Senn MX90vc First Impression + Afterburner

Here is my review on new Senn. MX90vc. It is currently burning in, so i will finish my first impression review, while the after burn in review follow on Sunday (2 day later).

Here is another post related to MX90vc:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ghlight=mx90vc

Price: AU$89.95 in JB HIFI (AUS). (MX450 is around AU$30)

Box and accessories:
MX90vc come in a heavy paper box with magnetic opening, resemble the sytle used in Senn. higher class headphone line. It come with: A pair of haedphone (obviously), foam pads, plastic seal (function like foam pad, 1 already on the headphone), 3 sets (including the one on headphone) of spacer for different ear (outer canel?) size, with one extra spare. headphone container. Like their newer line of headphone, no manual. Everything is printed on the box. Some picture with MX450.



Design:
The headphone has a special holding design called Twist-to-fit system. I have to change my to the small holding size to get a comfortable fit, but it seems to be good enough for long time usage without causing too many problem. It also hold quite well although it will take sometime to get use to. I can see first time user will complaint after a prolong usage, but generally a possitive design.
The volume control is a sliding rod, but tight enough to avoid accidental sliding. Look good and function well, a (+) here. Both the side of the headphone and the volume rod are made out of metal, giving a high class look.
The spliting section of two headphone has a clear logo showing 'MX90", a nice addon.

The headphone container is very well made (4in x 2.5in). A metal logo on the outside with two magnet hold the headphone inside. Look and function expensively.

The line is contructured from a bend-able material. Seems like the line inside is not attached to the outer 'skin' (or very loosely) and so i can bend it (see pic). I dont like this kind of line since it is very hard to twist (or untwist once it form a certain shape), but i do like the fact it can be bend, which means it is more difficult to damage.


The plug is a gold plated 'L' plug, little smaller than normal 'L' plug.
The best part is everything is designed to fit into the case perfectly.


Sound (before burn in):
Before discussing the sound, i want to mention that the headphone has a massive impedance of 64 Ohm, compare to MX450's 16 Ohm. Freq. respond:18–22,000 Hz with SPL of 117dB. What this means is: it is much difficult to drive using normal audio output. It responds slowly when i use the same setting as i use MX450. The volume go down considerably, high/mid/low range is relatively weak. But all hope is not lost, once i plug it in my cmoy2 (gain 3), everything come alive! But that is not all of it, i was able to linkup two amp (pengamp + cmoy2) to get a even more impressive respond. Sound stage is much wider than MX450. High/mid/low range are very well difined (second to none), no muddy anymore. All of all, with the correct driving force, it can perform extremely well.
I rate MX90vc as the second best earbud style headphone i ever used, after B&O A8 which perform as well as MX90VC without the extra need of amp. A8 has a little better bass respond, but cant go as high as MX90vc (since A8 impedance is not as high). This headphone is much better than MX450 and MX500, even CX300. This is the best pair of Senn. i even own (exclude my overheader HD435).

Conclusion:
I highly recommend anyone who already have headphone amp and dont mind to try out new ear fitting to get one!

Pro:
Twist-to-fit system hold very tight.
Stylish and functional volume control
Good material/design used, attention to detail
Great sound

Con:
Twist-to-fit system can be come uncomfortable, require time to adjust.
Amp is a 'must' to get good sound.
Line can get 'mis-shaped'

This review will continue once i finish the 50hrs burn in....

Sound (after 50hrs+ burn in):
In general, the sound characteristic does not change much after burn in, but it does respond better than before (especially when unamp). The sound is wide but respond well in all high/mid/low range when amp, the bass will be slightly flat if unamp. this is as expected because of the high impedance. Since all the new Senn. line are high impedance headphone, my guess is all of them will sound somewhat flat when unamp. Another thing need to mention is the foam pad provided does make it seal better, which improve the bass but slightly mud out the higher range. Personally, i prefer the foam pad. Anyone who is looking for a bass heavy headphone, this is not one of them, but i rather like the balance.

I updated the review, now include some feeling after the 50hrs burn in.

I got mine on sydney, and they also got two other the 'street sytle' one, but i compare all of them and their spec is not very much different from each other. If you can't get it in store, i know where you can get them online (actually cheaper too): http://www.wickeddigital.com.au/home.php?cat=360
or you can call one of the JB store to ask for stock.

First of all, all the new senn. seems to be using the same core speaker, i dont believe they will sound very different from each other. It is more of a marketing technique to create variation of the same product to target different buyer. Proof me wrong if you can, but from all the post here, it seems people with the new senn. headphone all share very similar respond.

Secondly, i dont think you can compare a earbud to either a IEM or full sizer (relatively). IEM will alway have better bass since they are seal in, and full sizer will always have greater respond since they are physically larger. You cant just simply compare three distinctly different things. But if you really want an answer, i can tell you i do prefer MX90vc over CX300, which perform similarly to EP-630. But it is not good enough to replace either my E3c or ER6i, or if you like, Logitech BT headphone or HD435. Nevertheless, i will say MX90vc (and possiblely other new senn.) deserves poeple's recognition in its own class.

If not for Yuin, MX90vc (and the rest of the MX series which used the same transducer) would have received more attention. It is IMO one of the most balance earbud I even heard - very neutral sound with no major shortcoming. The only downside is the fit, which require a bit time to get use to, and that's all.

PK1 is around $150, but you need an amp to drive it well, so it is a $300 minimum investment.