Philips SHP9500/00 Headphone Black

Product Information

The headband, Its obviously performs well with no issue. the headband is plastic and foam underneath it foam for the comfort of longer listening. Who has bigger head will have no problem as it allows to extend to 1-6 notch. Well, that’s about it for today my friend! I hope you’ve enjoyed this Philips SHP9500 vs. 9600 comparison, and now understand the main differences between them! Musical presentation is completely transparent and they reveal everything as it was intended to sound like. They simply do not fool you colouring the music. The sound of these headphones are basically focused well on the mids and the vocal performance in these cans are truly phenomenal.

There seems to be a protective measure taken in looking at the greyish-blue cap, a stark contrast to the rubbery, flimsier material inherent in the original 9500. It is really is, functionally, the same thing with maybe different insides, it works well, with mediocre-to-decent sound quality. Be careful of sound leakage that can reach the mic, I even accidentally outed myself on an Among Us game once. I could notice no difference in sound compared to the original cable.The box contains the headphones themselves and a 1.5m 2pole removable 3.5mm cable for the headphones. Nothing more on the accessories and these do not include the carry pouch that you get with the older version of the shp9500. I find that they’re nice and light. The only problem that I have is that the clamping force for my head just isn’t enough. They feel like they’re moving around a little bit too much, and even if I go to the smallest setting, they do feel a little bit like they’re riding on the top of my ears. You’ll get some of those same “out of your head” moments like you previously enjoyed with the 9500, but I do feel like the 9500’s Staging is a bit better overall. That being said, is this really the best audio gear I can get for Php 3,000 as a basshead? Any recommendations would be great (including IEMs). Or should I just buy a DAC or amp?

I would recommend these headphones to anyone who listens to a variety of music, wants to wear headphones for hours on end, or for someone who wants extremely great value out of headphones. Compared to Koss ksc75 the SHP9500 are: slightly less open, cleaner, more treble/mid orientation, similar soundstage. The treble could still be better, though. You can still tell that these are..well, bright. The low-end helps a lot to rein in that impression, but in songs where you can hear particularly aggressive strings, this tends to be a minor nuisance. Overall, however, the treble extends well enough and doesn't give any compressed feeling, at least to my ears.

Final thoughts from Stu’s notepad

Impressions here are given from listening from an iPhone 6 and a Mac. I did try an headphone amp with these (actually, the headphone out from my 2008 Pioneer living room amp). I find the sound to be much more interesting from my iPhone and my Mac. The amp gave a distracting warmth to the sound, and it sounded much more static, less dynamic to my ear.

Compared to sivga sv004, which is another pair of good budget headphones, there are major differences. The sv004 is more v shaped, and is semi open. It has worse soundstage and imaging, but better bass response. To summarise, the sv004 might actually better for listening to music, but the shp9500 is definitely better for listening to your gear, which is what the hobby is about if I'm being honest. This hallmark tradition in the line hasn’t changed, much to my delight and likely yours as well. Genre-wise, the obvious is apparent: You don't need to worry about the comfort or build in these headphones. Though they are constructed primarily with plastic with metal grills only to cover the drivers, they are engineered well and do not feel cheap on your hands. They are large and have huge earcups with super soft pads on them. They are light enough that you'll forget your wearing them after few minutes of listening. Few concerns with these headphones are the non removable ear pads and the ear cups being a bit shallow for some. The material on the pads can make your ears a bit sweaty. The SHP9500’s highs are the Hollywood star in regards to its sound signature but can sometimes get in the way, resulting in a minor spike that is most obvious when listening to poorly recorded songs. I have grown to like bright treble over the years but I am still quite critical of sibilance and brittle highs. It is safe to say that it is not the case here. Though it can sound artificial, at times, the treble is still quite pleasing, articulate, and extends relatively well. The detail and clarity when listening to jazz and classical music is lovely considering its price (again). The highs are probably the highlight of the frequency response of this headphone. Some people find it harsh, But I haven't noticed anything yet. But it is important to point out that I use the ifi zen dac which is a dac amp with a Burr-Brown dac chip that is known for sounding warmer than Sabre dac chips. The treble response is a bit boosted.

Both come in at 32 Ohm, but the 9600 is actually a dB more efficient at 102dB, vs. 101 for the 9500. The treble is a little more grainy and unrefined compared to both the Sennheiser HD 650 and Audeze LCD-2. Treble is more present than the LCD-2 and maybe about the same level as the HD 650. They provide sparkle when needed, but not nearly as elegantly as the HD 650 do. The treble is a little more blunt with a hint of metallic aftertaste. If I didn't have the LCD-2 or HD 650 within an arm's reach for comparison, I'd have no idea that the treble had any limitations. I wouldn't call their treble flawed. It's just a different rendering indicative of their price point. I found no hot spots or issues with sibilance. They aren't the last word in treble, but they are pretty darn good in their own regard. Sound is balanced overall, bass is adequate but at times can be lean. Using a good EQ can fix the issue (there is a great EQ setting in reddit for the SHP9500). After being very pleased with the SHP9600 for movies, I decided to plug them into my main headphone rig to evaluate their sound with music. While I am extremely pleased with these for movies, and I highly recommend them for that capacity, the focus of this review is mainly regarding music from my main headphone rig. I make a few comments here and there about their movie performance.