Introduction
First of all I'd like to curse Head-Fi for punching a hole in my wallet
. After purchasing these headphones I've put a Mini^3 on my to buy list, as well as ES7s or D1000/D1001's >.>. I now consider the M1000's as my first
real headphone. The M1000's are the top end of the Victor
Monitor line and in terms of specs they seem to sit under/around the HP-DX1 and the fairly well known flagship HP-DX1000's. The four digit number slapped on the back of
M suggests that these headphones should sound pretty decent - take a look at the Denon D1000/2000/5000, AT W1000/W5000 - somehow I figure that more numbers must mean better XD.
My previous headphones have been Philips HS-820's and JBL Reference 410s, the latter also because of Head-Fi. Therefore, my impressions may be a slightly exaggerated as these headphones are somewhat lightyears ahead of my previous ones. Furthermore I have nothing of similar calibre to compare with (i.e. A900, SR225).
What's in the Box
Open opening the box there is not much in there at all. There are the headphones and cord (in separate bags) as well as the usual warranty card. There isn't even a manual
which is fair enough - I like products with less packaging because to me its a sign that the company making the product has put less time into generating hype and general ******** ala Thermalright
Build Quality
More pictures coming soon, I'm currently at work and the only photos are on my K800i which are not very good quality either.
The Victor HP-M1000's are constructed entirely of plastic with a light metallic paint (I say light because I've already managed to scratch a small mark on the paint job within a few days of normal wear and tear). The plastic itself does not feel cheap, however it also does not have the rubbery feel of more expensive plastics such as the back of my K800i and certain case fans for your computer e.g. Noctua. All parts of the headphone (cups, headband, headband slider) are held together with screw drivers and craftsmanship here seems excellent.
The cups are of pleather with foam protecting the drivers. Since they the cups are very soft and large they are quite comfortable to wear, even with glasses - however, your ears tend to get a bit heated after a long session. The cups are held together with a plastic headband with fake(?) leather that seems sturdy and as it does not contract like the metal headband on the JBL Reference 410s so there isn't a vice-like grip on your head.
The cups are adjustable in length from the headband via a slider with notches - I must have a rather small head as the tightest setting on the headband results in the headband barely touching the top of my head (hence the headphones rest solely on my ears with the pads, which, as stated earlier is quite comfortable).
The M1000's also offer the ability to be folded, suggesting that they could be portable (it states DJ Monitor use on the box which makes sense) however they really are quite bulky to carry around.
Luckily the cord is actually detachable from the headphone and can be plugged in via sockets at the bottom of both cups, thus giving you the choice of having the cable dangling on either side of you, whichever may feel more convenient.
Upon folding the cups feel a bit flimsy on the headband arms but at least the action is not stiff.
The cord itself appears to be made quite well and has a coiled section in the middle (so it stretches quite far), and has a high quality feel to it. Another advantage of this setup is that if you happen to step on the cord and jerk on it you reduce the risk of damaging the headphones. Upon closer inspection, there is a notch at the end of the plug which is meant to further secure the connector within the socket when you turn the plug around 90 degrees - this kind of defeats the purpose of the jerk example that I provided earlier because I'm sure that the notch would break off given enough force.
Setup
AAC q0.5 > 5.5G 30GB iPod > Victor HP-M1000
AAC q0.5 > foobar2000 KS > AV-710 output cap modded > Wolfson DAC > Victor HP-M1000
Overall Sound
Enough crapping on about looks and feel... how do they function? At first, there appears to be feeling of airiness and slight thinness as suggested by Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life and Sum 41 - The Hell song due to the lack of thumpy bass presence as well as a weird thin sound in the percussion in Green Day - American Idiot, but I am proved wrong with songs such as Unwritten Law - Shallow whereby the guitar comes in clear and crisp and Lionel Richie - Do It To Me where all the instruments are 'there' and 'full'- lol, I have a limited vocabulary. Hopefully more use of these headphones will bring out more bass - I have noticed that bass response has improved slightly from the first time I tried the 'phones, other than that I might have to try changing the output caps on my soundcard and purchasing an amp.
Soundstage
The soundstage is wide but not massive and is slightly skewed to the rear. Vocals are always very central and the headphones do a very good job of separating instruments and voice as well as 'putting them in the right place' (not sure how to word that in a meaningful way). An perfect example is Elton John - Your Song (DCC Gold GZS-1071) - the piano and bass are placed rear at the right, Elton John is smack bang in the middle, drums are rear on the left, guitar is far left etc etc Overall I feel that the M1000's are somewhat quite careful with music, resulting in softish but tight deep bass and smooth crisp mids and trebles. The soundstage works quite well in classical music such as Vivaldi's Allegro Molto "Winter" from Seasons and also Guitar Concerto.
Treble and Mid Range
Treble and mids are definitely strong points for these headphones - this is most apparent in synth/techno/dance etc e.g. Tonite Only - Where the Party's At and Sneaky Sound System - Pictures and where dreadnought guitar is prominent - Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams, Bob Evans - Suburban Songbook. Mids and highs are very detailed and controlled - given that the M1000's are designed for DJ use this is no surprise. I was pleased with the treble reach of the synth at 1:30 of Alex Gaudino (ft. Crystal Waters) - Destination Calabria (you know that taking off sound... <.<) it goes all the way to the top unlike my previous headphones (which I shouldn't really be comparing to because they are not in the same league, but hey gotta start from somewhere).
The down side of this of course is that the M1000's now reveal artefacts and other imperfections in some of the files in my music collection. Being my first real headphones I can clearly distinguish between Dr Ebbetts and MFSL versions of The Beatles now (never knew the vinyl could be so crackly at times heh).
At times I feel that instruments in some songs tend to very slightly overpower vocals slightly, but other times there is no problem such as in Silverchair - Straight Lines.
Bass
Whilst there presence, I am somewhat disappointed in the bass response given the performance in mid range and treble - there is not enough consistency. When there is bass audible, it reaches down waaaaay low and is tight such as the bass guitar in Chris Isaak - baby Did A Bad Bad Thing and ABBA - Mamma Mia. In Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams, Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger there is quite a bit of punch however in D.H.T. - Listen to Your Heart, Darude - Sandstorm, Dave Armstrong - Make Your Move and Dannii Minogue - Put The Needle On It to name a few, there is a lack of punch - the M1000's aren't aggressive enough here. At times the bass which is touch slower than sometimes desired such as Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue album.
In defence of the M1000's I'm going to blame this result on source and lack of amp - for now.
Conclusion
Here I will take in price as a factor in evaluation. Direct from Japan, these headphones would have cost about 110 + 30 AUD shipping, making it a ~140 AUD 'phone. Shipping with an exporter such as PriceJapan (like I did) adds 40 AUD, bringing the total to 180 AUD. Comparing apples to apples (sort of), I can get the A900's from PriceJapan for 221 AUD shipped. Although as suggested on Head-Fi that the M1000's are superior in every aspect apart from soundstage I feel that for 180 AUD the build quality could have been better i.e. for 40 AUD more I could have gotten aluminium on my cans rather than plastic. As a ~140 AUD worth headphone I feel that the M1000's are excellent - now if only those HD555's where working at JB Hi-fi I could do a comparison...
To be continued
Victor HP-M1000: First Impressions
