I've been listening to these headphones for a few hours now after letting them play a burn-in file for 1 hour.
Music I listened to for this subjective review:
Deadmau5 (Youtube)
Dirtyloud (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Excision (320kbps/MP3 and 16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Zeds Dead (256kbps/AAC)
Curren$y (320kbps/MP3)
Company of Thieves (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Wilco (24bit/96khz ALAC)
The Cure (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Source quality is important. If you don't understand why, google it.
Home audio setup:
x-fi titanium toslink --> Schiit Bifrost --> Schiit Asgard
Mobile audio setup:
iPhone4 --> FiiO L3 LOD --> JDSlabs cMoy 2.03BB
The sound signature-
These headphones are geared towards bass 'accurate'. The bass levels are not increased/exaggerated. From the iPhone4 headphone jack without an amplifier, bass was not as prominent and seemed a little flabby. Using the cMoy really tightened it up, and switching the bass boost function on increased the bass levels to my taste. The bass was perfect from my home setup, but I don't plan on listening to them much at the house.
Lossless tracks on my home setup were extremely clear, smooth, and concise. Electric guitars had a lot of drive and presented decent harmonics. In comparison to it's big brother, the HD558, it does not have the same harmonic detail during songs such as Oscar Wilde by Company of Thieves. It's about $80 less in the detail department. Make sense?
Lossy mp3 tracks had a little grit to them in my home setup, but it wasn't noticeable from my mobile setup-- especially without the amp.
Sound stage-
The sound stage is not very wide on these, but I don't think any headphones in this price bracket will have much of one anyways.
Major props-
Concise bass response when amplified. It's a little quiet and flabby when used with a smartphone directly but not unbearable. They're also not too sibilant/bright. In my opinion, these are a great option in the <$100 market.
Comfortable!
Minor complaints-
Really guys? 'Turbine' and silver ring? Fake, black mesh on a closed headphone? I'd have prefered something similar to the HD419 or HD429 in the aesthetics department, but I'm sure some consumers out there may like the look (high school kids, maybe?)
The cable seems a little thin and fragile. I'm really not looking forward to the day that it snags on something.
Just a little more bass level would be nice, but I wouldn't sacrifice any of the accuracy or tightness for volume increase.
Final thoughts-
I purchased these for the office and for away-from-home use in general. For $100, I'm satisfied.
Music I listened to for this subjective review:
Deadmau5 (Youtube)
Dirtyloud (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Excision (320kbps/MP3 and 16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Zeds Dead (256kbps/AAC)
Curren$y (320kbps/MP3)
Company of Thieves (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Wilco (24bit/96khz ALAC)
The Cure (16bit/44.1khz ALAC)
Source quality is important. If you don't understand why, google it.
Home audio setup:
x-fi titanium toslink --> Schiit Bifrost --> Schiit Asgard
Mobile audio setup:
iPhone4 --> FiiO L3 LOD --> JDSlabs cMoy 2.03BB
The sound signature-
These headphones are geared towards bass 'accurate'. The bass levels are not increased/exaggerated. From the iPhone4 headphone jack without an amplifier, bass was not as prominent and seemed a little flabby. Using the cMoy really tightened it up, and switching the bass boost function on increased the bass levels to my taste. The bass was perfect from my home setup, but I don't plan on listening to them much at the house.
Lossless tracks on my home setup were extremely clear, smooth, and concise. Electric guitars had a lot of drive and presented decent harmonics. In comparison to it's big brother, the HD558, it does not have the same harmonic detail during songs such as Oscar Wilde by Company of Thieves. It's about $80 less in the detail department. Make sense?
Lossy mp3 tracks had a little grit to them in my home setup, but it wasn't noticeable from my mobile setup-- especially without the amp.
Sound stage-
The sound stage is not very wide on these, but I don't think any headphones in this price bracket will have much of one anyways.
Major props-
Concise bass response when amplified. It's a little quiet and flabby when used with a smartphone directly but not unbearable. They're also not too sibilant/bright. In my opinion, these are a great option in the <$100 market.
Comfortable!
Minor complaints-
Really guys? 'Turbine' and silver ring? Fake, black mesh on a closed headphone? I'd have prefered something similar to the HD419 or HD429 in the aesthetics department, but I'm sure some consumers out there may like the look (high school kids, maybe?)
The cable seems a little thin and fragile. I'm really not looking forward to the day that it snags on something.
Just a little more bass level would be nice, but I wouldn't sacrifice any of the accuracy or tightness for volume increase.
Final thoughts-
I purchased these for the office and for away-from-home use in general. For $100, I'm satisfied.
