Pioneer SE MJ31

First off, looking at the packaging, it's not all that. It promises a range of 8 Hz - 25K Hz and frankly, it's kinda much of an over specification. Even if you can feel down to 3Hz minimum, it doesn't even practically apply to any sound besides binaural sound waves. But it is a good advertisement for what it is aiming for, bass heads. I got myself a red pair along with the HDJ 500 I currently use. Given that it was a promo item, I was thinking, maybe it's not selling that well. So I decided to burn it in and see for myself why no one would want a pair (cause frankly, even among my peers, some people don't even know Pioneer made cans like these).

Note: I didn't get the LOOP one, just an ordinary SE-MJ31, I don't know the difference so yeah... :v

THE LOOK
 
Okay, first, basic concepts of headphones. Must have a headband, must have two cups to contain drivers, must have a cable to direct the audio signal, must work. These are all necessary implements of any good headphones that I can definitely say these pair of headphones have. When I first unboxed them and got a proper hold of them, the first thing that got to me was how light it was. "Hmm, maybe the drivers are really just 30mm." I was wrong (to be discussed in 'THE SOUND'). Another thing that caught my eye was the lack of padding on the headband. It's a small compromise of comfort but what would you expect from something <$50.  The cable is also something I  took a note on. Very thing cables sprout to the drivers, the Y design cable the sprouts of (1.2 m length) to a straight 3.5mm jack. Again, <$50. They could've done better though.

So it wasn't looking very much like a good value pair from the get go.
but.....

THE SOUND
 
I burnt them in for a good 30 hours with the usual wave tests from a basic home setup. I put them on and went with the genre runs from my mobile. First off, metalcore (with its grungy chugs and wide range of vocals). I was stunned, right there and then. The crispness of the highs and the defined mids just got to me. The bass though was a constant reminder for what these were originally meant for, bass heads. It wasn't that punchy but it also wasn't just a back ground fade like I've come to know from some disappointing cans. 
 
Going through the different genres in my playlist, the same was the result. Surprisingly good audio (but then again this is Pioneer we are talking about so it's not all too surprising) for the price point. These pair of cans have one of the more toned mids of any cans I got, like ever, even compared to its cousin the HDJ 500 which is known for having the one of the most equal ranges of any "DJ Monitoring Cans".

THE CONCLUSION
 
These pair of headphones, summed up in one statement, satisfyingly nerve tingling.
The design is not that good to be honest, the main use of plastic and the leather on urethane ear pads wasn't much of a good impression when looking at them. But the sound just makes you forget about the design. Although you don't get professional audio quality (no, this is nowhere near to proper studio cans) the sound is just something you can gawk at. The design of the casing of the drivers may have something to do with that, but the drivers (32 ohms, can you believe it?) are just great. 

At the sacrifice of comfort, which is not really much but since it's on-ear and has a plastic headband, you get a good pair of cans.

I can recommend this for anyone on the go, anyone who  doesn't mind the discomfort of the plastic rubbing their hair/scalp and the fast heating qualities of leather. 

I got tempted to purchase a pair of these after reading the reviews here and seeing these cans appear on a bargain site (Catchoftheday.com.au). They perform well, but I prefer the sound of my ATH-M50's, but for the money they are a huge step up from anything else I have used in this price bracket.

I was in Japan and was looking at headphones to buy. I had a cheap budget of about 4000 yen or circa $40. I bought this headphone because it was on sale for $30 and was very good looking. It was also labled as a bass heavy headphone which attracted me at the time. 
 
At first I did not like this headphone because the bass was too muddy and I could barely hear the highs. However, as I broke in to these headphones, it turned out to be a more neutral headphone. I was surprised at the sound stage because normally on-ear headphones don't have good sound stage compared to over-the-ear headphones. The build quality seems to be good. Even though it is made mainly of plastic, it survived 1 year of rough use. 
 
The two things that I dislike about this headphone is the comfort and the isolation. The pads are fine for shorter use of the headphone but it gets uncomfortable after wearing for 30 minutes (it might be only me because I have elf ears). The isolation could be better. I cannot stand listening to this headphone in a bus because I have to raise the volume high which distorts the sound. 
 
In the future I would plan to do a more sophisticated review of this headphone but I don't have the time right now.

I bought these for portable everyday use, and I can't say enough good things about them. They are perfect. The sound is amazing. I have Beyerdynamic DT770's and these sound like small versions of those. These have very punchy bass and nice mid and treble, with beautiful sound stage. All of this coming out of a small headphone. All the specs are good, and I couldn't believe these were 32ohm. Awesome!
They are "on ear" but they nearly cover my ears, which is great. I didn't want really small on ear phones.
The cord is really short, which is great. No more having to deal with million foot long cords bunched into my pocket all day.
They fold DJ-style, which is beautiful. When around my neck I can fold them in this way (flip the earcups so they are facing out) and I don't even know they are there.
They are SO light. So light in fact that I don't really feel them while I wear them, but after a couple hours I may adjust them on my head as I may feel the headband a bit, as it doesn't have padding. But this is really no big deal. I thought to put 3M foam strip adhesive padding under the haedband, but really they are so light there is no need. Other regular full sive DJ headphones (even my Beyers) hurt the top of my head ALLOT more.
Build quality looks beautiful. These don't look like the leather earcups will be coming apart anytime soon, if ever.
If you are looking for headphones to wear all day, look cool, and actually sound as good as $300+ headphones, these are for you.