OVER-PERFORMING, OVER-ACHIEVING Headphones/IEMs for their price range. Top cost effective cans/IEMS - Page 2

portapro anyone? 

I like mid-forward IEMs. Listed IEMs are the ones I have in my collection.

Cheap: Brainwavz M2.

Up to 200 USD: Hifiman RE262, Radius DDM.

Neutral/Bright.

Cheapish: Hisound audio Crystal.

Up to 150 USD: Brainwavz B2/ FA DBA-02, Vsonic GR07.

All best bang for buck IEMs can compete with higher priced IEMs, that's why they are bang for the buck!

Koss KSC75s modded onto a headband, and with quarter-mod on its pads, are freakishly good. IMO more balanced-sounding and with better timbre than most headphones under $400.

Relative to headphones costing under $400 that I've recently auditioned or own, I prefer its sound over Audio Technica M50, Hifiman HE300, AKG Q701, YUIN G2A, Grado Sr60i, in no particular order. The only two headphones under $400 I've heard or own so far that trump these modded KSC75s are LFF's Paradox T50RP, and Hifiman HE400. Even then I really think these are more musical.

The clamping and proper seal induced by the headband does something with the KSC75's sound that is major and accidentally fantastic, bass is suddenly at a perfect level, mids become silky smooth, liquid, and almost perfectly neutral and clean as hell, treble gets tamed 2 notches but still retains a slight zing that makes acoustics and instruments pop. Theoretical headphones with this particular sound but with higher resolution and better extension, and tighter bass with a fuller body, would be perfect...pretty much akin to LCD3's sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 


Think you got a winner there... Which "higher teir", more expensive phone would u put them up against?

Hard to say. I don't own them, but had a few minutes to listen to them a while ago (S:Flo2 playing FLAC via Line-out into iBasso D2+ into Portapro). I was really impressed with the Portapro, but didn't really have a chance to compare it to anything other than my AKG K702... And that's still a *tiny* bit out of the Portapros' league... :)

I can't believe someone is suggesting a heavily modded headphone with new cables, headband, damping and other changes to "get freinds or family to purchase to gain interest in the world of better sound".  People want easy, not DIY.

I would say the Philips Downtown. Just bought them today at COMEX  (an IT fair held in Singapore annually), and got it really cheap (they were on sale), at 69 SGD (Usual price 109.90SGD), which is about 50USD. 

They are a really great set of headphones IMO, they have really good isolation and sound quality for the price, definitely the best you can get in this price-range IMO. Tight bass, beautiful mids, and inoffensive highs. Sibilance is non-existent,build-quality is amazing,and they definitely look stunning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 


Well sir, now that is an intriguing statement. I just might have to rustle me up a pair to play around with.

Yeah, I was surprised too. I've had my KSC75s for years now, never realized its true potential until I've actually gone quite a ways through this hobby, auditioning and buying lots of great (and not so great) headphones. The particular headband Ive clicked the KSC75s into at the moment is a Portapro headband that my friend gave to me when his portapro driver broke, it has the identical driver-securing mechanism as the KSC75 clips do. And the quarter mod is just cutting quarter-sized holes I cut out in the foam. Do NOT use other types of pleather pads, they actually offset the balanced nature of the sound a lot; the stock foam is the best.

I really think Koss could use the KSC75 drivers, make em into Grado-style on-ear sealed headband headphones, sell em for $200, and people will dig the sound a lot. Kind of what the "StratoKOSSer" is (on the full-sized headphones forum). The dangling earclip design just kills the potential of these little guys completely, what a shame.

Incorrect Price Braket:

Koss KSC75

JVC FX40  <--- yes, please give them a try.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moosecraft 


Do you use any other mods on them?
Kramer, ohm adaptor or recable?

Nope. I actually did Kramer mod on a pair long ago, but really all it does is bring out the treble more, which is unnecessary since the headband clamp + quarter mod already gets the treble to a balanced level compared to the rest of the spectrum.

I don't bother with more complex mods like what you mention there, and that's sort of against the spirit of this particular thread anyway. Like sfoclt mentions a few posts above, heavy labor/cost-intensive DIYing is a whole different story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moosecraft 


Ok thx
Gonna order a pair or the ksc 75 and put on my never used porta pros which i find too muddy and see how i like it

The PortaPros driver is not nearly as high fidelity and balanced as the KSC75s on the same headband, zero competition here.

Although I like the PortaPros pad a bit more, it's softer. So you could definitely try quartermodding those pads, transplanting them onto the KSC75s which are transplanted onto the headband.

Grabbed an unused set on eBay for just over $30 and really like them although I haven't trialed the rest of the XBA range, a bit light on the bass, which reviewers say is improved on the XBA-2 but I use a FiiO E7/Bass Boost and nicely fills in the lower end and opens up the soundstage on the XBA-1.

I also had a set of JVC HA-FX1X and would recommend them as an excellent low cost Bass-lover set of buds, there's even a fan page on Head-Fi and they can be grabbed up for cheap if you can find a set still on the shelves, just make sure you burn them in, they are disappointing out of the box, but really come alive after 50+ hours of burn-in.