00940
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
- Posts
- 4,493
- Likes
- 47
I bought (new) these two pairs of headphones 2 weeks ago and received them last friday. They have both around 40 hours of burn in now. Time for a short comparative review of two cans - often pushed as "good portable value" - by the real newbie knocking the door each week to find what he should buy.
Sources and amp:
Sony D25s (on wallwart) and panasonic sl-sx410 (on two new AAA alkalin battery) + airhead 9V (on a new battery). I wanted to use the sources the way I would use them in daily life.
Music played for the tests :
- Elgar, Symphony n°1 in A flat, op.55 (Phillips) : Adagio.
- Handel, deidamia (Albany Records) : Overture, Arioso "Ulisse" and Aria "Fenice" (mainly).
- Oasis : Heaten Chemistry, I was a bit more casual on the listening, a bit of each song.
Look, comfort :
Porta pro : the PP is just ... weird. I can't understant why they chose this terrible blue color for some plastic pieces. But after a second look, they have something unusual which could appeal. In term of comfort, they're really great. The "comfortzone" system could however be more reliable, it will "auto-adjust" some times. The cushions are just lightly posed on your ears, really nice. They are collapsable but the way it's done don't provide a shape facilitating the transport in a bag. It is also hard to let them around your neck. They seem durable and have an outstanding warranty btw.
HD497 : when I opened the box, I just thought "Merde, I payed 45$ for this thing in plastic". It went worse when I tried them the first time, they were really at the opposite of what I would call a comfy pair of cans (and the music wasn't what I expected either). After a few days of common life, I've a really different point of view. Once I had the ideal position, the were in fact comfortable (I put them like this : back/top of the ear just 1mm out, the bottom of the ear in). They don't worth the PP even I can now easily forget them on my head. They're also too big to be worn in street (according to my taste).
Leak/isolation:
There is no real difference here. I was in a same time pleased and a bit deceived. They leak really few. With a quiet level of listening, nobody will hear you, even in a peaceful environment (such a library). And it is a nice thing given the fact they're both completly useless in a noisy place. In street, you would have to turn the sound too loud.
Sound
1. on the panasonic pcdp :
Porta pro. I tried them with airhead on line out and directly out of the jack. No real difference. I just had some problem of sound level with Elgar, but is only because the music on the cd is at really, really low level (I must listen at level 3 with the D25s to get a sound I would find at 1 with other cds). I didn't notice a real improvement with the airhead. Slightly more detailled in the basses perhaps, it doesn't worth to take the airhead all the time.
Most reviews agree on the fact that an amp isn't needed for the HD497. Perhaps. Surprisingly, the hd497 sounds at least as louder than the porta pro and prove so it's easy to drive if you just care about volume. But the sound directly out of the jack isn't so impressive once you have tasted the same cans on a d25s. It seems that the details flew away. With the airhead and the line out, it's a bit better.
2. on the D25s:
Here is the kingdom of the HD497. I let aside the airhead, it doesn't improve anything. I found now the bass on the PP far more present, perhaps a bit too much. When the HD497 keep the sound faithfull in the bass, I perceived with the PP a light deformation, it is a bit louder but it's not pure anymore. It's not a real problem (for me) when it's just drums but when it happens with the lowest part of a man's voice, it's really disturbing. On each piece, the HD497 is really nicely detailled when the PP seems to apply something like a (really slight) smoothing to everything. Woman's voice and violins of Handel's opera sounds without any doubt far better with the HD497. The PP also sounds like ... headphones. The music stays in your head. With the HD497, I begin to see what a good can could be, the sound is just coming from the outside, singers respond to each other during the recitatives.
Everything is said then ? No. Most of my critics until here were based on classical music; but I also really like the rock of Oasis and for those who never heard something else than Wonderwall, you must know they often use some weird sounds, distorted instruments. The HD497 is then too detailled for me, it's really hard to listen it as I would in background, it catchs my attention too much. For the classical music, I would never hesitate a second between the twos but if I just want to have nice music while doing other things, I would consider the PP. To be true, the Porta Pro just stays all the time on the pana and the hd497 on the d25s.
It's a bit strange to write but my winner is perhaps the one I would the more easily get rid of. The HD497 are too big, too detailled for the portable usage and there's perhaps something missing to make them a real desk headphone. The PP keeps nicely its ranks and offers me what I expected : nice music and easy listening. The HD497 are at my eyes great to open your eyes : do you want still more or not ? If not, they offer a outstanding value for the street price and could bring you a lot of pleasure. If yes, it is just the first step... Sorry for your wallet.
Sources and amp:
Sony D25s (on wallwart) and panasonic sl-sx410 (on two new AAA alkalin battery) + airhead 9V (on a new battery). I wanted to use the sources the way I would use them in daily life.
Music played for the tests :
- Elgar, Symphony n°1 in A flat, op.55 (Phillips) : Adagio.
- Handel, deidamia (Albany Records) : Overture, Arioso "Ulisse" and Aria "Fenice" (mainly).
- Oasis : Heaten Chemistry, I was a bit more casual on the listening, a bit of each song.
Look, comfort :
Porta pro : the PP is just ... weird. I can't understant why they chose this terrible blue color for some plastic pieces. But after a second look, they have something unusual which could appeal. In term of comfort, they're really great. The "comfortzone" system could however be more reliable, it will "auto-adjust" some times. The cushions are just lightly posed on your ears, really nice. They are collapsable but the way it's done don't provide a shape facilitating the transport in a bag. It is also hard to let them around your neck. They seem durable and have an outstanding warranty btw.
HD497 : when I opened the box, I just thought "Merde, I payed 45$ for this thing in plastic". It went worse when I tried them the first time, they were really at the opposite of what I would call a comfy pair of cans (and the music wasn't what I expected either). After a few days of common life, I've a really different point of view. Once I had the ideal position, the were in fact comfortable (I put them like this : back/top of the ear just 1mm out, the bottom of the ear in). They don't worth the PP even I can now easily forget them on my head. They're also too big to be worn in street (according to my taste).
Leak/isolation:
There is no real difference here. I was in a same time pleased and a bit deceived. They leak really few. With a quiet level of listening, nobody will hear you, even in a peaceful environment (such a library). And it is a nice thing given the fact they're both completly useless in a noisy place. In street, you would have to turn the sound too loud.
Sound
1. on the panasonic pcdp :
Porta pro. I tried them with airhead on line out and directly out of the jack. No real difference. I just had some problem of sound level with Elgar, but is only because the music on the cd is at really, really low level (I must listen at level 3 with the D25s to get a sound I would find at 1 with other cds). I didn't notice a real improvement with the airhead. Slightly more detailled in the basses perhaps, it doesn't worth to take the airhead all the time.
Most reviews agree on the fact that an amp isn't needed for the HD497. Perhaps. Surprisingly, the hd497 sounds at least as louder than the porta pro and prove so it's easy to drive if you just care about volume. But the sound directly out of the jack isn't so impressive once you have tasted the same cans on a d25s. It seems that the details flew away. With the airhead and the line out, it's a bit better.
2. on the D25s:
Here is the kingdom of the HD497. I let aside the airhead, it doesn't improve anything. I found now the bass on the PP far more present, perhaps a bit too much. When the HD497 keep the sound faithfull in the bass, I perceived with the PP a light deformation, it is a bit louder but it's not pure anymore. It's not a real problem (for me) when it's just drums but when it happens with the lowest part of a man's voice, it's really disturbing. On each piece, the HD497 is really nicely detailled when the PP seems to apply something like a (really slight) smoothing to everything. Woman's voice and violins of Handel's opera sounds without any doubt far better with the HD497. The PP also sounds like ... headphones. The music stays in your head. With the HD497, I begin to see what a good can could be, the sound is just coming from the outside, singers respond to each other during the recitatives.
Everything is said then ? No. Most of my critics until here were based on classical music; but I also really like the rock of Oasis and for those who never heard something else than Wonderwall, you must know they often use some weird sounds, distorted instruments. The HD497 is then too detailled for me, it's really hard to listen it as I would in background, it catchs my attention too much. For the classical music, I would never hesitate a second between the twos but if I just want to have nice music while doing other things, I would consider the PP. To be true, the Porta Pro just stays all the time on the pana and the hd497 on the d25s.
It's a bit strange to write but my winner is perhaps the one I would the more easily get rid of. The HD497 are too big, too detailled for the portable usage and there's perhaps something missing to make them a real desk headphone. The PP keeps nicely its ranks and offers me what I expected : nice music and easy listening. The HD497 are at my eyes great to open your eyes : do you want still more or not ? If not, they offer a outstanding value for the street price and could bring you a lot of pleasure. If yes, it is just the first step... Sorry for your wallet.
