Shure SRH1440 Professional Open Back Headphones - 40mm Neodymium Drivers, Full-Range Audio with Detailed Highs and Rich Bass for Mastering and Critical Listening, Circumaural Design for Natural Sound

Now that the price has come down on these wonderful headphones, I decided to purchase the SRH1440. I am so glad I did. I have owned good headphones from Koss. These headphones have such a unique design that I had to get them. Plus, the quality of their sound is awesome! They come with extra ear pads and cord. That was a great bonus. They are an open back design. I like it, If I need to hear something other than my music I just turn down the volume and I don't have to take them off to hear things. I think they are the best looking headphones on the market today. They are so comfortable. I give them 5 stars and thanks to Amazon for the best place to buy the products I really like and can't get at a store in my city.

The Shure SRH1440 Headphones are good headphones.They are not "blow-you-away" headphones that "immerse you in an ocean of deep and rich sounds,leaving their competitors on the dust", or other such superlative audiophile reviewer babble... no...but they are simply good, quality headphones. I found them to be acceptable. I am keeping them.Here is the back story:Earlier this week, I ordered and received the $180-more-expensive (nearly $500) Sennheiser HD 650headphones. I was impressed by their almost unanimously great reviews.I found the Sennheiser HD 650 to be totally unacceptable for two reasons:1.) The HD 650 was very uncomfortable - like a tight vice grip on my head.2.) The HD 650 has a whopping 300 ohms of impedance, which to my surprise, I discovered wastoo much impedance / resistance even for my $250 TEAC model UD-H01 D.A.C. - Headphone Amp Unit tobe able to power them beyond just a moderate volume level.So, I returned the HD 650, and instead I ordered and received the Shure SRH1440 Headphones.They were much less expensive (at $300), and much more comfortable on my head,and because their impedance is only 37 ohms... which is about ONE-TENTH of the HD 650's 300 ohms...I was able to power them with my TEAC model UD-HO1 Digital-Analog-Converter - Headphone Amp Unit.The Shure SRH1440 headphones have very comfortable and soft velour cloth ear pads(a better choice than genuine or fake leather, as velour cloth breathes well against your skin).They are not too tight, not too loose, very flexible and adjustable... easy to fit to your head.They produce a nice balanced sound... not too full of bass... not too full of treble...(though if you have an old-school equalizer like I do, that is easily adjustable to suit your taste anyway).I did not like that the cord is only 2.1 meters (6.9 feet) long, as I could have ideally used justan extra foot or two... but I can make that work for me. I did not like that the cord has a cheap,thin, rubber-coated, strangely "bendy / bouncy" quality to it, rather than being a cord that drapesdown more smoothly and uniformly, as it should. That being said... it is a very lightweight cordthat does not tangle and does not weigh you down... and both ends are gold-plated... so it is acceptable to me.It is unexpected and generous of Shure that they also provide SRH1440s buyers with a second set of cords,and a second set of velour ear-pads... so you can swap-out your cords and ear pads in a few years,when your first sets gets old, and you then have the feel of a new set of headphones... that was thoughtful.You also get a semi-rigid carrying case. You also get an adapter to convert the tiny 3.5 mm termination jack(which fits into an iPod / iPhone / iPad etc.) into a 1/4 inch classic big headphone jack such as thosefound on most home audio components, receivers, and headphone amps.In closing... I would like to point out one thing, on a related note, concerning what Ilearned this week about the required amplification of a good set of headphones:Although these Shure SRH1440 headphones, at just 37 ohms of impedance,are able to achieve a higher volume level than the Sennhesier HD 650's withtheir crazy-high 300 ohms of impedance... I still found that my new TEAC headphone ampwas only able to power these low-impedance Shure 1440s headphones to what I wouldcall a "moderately loud" listening level, if I turned the headphone amp's volume controlall the way up to 100%. That's loud enough for me... but it might not quite be loud enoughfor some people.Apparently, in order to get really good (distortion free) somewhat high volume out of good headphones,you really need to buy a high-end, very powerful headphone amp, capable of delivering morepower than my $250 headphone amp / DAC combo unit is capable of delivering.I found that discovery to be very surprising. That's not the fault of these headphones... but it issomething that the buyer of quality headphones should keep in mind. A powerful headphone ampis necessary to realize the full potential of quality headphones.Happy listening!

1. Natural and wide soundstage2. Very easy to drive, works well with my macbook3. Generous accessories. In the box, you can find replacement for every replaceable part of this headphone.I'm just talking about the pros of this headphone. Because I don't own many headphones at this price range and I'm satisfied with this one, I can't find obvious cons about it. If you want a comparison, from my point of view, it blows Sony MDR-1adac and Denon mm400 away, and though I know that IEMs can't be compared to headphones, I like this one much more than audio technica IM03 (either with the AT-HDC5 cable or balanced cable). Generally speaking, if you want a full-size open back headphone at $299, this one won't let you down.

This was definitely built for bigger heads as this doesn't fit right for me. It hits the top of my head before sealing on the bottom and it seems to just sit on my head rather than cup the ears. Soundwise, it's not terrible. Not on par with a lot of my other open backs but I wouldn't say it's horrible. All in all, I won't use this one very much. My only real true gripe is that it's too expensive for what you get.

These are marketed as studio monitors but they're not as revealing, as e.g. the much less costly Sony MDR-V6's. They also have a noticeable resonance in the lower mids that can be alleviated if you tack on the spare pads and move the drivers slightly away from your ears.

If you are into music of all spectrum's . This is the headphones for you. I am not going to get technical with the highs and the mids and the lows. But just the sound of this product is so pure and open. And to get the fullness from this product I recommend Fiio headphone amplifiers. I own other types of headphones and I will not throw them under the bus. I am here to tell you about this product. The build quality is high and it is very comfortable to wear for very long time of listening to your favorite music.

Quite impressive and the best in its class from a rock fan and a reggae fan. Beyerdynamic teslas, are nice on the first listen but then there are certain frequency ranges which sound metallic and glittery and not in a god way. Audio Technica's go to model was very nice but there was limited separation and they are not comfortable.. Then, I tried the Shure SHR1440......now I am headphone happy. My choice for best headphones between 150 and 300 bucks.

I am looking for good reference studio headphones for my music room. I have some Shure 840's that I am completely happy with, but I need a more of an open soundstage and open back headphones will be perfect for mixing and mastering. The SRH1440 has a good solid feel and design, but the highs are way to harsh. The high end hurt my ears. With proper equalization I'm sure many would be happy with these cans, but for mixing, no.