Greetings,
This review will be dedicated to another budget friendly headphone from China, the
Takstar HI 2050.
I will divide the review to two parts, one will be dedicated to my impressions of the physical built and the package, and the other one will be devoted to the sound.
Part 1 - Physical
,
The headphones arrive in a big colored carton box. I think it looks good, without being too flashy. The box has tech specs of the headphones, as well as other technical descriptions.
But wait, inside the outer box is another one, made from black carton.
When I first opened it I was really surprised. It looks ... expensive and deluxe. I would never think that the price of the phones is below 50$, judging by how the headphones and the box looks.
Here is the user manual. Unusually it even contains the frequency curve of the headphones, that look surprisingly good.
The grey stuff is some soft fabric, looks like the one used on the earpads.
Some of the stuff that comes with the headphones.
Extension cable? Sure, even looks decent.
And... here they are. The headphones are very light (more on use of metal later). No quality issues were found, they dont squeak or have any loose parts.
The headphones are single-corded. Each earpad is connected with a short cable covered in some sort of fabric that has minimal microphonics.
The earpads are oval shaped, and are circumaural, meaning that they completely cover your ears and don't actually sit on them.
Meaning? Well, the fact that the headphones are light, the headpads are covered in fabric and the headphones are open makes comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. The pressure on the head is moderately light.
The earpads can be easily removed.
The headphones also have a cloth protecting the membrane (and most probably affecting the sound). This one is thinker than the one that is used on the earpads.
I think that the headphones will fit best people with smaller heads. Im minimal extension mode the headphones are really compact, and in the extended they aren't too big. I have a rather big head (XL skiing helmet) and I had to open the headphones to the maximal position, a thing that I never did before with any other headphones.
The "arms" are made from aluminium. They are not too massive, but do not bend or look unreliable.
Here is a picture showing what is actually made from metal in those phones.
Part 2 - Sound, usage
Well, I think the headphones sound really good. I like natural sound, not bright or too dark, with fast bass and without ear-piercing highs.
The HI 2050 are almost perfect to me. They have the right bass, sub bass and don't have a hole in mids like a lot of popular headphones have these days. I'd describe the sound signature as flat, with a slight empasize on high frequencies.
I listened to the headphones with various artists and kinds of music, and really enjoyed the experience. There is a lot of air in the sound, and the musical instruments really sound isolated from each other. Actually it is the first time I enjoyed Metallika's earliest albums.
I used FiiO X3 2nd generation, and it drove those phones with ease on low gain setting. A song I really enjoyed was Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York", as it sounded really clear and transparent.
I tried to listen to the headphones with iPhone 6S. It drove them well, but I had to use 80%-100% of the volume to really enjoy the music.
Regarding comfort - those headphones have plenty of it, you just don't want to put them off, as the almost not felt on the head. The ears almost not being heated inside the cans, because of the earpads material and the fact that the headphones are of the open type. The headpones leak sound (as you might have expected, because they are open).
I think that the Takstars are best for acoustic music, guitars, vocals and will not fit well trance. They do have bass and sub-bass, but they will not make a heavy impact you'd like for that kind of music. Female and male vocals sound very clear, as well as subtle details.
Music that I used for the review (partial list, FLAC's):
Apollo 440, Eminem, Die Antwood,Garbage, Manowar, Magic Affair, Nightwish, Metallika, Madonna.....
Conclusion
The headphones really impressed me. For the price (and much above) I did not hear anything that is comparable. I'd recommend trying those, before buying any other cans.
The
headphones were provided for review by www.gearbest.com
are mids recessed on evo or hi2050? thanks