Intro
I first saw Pump Audio on Kickstarter, "The greatest headphone in the world?" and "Better than Beats" lay across the banner. One bold statement, and one not so bold. All jokes aside, I sent the owner of the Kickstarter campaign a private message, and he provided me with a free pair for review. The following opinion is my own and, as always, your mileage may vary. I have had the headphones for a few months and have spent a lot of time with them. This review will be beefy and cover all bases. There will be a summary at the end for those who want to save some time.
 
Packaging
Who cares, right? It seems that was Pump Audio's approach anyway. It's not bad. Thin, printed cardboard encases thin plastic that surrounded everything in a clamshell fashion. In this case everything means three pairs of tips (two sizes only), and the IEMs themselves. Nothing to write home to your mom about, but Pump Audio asks $150 for these, I expected something better. Will this story of mixed expectations continue?
 
Build
The build to me is nothing spectacular. Maybe it's the designer in me that sees the whole thing as a disconnected mess. The orange is a different color on the shell and the cord, and it doesn't look purposeful. The strain relief has slits cut at the connector, but not by the housing. Those housings themselves are nice enough. Anodized aluminum which is light and looks pretty, however there is an unsightly seam right in the middle of the unit that runs around it. Pump could have (and should have) aligned this seam with the silver colored accent ring, in order to better camouflage it. Or they could have aligned it along the edge where it narrows to the nozzle.
 
Let me take some time out to talk about how bad this cable is. This cable is the same cable that was on the free pair of in-ears that I received with my HTC One M7. Not similar, but identical in everything except color. It is flat, so points for that, but it is cheap. It is a touch thicker than a business card and has the same rubber used on phone cases. This thing creases and grabs onto everything it touches and tangles poorly despite being flat. I would have liked to see the cable be a bit thicker, not as wide, and not have so much friction on the outside. Cable noise in subpar too.
 
Fit
The light housing does wonders for the fit. The flat cable all but necessitates straight down wear, but as long as you're not running and you can call these Tom Cruise. They'll never come out!
 
Oddly enough, the housing where the silicone tip latches on is smaller than normal. It uses standard tip sizes, but the housing just isn't large enough for the tip to grip housing. The tip won't fall off, but it does rotate freely. Thus, when it is in the ear, the earphones will spin when leaning your head in any direction. This left me with an odd sensation and a squeaky fart noise in my ear, every single time I moved my head. Shame.
 
Sound
Bass
Oh my bass! Good bass! Heck, great bass! And gobs of that tight awesomeness! The only thing I can compare it to is the Sony MDR-Z7 which I hear has nearly identical bass to the Fostex TH-900. It is loud, it slams, it goes deep, the mid-bass isn't inflated at all. It starts to dip around 15 Hz but the rest of it is still there all the way down to 5 Hz. This is the best bass that I've heard on an in-ear headphone. It bests my Sennheiser IE7, it beats my Ostry KC06, it wipes the floor with my Zero Audio Carbo Tenore. It sounded better in the bass department than the Fidue A73 and A83 that Hisoundfi let me demo at ChiUniFi this year. The bass sits roughly 2 dB less than what you get from the Beats by Dre line, but that doesn't mean they are wooly. There is just a lot of bass. If I had to find one gripe about the bass it would be that in complex passages you hear that it isn't notably fast. That said, I'd still say it has the best bass among any IEM under $200 that I've heard.
 
That is, of course, unless they don't seal. In which case you are left with an airy, tinny, thin mess. The housing issue I mentioned earlier makes this a very common problem with almost all aftermarket tips. So you are stuck with the S or M/L basic tips that they offer. Thank goodness they are decent.
 
Mids
Nothing special here. At all.
 
Treble
This is where the Pump's fall very far. I know what you're thinking. Don't think it. This is not another hip-hop only headphone with such little treble that Meghan Trainor is throwing herself a party. It is present, it sparkles, it is detailed. Not Beyerdynamic sparkly and not HD800 detailed, but pleasing and present nonetheless. These tied my Ostry KC06 in the detail department and those things are no slouch. I'd say the treble presentation is very similar to my Ostry KC06, but I much, much prefer the Ostry's for treble alone. They both are right where I'd say neutral is, maybe touch less around 4kHz to reduce fatigue. But the Pump's are a peaky mess. It took me a while to figure out why one guitar note was so much louder than another. And why every once in a why Taylor Swift's voice would gain and lose it's sparkle from word to word. I've come to the conclusion that there are multiple resonances and anti-resonances within the housing that result in this awkwardness. It isn't colored or unbalanced here, it is just wrong. It is something that you could miss, but when you notice it (and you will), and you will hate it as much as I do. Which is a lot. I hate it a lot.
 
Soundstage
Average for a good earbud. Some width, no height, little depth.
 
Isolation
Awful.
 
Conclusion Time
So basically Pump Audio made a killer driver with a ton of awesome bass and nice highs and mids too (in that order). Then they hacked together a housing and cable with little regard for basic sound principles and/or for the laws of design. Then they slapped a price tag on it and it simply cannot compete with anything near it's price range given the bad design, cheap feel, and messed up treble. I see these in-ears pop up on deals sites quite a bit and they sell for about $100 on there. Still not worth it.
 
Basically it's a prototype. A darn good prototype, but it is not ready for mass market. It cannot compete with in the already oversaturated IEM market and it needs to be revisited and revised. It won't be hard. Make it look like a finished product, add a better cable, dampen the inside of the housing and you've got a fantastic IEM. And I mean that sincerely. This could be the kingpin of basshead IEMs, but it isn't. Every time I use them I think the same thing. If they spent another 1-3 months on this, this prototype could be a killer IEM. But they didn't. And it isn't. Do not buy this, I'd recommend Beats before these because at least the newer ones are well built.




Edit: They broke. After months of gentle use they worked fine. I gave them to my brother, who used them over his Beats Urbeats (if that says anything). He says he pulled them out of his pocket and they were broken, right at the Y-split. No drops, no yanks, nothing. I don't doubt it. The housing just slid together, that means any tension was put directly onto the soldered joints.

Introduction
I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about the PM-2. They are Oppo’s second attempt at making waves in the upper-tier headphone market, but seemingly to no avail. I’ve personally never seen these headphones being praised on the forum and at first listen, I could see why. After further listening, I realized that most Head-Fi’ers have been looking at these headphones all wrong and I’ll tell you why. I encourage you to read my full review with an open mind, but if nothing else, the answer to my teaser can be found in the conclusion.
 

 
Disclaimer
I am in no way affiliated with Oppo. Nor am I am being compensated in any way for my review. I received the PM-2 through the loaner program for trial purposes. Special thanks to Jiffy Squid and all of Oppo for providing me the opportunity to demo these headphones.
The opinions offered in the following review are my own. As always, your ears may differ from mine.
All pictures in this review were taken by myself and are owned by me. Please contact me if you wish to use them.
 
Testing Rigs
All testing was done with CD Quality, 16/44.1khz FLAC files
Oneplus One
HA-Info U2 Plus USB DAC/Amp (Basically half O2+ODAC and half Fiio E09K)
Asus Xonar Essence STX ⇒ Kasso YJ-01 (Basically a better Schiit Vali)
Oppo Ha-1
Gaming Rig: PS4 ⇒ Optical Out ⇒ Astro Mixamp 2013 Edition
 
Packaging & Accesories

What's In The Box?
The headphones come in well-constructed cardboard box, mostly a matte silver, with thin, shiny streaks running both vertically and horizontally at seemingly random intervals. It looks nice, it feels nice. Inside this nice box you have the headphone case, with the headphones inside of it. A short (1.1m) cable with 3.5mm termination as well as a 3m, thicker, nicer cable terminated with a ¼ in jack. Oppo also includes a Velcro cable wrapper. A nice touch.
 
Case
The case they include is nice and has a fashion forward design. Definitely a break from the traditional, all-leather-everything styling that we are used to. It is made of selvedge denim, which means it is very durable and, unlike leather, requires no care. The inside of the case in fully felt lined and is minimally padded all the way around. That said, I have kept the headphones in the case, crammed the bunch in my backpack, and proceeded as usual. (That means I threw my backpack around onto tables and into the back seat of my car.) The headphones and case remained completely unscathed.
 

 
That said the case is not perfect. The handle at the top is kind of a joke. It is barely wide enough for me to fit my average sized hand into, and it is uncomfortable to do so. Also, the inside of the case contains a felt flap that is supposed to sit between the cups during storage. It has a hard plastic inside that acts as a support beam to protect the headphones from downward force on the case. However, it looks tacky and is not as smoothly integrated as everything else about these headphones. Perhaps I’m just nitpicking.
 
Cables
The cables all use OFC copper wire and the terminations are all gold plated. The headphones use 2.5mm mono connectors in dual entry to get the sound to the cups. This method is among my favorite on headphones because it is tidy, sturdy, and easy to connect and disconnect. The 3.5mm jack on the included short cable is hands down the best I’ve ever used. It is gorgeous, tiny, and feels super premium due to it being all metal. That same style of connector is used on 2.5mm mono terminations on the ¼ in cable. And they are just as sexy.
 

 
Unfortunately, on the 3.5mm cable, Oppo opts for rubber coated connectors on the 2.5mm plugs that don’t look fabulous. On top of that, the only way to differentiate left from right on the connectors is from the embossed letters that are difficult to see in most lighting. That isn’t the worst part, in fact, the short, 3.5mm cable is the worst I’ve ever used. I hate it. It is stupidly thin, has tons of memory, and coils itself relentlessly, despite my best efforts. I honestly prefer the cable on the Apple Earpods, or just anything else.
 
Thankfully, the other cable that Oppo includes is fantastic. The ¼ in plug is big, sturdy, and sexy. The rubberized strain relief blends into the both the connector and cable and looks very professional. The cable runs the majority of its length in a flat and fabric sleeved style that both looks pretty and keeps it tangle proof. Just before the last foot of the cable, we have a fancy metal Y-split that leads us to a good thickness rubber coated wire that is flexible and lightweight. With both cables I experienced no microphonics and minimal cable noise.
 
Build Quality / Design

Home. Freaking. Run. Honestly, Oppo knocked this absolutely out of the park. Not only do they look gorgeous, but they feel even better. The faux-leather headband is supple, plush, and sturdy. I honestly thought it was real leather until I did some research. The size adjustment mechanism is fantastic, it feels smooth and has strong, positive clicks. The adjustment goes from child sized to insanely large. These will fit anyone. Even with the ear cups fully extended, there are no visible indentations in the metal band, resulting in a sleek look.
Moving a little down the headphone now, we have the hard plastic pivoting mechanism. The cups rotate almost 180°, almost (more on that later). This allows them to be placed flat on the table, in the case, or comfortably around your neck. The rotation is butter smooth with just enough resistance so they don’t feel like they are flopping around in your hand. They just kind of fall into place no matter where you put them.
 
Sure everything about these headphones is premium, but Oppo really blows it out of the water with the fine details. It’s the little things. The pivoting mechanism does not move a full half turn, rather, it stops maybe a degree or two shy. At first, I thought this was a flaw. Now I realize their reason for this. When the headphones are placed on the table with the left cup on the left, they lay flat. When you flip the cups all the way around and lay them down again, this time with the right cup on the left, they don’t lay flat. They almost do, but they clearly do not. This makes it very easy to keep the cups in the correct orientation, while still allowing comfortable neckability and an option for flat storage.
 
Just below that pivoting mechanism, we will find yet another fine detail by Oppo. The left cup has a small nub on this portion of the gimbal. You wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t looking for it, but this allows you to find which cup is the left one by feel alone. Yet another nice touch. There is another small nub at the bottom of the gimbal where the cable connects to the left cup. Making it easy to identify the left cup when plugging in the cable. I thought that this was a little gimmicky at first, but I started using both of these nubs on a daily basis the day that I discovered them.
 
Everything mentioned thus far on the headphones is a gorgeous bean blasted or gray anodized aluminum. The grills, however, are black metal and allow for minimum airflow. They look nice, but we’ll see later if this affects the sound at all (it does). The cups are a sturdy, matte black plastic (probably ABS). While this is plastic, it is not cheap plastic, and the headphones still feel ultra-premium.
 
Pads / Comfort
These headphones are very comfortable for me. The aforementioned adjustment mechanism is perfect. The pivot mechanism allows for even pressure around my ears. The headband provides what is, in my opinion, an ideal amount of clamping force. The headphones do not move at all with normal head movement, and manage to stay on with some moderate head banging. I’d say they clamp a bit more than average. That said, I have a prominent jawbone and wear glasses but never once had an issue with the PM-2’s clamping force causing jaw pain or headaches, even after a seven hour listening session.
 
I had the privilege of trying both the stock pleather pads of the PM-2, as well as the velour and lambskin ear-pads. All of the pads have more or less the same plushness. The pads are squishy, yet springy. I originally thought that the pads were made out of awesome memory foam, but turns out the padding is actually latex. Something about longevity and hypoallergenic. All I know is, they are damn comfy!
 

 
The pleather pads use the same amazing pleather that Oppo uses on the headband. These pads were very comfortable and I only started sweating after about 3-4 hours of listening. I found these pads to have more energy in the upper midrange than the others while also rolling off the lowest bass notes.
 
The lambskin leather pads are something to behold. The air holes on the sides are larger than on the pleathers, and it is a tad ugly, but the lambskin is more supple and smooth than the pleather. I could see some folks preferring this, but I did not. I found that, while more comfortable on the head initially, the lambskin pads made my ears and head perspire after only 20 minutes of listening. But they are just so supple. I also found them to tone down the lower treble a bit versus the pleather pads.
 
With the velour pads, the comfort on my skin is great. While the material is not the softest velour I’ve used, it is far from the worst. I normally dislike velour pads due to them harshening up the treble and decreasing the bass presence in my opinion. But I actually found them to be less bright than the pleather pads and have better bass extension. They were a touch brighter than the lambskin pads, but easily my favorite of the bunch for both comfort and sound.
 
The pad swapping mechanism is the easiest and most intuitive that I’ve ever seen or used on a headphone. They are held in place but four plastic pegs on the pads that fit into four rubber holes on the cups. A quick pull and the pads pop off, a push on the surface of the pad, and they pop back into place. All told, I can swap both pads in under 15 seconds. It is that easy.
 
Now onto the bad. The ear cutouts on the pads are on the small side and a bit shallow. I find them to be insanely comfortable, but if your ears are large or stick out from your head a good amount, you might have comfort issues.
 
The last thing I want to touch on for comfort is weight. The PM-2 is a planar magnetic headphone. It is constructed of mostly metal. They have some heft. They are light for a planar, but still a touch heavy. I didn’t find the weight to be a big comfort issue. The headband is padded with the same previously mentioned latex stuff and it is comfy. I found no hot spots causing discomfort on my head. But my weak neck did suffer after about three hours of use.
 
Sound
Finally! The sound is – definitely not for everyone. It is good. But…
 
Bass
The bass is good. It is clean, it is fast, it is very transparent. While being able to go very deep, there is definitely an emphasis on the upper bass / lower midrange. I wouldn’t say it is rolled off, but the bass has a “fun” tilt to it without being boomy or muddy. On Hans Zimmer’s Why So Serious, every nuance of the other frequencies is preserved even when that glorious sub-bass rolls in. The bass, while good, is not very technical. Often, I find on audiophile-grade headphones, the low notes in electronic music sound unnatural or awkward. The lower frequencies of the PM-2 are quite accurate and quick, but definitely forgiving. For everything from Skrillex’s Remix of Levels by Avicii to the live version of Hotel California by The Eagles, the low notes sound very natural and lifelike. That said, I do personally prefer a more linear extension down low than that of the PM-2, but to each their own.
 
Midrange
The PM-2 is a mids-focused headphone to my ears. The midrange is full and lush. So lush that it might turn some listeners off. However, I almost never found the mids to be thick or syrupy.  While the upper midrange is a bit aggressive, the mids remain very intimate and well-articulated. Both male and female vocalists usually sound fantastic. Listening to Taylor Swift, Journey, and Meat Loaf on the PM-2’s is a wonderful experience. Every nuance of the singer’s emotion can be felt through these headphones. Stringed instruments come through with such clarity and life to them. In 2Cello’s rendition of Thunderstruck, I can hear the bows rubbing against each individual rivet in the strings. In Illumination by Globus, I can hear the sound of the strings hitting the fingerboards as the musicians slap their instruments. Pianos sound nothing short of fantastic. In Night Forest, Beshevli uses the slider on the piano to create a sort of background percussion. This is subtly heard through most headphones, but the PM-2 delivers those sounds without removing any intimacy from the lush piano melodies.
Unfortunately, the mids on the PM-2 are not perfect. Some tracks like Styx’s Blue Collar Man and Augustana’s Boston come through just a bit tinny when the singers really start belting it out. Adele’s Someone Like You sounds a tad off, almost nasaly. I can’t quite put my finger on why this is happening, but on some tracks, very few, the mids sound the slightest bit unnatural. That said, I’ve heard nothing short of perfect with every stringed instrument I’ve listened to: from fiddle to upright bass to guitar. That said, every once in a blue moon, a singer sounded a little tinny or thick for a small part of a song.
 
Treble
Everything I’ve said about Oppo’s latest thus far has been very positive. Unfortunately, the treble is the hamartia of the PM-2, its one fatal flaw. While I personally don’t mind the treble presentation of the PM-2, many people will not enjoy it at all. The lower portions of the treble and upper-midrange sound fine. There is nothing special about them. They sound good and clear, while still managing to be a bit unnatural and not the smoothest thing in the world.  To keep things simple, the rest of the highs are completely rolled off. It’s not that they don’t extend well, rather, they are almost absent. The highs are very recessed and sound quite congested. Lifelike hi-hats on Aerosmith’s Love In An Elevator? Not a chance. Nice cymbal overtones on Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire? Nope. How about the cymbals having some nice shimmer in tracks from metalcore bands like Bring Me the Horizon? Not even close.
To clarify, you can hear the cymbals. The lower treble and upper midrange is responsible for those sounds. But the rest of the treble is in charge of the overtones. Without overtones, these instruments don’t sound good. The treble is something I could forgive if this was a closed back headphone, but the PM-2 is not. Most every open back headphone I’ve heard has beautiful airy highs that make for very lifelike sound. I love this nice open sound and the PM-2 does not have that. Instead, the recession of the high frequencies makes this headphone sound very closed in and hurts the imaging of certain instruments. While I don’t like this, I can tolerate it given how great the midrange and bass sounds.
 
Soundstage
I am not a great judge of soundstage, but I know many of you are curious, so I will try my best. The PM-2’s soundstage is quite good. Not massive, but I still had those moments where I would turn my head because I thought someone snuck up behind me, just to find out that it was the music. The sound does not sound in my head, but it sounds around my head. Nothing sounds above or below me, but I do feel surrounded in sound. It definitely does not sound like a planar headphone in this regard.
When gaming, I found the soundstage to be great. Playing The Last of Us: Remastered Edition, the zombies sounded particularly eerie and I could hear their location accurately using the PM-2. When exploring Kyrat in Far Cry 4, the environment sounded realistic and I often heard wild animals long before I saw them. I found the soundstage to be better for side to side positioning than for up and down. I did twice take off the PM-2 because I thought the game audio was coming from my surround sound, but it was just the headphones.
 
Summary on Sound
During my trial period, I allowed a few of my friends to briefly demo this headphone. One of my friends is an audiophile and Head-Fi’er. He did not like the sound of the PM-2 one bit due to the recessed treble and slightly colored sound signature. However, another friend of mine who is not an audiophile, but appreciates fancy sound systems in cars, gave the headphones what was “the highest praise he could possibly give” by exclaiming, “Holy Schiit! Those sound damn screwing good!”
In conclusion, if you like a slightly colored sound, or if you don’t mind a recessed treble, then you will love the sound of the PM-2’s. If you like very lush mids and solid bass performance, then you’ll like the PM-2’s. If you love hearing the overtones, the shimmer of cymbals, and a nice airy treble. Run.
 
Amping
Here is where I tell you why everyone is looking at the PM-2 all wrong. I often see people comparing the PM-2 to the LCD-2 from Audeze. They hook both of them up to an expensive, all-tube amplifier and compare. The LCD-2 wins according to almost everything I’ve seen. But this is not where the PM-2 is given a chance to shine. I had the privilege of trying out the PM-2 with the Oppo Ha-1, my friends Kasso Yj-01, as well as my own Ha-Info U2 Plus. And much to my surprise, the PM-2 hardly sounds different. Sure, the detail retrieval improves marginally moving up through the amplifiers, but it is about as much of a sound difference as pads are on most headphones. I’m not knocking the Oppo Ha-1, I’m sure it is a great amp. But the PM-2 just does not scale well with great amps. Even without an amp, the PM-2 does remarkably well. Sure, hooked up to an amp it sounds all around better. The bass goes deeper and everything became much clearer and more lifelike. But if I owned the PM-2, I probably wouldn’t spend money on a portable amplifier to use these while walking around. They sound that good without an amp.
 
I am not recommending that you listen to these headphones un-amped. But don’t expect a dramatic jump in sound quality moving from a $200 rig to a $2,000 rig when using the PM-2.
 

(This is the DAC/Amp that I used for a good chunk of my tests.)
 
Final Conclusion
This is a fantastic headphone. All around, I really do enjoy it. It is the best built headphone that I’ve ever seen, touched, or felt. The attention to fine details is remarkable and the headphone looks gorgeous. The accessories are good for the most part. And personally, I absolutely love the sound of the PM-2, minus the congested highs.
 
It is unfair to compare the PM-2 to other headphones by price alone, since it hardly benefits from quality amping. Instead, I find it more appropriate to compare by rig price. I honestly find my Ha-Info U2 Plus DAC/Amp to be enough for the PM-2. Bringing the cost of the rig that I’ve been primarily using to $773. I’ve racked my brain for other rigs that I’ve heard to compare it to at this price point, but I have only heard rigs far more or less expensive. Let me tell you, the PM-2 sounds more expensive.
 
As another side note. I find that the PM-2 competes heavily with the Beyerdynamic T90, just with vastly different sound signatures. Lush mids or bright and airy highs? I also find the bass to be faster on the PM-2.
 
And that’s it. The PM-2 should be the go to headphone for anyone who wants a sub-$1,000 rig with a laid back treble. There is a lot to like about the PM-2, but in the end, if you don’t like the sound signature that I have described, don’t buy the PM-2. If you like laid back highs, or don’t mind them, then seriously consider the PM-2.
 

I made this review a long time ago, before I knew a lot about audio. I have removed the bulk of the text to avoid misleading anyone. In short summary, these are good. Decently well balanced, boosted bass, polite treble. A good all-rounder and very durable. Everything I could say has been said.

An old review before I knew a lot about audio. I stand by this short opinion that I wrote many years ago...
 
These are my Mom's headphone, she uses speakers mostly but these are her travel set. They are decent but you can get better headphones for cheaper.

Old review. I have deleted the text to avoid both embarrassing myself and misleading others. I stand by what I said in the Pro/Con section.

I love these headphones as they are among the best I have heard (noob right?). I would compare these headphones to sound the same as Beats by Dre Pro Headphones with slightly less emphasis on the bass. Now they have great quality overall but more bass oriented. I found the bass to have good transparency until I listened to more modern music which i found it to be slightly over powering.
Amp is completely unnecessary.