I've had the Sony MDR-7506 as well as the Audio Technica ATH-M40fs, both for about 8+ years. And have served me well. As I'm just a hobbyist i thot maybe i was missing something and decided to try something new. Ah, not really missing anything to my ears. It sounds VERY SIMILAR to the Sony 7506, which seems very smooth and flat freq response 20 - 20k. More bass and highs come out than compared to the AT. Gives more stereo depth to me. This Yamaha sounds very, very similar to the Sony, both to me and my wife. ( I played the same music to her on all 3 phones and she heard the same things i did.) However the Sony has a nice coiled cable and feels more comfy on my ears than the Yamaha. Even the AT has a nicer quality straight cable than the Yamaha. Seems Yamaha skimped a bit on the quality of the cable. Length is fine, tho. I'm keeping it in my arsenal just the same.

I am a Pro Studio and Live Engineer who has worked with National Artist for 20 years. I have worked with most all brands of gear on the planet. I went to audition the new Yamaha HS80M monitors, (which I love and replaced my NS10M Studio monitors with them!), when I found these headphones. As a Pro Engineer, I have to have the truest representation of the stereo mix, and not only are these fantastic and truer than any headphone I've ever heard, but the natural S-Logic in them gives you a feeling that the speakers are 60 degrees apart from each other, rather than strapped to your head. This gives you a very true, accurate representation of how your mix will sound coming out of your monitors in your studio, or how it sounds coming out of a live PA! They are perfect paired with our Midas XL8 in a live setting as well. These are absolutely the same sound as the HS80M monitors, (Fantastic! Much better than my now retired NS10M Studio monitors) Other headphones have falsely inflated low end, or are too crisp, these are neither. They are accurate and true, and my studio now uses 7 pairs of these, and nothing else! If your monitors don't accurately sound like these headphones, than you have poor monitors and need to invest in a better quality system. For all of you engineers just starting out up to the seasoned veterans, there are no better headphones out there! Bravo Yamaha.

I'm very picky when it comes to headphones. They have to be comfortable,sound good. These headphones deliver what I demand for monitoring tracks I put down in guitar pro. I would recommend these to anyone wanting percise sound quality. They also sound really good just playing music through them. With them on they are like ear muffs,all sounds around you are muffled, that blew my mind when I first tried them.