Are my headphones SO good that music sound terrible?

[AWAXX]

Hi there, I just bought Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear M2. I had been amazed by music until I realized a lot of songs have terrible noise in background. Its like constant cymbal noise. Why so?

Is the music (for example Hardwell - Spaceman (Eliminate remix) for your might-want-to-judge) actually so terribly made and I just can hear it so clear now?
Some tracks sounds amazing. Others are unlistenable. If I buy other headphones instead, how can I dodge this bullet?

 

[Marin]

Hi there, I just bought Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear M2. I had been amazed by music until I realized a lot of songs have terrible noise in background. Its like constant cymbal noise. Why so?

Is the music (for example Hardwell - Spaceman (Eliminate remix) for your might-want-to-judge) actually so terribly made and I just can hear it so clear now?
Some tracks sounds amazing. Others are unlistenable. If I buy other headphones instead, how can I dodge this bullet?

This might be a stupid question, but what audio format are you using, and to what are your phones connected?

 

[Joe B]

You can't dodge a bad recording. I listened to a disc the other night that was recorded using portable analogue equipment back in the early 90's in Bulgaria. It sounded OK until the last 3 tracks of the disc. I had to stop listening. My set up is capable of revealing a lot of sonic subtleties, and when they reveal a bad recording, there's no hiding from it.
The tracks that sound amazing are proof it's not the cans.

 

[j_garcia]

I would say it is a factor. The better the gear, the more likely you are to hear the imperfections. What it comes down to though, is do you enjoy the music enough to overlook it. You can follow the rabbit hole a long way down (and I am sure many of us have) when it comes to those details, but in the end the purpose is to enjoy the music right?

As mentioned, you can't get away from bad recordings. The best ones are amazing and the worst ones can impair the listening experience, so there isn't exactly one solution to fit all.

 

[KEW]

Congratulations on the new headphones, and welcome!
I have experienced the constant cymbal noise (in particular) on many poor MP3 recordings, so look at what your source file is if you are streaming. If you are listening to YouTube that could easily be the issue.
Most modern professional recordings are better than what it sounds like you are describing (though they certainly have their flaws).
What had you used to listen to the music before when you did not notice the problem?

 

[AWAXX]

Thank you all for replies! I didn't expected this community
Additional information: Before those phones, I had Marshall Major II. With those, the music sounded well. Not perfect, not noisy.

I tried connecting to Soundcloud with PC, problem remains, although it was better than from my phone with songs downloaded from YT. I would like to listen to music in better quality than YT, but I listen to a lot of alternative music that I won't find at Spotify or so.

Also, those "Noisy tracks" are little DJs, but also for example KoRn, who I believe have decent studio.
Once again, thank you all involved!

 

[highfigh]

Hi there, I just bought Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear M2. I had been amazed by music until I realized a lot of songs have terrible noise in background. Its like constant cymbal noise. Why so?

Is the music (for example Hardwell - Spaceman (Eliminate remix) for your might-want-to-judge) actually so terribly made and I just can hear it so clear now?
Some tracks sounds amazing. Others are unlistenable. If I buy other headphones instead, how can I dodge this bullet?

Are you listening to low bit rate MP3 files? That can cause this noise.

I bought a cargo van from someone in Phoenix and it didn't have a CD player, so I put some music on an SD card so I could listen with my headphones on the way home to Milwaukee. I must not have seen the resolution because it was unlistenable. I couldn't do it. Listen to tracks that are known to be .wav, AAC, FLAC or from an analog source and if it's still bad, you may have a bad set of phones or whatever you're using for a headphone amp.

OTOH, the tracks may just be badly mixed and mastered- that's not at all uncommon.

 

[Marin]

Thank you all for replies! I didn't expected this community
Additional information: Before those phones, I had Marshall Major II. With those, the music sounded well. Not perfect, not noisy.

I tried connecting to Soundcloud with PC, problem remains, although it was better than from my phone with songs downloaded from YT. I would like to listen to music in better quality than YT, but I listen to a lot of alternative music that I won't find at Spotify or so.

Also, those "Noisy tracks" are little DJs, but also for example KoRn, who I believe have decent studio.
Once again, thank you all involved!

There should not be any noise with more than 200kb/s aac and 300 kb/s mp3 however the details will be lost compared to flac (or other lossless formats). Also you shouldn't worry about any exotic formats and encoding methods like DSD or sampling rates higher than 48khz, they don't make any difference.
Noise is probably coming from headphone amp and dac built into your phone on quieter songs (aka better mastered songs),phones are designed to handle earbuds, not the hi-fi headphones. You have a few options; The cheapest one is portable headphone amp, it will take the amp from your phone out of the equation but you'll still need to use dac built into your phone. The next thing would be mobile bluetooth dac/head amp. Standalone portable hi-fi player like Astell & Kern Kann would be the best option but also the most expensive one.
High end audio is fun, enjoy your music, and sorry for me spending your money for you.

 

[Joe B]

Also you shouldn't worry about any exotic formats and encoding methods like DSD or sampling rates higher than 48khz, they don't make any difference.

At the 2L "Test Bench" you can download files, and they have many, in a variety of formats. With capable gear, I can hear a difference between audio formats. It's worth checking out.

 

[Marin]

At the 2L "Test Bench" you can download files, and they have many, in a variety of formats. With capable gear, I can hear a difference between audio formats. It's worth checking out.

Right... I'm just going to leave this here.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

it is very easy for the bluetooth headphone to be bad to listen to the music

I believe op's problem has nothing to do with bluetooth as he has one of the best bluetooth headphones in market.

 

[KenM10759]

The best overall headphones for music are the HiFiman Ananda

Really? No kidding, that's incredible that you have arrived at this conclusion. What's the BEST loudspeakers, amps, and cables then? Don't hold back...we really need to know!

 

[2channel lover]

Really? No kidding, that's incredible that you have arrived at this conclusion. What's the BEST loudspeakers, amps, and cables then? Don't hold back...we really need to know!

I guess he deleted the post...I have a pair of the lower end Hifi 400i and I've heard a few of the cans > $1000 including 2 in the Hifiman line, but not the Ananda specifically.

Once you get a good pair of open back designed cans, going up the ladder imo is tricky. The biggest difference imo in the Hifiman line more expensive cans is the bass response....mids/highs was better, but not drastically better than my $450 cans.