JVC "flats" HA S150 BN headphones, another low end price review. - Page 7

This is a bump, but hey...

First, sorry for originally making this in the full size forum. 

I'm happy to report that I still use my first pair of the flats that I got 3 years ago. They still work. Also, even though I made some noise about using the BOSE pads on them, I went back to using the stock pads. Mine are so old that they've become rather comfortable, and they are still in great shape. No flaking. The headphones are holding up amazingly. They still sound as good as they did, although my more experienced ears notice some of their shortcomings more now (mostly I find them to be a bit "boomy" sounding). That said, they still sound great. 

I was curious; has anyone heard the newest versions of them? Do they sound different now from what my original version would sound like? I was just wondering, because I had one of the first versions of the JVC marshmallow's, and then I got a new pair, and the two are different. The newer version wasn't as loud or as clear sounding. 

Yeah, I did see it. But I'm just curious if they are pretty much the same headphones or are they a little different. How loud do the 160s get unamped? 

And yes they are super efficient. They get loud insanely easy. 

I went and got a newer pair of the Flats as a backup. 

My newer ones are actually a little different. Smaller, somewhat softer ear pads, a very slightly smaller shell and the color is shinier. I got the black ones. 

The sound is almost the same, but I did notice a difference between the new ones and my old original models. The newer ones had clearer mids. I noticed that the original ones have a more recessed/buried sounding mid range. Things like acoustic guitar in the mix of a chili peppers song that can be hard to hear were more clear with my new Flats. The bass on the older ones is also a bit boomier. 

Otherwise they sound the same. The frequency range between the two of them is different. The old ones had one rated at 12-23,000, the new ones go up to 24,000. The SPL is also different, the old ones being 105 db, the new ones 103. 

The new ones are still insanely easy to drive and get stupidly loud. 

I have come up with a modification that is really easy, pretty reversible (although you might end up with bits of pleather on the plastic housing!), and does something rather amazing with these headphones.

Anyway, get some stock PX 200 pads. You all you have to do is of course take off the stock Flats pads, and put some super glue on the bottom of the PX 200 pads, and then put them on the speaker housing, centered of course right over the speaker opening. If you want to reverse it, all you have to do is pull the pads off, which, as I said, may result in some pleather remainder, but won't damage these headphones at all or hurt the sound should you wish to reverse the mod.

The benefits: The comfort level is raised a lot. I mean A LOT. The PX 200 pads are very nice.

The other one is that the sound quality actually seems to benefit quite a bit from the added seal. The bass becomes tighter and fuller, the mid range sound more dynamic. Metallica or Mozart, it just seemed to come to life more with the mod. The one thing I disliked about the flats is that it always seemed to be a bit dull sounding. The intensity is just way more now.

The one flaw is that I did noticed that the sound seemed to become slightly boomier with the mod, but it's not so bad as to take away from the added dynamic they now have. I did notice that it effects vocals more, with voices seeming to become slightly less sharp. However, the bass and mid range really, really benefit. Overall clarity is still excellent.

Here's a couple of pics.