560S, these headphones do really well in all individual parts, but when put together the music just doesn't engage me as much as I would like.

I had this headphone in the past twice, so It feels right to make a review now. If you want technical specs, visit Drop.com or ebay for third party resellers.

Summary

Very easy, this is just an amazing recommendation for anyone wanting to get their first pair of audiophile headphones for under 200 dollars. There a few minors flaws but considering the price, it's okay

Build quality comfort

• Mostly plastic but it's pretty durable
• Cable feels very generic but is very realiable
• Out of the box, clamping force is very strong so use them for a couple days before returning them (they feel a lot better after a week or so)

Amplification and DAC requirements

• You can power them with a phone with pretty good results
• Any dongle dac is fine
• Using an amplifier seems to open up soundstage just a bit (may be a placebo)

Bass

• Very well extended, good for pop, EDM, disco etc.
• Speed and control are good for the price point
• Detail level is a bit weak (only when comparing it with an HD 600/HD 6XX)

Midrange

• Natural and enyojable
• Enough details
• Great energy (for rock)

Treble

• Forgiving to bad recordings
• Very dynamic
• Not a lot of air

Imaging and soundstage

• Pretty accurate instrument placement
• Not a lot of air between instruments
• 3 blob effect
• Lacks depth, width is average

Background: I'm newish at the headphone game. My 'phones for comparison:

• Sony MDR-V600 - Closed back, folding, mid-high of Sony's range 20 years ago
• Bose QuietComfort 35 - Noise canceling, closed back
• Sony & Panasonic mass market IEMs
• JBL TUNE130NC noise cancelling wireless mass market IEMs

I bought these to replace the aging Sonys above. The ear pads are falling apart and I find them lacking in bass response.

I still use the QC35 and the mass market IEMs. I thought I would compliment the closed-back Sonys and maybe still use them from time to time, but that's not gonna happen, now that I got used to the 58x.

For most recordings, I like the sound of these headphones as-is, flat EQ from the source. I listen to classical, dance, electronic, rock and metal mostly, with some old country and folk thrown in here and there.

For classical music: These work right in line with the recordings, but I'm finding even relatively recent recordings from the 90s lack some bass. They can be a bit bright in the highs, but that's easily dialed down with a treble EQ. The string bass, timpani and pipe organ lows can be heard, but they aren't as loud as they should be. I find myself cranking the bass EQ up all the way sometimes.

For rock, metal, country and folk: They are perfect as-is. Sometimes a bit bright, but part of that is just me. I'm sensitive to it. For older listeners, they will be fine, as the high frequency hearing tends to taper off as we age. For folks like me, (46 years old, with perfect hearing) just EQ it down a bit in the treble and it's fine. For those who really like the treble detail, they'll be perfect; it's never really too much, unless you dial up the treble EQ.

For dance and electronic: They again can be bright at times; I guess that's a them. Others haven't mentioned it, so maybe I'm just not used to hearing this level of detail in the treble. It never hurts, but can get fatiguing to me. Bass is always adequate, as these tend to be modern recordings. Ace of Base's music is mixed perfectly. I'm listening to them now in High Quality through Apple Music and using the Dance EQ setting. It's perfect. One song that stood out to me was Madonna's Music. This sounds good flat on these headphones, but through my home speakers (Polk S55 powered from a 75 W/ch integrated amp) I have to turn the bass EQ all the way down for it to sound just OK.

Source Considerations: I didn't know when I bought these if I'd be able to get away without an amp. they have 150 Ω impedance and are 90 dB sensitive The built-in headphone amp in my integrated amp (Onkyo A-9050) powers them just fine. When I plug them into my iPhone dongle/DAP, they sometimes need to be cranked almost all the way up. If you really want to rock from your smartphone, buy an amp. For home listening with my CD player as a source, I bought a Schitt Magni 3+ amp and Schitt Loki Mini+ EQ. It's a perfect set-up, the only time I've found it inadequate was with some classical recordings, where I can't get the bass instruments loud enough, even with the bass and midbass EQs cranked.

Conclusion: None of the Cons mentioned above would be enough to keep me from buying them again. I just wouldn't have the expectation for them to be my endgame cans. I think I'd like another headphone to compliment this and the combination of those with the aforementioned ones I have would hopefully be my endgame.