ESMOOTH - Gorgeous headphones... - Page 6

Yes, but this time YOU wear the tutu...

I just got a reply from GD Audio, they will ship to the UK for $20 which is very reasonable. I assume it will be the same for parts of EU though don't quote me. I am gonna sell my E7 and poss bight the bullet on these bad boys?

Quote:

Originally Posted by az2123 

Hm... KSC75 are $15... wooden esmooth enclosure is $25... is anything else thinking what I'm thinking? :P

 

if you are thinking KSC75 drivers in closed cups, think again.

Ok, so for what its worth to those who may be interested -

My review of the ES881EB's:

Preview:

Good: Pretty, real wood, comfortable.

Not so good: Sound just ok, can get sweaty.

Closed headphones.

Compared to following phones I have on hand:

Senn HD410 SL (at least 1000 years old, but work perfectly and in regular use for late night TV!)

Modified Fostex T50 rp with Beyerdynamic DT-250  earpads.

Sources:

Asus Xonar Essence STX Soundcard, via headphone out. (Wave and FLAC Files stored on the hard drive, via Foobar) 

Cambridge Azur CD/DVD player via Azur 540 R Amp headphone output (CDs, SACDs)

NAD L56/76 Combo headphone out (CDs, DTS DVDs)

(Tried iPhone line out via FiiO E5 - 'orrible!

And Sansa Clip? - even worse.)

Music listened to:

Various modern and classic Rock

Various Classical music 

How they look?

See the pics; the wood is lovely (picks up fingerprints though) and the frame is rubbarised metal, looks ok, nothing special.

A nice touch is the wood on the plugs of the detachable 2m cord.

The sound:

At first I was very disappointed, very little bass or treble, and unclear mids.

Listened via my (usually quite good) Sound Card - I nearly threw them away.

Burned them in a bit, not too much difference.

Opened them and added sound deadening material, felt pads, and wool fibre.

Definite improvement.

After some  experimenting, the best sound I got was from the Cambridge system I have in the bedroom, listening to SACDs via the headphone out.

They don't sound too bad now. Quite clean and clear, not a lot of bass, about the same as the old Senns, less deep bass than the Fostex mods. A little bright in the upper mids, slightly rolled off treble. Buty they are quite "musical" and in my opinion the wood makes stringed instruments sound...nice.

At usd 45 I would say they were worth it (although for that price here you can get Goldring DR150 and they are better - but much more expensive in the States!) BUT the shipping makes them a bad bargain, IMO.

I am listening to Pink Floyd with them right now..."Another Brick in the Wall pt 2 from "Is there anybody out there", - wonderful stuff.

Sounds good.

Third movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D  also sounds great.

Okay - here is a "once-in-a-lifetime offer":

Unfortunately only if you live in the EU (due to postal costs and customs issues) -

Anyone else who would like to listen to these can PM me, I will post to them, if they will post them back.

Applies to both the 881's and the 610's...

Pics:

somehow the plastic doesnt match the nice wooden cups.

and it actually has a detachable cord, that is a plus. thanks for the impressions

Ive been trying to contact Esmooth for about 2 weeks now, but no success. Ive tried the emails on their trading sites, the email on their website and even an attempt at calling them, i dont know how they could just disappear like that. Does anybody know what is happening? has anybody been able to contact them since the beginning of april? 

Same, very nice guy actually, likes to say LOL and cheers alot though, hope he is legit :P

I think they are legit, just a bit of a language issue. I have hopes for them, and every time I listen to my 881's they sound better, hope I didn't judge them too harshly. I have never believed that burn-in can change bad headphones to good ones, but these have improved a LOT! They don't go very deep or high, but what they do is starting to sound really good, and musical.

Great news, where did you manage to find Stevens email just out of curiosity?

I just placed an order for:

x1 ES-820BB
X1 ES-820EB
X1 ES-880EB
X1 ES-610BB

X1 ES-220MP
X1 ES-220LC
X1 ES-220GS-1
X1 ES220EB
X1 ES-881EB

Just awaiting the final invoice before payment, A little concerning that he quoted me 3-10 dollars cheaper on alot of items that you stated though.

But a big bonus is they are certified and meet CE and BSI standards. Thanks for your review by the way, it saved me alot of time. ill upload some pictures when they arrive (if they do).

Hi, that's a LOT of headphones! Have fun.

I am also a bit surprised that he gave you a discount, but then, you are ordering a lot of stuff - bulk discount?

I got his email address when he answered a message I had sent to Xylose, after Xylose had left the company.

He gave me these details:

Esmooth Acoustic Technology .Co.Ltd
Add: Xin He District,WanJiang Town,DongGuan City,GuangDong, China
Tel: +86(769) 2217 7188  22181576 ext.811   Fax: +86(769) 2218 1575
Mobile: +86-13717404695
E-mail: steven@esmooth.cn
Website : www.woodheadphones.com
Esmooth wood headphones, just enjoy it !!

Ah ok that sounds safe enough for me then.

Yeah its quite a big order! ill have to pawn them off to some friends 

Also im not to sure it was discount, the price list he sent me seemed to state that samples were $10+, then 1000 units were at a lower price and so on. I guess they're prices just went down? He also stated that sample orders (lower than 1000) had to display the esmooth logo which im fine with, but i have noticed a few of your headphones are blank.

Maybe the guy you were dealing with got fired for not doing his job right :)

Aha!

You want to PM me a copy of the (new) price list?

The logo just wiped off with a damp cloth!

Okay, so I'll be ordering the ES881CW, ES881EB, ES880EB, ES828, ES820RS, ES821CW, ES620EB, and ES610 in a few months. Anyone happen to wanna buy off what I don't want for the price of them + a fraction of shipping? I'll be comparing the different sonic characters of the wood.