So many derivatives of the same phones.
Today I took delivery of a pair of Lindy HF-100 from 'the bay' at an offer price of £30 including postage.
To be fair, I spent days searching for a match for my Fiio X3ii and was struggling.
My Sennheiser HD449's for semi portable listening (I can't sit with my laptop on my knee with the outboard
spinning HD any more - argh) are well, ok but. I can't use the Porta Pros I need no leakage.
The Sennheisers are 'nice' but bass light and a very treble gentle pair of phones and don't cut it with my genre or the
drive I need. Rock, classic and metal.
I spent an afternoon in my local Currys with my friend from the sales floor. We went through every pair of
'cans' from their £40 Sony to £300 whatevers and his view was the same as mine - crap, all crap. Muddled, lacking, no
definition. His comment was I was looking for £600+ sound at 50p price at which point I did point out
I was from Yorkshire! As a former owner of a HiFi shop, he did understand my plight!
At home I have a resurected my NAD 20E's with new ear cups as I found the unit drives a pair of Stax SR 44's (remember those?)
I bought 'as new' from a French village boot fair for 5 Euro's. Oh, those and for the 'pod' my old faithful Koss PortaPro
But our UK pension budgets are small and I have to remember societies demands that I have even shorter Yorkshire arms and
very deep pockets virtually reaching to my ankles.
So the reviews here of the Lindy's (and derivatives) came as more than interesting reviews and they were at a very tempting price
at £74 new and even more so at £30 buy it now postage paid, especially as they are only a few weeks old.
Initial assessment - thankfully they are nicely run in (old fart advice - never buy new HiFi - you get fed up, disappointed before the edge wears off
and ultra-fi can be bought for Amazon prices as fashions change).
Back to the plot, the Lindy's (et al)
They are really very very comfortable
They are very engaging
Their sound is in no way 'brittle' as some report not a hint of edge as some report - maybe I am lucky.
The treble is extended and full, in no way overbearing or intrusive.
Mids are detailed and smooth with a warmth that sucks you in making me drift away, not Sennheiser soft
and vocals are on a personal level, YOU are being entertained by the singer.
Bass is deep, detailed and organised. I find no flabbiness or over bearing mind numbing toneless thump.
Imaging, I find it quite superb, instruments are well separated in space floating in and out of their mixed
partnerships but clearly descernible in depth position and detail.
I used Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasure Dome and Lou Reed Transformer
for initial tests the former has dynamics and detail that are often too much for weaker systems in WAV.
Try; Black Night White Light, on all those Currys 'portable' phones the high treble on this track was a pain,
a muddled pain to say the least. The Lindy's didn't display the sonic limit breakup anticipated from earlier reports and
the static 'click' reported on the album cover isn't smothered by the ensemble (as it is with many systems).
In the same way I always ask, can you hear the girls walk as they 'advance' to the mike in Walk on the Wild Side?
Can you hear the fingering of the double bass and the the sound of the bass string oscillating against the body of the instrument?
Well, you can with the Lindy's. Even in MP3
I've been Dazed and Confused for many years but not any more, the bass isn't overpowering nor distorted, it
contains the depth and intended gain recorded into the track MP4 didn't weaken the enjoyment - wow.
One thing that did amaze me was I changed the pads for the shorter version supplied in the box and the
treble did become harsher and more overbearing, not enough to cause me to criticise them out of hand
but enough for me to change the pads back and think - nope, not again.
Value. Well, having played with expensive phones (to me) up to £300 a pair and considering they are to be
used for isolated listening with my Fiio, wow, at £74 what a bargain. At £30 and run in - winner. Flac, WAV, MP3
MP4a, lossless nope, ALL are enjoyable. And I can't recall when I have been able to say that about ANY phones
I have plugged in.
Occasionally a piece of kit emerges that is simply beyond the sum of it's parts and cost base. It does
happen that true hi-fi can emerge from the most unanticipated sources.
Winner. Hi-Fi for £30 Christmas can come twice!