My Momentum has been delivered and even better, the wife bought it to cheer me up. I'm very lucky to have a wife who understands my compulsive disorder!!
Without trying to overstate too much I'll try to describe them without too much new toy exaggeration. I have read quite a lot about them on the internet and imo, many of the things said are quite incorrect really.
There are two versions of the Momentum. The one I have is the more expensive one so it has leather cups rather than velour and is described as circumaural.
That description isn't entirely correct - they are quite small with regards to the cups so what actually happens is the flaps of your ears go inside the cups so in effect, making them 'semi-circumaural'!!
I'll make a guess, but perhaps the 'on ears' are a bit smaller? They certainly have velour pads I know but not certain of the differences, except in price.
Having said that, they are remarkably comfortable. The pads are very soft and mould onto your ears well so I could wear these all day easily. They are closed and noise reduction is ok. Compared to the Beyer DT1350, these are way more comfortable.
The cable is detachable and they give you two. One with Ipod volume controls and a bendy connection plug that you can have at any angle you like from the Ipod. I took it off and put the straight cable on. I don't like having switches and bendy connections in the way It's a thin lead but serves the purpose and doesn't feel in the way - it also just comes from the side.
The headphones are shockingly light but really well built. I should think so for the price they sell at. The design is great for me - a kind of old man's Dr Dre. Fashionably old fashioned. In years gone by, I was a real fan (and used all of the time) Senn 414's. Again, slightly quirky and old fashioned looking, but what a great sound they had for those days. These kind of remind me of that period.
So comfort is really not an issue.
The sound reports I have read complain about fat bass, rolled off treble. IMO, the bass accusation is way overblown. The bass is drop dead gorgeous. It slaps away down there and dies quickly so there is a lot of impact. Quantity of bass for me (on my first two hours) is about right. I like a slightly raised bass in preference to lack of.
Treble is claimed to have been rolled off by many. The really toppy 'sparkle' that you get from many headphones isn't there. However, I find that last top edge on many headphones to be very exaggerated. Whether it's my bat's hearing or just my preference, I don't know. I'm way more sensitive to a sting in the top than bass. Cymbals ring nicely, I can plainly hear tape hiss on older recordings and to me, the top is very natural and not synthetic sounding. It's very smooth, so you have the ability to play pretty loud without pain. They are not sibilant at all and vocal ssss and ttttt sound pretty well balanced.
Mids are brilliant. Spot on. There is a good presence without a headphone 'bark' in the middle. I don't detect the closed headphone 'Cup sound.'
I like the sound signature so far. It is smooth and clean sounding with a robust bass and no shrillness. To me - maybe similar to the HD600 sound. Not as fat as 650 but healthy sounding. The treble is well under control and I really like that. It's not a Grado or AKG stinger. It has potential for loud volume then.
Build is superb. Lovely case with it. Choice of cables. Quality materials.
I think for me, this is the best portable closed headphone I've tried so far. The sound suits me way more than the DT1350 - unless I have a rogue one, since I do know that Beyer have something odd going on with quality control.
For a closed headphone, to me it sounds fairly open. You can tell its closed, but then again, the drivers are in small cups, its sensitive and sound damned good from my phone!! Given its portablity and quality of sound, I think it's a rather nice headphone.
Is it worth the money? Well, that's a matter for you to consider. I have gone through so many closed portables and have never found one that I've really been happy with. There have been all kinds of reasons why. One major one is a cuppy kind of resonance. The other is that they tend not to reveal that much in recordings. I'm listening at the moment to 'Aqualung' by Jethro Tull at a fairly loud volume. On a track called, 'My God' I am very aware of tape hiss and tape edits switching in and out in the mix. That's revealing enough for me. Once again, the reports I've read about these not being revealing may be exaggerated - it could be that many people think 'revealing' is a sting in the treble not actually 'revealing' if you see what I mean. More like exaggerated treble. So I think it's worth lashing out for them if you want a quality listen on the move. Buying one of these would save a lot of money on cheaper alternatives that you end up changing for another cheaper alternative.
These are warm, robust sounding, they actually sound bigger than they are and nothing seems to stand out like a sore thumb. You don't listen and think... hey ... the bass!!! Or wow, the treble!!!! It just sounds balanced. Nothing seems overblown.
I know someone is going to ask ... better than DT1350? I'd say in stock form, yes, they are better. For me, the Beyer has a mid resonance that is quite unpleasant. That could be my ear canal or something but for me, it's way off tonally. The bass is also quite 'mean' on the 1350 compared to this. For me, there is a strange 'resonance' in the Beyer. The treble though is more strident than the Senns, but for me, that's difficult to live with.
The biggest problem with the Beyers I think is that they need modding in order to really make them sound good and once that is done, I suspect that they would reveal a great deal, but for me, the tonality is very important; moreso than imaging.
I notice that many shops have these on display and can be easily heard in the UK. It's worth going for a listen. HMV or even as I found yesterday going to the solicitors, in Currys!!
I think I may prefer them to the K550 too. A bit less steely.
The only problem is, my wife bought it for me and she likes it as well ........