Introduction and Design
I got the Exodus because it was on sale for $49 like new, which is a phenomenal price, and I used them to replace my Brainwavz HM3 as my on-the-go portable. When I received it, the plastic wrappings on the headphone itself hadn't even been broken. I loved the overall look and feel of the headphones before I put them on my head. They felt pretty sturdy, but just from how they look, I wouldn't want to use them as a beater pair of headphones to toss in my bag of anything like that.
Comfort
When I put them on, I immediately noticed the clamping force. I have a pretty small head (the smallest size on most headphones almost fits me well) and I can only imagine how much worse the situation would be for someone with a large head. That said, I can shake my head around and run around and not feel like these guys are leaving my head -- a nice quality for a portable on-the-go pair of headphones. I haven't used them for an extended period of time to see how much they hurt my ears over the long run, but they've treated me nicely for the short durations I've used them.
Sound Quality
Bass:
The bass response is pretty nice on these headphones. I don't typically buy portable headphones, but these extend deeper in the bass than any of my other headphones. My initial listening made me feel like they sounded pretty much linear into the lowest audible bass frequencies. For a portable pair of headphones, that type of deep linearity is pretty rare. I was pretty happy with the bass response, even if it was a tad more emphasized than I would have liked. I wouldn't classify the bass as tight or particularly boomy. There was a bit of a mid-bass hump that showed up a lot with bass drum kicks. The bass isn't particularly articulate as you get down to the lower frequencies.
Mids:
The mids were a pleasant surprise. I actually found them to be clearer than my Denon D2000s, actually. They were not quite as clear as my Fostex T20RP's mids, but I was pleasantly surprised. The clarity in the mids definitely blew out all of my cheaper headphones out of the water (keeping in mind that I bought these at $50). They were nice, lush mids that were part of the very full sound of the headphone.
Highs:
The highs are the main issue with the headphone. They sound like they lack the air that comes from good treble extension. I feel like someone took a chomp out of the upper frequencies and lost all of the sparkle in the highs. Cymbals and such just don't sound like they should, they lack the shimmer that you would hear even on a neutral headphone. Without the highs, the music is just a bit dull. I also noticed that when I equalized to the point where I felt the highs were at a nice point, the headphones became sibilant -- I think there is a little bit of ringing near the upper treble frequencies.
Other Sound Thoughts:
Being a closed on-ear headphone, I expected a pretty mediocre soundstage. It's basically what I got. The soundstage is like an ATH-M50's soundstage -- very narrow. The instrument separation isn't all that great partially as a result of this and also as a result of the somewhat inarticulate bass and the rolled-off upper treble. The headphone by itself when you're just listening without analyzing much sounds quite nice -- the overall tonality of the headphone lends itself to long listening pretty nicely actually. I can't see someone becoming fatigued from the sound signature of these headphones.
Closing Thoughts
At $50, these represented the best value I could get in a portable pair of headphones. They were basically competing against headphones like the Koss DJ 100s in that price bracket, and they did a number on the DJ 100s, in all honesty. The bass response is nicer and they felt more detailed. The vocals are not quite as forward and shouty and feel overall just better put together compared to those Kosses.
That said, when you push them out of that price bracket into the $150 bracket, the sound just doesn't feel like one of those "THIS IS AN AMAZING DEAL" headphones. When I was originally writing this review, I was thinking that they were actually behind the curve for their price, but then I realized that, among the light-weight portable headphones, Among the light-weight headphones which I know of and that I would use on-the-go, they are actually quite nice. I'd easily pick these over a pair of Grados or an AKG K81DJ or a Fischer Audio FA-004. I have not heard the Audio-Technica portables. With that realization, I bump these up to a 4 stars out of 5 for being a nice pick if you want a portable headphone and can find them on a sale.
