Sound: So, these are pretty damn good. Id say these are a serious bang for the buck. HK did a slam dunk on this one. I am seriously impressed as Ive ALWAYS found headphones to be more money than they seem to be worth and sound. These are the FIRST that I feel Ive gotten a good deal on. Ive always been impressed with HK's stuff (Logic 7 systems, GREAT receivers, computer speakers, DAC's) but theyve never really have been great to home theater/monitor speakers. I guess they leave that up to the higher end JBL when it comes to that (some of their stuff can cost $20k incase you didnt know... not your Best Buy grade speakers). So I was sort of iffy on this but I knew AKG (a Harman international brand) makes great stuff and had a feeling they wouldnt let HK set themselves up for failure without lending a helping hand. I almost guarantee AKG was heavily involved in developing these. They have a balanced sound between warm and bright. They have crispy and not overbearing highs, and have a good kick to bass but not muddy like a wet sock on a microphone (see Beats for what I am describing). Even at max volume they seem to handle ok. Speaking of volume, these things have it. I was worried about it because they are juggling a lot of things at once being Bluetooth cans and self amplifying but they hold theyre own. They respond to the devices volume control that you are paired with as well which I find interesting.
Build quality: Good, actually pretty good but not the best. I love the steel and leather bands. The plastic cups are OK. My beef with the plastic cups is that they dont seem to have any good dampening inside of them because cord rub (when plugged in) is the worst ive ever heard in a headphone. Its amazingly distracting. Not really a big deal to me because Ill use them for 95% Bluetooth anyway.
Looks: Um... yea.I gotta tell ya these are pretty damn ugly and you'd probably get shot walking around with these things on in town. I dont care about how I look in my home so its not really a big deal.
Functionality: These things have great range on them. My place is small so i havent been able to get them to lose connection. The cans fold nicely flat and fit into a pretty sweet leather carrying bag. They are also very easy to take apart to add a larger steel band (comes in the box) if you have a bigger nugget than most. They have a built in mic. Nice touch! I havent made phone calls on them yet so I really cant say anything about it. Not sure why (maybe for cleaning?) but you can pull the pads off without struggle because they are held in by magnets. I think the B&W P5's have that feature if im not mistaken. BTW, these are better than the P5's IMO.
Pros:
-Great sound and power!
-Nice materials
-Amazing value
-Wicked range for Bluetooth and a snap to sync
-Without a doubt, the most comfortable headphones Ive ever worn.
-2.5mm jack so you can probably attach to portable house phones and older cell phones. (Dont worry, comes with 2.5mm to 3.5mm cord)
Cons:
-Not going to church this up, but these things are ugly as crap, looks like you are wearing two iPhones
-Plastic cups transfer cord rub like its a feature
-Exclusive to the Apple store and set at a solid $250.00 price (Still, Id pay more for them)
-Charging cable cuts off bluetooth connectivity when plugged into USB on MacBook (havent tried stand alone wall charger yet.)
These things have great battery life. They already sound pretty good under blue tooth but sound even better when directly connected. These have become my most favorite set of cans and my favorite of all that I own! These are by far the best value for headphones Ive ever bought.
These are the headphones I own to give a bearing on what Im talking about:
Sony MDR-EX1000
Sony MDR-EX700LP
AKG Q350
Rockford Fosgate Punch Plugs
Beats Studio
I also use a Fiio E11 amp that I use primarily for the Sony headphones as they are hungry little bastards. I havent tried it yet with the HK's though. Even then, these things are amazingly sufficient with direct connect on my iPhone and MacBook Pro alone. Im very impressed with these cans. Im always been a huge fan of Harman Kardon, especially their receivers more than anything. Im very impressed with their stab at headphones. Since Harman International owns AKG, it woudlnt surprise me if they had a heavy part in developing these cans.
Ive noticed that sometimes they have an issue in terms of sound syncing. It sounds a little grainy a first startups during Bluetooth. This involves watching video/movies too. It eventually stops sounding like that after a couple of minutes and in regards to movies video to audio sync fixes itself. Pausing a video or song for a bit helps fix it too.
