Goldring DR150 High Fidelity Stereo Headphones

This will be a short review. Over all I Love the Goldring DR 150. It´s a pair of comfortable, good sounding headphones and relatively cheap. I used thees headphones every day for about 2 years and was never dissatisfied with them. But! they have one big minus I have to mention, they broke after 2 years, the left speaker broke off and hanged by the cord inside. So, good phones for 2 years.

Ok so it is 2017 and I'm late to the party but I just got this headphone from Singapore Jaben because it seems they were clearing their stock. I got this for a whooping $34.90 SGD!! When I looked at the price I knew I had to get one for myself!!
Anyways moving on the review, I'll try to be as detailed and easy to understand as I can, sooo bear with me on this
 
 
Build Quality: Everything is made of plastic. The headband is plastic, the earcups are all plastic. Except for the open-back portion of the headphone. its made of metal. But however because its all plastic, it is EXTREMELY light. Also the headphones are not built extremely solid and tight. When I twist the headphones, they make a squeaky sound sooo I suggest to treat it nicely if you were to buy one.
 
Comfort: These headphones have velour earpads and headband rest so it is rather comfortable. Clamping force is slightly tight but because it is around ear style it doesn't bother me that much. You will always feel that is one your head, it doesn't disappear from your head due to the clamping force. But after hours of use, it might get uncomfortable just because of the clamping force.
 
Bass: Bass is really enjoyable. Bass extends quite deep and it is has adequate amounts of it. In my opinion it's a perfect amount of above average deep bass that doesn't mix with other frequencies of the song. Mid bass is tight and doesn't cover the high hats of my songs when they are clashed together. The Bass is correct in almost all aspects of a headphone IMO.
 
Mids/Vocals: The vocals are just amazing! This is first time I realized that on different songs, the vocals are positioned differently. Sometimes the singers are forward and at times in the center. Vocals are clear, you can hear each nuance of their voice. Voices don't have any signs of sibilance even when played at loud volumes. 
 
Highs: Now comes the tricky/weird part of this headphone that makes it (unique?) or lacking compared to others. I feel it is averagely extended which is why it doesn't give the airy soundstage. But the soundstage is still likable to most consumers I believe. It's as if they are playing in a studio sized room.(A middle balance between airy and congested). Moving on to the weird part, high hats sound crisp and not overwhelming. However coming to strumming guitars and piano, they don't sound crisp especially guitars. The strumming of the strings just don't have that "ting" sensation. Also high hats and everything else same as the vocals, dont have any sibilance. However they sound slightly bright, just slightly. That alone explains how smooth the highs are with the roll off rate being very likable.
 
Overall: The sound leans towards more of a balanced signature. IMO it really is a good strike of balance between lows, mid and highs. The DR150 has done it right. It literally will suit any genre you throw at it. A more detailed impression between the balanced signature would be that vocals are louder than the bass and highs. To me the bass and highs are really almost the same loudness. 
 
Summary: So what do you get when you buy this headphone? In short, a VERY enjoyable balanced sound signature with no sibilance, a chunky 3m detachable cable and below average construction. What you really get for when buying this is just for its sound and really nothing else. For the price of 34.90 SGD,it is hands down one of the best in the sub 50 range. However at 100 USD, I feel it is just as good as its' other competitors but there will definitely be a better package then the DR150.(Especially due to the construction) For 100USD I would give it 4 stars. However for the price I paid for, definite 5 star.
 
Thanks for reading this review and if you found it helpful, I'm glad that I have helped you in some way or another

A very good bang for the buck. Kind of jack of all trade headphone.
 
The bass is meaty, thick, with good details. It reach deep, punchy but could a little loose at time.
 
Mid is middle place: not as in your face as grado, but not that laid back either. Actually the mid (and vocal) is kind of interesting, it could sounded up-front when the vocal on the recording did, but when the vocal is laid-back, it will sounded laid back. A chameleon indeed!
 
Treble is kind of bright and peaky at first, but it goes away as it burned. No, I'm not dreaming or get used to the treble. I got a fully burned ATH SJ33, for comparison, when not burned in, the DR150 is brighter than the Sj33, but now, my SJ33 is brighter. See? I got other bright headphone for comparison.
 
Detail is very good, lot of micro-detail and nuances which not present from SJ33, but DR150 is revealing them all. Quite revealing, junk music record will sounded like junk, and vice-versa. All the details revealed make DR150 sounded rich and warm, compared to SJ33 which sounded leaned and cleaned and brighter.
 
It's sounded warm compared to my SJ33, with warm lustful mid and vocals. Soundstage is not very wide but the dept is pretty good, at least compared to my SJ33 which although rather wide but very flat, almost no dept to it.
 
Much airy than my closed SJ33, which is understandable. Not as airy as MS1i, but with enough breath to it. And sounded more natural, my SJ33 sounded artificial and boxy compared to it.
 
My gripe is the construction: its all plastic, the only metal I can see is the mesh, I'm little afraid about the headband, as far as I can see the headband is all plastic!. The pad is velvet which very plus and comfortable. Much more comfortable than my SJ33. I just wish the clamping force could lessened further. My SJ33 is much lighter both in weight and clamp.
 
Before picking DR150 I was listened and comparing it to both Shure SH440 and Alessandro MS1i, and I think DR150 is win on term of soundstage, layering, bass, and warm voice, which I liked.

ps: I paid them about USD 80 after discount, it usually priced about USD 110 on my country.

edit: If you think the treble got harsh sometimes, or feeling the high rather plasticky, you should try open the cup, someone who is not very creative use a lot of plastic tape to hold the black cloth on the mesh. By 'lot' I means like let's-use-lots-of-plastic-tape-to-hold-the-cloth-so-its-practically-covered-in-plastic-tape. Just ripped all those plastic tape, and you will get less plasticky and weird harsh sound on the high.
You could access the bolts holding the cup from inside the pads. Don't bother to remove the pads, just press them gently to the side and you will see the bolts.

Sound
The overall signature strikes me as balanced, however the mids are slightly forward, and it is slightly warm. The detail and sound stage on these headphones are well above their price range. The tone is not quite laid-back, nor is it aggressive, so you are still able to lively enjoy your music, while not being fatigued after long listening sessions. This headphone, while rated at 32ohms, does require a fair amount of juice to run at its fullest. It pairs very nicely with desktop tube amps, however it can still be run on portable players.

Design
The pads are velour, the cable is detachable, the backs are open, cups are circumaural, and the houses are pivoting. As a home headphone, it hits all of the buzz words! The design makes it practical, good value and comfortable!
 
Summary
The DR150 is an extremely good value headphone! Often companies that aren't "house brands" fall into the background, and their great products aren't tried by the majority of the market. Whathifi gave these headphones, as well as the DR50 and DR100 5/5 stars, and I would definitely agree with them! These headphones are at a very low price point, yet it competes with top-notch headphones like the DT880! The DT880 is another open-backed headphone with a fairly balanced sound signature, and for a fraction of the price... This is an amazing deal! Go to a headphone store near you to demo these! It's a must!

 

I've had DR100's for years now and I bought an ASUS Essence ST Sound Card for my PC, which is HI-FI quality and thought I'd get better phones. So I trawled around the online sites here in the UK and wondered if Goldring still made them and lo and behold they do and better than that I was able to get a pair of DR150's for £30 ($47) delivered.
These were over a £100 years ago when they first came out and they had good reviews then but I couldn't afford them.
My god they are brilliant, they are as good as the Sennheiser HD414's that I used to have when I was younger. There is no sibilance, they are as clear as a bell, not the deepest bass ever but accurate.
Maybe they are as cheap in the States now, if they are buy a pair, you'll be amazed!

Hi there. I'm a new member of this site and I want to share my thoughts regarding the Goldring DR-150 headphone. I bought the headphone for $116 and I can say that it is worth every penny. The headphone has a very refined sound, clear mids and highs and has a rather punchy bass which is good for pop and instrumental music. The only problem I see with it is that it is sort of fragile but I know this won't be a problem for careful audiophiles out there. These aside, I highly recommend buying it.

The build is quite fragile and not feeling the joints as secure, sound wise, use some aftermarket cable will help, as the stock cable it just doesnt sound right