No, my set wasn't defective. The distortion disappeared after I removed the plastic film wrapping, so it proves that the film is the culprit. Let me give you an example, I was using my STS Burn-in CD to run in the ESP950, at the very beginning of track 1 which plays the low organs, I found that...

Thanks. Now I understand that the wrapping is to keep the headphone away from dust and protect users from electric shock. But the film really generates an annoying distortion with humming bass, which is not acceptable to me. I would suggest Koss choose another another material which do not cause...

One more note to add. Actually I was quite disappointed by the sound out of the box, because the bass was disorderly, the mid-range was plagued by emptiness and the treble was constricted. I was so disappointed that I voiced my discontent to the vendor, who said it would need 300 - 600 hours of...

Hi there,   I think Obravo this time amazes audiophile by launching an innovative circuit combining an air motion transducer and sub-woofer. The AMT unit is responsible for delivering treble and mid-range while the sub-woofer delivering the bass. HAMT-1 is definitely not as analytical as...

To keep the plates out of dust I guess. You will need to disassemble the headphone case in order to see the plastic wrap. Originally I thought the headphone needed some running-in but the distortion remained. I then opened the case and immediately knew the culprit responsible for the distortion...

The Stax SRS-005s MKII is actually a very decent system compared with other IEMs. With its semi-open structure, there is a certain degree of soundstage presentation. The treble and the midrange are rendered very nicely like a decent headphone. However, perhaps it's due to its electrostatic...

Koss ESP-950 can be regarded as an economical electrostatic headphone for audiophile who doesn't want to splurge too much on headphones. I definitely agree that it has a very high Q/P ratio, because of its inexpensive plastic build. It is analytical with a powerful bass. It's also light and...

I'd love to visit Japan and try out those headphones. Japanese are crazy about product quality and it is a respectable virtue. Right now I only own a Japanese brand headphone Stax SR-009, would love to explore the mid-end market.

1. Stax SR-009 2. Obravo HAMT-1 3. Sennheiser HD800 4. Koss ESP-950   I have ordered Ultrasone Edition 5 Limited and it will arrive soon. Expect that it will rank immediately after Stax SR-009 :)

Yes I agree that many headphones are overpriced, but for some of the high-end ones, a reasonable portion of the price tag goes to R&D and hence the product quality. In the end, it depends on whether you think it worths the money to spend a fortune on those high-end gadgets.

I heard that Beats' Quality to Price ratio is quite awful: the cost of making the headphone is about $14 while they sell it at $300. The price tag's main component is their marketing effort, rather than the product quality or the effort put into research and development. And they don't look...

Keep on running-in the HAMT-1 I find the bass more solid and the treble exhibits less and less sibilance, which makes the entire listening experience more enjoyable and "sustainable". Plus the soundstage has widened a bit as well. I suspect that the air motion the air motion tweeter unit...

I'm sure you'll enjoy the listening experience, especially when the HAMT-1 is powered by HPA-1, its tailor-made portable amplifier.

Oh by the way, the hamt-1 is famous for its soundstage presentation, which is moderately present even without the amplifier. So I hope with the arrival of the amplifier, I expect the soundstage will be greatly enhanced. I'll burn-in the headphone with JMR Magic CD by then, expect the end result...

I bought the Obravo hamt-1 one month ago and now it has run-in for almost 500 hours. What I can say is that I am really impressed by its performance. At first the bass was disorderly, the mid-range was hollow and the treble was recessive.   But after 500 hours of burning-in, the result was...

The newly released "Studio Six" amplifier released by ALO Audio seems to drive the HD800 to another level as commented by reviewers. Does anyone has the chance to listen to it?   https://www.aloaudio.com/studio-six

Hi everyone, I'm Johnson and I just joined head-fi today. Feeling excited to meet those you who share the same enthusiasm for high-end headphones, I'd like to say that I'm a moderately "green" audiophile. I have become an audiophile for less than 3 years, yet I have already ventured into the...