From what I have read the COP's there has been a very mixed reaction to the headphones, some love them and some detest them. I have had these headphones for around two year. So here are my impressions and views.
I am not going to get into the unboxing of these headphones, the packaging is ok but nothing special. Really you don't get much with these headphone in the box. Just an instruction manual, 3.5mm detachable cable and an allen key. There are lots of other attachments that you can buy separately with more being released.
Design and Practicality
The look of the COP's is meant to be one of the headphones selling points and they do have a distinctive look about them. The are not the best looking headphone but with the customisable plates and pads they can be made to look quite stylish. Beyerdynamic have released the COP's in several colours and my guess would be that they are trying to tempt the fashion headphone listening into buying something with a little more sound credibility.
I am not convinced by the design of the COP's though, mainly because of practicality. When you buy a set of fashion headphones like the COP's, I would say one of the aims of the headphone is to get notice when out and about and whilst, anyone wearing them will get noticed, they are completely impractical for travelling. The main problem is the size of the headphone. They are great for wearing on head but because of their size, they feel horrible around the neck, like wearing a neck brace and they are not the best headphones for carrying around in a bag. Also because of their closed back design and pleather pads, they get extremely warm. I walked around wearing them around London in November and sweated buckets. They just got too warm to be comfortable. So I am not sure that these headphones are a practical fashion headphone.
Maybe the most interesting area is the bass slider, which has 4 settings in theory though I often use the slider in between settings (I will go into more detail about the bass and the effect the slider has, later in the review).
Comfort
As I said above the COP's with the pleather pad does get exceptionally warm, even when listening to the headphones at home, my ears got hot. The headphone also clamps to the head quite tightly, and there was pressure placed on one area. The metal in the headband is stretchable though and by flexing the headphones, it will loosen the clamping pressure. The COP's can be fitted with the velour pads from the DT770 and this does make a dramatic difference, whilst there is still heat build up, it is much more manageable. The velour pads do take some time to soften though, to give decent comfort.
Build quality
The COP's are very well made, The headband is made made from sprung steel and is flexable, The headphones themselves are made from a tough plastic, which feels decent. the detachable back plate and ring, with holds it on is made from metal. Everything feels secure and put together, properly.
Cable and 3.5mm jack, Part 1
One of the things I am not a missive fan of is the cable for the COP. If is ok but I have a couple of problems with it, which I have split into too parts. The first part is how the COP cable locks onto the headphone. The lock is plastic ball a bit of plastic which inserts into a gap created in the plastic of the jack (image 1). With removal of the jack the plastic around the gap does seem to take a bit of a bashing. It still works ok but isn't that practical. It is possible to fit other headphone jacks (image 2) but they have to be quite slim due to the hole in the COP's headphone (see image 3)
Iange 1
Locking mechanism of the COP (badly drawn, sorry)
Image 2
M-80 3.5mm at the top, COP 3.5mm.
Image 3
The M-80 jack fits into the headphone because of the plastics thin size.
Being positive for a second I haven't had any knots on the cable at all and the cable is a decent length for listening to MP3 plaers in pockets.
Sound isolation and sound leakage
One of the the stand out areas of the COP is the sound isolation and lack of sound leakage. The closed back design is a massive advantage with the COP when it comes to passive noise isolation and I was really impress with the headphone, this was one of the areas where I think the pleather pad did slightly better then the velour though the difference isn't large. Again the same can be said when talking about sound leakage, which is very good.
Sound
I think the biggest contention with the COP's has been with the sound. Some have hated the sound, whilst others like it. I would say that the sound from the COP's is not the most detailed but it isn't bad, when the headphone is set up right.
When I first got the headphones, I hated the sound. It was just horrible and I even put them back into the box and was thinking of shipping them back. Fortunately I decided to give them a decent burn in and this makes a dramatic difference. The COP's really do need a long burn in. Even after two and a half months I would say that the sound is changing. It took about 12 hours before I even began to think that the sound was ok and much much longer to start to enjoy the sound. 40-60 hours and the soundstage started to open up and now it really is nice.
Bass
As said earlier in this review the sliders do make a dramatic difference to the sound. There are 4 bass settings, with the bass gradually becoming more bassy as the slider is opened more. Generally I would say that between 2 and 3 giving the best bass response. I generally have the slider set at 2.5 or 3 which give a really good deep bassy sound, without distortion coming into the sound. When the headphones are fully open the distortion becomes noticeable and the sound becomes more muddy. I haven't found the bass to be that punchy, though it doesn't feel bloated either
Mids
The mids on the COP's have been the most frustrating part of the sound, and it has take a long time the mids to blossom. When I first started listening to the COP's the mids where terrible and in particular the upper mids. With a lot of listening though (100+ hours) the mids have come out much more and sound a long better, though they are a little recessed.
Highs
I haven't had any problems with the highs. To me they sound quite nice and I haven't found them to be too bright,
Cable and 3.5mm jack part 2
The sound from the Bayerdynamic isn't great, after reading on the forum about someone changing cables, I thought I would try the same and used my M-80 cable to compare. I have to say the M-80 cable does help, the sound is louder and too me, it helps with the mids a little (I could be wrong on this)
Sound (continued)
The sound from the COP's is very warm and I would would say that they are not a rounded headphone, audiofiles may want to take a pick axe to them. For some music the COP's feel great but for other kinds of music, they feel out of their depth. I listen to a lot of trance, big beat, rock and generally I would say that listening to these kind of music is nice (I am currently listening to Dark side of the moon, which is a joy). I can't really recommend COP's for classical or pop, the mid's just doesn't have enough presence for me and I find it very hard to get excited at all.
Conclusion
The COP's are a very good headphone, with a great soundstage and generally good sound. When buying them you have to take a bit of a leap of faith because they don't sound great to begin with, but with time you should be rewarded with a nice sound. They are not perfect by any means, are completely impractical for wearing out and are a bit of an oddity, in the world of fashion headphones but they have character in abundance and if you listen to certain kinds of music are great fun.
I am not going to get into the unboxing of these headphones, the packaging is ok but nothing special. Really you don't get much with these headphone in the box. Just an instruction manual, 3.5mm detachable cable and an allen key. There are lots of other attachments that you can buy separately with more being released.
Design and Practicality
The look of the COP's is meant to be one of the headphones selling points and they do have a distinctive look about them. The are not the best looking headphone but with the customisable plates and pads they can be made to look quite stylish. Beyerdynamic have released the COP's in several colours and my guess would be that they are trying to tempt the fashion headphone listening into buying something with a little more sound credibility.
I am not convinced by the design of the COP's though, mainly because of practicality. When you buy a set of fashion headphones like the COP's, I would say one of the aims of the headphone is to get notice when out and about and whilst, anyone wearing them will get noticed, they are completely impractical for travelling. The main problem is the size of the headphone. They are great for wearing on head but because of their size, they feel horrible around the neck, like wearing a neck brace and they are not the best headphones for carrying around in a bag. Also because of their closed back design and pleather pads, they get extremely warm. I walked around wearing them around London in November and sweated buckets. They just got too warm to be comfortable. So I am not sure that these headphones are a practical fashion headphone.
Maybe the most interesting area is the bass slider, which has 4 settings in theory though I often use the slider in between settings (I will go into more detail about the bass and the effect the slider has, later in the review).
Comfort
As I said above the COP's with the pleather pad does get exceptionally warm, even when listening to the headphones at home, my ears got hot. The headphone also clamps to the head quite tightly, and there was pressure placed on one area. The metal in the headband is stretchable though and by flexing the headphones, it will loosen the clamping pressure. The COP's can be fitted with the velour pads from the DT770 and this does make a dramatic difference, whilst there is still heat build up, it is much more manageable. The velour pads do take some time to soften though, to give decent comfort.
Build quality
The COP's are very well made, The headband is made made from sprung steel and is flexable, The headphones themselves are made from a tough plastic, which feels decent. the detachable back plate and ring, with holds it on is made from metal. Everything feels secure and put together, properly.
Cable and 3.5mm jack, Part 1
One of the things I am not a missive fan of is the cable for the COP. If is ok but I have a couple of problems with it, which I have split into too parts. The first part is how the COP cable locks onto the headphone. The lock is plastic ball a bit of plastic which inserts into a gap created in the plastic of the jack (image 1). With removal of the jack the plastic around the gap does seem to take a bit of a bashing. It still works ok but isn't that practical. It is possible to fit other headphone jacks (image 2) but they have to be quite slim due to the hole in the COP's headphone (see image 3)
Iange 1
Locking mechanism of the COP (badly drawn, sorry)
Image 2
M-80 3.5mm at the top, COP 3.5mm.
Image 3
The M-80 jack fits into the headphone because of the plastics thin size.
Being positive for a second I haven't had any knots on the cable at all and the cable is a decent length for listening to MP3 plaers in pockets.
Sound isolation and sound leakage
One of the the stand out areas of the COP is the sound isolation and lack of sound leakage. The closed back design is a massive advantage with the COP when it comes to passive noise isolation and I was really impress with the headphone, this was one of the areas where I think the pleather pad did slightly better then the velour though the difference isn't large. Again the same can be said when talking about sound leakage, which is very good.
Sound
I think the biggest contention with the COP's has been with the sound. Some have hated the sound, whilst others like it. I would say that the sound from the COP's is not the most detailed but it isn't bad, when the headphone is set up right.
When I first got the headphones, I hated the sound. It was just horrible and I even put them back into the box and was thinking of shipping them back. Fortunately I decided to give them a decent burn in and this makes a dramatic difference. The COP's really do need a long burn in. Even after two and a half months I would say that the sound is changing. It took about 12 hours before I even began to think that the sound was ok and much much longer to start to enjoy the sound. 40-60 hours and the soundstage started to open up and now it really is nice.
Bass
As said earlier in this review the sliders do make a dramatic difference to the sound. There are 4 bass settings, with the bass gradually becoming more bassy as the slider is opened more. Generally I would say that between 2 and 3 giving the best bass response. I generally have the slider set at 2.5 or 3 which give a really good deep bassy sound, without distortion coming into the sound. When the headphones are fully open the distortion becomes noticeable and the sound becomes more muddy. I haven't found the bass to be that punchy, though it doesn't feel bloated either
Mids
The mids on the COP's have been the most frustrating part of the sound, and it has take a long time the mids to blossom. When I first started listening to the COP's the mids where terrible and in particular the upper mids. With a lot of listening though (100+ hours) the mids have come out much more and sound a long better, though they are a little recessed.
Highs
I haven't had any problems with the highs. To me they sound quite nice and I haven't found them to be too bright,
Cable and 3.5mm jack part 2
The sound from the Bayerdynamic isn't great, after reading on the forum about someone changing cables, I thought I would try the same and used my M-80 cable to compare. I have to say the M-80 cable does help, the sound is louder and too me, it helps with the mids a little (I could be wrong on this)
Sound (continued)
The sound from the COP's is very warm and I would would say that they are not a rounded headphone, audiofiles may want to take a pick axe to them. For some music the COP's feel great but for other kinds of music, they feel out of their depth. I listen to a lot of trance, big beat, rock and generally I would say that listening to these kind of music is nice (I am currently listening to Dark side of the moon, which is a joy). I can't really recommend COP's for classical or pop, the mid's just doesn't have enough presence for me and I find it very hard to get excited at all.
Conclusion
The COP's are a very good headphone, with a great soundstage and generally good sound. When buying them you have to take a bit of a leap of faith because they don't sound great to begin with, but with time you should be rewarded with a nice sound. They are not perfect by any means, are completely impractical for wearing out and are a bit of an oddity, in the world of fashion headphones but they have character in abundance and if you listen to certain kinds of music are great fun.
