JohnSample
New Head-Fier
Hello.
This is my first post. I wanted to compile a list of the greatest headphones I have ever used. I no longer own any of them, due to my nature of being a tinkerer. Important to know with this post is these following headphones (aside from the top headphone on this list) are like digging for gold- before finding the equalizer that works for your needs, you are going to listen to a lot of mud. They are in order of when I first used them.
1. Koss KSC75 : It is the gateway into my actual great sound. Many are familiar on the internet about the value these headphones provide. Being a supra-aural semi-open on ear with porous ear cushions, bass is rolled off below 60 hz, but the listener will find a headphone that has balanced mid range and an engaging treble with a focused presentation that in my opinion is not far from the head. The sound leakage is also low in an ambient environment. It sounds great with any streaming service and on many devices I had including desktop computers and smartphones. The size and low price also opens the door to many modding adventures, such as adding an external headband via Parts Express or an ear defender. They also work as donor drivers for vintage headphones or contemporary headphones that sound bad, and even custom enclosures with wood.
Genres: Due to their neutral, they can play any popular music that is not primarily bass oriented. Music like radio country and Thai pop are perfect to emphasize their laid-back nature while also exhibiting the timbre for these genres. The high mids and treble energy also provide these clip ons the energy to play 'pop screamo'.
Without EQ: Great a four star rating
With EQ: Exceptional; use 100 hz Natural Bass boost with ViPER4Android and/or BassWaves impulse response, and there is the bass
2. Bluedio T2S : This was my first Bluetooth headphone. I did not know what to expect when I bought them a few years ago, but I enjoyed putting them on. They had a thick sound with an overemphasized bass response- remarkable for a semi-open headphone. They demonstrate a low-mid hump but boil down to a balanced mids before becoming recessed in the high mids and treble. The raised 10k and above help things a little but this is a congested headphone that, to trained ears, will only sound premium because of the very present bass. For many users, they may have not heard bass prior to buying this headphone. I do not mean high bass, but real deep bass courtesy of the 57 mm driver. They allow an EQ like a Frankenstein, and the low 16 ohm impedance allows a little more headroom for massive bass to shine from these. The speakers pivot with a 195 degree twist not unlike the Beats Pro headphone. The sound stage is enough head width but is not long at all. The on ear pads are quite large so one half of my ear fit in them, and the awkward headband results in a headphone that is comfortable a maximum of ten minutes. In my history of owning these headphones, on my first pair I replaced the pads with the Beats Studio 2.0 pads with the 3m stick on piece, and my second pair I had owned I replaced the pads with the Sony MDR-XB950 pads that are a natural fit and can be removed. If you are curious on how the pads come off, pull up vertically from the inside of the ear pads with your finger and they clip off. The headband will not hold up with time, as it is made of a thin polycarbonate plastic that could snap if stretched out too much. In addition the foam padding will harbor any scent from the top of your head. After two months I took a whiff and it was the most awful thing I ever smelled. Wrapping a plastic bag over the headband will prevent any foul odor from getting into the headband.
Genres: Not the most detailed cans stock. They will work with old music like eighties and contemporary pop, but rock music and acoustic based tracks will need an EQ to shine.
Without EQ: Pretty good a three-and-three-quarter star rating. Their sound is consistent with or without the jack. The bass is there on any smartphone.
With hardware EQ and Poweramp: As I remember if I pressed both volume buttons the EQ would change. There are about five or six equalizer settings ranging, to my ears, settings like a rock EQ with the mids gone, to a jazz EQ with the treble extention slightly enhanced. I will also include Poweramp performance in this section; when paired with an Alcatel Pop Icon phone the bass was dialed in powerful, and the 2k focus can be achieved but is no where near resolving as the settings described below.
With EQ: The word bass becomes redefined when used with a serious EQ. I first discovered the impact these could achieve when plugged into my desktop and using the EQ on foobar2000 and playing the title track of the album "It's Now or Never" by Make Me Famous. I knew then these were the definite headphones for electronicore, an extreme droning musical genre. With XHR DirectBass (Headphone) impulse response and ViPER Bass, it is not bass, but rather death from a double bass pedal. These settings also work for hip-hop and R&B, demonstrated by the sensual track "Makin' Good Love" by Avant that becomes a sub-bass contest. When adjusted for clarity increasing the 2k 4k and 8k bands through the FIRequalizer and using IDP-1000 through the DDC, you have a very flexible headphone which is the definition of musical.
3. Sony MDR-XB450 : For those that want bass (and a durable design language), the Sony MDR-XB450 was the headphone that got me excited again. The headband is durable plastic, and the metallic fascia featuring the Sony logo is just an aluminum sticker. The ear cups are plastic. The cushions are made of a durable protein leather mesh and contain memory foam. These are on ear headphones that pivot a decent amount and the force can get uneven after a while. They could get uncomfortable after a while. I remember these headphones as having a bass that was audible, but not actually too much. With electronic music it was emphasized but really can play rock, pop and country just fine without any hiccups. The mids were present, but something felt rolled off with them, and I was not an expert in ViPER DDC when I used them. If I bought these I would expect the high mids and low treble to have been rolled off with them.
Without EQ: This headphone provides extra bass, but it is a balanced bass not found on the Bluedio, that I remember. They are fairly unexciting.
With EQ: The pads must be placed a little firm on the ear to get the potential bass they will throw out. They have the most seismic bass, which I describe as a bass that is really focused in the ear and can drown out the music. When I used them with Dynamic Bass and Subwoofer ViPER Bass on an HTC Desire 510 they really were hard to handle. If I owned them today, I would lower the mid-bass and high-bass and keep the low bass intact. According to Sony, they produce as low as 5 hz, but to really be that audible the bulk of the mid-bass and high-bass probably should be lowered.
4. Koss UR20 : A year ago I needed a real feeling headphone that had all the pieces and at a low price. This was it. The design is like an astronaut headphone. The ear cushions are the largest I have ever tried, in two dimensions. The ear cushions are not very thick and the use of foam in front of the driver means that Koss intended these to fit over the ear but accommodate the size of the ear. The material is a leather skin on top of a fabric. The headband is made of seatbelt cloth and spring loaded plastic tubes. The drivers are 40mm and when taken apart a large piece of soft cell noise isolating foam can be found directly behind the driver. These headphones are damped right out of the box. With the large size these headphones are expected to be worn for a long time. I had to use the headband on maximum length and could only wear them for about two hours before I gained physical pain on my ear. The fit for me always let in an air gap through the cushion, which hampered the bass response but did smooth the treble peak and sounded more natural. I did not achieve great isolation, and the Koss leaked sound through the ear cushion, the size of the ear opening, the chamber in the back and an air gap in the top of each cup. The sound is even and flat throughout 1.5 khz, although some would describe the low mids and mids as elevated I warmed to the sound of them. The high mids are recessed and the mid treble is raised for some reason, leading to a 10k peak that would rival Sony. These had saw five months of constant use, and while I got used to their signature they greatly improved with the help of an EQ.
With the loss of each headphone on this list, I think the Koss UR20 were the best value. Reading reviews and watching YouTube videos really shown it is not just the sound of Koss, but also the build quality of Koss that is also rewarding. A couple of videos I would recommend are the cushion replacement where the man replacing the piece had used his UR20s for eight years. The other video I recommend is a repair video in Russian, where the user says (in captions) he had used them over thirteen years and repaired them. I mean that will tell you the enjoyment of them.
Genres: These were distant but ringy with any style of music. Remember to listen to them at a lower than loud volume only when first buying. Playing "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden through these really shows the flaw.
Without EQ: The low end is audible, the mid range is decent but the treble is underwhelming and ringy at the same time. It is a headphone that will sound even but thin and leave you wanting for more.
With EQ: When I got my HTC Desire 820, I rooted it and installed Cyanogenmod 12.1, and gave it AINUR Sauron, ViPER4Android and Dolby Atmos. They all worked like a dream. I was less treble sensitive than I am now, so increasing the high mids and treble with Dolby Atmos along with using the IDP-1000 DDC feature they were the highest quality headphones I had ever owned. I did a quick listen with my KSC75 and found they were more resolving than the DSP corrected UR20s, and I thought I got ripped off. Have no fear- increasing the 2k in the FIRequalizer gave the UR20 the resolution of the KSC75 with the walkthrough mids. It was the closest to hi-fi I had ever experienced. These were also able to pump out pounding bass, but only if the cushions are pressed against the ears.
5. Tascam TH-02 : I bought this around the end of the snow last year. After making the case for a lighter headphone I was able to purchase them. I bought them with a set of KORE AVIATION gel pads and put them on, which was terrible; they were too thin and leaked sound more than the regular pads. The stock pads are decent to wear for thirty minutes. A few months later, I was able to buy Tranesca large over ear pads for them made with proper PU leather and fit them on. They became my main headphones. These headphones are recessed in the high mids and low treble, meaning a muffled sound. The increase in the 6k through 8k make these more bearable, but the 10k peak is too much of a good thing; it outweighs the sound signature and reduces the potential of soundstage. I would describe the sound not as rock bottom, but rather a foundation to lay down the DSP correction to make them shine.
Without EQ: Gone is the heavy 4k and treble emphasis of the UR20s- really it is like some one took out all the magic out of the music without the presence bands. One night I streamed music for six hours non-stop at moderate volume with no corrections applied and my joy and hearing were muffled for days. Aside from the 10k peak, they are non fatiguing and sound like a good 128 kbps mp3.
With EQ: This is where the golden IDP-1000 DDC comes in. The music is more in front and has more energy, but even with Dolby Atmos providing the additional boost is not quite up to it. Enter JamesDSP- this is a sound app that can be installed on Android smartphones that are able to get AINUR and Dolby, and can be used with both those mods and ViPER. Applying both IDP-1000 DDCs at the same time gives the clarity boost they have been waiting for. Dolby Atmos adds a little more high mids just to get to that airiness these were missing. In terms of bass, yes these deliver. Using both the Natural 30 hz ViPER Bass and the JamesDSP bass boost with the aptly named Extreme level with 4096 tap bass filter gives these the powerful but clean low bass action. For additional fun, the XHR Direct Bass may be applied in addition to both these settings. The amount of bass these can take up is limited by the sound output of Android. I have a Creative Sound Blaster E1 portable headphone amplifier that I had plugged into the headphone jack and these Tascam headphones, and at low volume the waviness can be experienced. Ta-da.
This was the list of my favorite headphones I used at this point. They are not in my possession anymore but they are all memorable and well built. I miss having them but I do not worry about the future as I may own one of them a second time, or perhaps move up. Such is life. I put this in the recommend forum because I was worried the other forums were more in-depth and I wanted to post my opinion on all these decently made headphones.
This is my first post. I wanted to compile a list of the greatest headphones I have ever used. I no longer own any of them, due to my nature of being a tinkerer. Important to know with this post is these following headphones (aside from the top headphone on this list) are like digging for gold- before finding the equalizer that works for your needs, you are going to listen to a lot of mud. They are in order of when I first used them.
1. Koss KSC75 : It is the gateway into my actual great sound. Many are familiar on the internet about the value these headphones provide. Being a supra-aural semi-open on ear with porous ear cushions, bass is rolled off below 60 hz, but the listener will find a headphone that has balanced mid range and an engaging treble with a focused presentation that in my opinion is not far from the head. The sound leakage is also low in an ambient environment. It sounds great with any streaming service and on many devices I had including desktop computers and smartphones. The size and low price also opens the door to many modding adventures, such as adding an external headband via Parts Express or an ear defender. They also work as donor drivers for vintage headphones or contemporary headphones that sound bad, and even custom enclosures with wood.
Genres: Due to their neutral, they can play any popular music that is not primarily bass oriented. Music like radio country and Thai pop are perfect to emphasize their laid-back nature while also exhibiting the timbre for these genres. The high mids and treble energy also provide these clip ons the energy to play 'pop screamo'.
Without EQ: Great a four star rating
With EQ: Exceptional; use 100 hz Natural Bass boost with ViPER4Android and/or BassWaves impulse response, and there is the bass
2. Bluedio T2S : This was my first Bluetooth headphone. I did not know what to expect when I bought them a few years ago, but I enjoyed putting them on. They had a thick sound with an overemphasized bass response- remarkable for a semi-open headphone. They demonstrate a low-mid hump but boil down to a balanced mids before becoming recessed in the high mids and treble. The raised 10k and above help things a little but this is a congested headphone that, to trained ears, will only sound premium because of the very present bass. For many users, they may have not heard bass prior to buying this headphone. I do not mean high bass, but real deep bass courtesy of the 57 mm driver. They allow an EQ like a Frankenstein, and the low 16 ohm impedance allows a little more headroom for massive bass to shine from these. The speakers pivot with a 195 degree twist not unlike the Beats Pro headphone. The sound stage is enough head width but is not long at all. The on ear pads are quite large so one half of my ear fit in them, and the awkward headband results in a headphone that is comfortable a maximum of ten minutes. In my history of owning these headphones, on my first pair I replaced the pads with the Beats Studio 2.0 pads with the 3m stick on piece, and my second pair I had owned I replaced the pads with the Sony MDR-XB950 pads that are a natural fit and can be removed. If you are curious on how the pads come off, pull up vertically from the inside of the ear pads with your finger and they clip off. The headband will not hold up with time, as it is made of a thin polycarbonate plastic that could snap if stretched out too much. In addition the foam padding will harbor any scent from the top of your head. After two months I took a whiff and it was the most awful thing I ever smelled. Wrapping a plastic bag over the headband will prevent any foul odor from getting into the headband.
Genres: Not the most detailed cans stock. They will work with old music like eighties and contemporary pop, but rock music and acoustic based tracks will need an EQ to shine.
Without EQ: Pretty good a three-and-three-quarter star rating. Their sound is consistent with or without the jack. The bass is there on any smartphone.
With hardware EQ and Poweramp: As I remember if I pressed both volume buttons the EQ would change. There are about five or six equalizer settings ranging, to my ears, settings like a rock EQ with the mids gone, to a jazz EQ with the treble extention slightly enhanced. I will also include Poweramp performance in this section; when paired with an Alcatel Pop Icon phone the bass was dialed in powerful, and the 2k focus can be achieved but is no where near resolving as the settings described below.
With EQ: The word bass becomes redefined when used with a serious EQ. I first discovered the impact these could achieve when plugged into my desktop and using the EQ on foobar2000 and playing the title track of the album "It's Now or Never" by Make Me Famous. I knew then these were the definite headphones for electronicore, an extreme droning musical genre. With XHR DirectBass (Headphone) impulse response and ViPER Bass, it is not bass, but rather death from a double bass pedal. These settings also work for hip-hop and R&B, demonstrated by the sensual track "Makin' Good Love" by Avant that becomes a sub-bass contest. When adjusted for clarity increasing the 2k 4k and 8k bands through the FIRequalizer and using IDP-1000 through the DDC, you have a very flexible headphone which is the definition of musical.
3. Sony MDR-XB450 : For those that want bass (and a durable design language), the Sony MDR-XB450 was the headphone that got me excited again. The headband is durable plastic, and the metallic fascia featuring the Sony logo is just an aluminum sticker. The ear cups are plastic. The cushions are made of a durable protein leather mesh and contain memory foam. These are on ear headphones that pivot a decent amount and the force can get uneven after a while. They could get uncomfortable after a while. I remember these headphones as having a bass that was audible, but not actually too much. With electronic music it was emphasized but really can play rock, pop and country just fine without any hiccups. The mids were present, but something felt rolled off with them, and I was not an expert in ViPER DDC when I used them. If I bought these I would expect the high mids and low treble to have been rolled off with them.
Without EQ: This headphone provides extra bass, but it is a balanced bass not found on the Bluedio, that I remember. They are fairly unexciting.
With EQ: The pads must be placed a little firm on the ear to get the potential bass they will throw out. They have the most seismic bass, which I describe as a bass that is really focused in the ear and can drown out the music. When I used them with Dynamic Bass and Subwoofer ViPER Bass on an HTC Desire 510 they really were hard to handle. If I owned them today, I would lower the mid-bass and high-bass and keep the low bass intact. According to Sony, they produce as low as 5 hz, but to really be that audible the bulk of the mid-bass and high-bass probably should be lowered.
4. Koss UR20 : A year ago I needed a real feeling headphone that had all the pieces and at a low price. This was it. The design is like an astronaut headphone. The ear cushions are the largest I have ever tried, in two dimensions. The ear cushions are not very thick and the use of foam in front of the driver means that Koss intended these to fit over the ear but accommodate the size of the ear. The material is a leather skin on top of a fabric. The headband is made of seatbelt cloth and spring loaded plastic tubes. The drivers are 40mm and when taken apart a large piece of soft cell noise isolating foam can be found directly behind the driver. These headphones are damped right out of the box. With the large size these headphones are expected to be worn for a long time. I had to use the headband on maximum length and could only wear them for about two hours before I gained physical pain on my ear. The fit for me always let in an air gap through the cushion, which hampered the bass response but did smooth the treble peak and sounded more natural. I did not achieve great isolation, and the Koss leaked sound through the ear cushion, the size of the ear opening, the chamber in the back and an air gap in the top of each cup. The sound is even and flat throughout 1.5 khz, although some would describe the low mids and mids as elevated I warmed to the sound of them. The high mids are recessed and the mid treble is raised for some reason, leading to a 10k peak that would rival Sony. These had saw five months of constant use, and while I got used to their signature they greatly improved with the help of an EQ.
With the loss of each headphone on this list, I think the Koss UR20 were the best value. Reading reviews and watching YouTube videos really shown it is not just the sound of Koss, but also the build quality of Koss that is also rewarding. A couple of videos I would recommend are the cushion replacement where the man replacing the piece had used his UR20s for eight years. The other video I recommend is a repair video in Russian, where the user says (in captions) he had used them over thirteen years and repaired them. I mean that will tell you the enjoyment of them.
Genres: These were distant but ringy with any style of music. Remember to listen to them at a lower than loud volume only when first buying. Playing "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden through these really shows the flaw.
Without EQ: The low end is audible, the mid range is decent but the treble is underwhelming and ringy at the same time. It is a headphone that will sound even but thin and leave you wanting for more.
With EQ: When I got my HTC Desire 820, I rooted it and installed Cyanogenmod 12.1, and gave it AINUR Sauron, ViPER4Android and Dolby Atmos. They all worked like a dream. I was less treble sensitive than I am now, so increasing the high mids and treble with Dolby Atmos along with using the IDP-1000 DDC feature they were the highest quality headphones I had ever owned. I did a quick listen with my KSC75 and found they were more resolving than the DSP corrected UR20s, and I thought I got ripped off. Have no fear- increasing the 2k in the FIRequalizer gave the UR20 the resolution of the KSC75 with the walkthrough mids. It was the closest to hi-fi I had ever experienced. These were also able to pump out pounding bass, but only if the cushions are pressed against the ears.
5. Tascam TH-02 : I bought this around the end of the snow last year. After making the case for a lighter headphone I was able to purchase them. I bought them with a set of KORE AVIATION gel pads and put them on, which was terrible; they were too thin and leaked sound more than the regular pads. The stock pads are decent to wear for thirty minutes. A few months later, I was able to buy Tranesca large over ear pads for them made with proper PU leather and fit them on. They became my main headphones. These headphones are recessed in the high mids and low treble, meaning a muffled sound. The increase in the 6k through 8k make these more bearable, but the 10k peak is too much of a good thing; it outweighs the sound signature and reduces the potential of soundstage. I would describe the sound not as rock bottom, but rather a foundation to lay down the DSP correction to make them shine.
Without EQ: Gone is the heavy 4k and treble emphasis of the UR20s- really it is like some one took out all the magic out of the music without the presence bands. One night I streamed music for six hours non-stop at moderate volume with no corrections applied and my joy and hearing were muffled for days. Aside from the 10k peak, they are non fatiguing and sound like a good 128 kbps mp3.
With EQ: This is where the golden IDP-1000 DDC comes in. The music is more in front and has more energy, but even with Dolby Atmos providing the additional boost is not quite up to it. Enter JamesDSP- this is a sound app that can be installed on Android smartphones that are able to get AINUR and Dolby, and can be used with both those mods and ViPER. Applying both IDP-1000 DDCs at the same time gives the clarity boost they have been waiting for. Dolby Atmos adds a little more high mids just to get to that airiness these were missing. In terms of bass, yes these deliver. Using both the Natural 30 hz ViPER Bass and the JamesDSP bass boost with the aptly named Extreme level with 4096 tap bass filter gives these the powerful but clean low bass action. For additional fun, the XHR Direct Bass may be applied in addition to both these settings. The amount of bass these can take up is limited by the sound output of Android. I have a Creative Sound Blaster E1 portable headphone amplifier that I had plugged into the headphone jack and these Tascam headphones, and at low volume the waviness can be experienced. Ta-da.
This was the list of my favorite headphones I used at this point. They are not in my possession anymore but they are all memorable and well built. I miss having them but I do not worry about the future as I may own one of them a second time, or perhaps move up. Such is life. I put this in the recommend forum because I was worried the other forums were more in-depth and I wanted to post my opinion on all these decently made headphones.
