The Mac Feed

When we talked to Matt Engstrom a couple of months ago we tried to get him to spill the beans on any new products from Shure, particularly a venture to studio monitors. Instead of getting us to seriously consider abandoning the KRK collection that we currently use – he told us about two new products: the SRH750DJ and the SE115m+. Given our appreciation for a pair of Denons (sorry Audio-Technica fans) and a Pioneer mixer, we were interested about the former. After spending some quality time with the Shure SRH750DJ, we are… well confused a bit.

Out of the Box:
Same as always as far as the Shure headphone line is concerned. You get the headphones, the removable cord, the threaded 1/4″ adapter, the leather case and another set of pads. We can’t compare either set of pads to the SRH840 and SRH440 pads because all four seem to be different, but like the SRH840 – we found that the pads that come on the headphones provide a little bit more comfort, better isolation and a little bit deeper bass. One another note, there are gray styrofoam pieces on both sides of the cups. They are not there for anything except transport. We asked Shure and they told us, “It’s part of the packaging meant to protect the headphones during shipment. It has no functional purpose once the headphone is taken out of the box.” So don’t get freaked out like we did when they fall off your headphone for seemingly no reason.

Design
The SRH750DJ might share the first three letters with the rest of Shure’s headphone family, but the design makes them see more as cousins rather than siblings. A couple of similar features return including the leather headband and removable coiled cable. From there the similarities seem to end. For starters the 750DJs feature: an almost olivish silver color for much of the construction, circular cups instead of the 440/840’s ovals and then there is the swivelling. Like most DJ headphones, the SRH750DJs allow each cup to swivel 90 degrees giving you near endless possibilities when it comes to how you chose to sport your 750DJs on your head. In addition, the cords running to the cups are hidden with the headphone and the left/right identifiers are much more noticeable. The largest difference has to with the actual feel of the headphones. When you pick up the SRH840s, you pick up a much sturdier headphone – these oddly seem clumsy. The plastic is extremely lightweight, but after some completely non-lab testing we were shocked at how strong the plastic is. While we still appreciate the heavier feel of the SRH840s, remember this is Shure, everything is professionally built.

Sound
We believe that everyone appreciates some colored sound. Let’s face it – neutral response is boring, bass is exciting. When you put on Grado’s PS1000, you get a brilliant sound, but it’s not one that is fun to listen to. With every headphone that attempts to set a new standard in accuracy, 99% of the time is spent criticizing the harshness of the highs and determining how expansive the soundstage is. An Acura NSX is an incredible work of engineering, but every once in a while we want a blown 454 in some American muscle. Fear not, we aren’t turning into TheAudiophileFeed and the next section should give us some credibility for not being deserving of that dreaded “a-word.”

The Reason We Love The Shure SRH750DJs
Lows, bass, low-end, low-pitched – call it what you want, there’s no point arguing. The headphones deliver one of the most dynamic low-ends short of throwing two 12s in a hatchback. But most shocking is the accuracy. Rather then distortion accompanying the reality-shattering bass that was produced, we just got the bass. It took a second to realize that it was actually scientifically possible to reproduce Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” with zero distortion and still spine shivering vibration. While it shares the ability to still produce sound without being phased, this is no SRH840. When you put the SRH750DJs on – you get bass and lots of it. You get all different types of bass in all new ways and for that we believe the SRH750DJs have set a standard.

Hearing Something Other Then Bass
There is a reason we like to spend more then five hours with headphones. One of the reasons is because it’s impossible to pick up on all the little intricacies and details that each headphone presents in just one listening session. These sound spectrum on the SRH750DJs is to say the least impressive, especially considering the sheer power of the bass. After one becomes comfortable with the low-end, your ear can slowly become acustomed to hear how well the SRH750DJs handle highs and mids and it’s an expereince within itself. While the accuracy is not like sitting in a conservatory, the grace of responding to precious strings and delicate vocals isn’t that far off. While most DJ headphones have a unique signature that pains users with harsh highs and mediocore mids at all volumes, Shure’s engineers have found a balance, mind you a balance with a low-end that even some small speakers could consider overwhelming.

The most amazing spectactle can largely be creditted to the soundstage and the creation that ensues between the grand low-end and the rest of the headphone. Novel’s Suspended Animation perhaps exhibits this grand experience best: an intentionally harsh guitar and beautiful vocal serenades fill the ear and then as a mirage of sound comes a distinct hollow tap gets buried amongst your normal hip-hop beat. As Novel reflects on his current predicament, you are graced with the constant reminder of the hollo tap. Yet no matter what song you play – the beautiful mixture is present and for that we can’t help but love the SRH750DJs.

And Then We Put Our Hands On Our Head & Screamed
So here’s the confusion: both Matt and Chris (Lyons) at Shure, two people who know way more about headphones then we do, claimed that the amount of power needed to drive these headphones meant that they were headphones that should not be plugged into anything that isn’t an external power source (amp, mixer, etc.) As we write the SRH750DJ are plugged into our MacBook Pro with the volume halfway up and while our ears can notice a difference in sound quality, three random people who don’t own more headphones then fingers couldn’t tell. We even plugged it the SRH750DJ into our iPhone, mainly because at CES Chris told us not to and when you tell us not to do something, well we do it. Sure, we might have had to turn our iPhone all the way up, but the music that was produced was of higher quality then any other headphone we see on a daily basis. When you plug it from one source to the other there is a noticeable difference. But we found that if you let someone listen to it one day unamped and then amped the next day, is there a difference, of course there is. Can most people tell – not really, quite frankly the low-end is so dynamic (amped or not) that people are way too excited to notice.

Versus the SRH840
After a while we came to the conclusion that while these headphones are different, they share a lot of similar qualities. By no means would we consider either headphone when trying to find the most neutral sound, for that the SRH440 is a much better starting point. Both feature a powerful low-end that performs without distortion and mids and high that work well with the dynamic bass. While there is a noticeable difference between the power of the bass when the headphones are powered, when left to just an iPhone we begin to understand why Chris told us that we shouldn’t bother with using the SRH750DJs. It’s not that you get a bass that is in anyway lacking, but the difference is night and day when you attach an external power source. Suddenly the bass in the SRH750DJ removes itself from the league of the SRH840 and enters a completely different spectrum. Even with our fascination for bass, we prefer the SRH840 for a couple of reasons. First, the comfort on the SRH840 is leagues ahead of the SRH750DJ. Next is the isolation, which once again allows the SRH840 to seperate itself as being superior. Perhaps it’s largely due to the fact that we are content with the bass on the SRH840, which is the one area where the SRH750DJ has an advantage.

Every Song Comes to an End
Sure, for casual listening we’d pick the SRH840 any day of the week over the SRH750DJ, quite frankly we are hard-pressed to find a single headphone that we wouldn’t pick the SRH840 over. On face there is nothing that innovative about Shure’s SRH750DJ, but when you step back and look at the package as a whole – you begin to understand the rarity of engineering excellence that you hold in your hands. We ransacked our hip-hop library trying to find something that would push the limits of the made for disc jockey headphones and after we finally waived the white flag on the unsuccessful venture, we began to appreciate the headphones for what they were. They were honest. No, of course they weren’t honest in terms of audiophile accuracy; but, they are one-hundred percent the headphone we would want to put on top of a Denon turntable and isn’t that what it says on the side of the headphone? You can purchase the Shure SRH750DJ from Amazon for $149.00.