Peicille
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
- Posts
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I’ve had the Takstar PRO82 for about six weeks now. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to listen to them as much as I would have liked to, so I was a bit reluctant to share any impressions without putting some more attention on its performance first.
I can say something now. In short: I like these headphones and for the price I think it’s a real killer; but I also found some quirks (as one would expect from a sub-100€ headphone).
Before going into this brief review, let me state that I am a complete newbie to the audiophile scene. In fact, this is my first “Hi-Fi setup” (so to say), together with a Mojo that I bought in advance—now pairing it with these headphones. In the past, I used to listen to IEMs (mostly Shure), but had no special interest in DACs/AMPs, etc. Perhaps because years ago I tested a DragonFly (old version) and wasn’t impressed by its output whatsoever. Oh!, and recently, before purchasing these PRO82, I also tried the BeoPlay H6 (2nd gen), which to me was an absolute fail sound-wise (too bassy, had to return it).
So I entered into this business with a lot of things to experiment with wrt combinations and their effect on sound quality: from the source (standard streaming rates, to lossless Red Book, to hi-res files), to the different players available (on the MacBook and on the iPad using CCK), to the DAC input connections (optical vs USB), to even the headphones switch (namely, that bass port which allows you to increase the low frequency response in the PRO82). Too much to play with
What do I think (so far) about the sound of the Takstar PRO82?
I believe these headphones are superb in the bass region. They go down to the deep ocean, it’s the first time ever that I was astonished from listening to “Limit to your love” by James Blake, for instance. Same can be said for almost any hip-hop or r&b or electronic song with a strong sub-bass line. In the default configuration (i.e. with the bass port totally closed), the lows are delicious. You can feel that they're always there, and certainly a bit above the mids as you can infer from the FR diagrams, but in a very controlled amount. It’s the configuration I like the most; nonetheless, I wouldn’t discard switching the bass port one position down to the +3dB boost. Actually, in recordings with less bass presence, I’ve found that in some cases setting the bass port to the middle position helps to improve male vocals, as it bleeds just a little bit into the mids and makes them sound more natural to me. It even helps a bit to equilibrate the lows when on the go (bus, train). The +6dB setting (i.e. with the bass port all open) is totally useless to my taste, it gets all the frequency spectrum blurred.
Speaking a bit of vocals above is where my first little complaint pops up. It’s been commented before that mids are recessed and it’s true. I’ve tried with many different great singers and only few times I felt dragged by their interpretation, like if they were whispering directly at my ears. Lorde’s voice in “Pure Heroine”, for instance, an album that I know well and that it's available in 24/96, sounds a bit buried between the somewhat elevated bass and the treble sounds. On average, it is more like listening to the performer a few seats behind the front row; it’s just a bit distant, but I’m missing something there. I also noticed the pitch shifted slightly towards the highs. That’s why in my experience opening the bass port by one notch, sometimes made the vocals sound more natural, especially for male voices, at the expense perhaps of a bit of clarity, but still worth it. In my opinion it also helps to equilibrate the bass and treble levels (or sound pressure, or output gain, I don’t know how to properly state it), with the mids obviously below that bar (V-shape). But I must stress here that this only works well if the song has moderate bass muscle, otherwise the spectrum gets too polluted with that +3dB bass boost (not worth it). A good example to apply this setting to is “Happy” by Pharrell Williams in its hi-res edition.
It’s in the highs where I find that some more improvement should be needed. Perhaps not in their resolution, which is good, but in their delivered timbre. Quite often I notice some notes sounding a bit unnatural, with a defined metallic character. Because of this, I don’t think it’s a headphone well suited to classical music. It’s subtle and nothing I can’t live with it though, but a more refined response would be awesome. I wonder whether this could be tweaked (softened) by the use of some foam pads inserted into the ear cup (?).
Regarding the soundstage or 3D representation of instruments and voices, I think it's ok but not great. Only few times I had the feeling that sounds were filling up the room or that I was positioned in the center of a sounding sphere. It is usually more like a left-right game between the ear cups, not very spacious. They can be perceived a bit closed sometimes (depending on the audio production, I guess).
Other aspects I do like are comfort and design. These headphones are very light and the clamping force is just about perfect to my head. I noticed this from the very first time I put them on and my opinion hasn’t changed over time. I use to wear them with the headband totally closed or adjusted just one click up. Regarding design, I have the black version and I think they have a simplistic, modern and sleek look, quite elegant indeed for such an inexpensive product. They are mid-sized while having ear cups with enough room to accommodate my ears very comfortably, so very convenient for portable use. Materials are ok for the price, I guess, although I have a little complaint about the pads: they can make your ears sweat a lot. Something that is expected from a sealed headphone, but perhaps a different material not interfering with the sonic of the headphones could have helped to alleviate this a little bit. (In Spain, now in summer, we reach temperatures above 100ºF and it’s a shame I can't barely listen to them for more than 30min). The cable is replaceable and isolation is quite good.
Hope all these comments are useful to the forum and that I didn’t misunderstood too many audiophile concepts or did make you feel confused about the performance of these headphones. Despite some of my negative comments, I truly think the Takstar PRO82 are an excellent buy (I will not return mine).
But in the end, everything in this field is so subjective… right?
Hasta la vista.
I agree with what you said about the bass being pretty picky sometimes. I open all ports for bass heavy electronic/hip hop music, and open one for pretty much everything else. I'm naturally a basshead so i also boost 3db at 40 hz which boosts the sub-bass a bit more without destroying all the other frequencies.
Also in agreement is the treble performance and soundstage. It's good for the price, but not great in my opinion. I thought the sibilant highs would die down a little but it's still one of my complaints with this pair of hp's. Detail is good still but there's something that's happening around the 8-10 khz range that's keeping me from placing these's higher up on the value ladder.
Other than that, I am still keeping these as they sound great and is still a very good value.
