Hi Everyone=]
This is my review of the JVC-Victor HP-M1000 headphones. For info on my source, background, etc, you can check out my profile. Hope you enjoy!
Introduction
After trying several headphones, I've learned more and more about my musical tastes and headphone sound signatures that I enjoy, or predict I would enjoy. Along my headphone journey, I've discovered that I like bass, but not just plenty bass...I like big bass that is tight, well articulated, and detailed. My previous main headphone, the dt880s, provided the last three qualities, but the bass just wasn't prominent enough. So I went on a search of a headphone that would equal the dt880s in giving hi-end bass, but would surpass it in being bassy.
After nights of research and tons of pm's, I finally decided that the Ultrasone Proline 2500 was for me. So how come I didn't end up with that? Well, I knew the PL's offered very high quality bass, and was also considered bassy for an open can. I also read that while the soundstage was mildly forward, the 2500's s-logic function did excellent with my favorite genre, electronica - once one's ears were adjusted to the unique soundstage. So the PL's sounded perfect for me. But what's the fun of settling for perfection, when one can explore other options which would give a richer experience, by flirting with the risks of not being completely happy without perfection...
Deciding to take a more exciting headphone route, I was enthralled to read about Facelvega's new discovery, the JVC-Victor HP-M1000 headphone. Here comes a new headphone, which, according to Vega, sounded equal to the $400+ Audio-Technica ATH-A900ti, for a "low" cost of $169. This sounded absolutely fantastic. Pay less than $200 for a can that sounded like a $400 one? I just had to snatch it up. But did the sound quality really substantiate such a claim? Ahh, here we go, on to the sound...
Overall sound signature - Pre-burn-in
Out of the box, the sound of the HP-M1000 was underwhelming, especially considering that I had very high expectations for it. The bass was on the slowish side, and didn't seem quite powerful. The highs, while easily audible, were lacking detail and finesse. The soundstage, while decent for a closed can, sounded small compared to the dt880's. And the mids. Even though they were detailed, the tone that influenced the whole "flavor" of the M1000's sound just seemed off. But there were changes to be had, changes that I'm glad I've waited to see.
Sound during, and post-burn-in.
Bass
During the first few hours of burn-in, the bass became noticeably faster. In fact, as it is now, the bass is what I would call action-packed: bass notes seem to change from one to the other so quickly, that on especially fast basslines filled with many different notes, I can't help but think of a chase scene in a blockbuster movie, with plenty of different parts(or individual notes) each memorable in their own way. What makes these notes so memorable is how colorful each part of the M1000's bass response is.
You may have read recent threads about users finding the dt880's midbass being boomy and monotone sounding. It was after getting the HP-M1000 that I could say I agree with their assessments. Let's break up the dt880s bass response into three parts, high-mid-bass, mid-mid-bass, and low-mid-bass. On the dt880s, the low-mid-bass would be the
color of darksalmon, the mid-mid-bass salmon, and the high-mid-bass lightsalmon. On the HP-M1000, the low-mid-bass would be more like darksalmon, the mid-mid-bass would be orange, and the high-mid-bass would be red. The farther range of these colors leads to a very tuneful, flavorful bass that I just love. Also, the HP-M1000's bass detail and tightness rivals that of the dt880's, while the M1000's bass extension wins hands down.
What I loved about the dt880's bass was its micro-detail. On well recorded songs, bass lines on the dt880's would have "millions" of tiny crevices, or a very, very fine rumble, that made the bass just fantastic. The HP-M1000 comes close to producing as much "crevices" as the dt880s, and when the bass goes really low, those crevices turn into a visceral rumble. And lastly, probably the sweet spot of the whole bass performance is how big it is! It isn't all that overwhelming, as in offensively covering up the rest of the frequencies. But this is definitely the basshead's be-all end-all.
While the bass on the HP-M1000 is definitely its strongest point, I would consider its mids response to be solid.
Mids
If the k701's (female)mids are considered hair-raising, and the dt880's mids considered sweet, I would say the HP-M1000's mids are utilitarian. They are very detailed, much more so than the dt770's. They are also more forward than the dt770's mids. So generally, I would consider the HP-M1000's mids good enough to have a foot in the high-end league.
But while the mids do manage to be high-end, ime, there is just something about its tone that seems to throw things off. I don't know what it is - admittedly, I'm not audiophile enough to determine that for sure. But I do remember the dt880's mids performance well enough to say that music, and particularly games I know very well, don't sound completely natural. But one thing is certain...the HP-M1000's mids are improving. Tonight happened to be the first time that a female singer's voice sounded sweetish through the M1000. So I'm guessing that at the rate I'm burning this can in(by just using listening time), the mids may very well turn out to be great.
Enjoying my time with the M1000s, I decided to youtube some old rap videos, made by the likes of KRS-ONE and Nas. I tend to think that their older stuff is deeper and thought-provoking, sometimes even complex, with multisyllable words uttered at tongue-twister paces. On the M1000, every word was clear and very intelligible. While I found spoken word to be easily understood by the mind, I found singing on the M1000 to be emotionally stirring. Vocalists just seem to sing with such power and feeling, as if they have drawn upon their soul to add extra oomph to their performance. With the M1000, I find myself waiting for the peak of an artist's singing, so I can burst out loud with them. When listening to the dt880s, I listened more for the detail of a singer's voice - the throaty coarseness of Louis Armstrong, the sultry smoothness of Diana Krall, etc...
Even though I'm happy with the mids performance of the M1000s, I feel that they may improve with further time. While I'm waiting for this to happen, I believe that the highs of the M1000 are already "ripe."
Highs
As I've mentioned earlier, the highs of the HP-M1000 were present, but it didn't seem like a complete package found on the dt880s. What I found missing was fine detail, or subtlety and control that the dt880s verily portrayed. As time passed, and the initial hours of burn-in took place, things changed quite a bit in the M1000's HF range. First, the highs became reasonably sparkly. So much so that, on one particular song I came across, I found myself rewinding and rewinding to a certain part of a cymbal solo; the pleasure-inducing sparklyness combined with a detailed sheen just excited my ears.
The highs also became detailed enough to distinguish the fast taps of hi-hats, which I think truly shows the ability of the HP-M1000's HF resolve, since hi-hats produce a sound that is "low profile" when mixed with the sound of kick-drums, heavy, electronic basslines, etc. Also, when the sounds of high frequency instruments are being played at once, there is clear separation between each instrument, unless the artist intends otherwise.
One of the best parts of the M1000's HF response is how airy the soundstage is...
Soundstage
When I first got the HP-M1000, one of the things that initially disappointed me was the soundstage. Now, I cannot say for sure whether it was or is bigger than the dt770's, but out-the-box, the M1000's soundstage was noticeably smaller than the dt880's. I said to myself, "fine, I should have expected this from a closed can anyways." Soon after, I discovered that raising the volume conservatively satisfactorily remedied this issue.
But my problems with the soundstage didn't end there. One thing I took for granted was the dt880's soundstage
naturalness. I am convinced, Beyerdynamic just knows what they are doing when engineering a soundstage. Not only is the dt880's soundstage speaker-like, making me forget that I'm listening to headphones, but there is a certain, dare I say, built-in "involve-the-listener" effect accompanying the soundstage. This effect is quite neat, as it subtly draws my spare attention away from the physical feel of the headphones on my head(which is already reduced by very comfy earpads), onto the sound being produced by the dt880s. The result? Once every part of my attention is drawn onto the music, the dt880s sound out-of-head, because no part of my awareness is left to perceive the separation between the sound of music, and the cavernous space in my head.
With the HP-M1000, the soundstage lacks the dt880s' unique effect. After a year of heavy use of the dt880s, the absence of this neat trick is very noticeable. For gaming, it doesn't matter that much, but for music, I found my experience with the HP-M1000 rather jarring, albeit in a relative and subtle way. Luckily enough, I stumbled across a crossfeed plug-in for Foobar. I can fortunately say that with this plug-in, the "involve-the-listener" effect is back and in full force. Inherently, however, the HP-M1000's soundstage is less than perfect. As for the size, I would say that at its largest, the M1000's soundstage reaches 80% of the dt880's average expansiveness. Make no mistake about it, however, when the dt880s wants to flex its muscles, its soundstage is
enormous.
Even though the HP-M1000's soundstage is spacious, giving ample room to each instrument, it doesn't come off as very deep. For instance, when the dt880s played a singer's voice being reverbed and hung in the "air," there seemed to be many layers piled on to each other, filling a vast amount of space. In the M1000's soundstage, this reverb effect just isn't as captivating, as each layer seems to fail to fill the same amount of space.
The HP-M1000's imaging, or instrument placement, is very specific. In fact, it's the best I've ever heard. One example I can think of is when I was playing the war-time shooter Battlefield 2. While playing on my favorite map, Songhua Stalemate, I was running ahead seemingly alone, when all of a sudden I heard footsteps about 10 e-yards directly behind me. If it wasn't for this very accurate imaging, along with the M1000's very resolving highs, I wouldn't have killed one guy before being dropped by 5 more of his companions.
The HP-M1000's soundstage, while airy and decently sized compared dt880's soundstage, is not the only facet of this headphone comparable to the latter headphone. On to the physical aspects of the HP-M1000.
Build quality, function, and comfort
The build quality of the HP-M1000 seems quite reliable, being somewhat on par with the dt880's. However, from my experience and contrary to common belief, even cans with the build quality of the dt880's are prone to fall apart from carelessness. With moving joints and a construction made mostly of plastic, one should take particular care when handling the HP-M1000.
The M1000 are marketed as DJ headphones, and as such, have folding earcups, rotateable pads, and a detachable cord that can be switched to either earcup, with the help of intuitive enough indicators on the cord's jack. In line with its specified use, the HP-M1000 can go without being amped, by virtue of having a high sensitivity of 105dB/1mW. This can sounds surprisingly good out of a standard portable cd player. These are closed cans, with decent leakage out, and excellent leakage in. When playing music, my computer fans can't be heard. But at the volumes I play music, one can hear my music, but probably can't tell what type it is.
Comfort wise, the HP-M1000 can be worn for hours on end, but inside the earcups tend to get hot after much time has passed wearing them. Overall, I'd rate M1000's comfort as good.
Conclusion
All in all, the HP-M1000 continues to improve its already great performance as time goes by. With bass and highs that compete with the dt880's, mids that are solid, and a soundstage good enough to "wow" a user new to hi-end audio, but decent enough to satisfy the experienced with a little tweaking, the HP-M1000 proves to be a great headphone contender in the sub-$200 range. Even though I was initially disappointed with these headphones, I can honestly now recommend them to anyone looking for a hi-end, bassy can that can be used for most music genres, gaming, and portable use.
Thanks for reading this thread, have a great day!
JVC-Victor HP-M1000: a novice's review
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Eh, maybe not=]