Hi headfiers!
Well, this is my first review about any audio gear that I've ever done. Sorry for my bad english in advance (I'm from Argentina)
First and foremost, I don't consider myself an audiophile by anymeans (and probably I don't have the right words to describe technical stuff about HP), but I do appreciate good quality sound.
I've been like a year and half ago trying to find a good pair of IEMS and/or headphones to suit my musical taste and needs. My first pair of "good quality" iems were the Shure SE215 after one day that I tried these in my friends house, and I found a new world in SQ above any other crap that I tested before (I use these for workout mostly now) Till this days I used (and still do) a pair of Sennheiser "Game Zero" for gaming and music (paired with a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro) and I found these quite good in that time. After some time using the SE215's I knew that I wanted some closed Over-ear HP with this kind of SQ. I did one of the worst mistakes... I started looking on amazon for good bluetooth HP with "good" bass (I liked the idea of bluetooth, mics, controls, etc.) and I stumbled upon the Sony MDR-XB950BT, so I saw a lot of good reviews and then I bought these. At first I was like "wow amazing bass, so cool! I have controls, nfc, bluetooth, mic... My EDM and DnB music sound so good! These are amazing!"... but then after a couple of days I started to listen to other kind of music and I was like "voices are muffled, hihats and zimbals sound so far, bass is bloated... so weird", so after that I went back to my SE215's (wich I stopped using when I got the Sony's) and I was like "What did I miss! these little mother ****ers sound way better than my big ass Sony's". So I kept the Shure's and sold the Sony's.
All this was the ticket to join to headfi and start looking for a good portable On-ear HP (I wanted some low profile HP after the "so big" Sony's that I had). My budget was like u$s200, so digging on the forum I found the Beyers T51p... and seeing a lot of good reviews I was going after these. The problem was that living in Argentina and trying to get these, the cost was too high (like u$s330 with shipping). Saddly, I stopped my quest. And then a couple of days after this, I found an offer on the Sennheiser store in my country with the Amperior's at u$s168. I knew, at that time, a little about how good the HD25's were. So after some research and with the help of a headfier (thanks analog'd!!!) I decided to go with the Amperior's. I'm glad I did it!
So... after that long and boring intro I'll try to be more precise
Quality 4.5/5:
At first these didn't impress me really. The plastic headband and adjustment mechanism didn't seemed to last, but after using these like 3hs a day for almost 3 months prove that these can last for ever, and even if something breaks it can be replaced. With time I realized that the quality of the plastic parts are great. The aluminium on the cups looks good and it is very sturddy. Literally I throw them in my backpack without a case and I forget about them (these are always like prestine conditions). Padding on the cups and the headband are good, with some kind of breathtable texture wich I find comfy. The headband can split wich is good if you need more area of support. The left cup can rotate to use these as a monitoring HP (I don't really use this feature but it is good to have it) These HP have detachable cable wich is a must, BUT the detachable part use a fat 20cm long cable wich goes into the drivers and then goes to a male 3,5mm jack wich then you can use with the cables that Sennheiser provides, this is really odd and sometimes bothers me (most HP have one or two female jacks on the cups, wich is more comfortable). Anyway, both cables that comes with the HP are good, one of them has mic and iphone controls... saddly I use android, but for "pause" and "volume adjustment" it works just good and that is all I need.
Comfort 3.5/5:
The Amperiors have a tight fit but are light, so these are comfy for me for my daily use. At first I had some trouble getting a good fit but after some days I found the best way to use them. Maybe some people with small heads (I'm not one) may find these more comfy and easy to use than I do. The padding on the earpads are good, but it would be much better with even more padding (these have small earpads) One thing that bothers me the most is the fat cable (like I mentioned in the "quality" section) wich I feel when I walk due to the movement. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but I'm trying to be as picky as I can be in my review. I find these HP comfy enough to use for 2hs or 3hs like I do, but I won't recommend it using these for extended periods of time (the clamping force may be too much), since I use these mostly for my commute I don't care that much about comfort for extended periods of time. The Sony's that I had (MDR-XB950BT) were more comfortable, but it is not a good comparision since one is on-ear and the other an ovear-ear HP.
Sound 4.5/5:
First and foremost I use the Amperior with my Xduoo X2 mostly and sometimes with my cellphone. I usually prefer my DAP since it has better built in dac/amp than my phone, and these are very easy to drive (only 16ohms impedance and also quite sensitives too) Actually the Amperior + Xduoo X2 are an amazing portable duo. Taking into account that these are on ear actually it has great noise isolation. Also I can't compare these against my se215 or my ex XB950BT because I think that the senns are in another league (way better) in terms of sound quality, and I know that when these were realesed it cost u$s350, so it is not a fair comparision.
Lows: The first things that comes to my mind to describe the bass is precise and fast (punchy). It won't have that rumble bass I got used before (the HP are not suitable for bass heads) but I came into the conclusion that I prefer a pricise representation instead of a "headshacking" bloated bass. The bass start/attack and finish fast (tight), it has more mid-bass than sub-bass. You can actually feel the "kick". I will describe these with accentuated mid-bass. Also the lows don't interfere into the mids, you can pin point where it beggins and where it ends.
Mids: The holy grail of mids! These have foward and lively mids. Voices (male and females) and guitars are well represented. Since these have forwad mids, I wouldn't recommend them for someone who looks for a relaxed or veiled sound. It may be fatiguing for some, but for me are great since I prefer a "fun" HP. If someone looks for portable headphone with amazing mids I will recommend these without a question. The funny thing for me is that with this headphone I learned that I "enjoy" mids more than bass, and I thought that I was a "basshead" (I was wrong), now I can't bear a muddy/bloated headphone.
Highs: The highs are a little bit sibilant to my ears (this got better after geting used to), but it has lot of detail wich I love, there is subtle details wich I never heard on some songs (micro details). It is precise and detailed, but I think that it's rolled off in some part. I can't describe it with FR beacuase I don't know that much, but I think that the treble is accentuated in some point but at the end of the FR it is rolled off. Don't get me wrong, these have great highs, and actually it is better than any other HP that I tried, but I think that the highs are the weakest points regarded to SQ.
Soundstage: Like I said before, It won't be fair to compare it agaisnt the XB950BT, but if I must, the Amperior is like day and night. For a closed back headphone, actually it has great soundstage, it won't blow your mind and actually it is a narrow soundstage, but in some form you can pin point instruments (separation), it has more sense of width than up and down, but you can pick details in the distance. Quite remarkable for closed HP.
Conclusion:
I will buy these again in a heartbeat since it covers quite nicely my needs, it's portable, quite durable, not that expensive nowadays, amazing sound, easy to drive, and I don't have to be worried to break something since I can change almost any part easily. So if someone looks for a portable closed headphone with punchy bass, amazing mids (forward) and detailed highs I would recommend these for sure.
Now I understand why after 30 years of it release date, the HD25 and their variants still rock till this days. The Ampeior follow this tradition perfectly.
PD: I know that these are discontinued but you can still find them in some places...
Well, this is my first review about any audio gear that I've ever done. Sorry for my bad english in advance (I'm from Argentina)
First and foremost, I don't consider myself an audiophile by anymeans (and probably I don't have the right words to describe technical stuff about HP), but I do appreciate good quality sound.
I've been like a year and half ago trying to find a good pair of IEMS and/or headphones to suit my musical taste and needs. My first pair of "good quality" iems were the Shure SE215 after one day that I tried these in my friends house, and I found a new world in SQ above any other crap that I tested before (I use these for workout mostly now) Till this days I used (and still do) a pair of Sennheiser "Game Zero" for gaming and music (paired with a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro) and I found these quite good in that time. After some time using the SE215's I knew that I wanted some closed Over-ear HP with this kind of SQ. I did one of the worst mistakes... I started looking on amazon for good bluetooth HP with "good" bass (I liked the idea of bluetooth, mics, controls, etc.) and I stumbled upon the Sony MDR-XB950BT, so I saw a lot of good reviews and then I bought these. At first I was like "wow amazing bass, so cool! I have controls, nfc, bluetooth, mic... My EDM and DnB music sound so good! These are amazing!"... but then after a couple of days I started to listen to other kind of music and I was like "voices are muffled, hihats and zimbals sound so far, bass is bloated... so weird", so after that I went back to my SE215's (wich I stopped using when I got the Sony's) and I was like "What did I miss! these little mother ****ers sound way better than my big ass Sony's". So I kept the Shure's and sold the Sony's.
All this was the ticket to join to headfi and start looking for a good portable On-ear HP (I wanted some low profile HP after the "so big" Sony's that I had). My budget was like u$s200, so digging on the forum I found the Beyers T51p... and seeing a lot of good reviews I was going after these. The problem was that living in Argentina and trying to get these, the cost was too high (like u$s330 with shipping). Saddly, I stopped my quest. And then a couple of days after this, I found an offer on the Sennheiser store in my country with the Amperior's at u$s168. I knew, at that time, a little about how good the HD25's were. So after some research and with the help of a headfier (thanks analog'd!!!) I decided to go with the Amperior's. I'm glad I did it!
So... after that long and boring intro I'll try to be more precise
Quality 4.5/5:
At first these didn't impress me really. The plastic headband and adjustment mechanism didn't seemed to last, but after using these like 3hs a day for almost 3 months prove that these can last for ever, and even if something breaks it can be replaced. With time I realized that the quality of the plastic parts are great. The aluminium on the cups looks good and it is very sturddy. Literally I throw them in my backpack without a case and I forget about them (these are always like prestine conditions). Padding on the cups and the headband are good, with some kind of breathtable texture wich I find comfy. The headband can split wich is good if you need more area of support. The left cup can rotate to use these as a monitoring HP (I don't really use this feature but it is good to have it) These HP have detachable cable wich is a must, BUT the detachable part use a fat 20cm long cable wich goes into the drivers and then goes to a male 3,5mm jack wich then you can use with the cables that Sennheiser provides, this is really odd and sometimes bothers me (most HP have one or two female jacks on the cups, wich is more comfortable). Anyway, both cables that comes with the HP are good, one of them has mic and iphone controls... saddly I use android, but for "pause" and "volume adjustment" it works just good and that is all I need.
Comfort 3.5/5:
The Amperiors have a tight fit but are light, so these are comfy for me for my daily use. At first I had some trouble getting a good fit but after some days I found the best way to use them. Maybe some people with small heads (I'm not one) may find these more comfy and easy to use than I do. The padding on the earpads are good, but it would be much better with even more padding (these have small earpads) One thing that bothers me the most is the fat cable (like I mentioned in the "quality" section) wich I feel when I walk due to the movement. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but I'm trying to be as picky as I can be in my review. I find these HP comfy enough to use for 2hs or 3hs like I do, but I won't recommend it using these for extended periods of time (the clamping force may be too much), since I use these mostly for my commute I don't care that much about comfort for extended periods of time. The Sony's that I had (MDR-XB950BT) were more comfortable, but it is not a good comparision since one is on-ear and the other an ovear-ear HP.
Sound 4.5/5:
First and foremost I use the Amperior with my Xduoo X2 mostly and sometimes with my cellphone. I usually prefer my DAP since it has better built in dac/amp than my phone, and these are very easy to drive (only 16ohms impedance and also quite sensitives too) Actually the Amperior + Xduoo X2 are an amazing portable duo. Taking into account that these are on ear actually it has great noise isolation. Also I can't compare these against my se215 or my ex XB950BT because I think that the senns are in another league (way better) in terms of sound quality, and I know that when these were realesed it cost u$s350, so it is not a fair comparision.
Lows: The first things that comes to my mind to describe the bass is precise and fast (punchy). It won't have that rumble bass I got used before (the HP are not suitable for bass heads) but I came into the conclusion that I prefer a pricise representation instead of a "headshacking" bloated bass. The bass start/attack and finish fast (tight), it has more mid-bass than sub-bass. You can actually feel the "kick". I will describe these with accentuated mid-bass. Also the lows don't interfere into the mids, you can pin point where it beggins and where it ends.
Mids: The holy grail of mids! These have foward and lively mids. Voices (male and females) and guitars are well represented. Since these have forwad mids, I wouldn't recommend them for someone who looks for a relaxed or veiled sound. It may be fatiguing for some, but for me are great since I prefer a "fun" HP. If someone looks for portable headphone with amazing mids I will recommend these without a question. The funny thing for me is that with this headphone I learned that I "enjoy" mids more than bass, and I thought that I was a "basshead" (I was wrong), now I can't bear a muddy/bloated headphone.
Highs: The highs are a little bit sibilant to my ears (this got better after geting used to), but it has lot of detail wich I love, there is subtle details wich I never heard on some songs (micro details). It is precise and detailed, but I think that it's rolled off in some part. I can't describe it with FR beacuase I don't know that much, but I think that the treble is accentuated in some point but at the end of the FR it is rolled off. Don't get me wrong, these have great highs, and actually it is better than any other HP that I tried, but I think that the highs are the weakest points regarded to SQ.
Soundstage: Like I said before, It won't be fair to compare it agaisnt the XB950BT, but if I must, the Amperior is like day and night. For a closed back headphone, actually it has great soundstage, it won't blow your mind and actually it is a narrow soundstage, but in some form you can pin point instruments (separation), it has more sense of width than up and down, but you can pick details in the distance. Quite remarkable for closed HP.
Conclusion:
I will buy these again in a heartbeat since it covers quite nicely my needs, it's portable, quite durable, not that expensive nowadays, amazing sound, easy to drive, and I don't have to be worried to break something since I can change almost any part easily. So if someone looks for a portable closed headphone with punchy bass, amazing mids (forward) and detailed highs I would recommend these for sure.
Now I understand why after 30 years of it release date, the HD25 and their variants still rock till this days. The Ampeior follow this tradition perfectly.
PD: I know that these are discontinued but you can still find them in some places...
Believe it or not, the original HD25s had an even faster PRaT. But these sound better overall in other aspects.
And don't worry about the plastic parts. These things can really last. Have an Amperior now but use to own one of the older full plastic ones and those still looked almost like new the day I sold them even without a daily case to carry around etc.