I just picked up a set of PM-3's about a week and a half ago. Actually, the pair I'm using isn't mine, but the store owner tossed me the demo to use while I wait for my brand new set to come in. This is my first venture into planar magnetic. I was looking at the PM-2, but he wouldn't budge on the price much considering they are discontinued and the one set he had was a demo. I also heard the PM-2 are nowhere near the PM-1, and open back did concern me for listening at home (mom nagging because I do listen to music quite loud). I went into this set expecting a closed in sound, as magic is not real and one can not produce an open sound without some sort of back venting.

What first drew me to these phones, apart from being planars, was the impeccable quality and looks. I know know there is no leather on them, but the faux leather is of a better quality than real leather on other phones. When I slipped them on in the store, I felt immediately comfortable, no clamping, yet the outside world is blocked out. Some have stated they get hot wearing for long periods, but I've listened to them outside at work for 30 minutes in 30 degrees Celsius and have no complaints. The rest of of the cans look sturdy, well designed and...well essentially a Chinese company showing it can kick the quality of other manufacturers who have their stuff built in China. Now I'm not a lover of Chinese stuff, but I firmly believe manufacturers put effort into their stuff when it is made where the company is located.

Setup: I have been using an iPod with FIIO amps since I began getting into higher end portable audio. Currently I'm using a FIIO E12, and a 30 pin to lightning DAC adapter to my iPod. I hope to eventually get a DAC that works with OTG from my LG G5, but the E12 (and whatever the colorizing of sound it does) is my standard for now. Much of my music is lossless, a lot of it 16/44.1 or 24/44.1. There are a few 320 quality mp3 songs. My main listening includes jazz classics (Paul Desmond, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, etc), some more modern jazz and funk, classical, classic rock, classic pop, and 90s and early 2000's hip-hop/ rap. There is also some metal in there like Rammstein, and some celtic music, ranging from pure bagpipes, to celtic rock.

Bass: The bass on the PM-3's is somewhat strange. They clearly aren't a bass headphone, but they are capable of massive (to me) bass. With classical music, jazz and most rock, I find bass full and proper, not bloated, but there is the odd song where I feel the need for bass gain to be used on the E12. Now...put on Wiz Khalifa On My Level, and these cans rumble. There is no distortion even with this level of bass, and they extend below audible bass levels, to the points where you hear nothing for the most part, but feel the drivers going. Now, I'm no basshead, apart from the odd tune here and there, but the PM-3 surprise me a lot. On first listen, one would expect neutral, light bass, and with other similar signature phones, you can hear them fall apart when pushed. The PM-3 however, they can dish out what you want.

Mids: The mids on the PM-3 are extremely clear and detailed, to the point where breathing comes through, or even quiet background noises. The soundstage is the only thing that hurts the mids a tad, but the soundstage is about as good as it gets for closed back. I found the mids to be really present in the Bach Cello Suites, where every note sounded with power, yet every note rang distinct. With the business of many parts of the cello, such clear sound is not easily produced in other headphones that I have.

Highs: The highs are very clear, although slightly laid back on these headphones. I believe my E12 does have a warmer amping, or at least I've read it does, so this may be causing the highs to be recessed more than a neutral amping. Listening to Vivaldis Four Seasons, however, the highs of the violins come in strong, brilliant and exciting, letting you really feel the music.

I believe what the PM-3 represent is the superiority of planar drivers, with the ability to play without distortion, and to quickly produce sounds, where dynamics (unless multi driver with crossover) would fail.

My one true complaint about the PM-3 (soundstage and separation not being one, as I cannot fault a closed back for not sounding open) is the cable length. It isn't so much that the stock cable can't be useful, but a second shorter, on-the-go length would be nice, allowing one to slip their player in their pocket and not trip over the cord while walking. After a short bit of research, I found the Moon Audio Blue Dragon, but I am undecided as to whether it benefits the sound enough...paying the price to get a better length is not worth it on its own.

Overall, near perfection, open back is about all that would improve the sound, but that would sacrifice privacy and isolation.

I recently went for the Campfire Orions. My father didnt want cables that looped over the ears, but later wanted the Orions or Noble 3s. With the Orion sale done, and the Noble 3 still on sale, he went for them. As such, I'm not reviewing my own set of phones, but I have listened to them for a small time.

I was impressed by the packaging of the Noble 3, a little over the top with two boxes and then the pelican case. The pelican is nice, but of course is quite useless in some respects: It's too large to be portable, but too small to carry much in. It's more of a statement piece to me.

The housings look nice, not Orion aluminum nice, but sophisticated. What doesn't look nice is the cable. The Orions go from a secure quad braid to a elegant y split, with a built in cinch. The Nobles use a poor excuse braid, with a clear shrink wrap "y split". The cinch was not easily moved so I cut it off (I actually thought it was just wrapped around for packaging). Then again, there are few who match the cables that Campfire provides.

Sound wise, I didn't hear a lot of difference between the Noble 3 and my Orions. The bass is definitely boosted a tad, but not in your face. What I detect is a similar punch, but a tad more boom.

Mids are recessed compared to Orions, but not by a large amount.

Highs are about the same as Orions, not overly bright, but clear.

Perhaps due to lowered mids, the clarity is less than that of the Orions, where voices and instrument separation are slightly muffled. The Orions simply pop more and you hear everything more distinctly. Again, there is no night and day difference, just subtle changes.

Overall, the Noble 3's are great. The cable is due for improvement, but the sound is nice.

I've been using the Harman Kardon BT's for about 3 years now, and they have, and are, a great set of headphones, with a nearly balanced signature, and only a slight emphasis on highs and bass. I wasn't planning to buy another set of headphones, and especially earphones, considering that I have found that I have drifted to over ear headphones, rather than in ears. I also had a stenosis in my right ear, which is a bone growth, that required surgery. I had if for the past 3 years or so and it was initially causing infections, however doctors did not diagnose the stenosis until about 9 months ago, the point at which infections were happening monthly, As such, I believed the infections were from in-ears, a large reason for why I went to headphones. In ears certainly worsened infections, however. My ear still does bug me with a dull ache at times, but so far the Orion earphones have not caused discomfort, so luckily I can keep using them without worry. The reason I bought the Orions was largely due to the fact that my dad has been looking at some better headphones, and an amp or DAP. I am largely against the price of Astell and Kern products, but he has had interest in the Junior. As for headphones, he so far prefers in-ears, to avoid the sweating that he has noticed with trying my Harman Kardon's. I showed him some reviews of well known in-ears, some that I have bought and returned. He is looking for balanced sound, so I told him to look at Etymotic and a few others. By chance, through a Headphone Bar email, I spotted Campfire's Orion, with $100 off or so, thus essentially offering a price that matches the Canadian and American dollar at around $350. Looking at reviews, they seemed to be what my father would enjoy. The only issue however, they loop around the ears, and for whatever reason he can't go with that. Myself, I just couldn't let it be, and I wanted to try another set of in-ears, and a balanced set as well, so I went for them. So far, I am very pleased.
 
Packaging:
 
Very minimalist indeed. I'm not big into the environment and global warming stuff, but I prefer what I buy to not have a box within a box, within a box, wrapped with a plastic covering, or hard plastic case. As long as every arrive intact, I'm fine with it. The Orion's come in a simple box, sealed with the label overlapping the seam. Inside you are presented with the canvas case, inside the Orion's cushioned by a wool padding of sorts. Very simple, unlike other earphones that I have bought that feature some intricate plastic tray that the earphones sit in and the wire wrapped about here and there. With the quality of the earphones and cable (a single wire strand from each phone is as thick as I have seen whole cables on other earphones, such as the Klipsch S4), I doubt just tossing them in the case will ever be an issue. Also in the package is the eartips, cleaning tool and instructions. There is no extra pointless stuff, and I can easily put the packages of tips and the tool in the case with the earphones, at least while I figure out which tip or tips I prefer.
 
Design:
 
Like the case, the Orion's are simplistic looking, slightly on the industrial/angular side of designs. It is very elegant though, not made to stand out, but stand out through it's utilitarian look. There is no Bozo the Clown theme here, like what is seen with the popular, consumer lines of headphones, like Monster, or Beats. Actually, I would have to say that the Orion earphones have a design like my Harman Hardon's: Squared off and angular, black, simple. The Orion's are just the smaller in-ear version. Everything on the Orion's is well designed and manufactured with high standards, and I don't expect anything to fall off or start rattling during my listening sessions.
 
Sound:
 
I have so far used the Orion's for about 4 hours, and about 12 hours of burn-in on top of those 4 hours. I am still unsure of the burn-in process, especially when not dealing with large drivers, but I am hoping that there is an ounce more bass to come in. I mean an ounce, as I am not one for heavy bass for the most part. Where the sound is now, I am getting a very balanced sound, accurate bass, great mids and a treble that is bright but no piercing. In some cases, I hear times when I would like a touch more highs, but it is very seldom that I don't find there to be enough sparkle. I have just started using the standard tips, rather than the foam tips (I tried both the comply and the standard foam tips), and I feel that I am enjoying the sound more. There is not a great deal of difference, but the foam does seem to have a slightly muffling of sound. The result is that the highs come of a tad more and the bass sounds the same amount, but with more punch. So far, this is the only set of earphones I have tried where I truly prefer the basic tips. Also, when dealing with loop around wires, foam tips are a bit more awkward to use. Balanced, no matter what, is how I will continue to describe the sound. Oddly, the Orion's have made me realize just how close to balanced the Harman Kardon's are, as I was initially expected a great deal of difference coming from them.
 
Depth and sound stage is quite decent. I don't think much better can be found for in-ears, unless going much higher end, and even then I am not sure how much more could be improved. I don't think in-ears can ever match on-ear headphones, even closed back, for in-ears are...well they stuck in your ears and the sound is just pushed down the ear canal. Going for binaural music, like CC Coletti's Bring It On Home album, does clearly bring about a major improvement of sound stage, and the spacial representation of the music not being in your ears.
 
My only gripe with the Campfire's Orion is the sensitivity. While they are easy to drive, and I have really only been using an iPod touch to play the music, the phones are rather sensitive to what you play through them. I have also tried with the iPod going through LOD with my Fiio E12, but I don't hear much difference. Either way, if you listen to MP3 below 320kbps, or something with improper ripping or remastering, you hear distortion, and, often accompanied with, unpleasant treble. I have listened to multiple types of music, FLAC and MP3, and it is sort of hit or miss whether it will sound good. For example, the first song I listened to on the earphones was Adele's Hello. The voice was rather harsh, and the bass just distorted the moment it sound. It killed the earphones for me right off the bat, but then I turned on Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On. The bass was tight and the voice was accurate. It is even better now with some burn in, or maybe I'm just getting used to the bass. I've listend to some Stevie Nicks, and it is clear as a bell. Rock, R&B and jazz definitely seems to be where the Orion's shine so far, although they do quite well with most music, pumping the bass quite well if the song needs it. Overall, it seems the only distortion that you will find is when the files themselves have the distortion in them. All of these songs I have listened to on the Harman Hardon's and never experienced distortion, but clearly the sensitivity is the cause, as many songs will just play flawlessly, and others are nearly impossible to listen to. It looks like I will have to revamp my music collection and go for only lossless. Of course, there are those songs that have distortion on anything, like some of the music from Led Zeppelin; I have not been able to find any version of Whole Lotta Love that doesn't have a distortion sound in various section. Another song is Little Red Corvette by Prince. In the beginning of the song, there is also a second or two of distortion in Prince's voice. My consensus is that the distortion it is either it is the particular file quality, or the song itself is distorted (can't find a version of the song in lossy or lossless that sounds cleaner).
 
 
Overall, Orion by Campfire is a great set of earphones. I don't have huge ears, but so far have not had comfort issues, besides the occasional ache in my ear due to surgery. The sound from the earphone's is very true, and natural. Bass is usually exactly what I want, although there is the odd time where I would like more. The same goes for the treble; the sparkle is often perfect, but the odd time I here a note or voice and I realize it didn't quite make my spine tingle. Then again, if more bass and treble was present, I would possibly find it too much for most of what I was listening to. Oddly, I am finding myself to be enjoying the basic eartips more, over the foam tips. The sound is ever so slightly cleaner, and it is easier to insert this style of earphones without dealing with squishing the foam tip. No earphone or headphone is perfect, at least perhaps until a zero is added to the price, but the Orion's are very close, with very little that I would like to see changed in the design and sound. I am looking forward to seeing what else Campfire comes out with, larger headphones perhaps. I will continue to play around with sources and amps as well, see if I can hear an improvement with the E12. Perhaps the E12 can deliver that extra oomph or sparkle that I would like.

I picked up the K172's from shop.ca for around $40. I likely wouldn't have bought them for a typical price, but for the price I paid, they are 100% worth it. I will be chiming in with a week or so, maybe more, about the sound during burn in. Intially, I tried the headphones on the basic iPod. The sound was that off an AM radio and a very low volume, with just mids and highs. Simply put, the K172's need an amp, or at least a source that has better output, such as my computer. I was immediately impressed by the comfort; the headphones are extremely light, and have little clamping force, although I would prefer a bit more clamping to hold the phones on my head better, and when you press the cups to your head more, bass does get better. Everything is new though, and over time, I feel the pads will soften and compress easier despite the light clamping. Perhaps the K271's would have had a better seal, more clamping (from what I see, they are the same phones, just the 271's are circumaural, and have a few added extras.
 
Build quality: Coming from the only headphones I really use, the Harman/ Kardon BT's, I will base everything off of them. As for build quality, the K172's aren't what I would call worse build quality, but more for usability rather than "designer". After all, the BT's are closer to consumer headphones...but have better sound qualities an audiophile looks for compared to many consumer headphones seen in places such as the Apple store. The K172's shy away from that look, and just work, achieving a light weight and durability through a simplistic look, rather than industrious. I read that the 172's have a detachable cable, but they don't seem to unfortunately. It would also have been nice to have had magnetic or clip in ear pads, rather than ones that stretch over. Overall they look simplistic and fragile, but once you hold them you see you can tweak them every which way and they likely won't snap you.
 
 
Sound-
 
I have use a multitude of tracks, ranging in genres, as well as in 320 mp3 to FLAC. FLAC certainly sounds better, delivering less fatigue. I used a FIIO E12 with an iPod Touch 4 for all listening.
 
A list of some of the songs (just looking around on the iPod and selecting what I know I really listened to with the phones) and my perception of the songs:
 
 
 
Inner City Blues-Marvin Gaye: Shows off the bass pop from the 172's, as well as the strong mids
 
 
Girls Got Rhythm and High Voltage- ACDC: These two songs (and most of the ACDC stuff) really need deep bass phones to hear the bass. The BT's show it off well in bass boost, the 172's not so much, although the bass still has a presence.
 
Allegro Ma Non Troppo- Beethoven: Really shows off the mids of the 172's, but misses some of the power of the low strings that the BT's show in the song at times.
 
Come Alive, Over Your Shoulder, Lost on the Way Home- Chromeo: Lost on the Way Home showed distortion in the low bass on the 172's when bass boost was used, as did Come Alive. I am hoping bass will come forward more in burn in, as bass with bass boost is actually too much much anyway...yet not enough without it. The BT's had perfect bass without boost, and incredible bass with it.
 
Get Lucky and Doin' It Right- Daft Punk: Bass came out nice without boost on the 172's, but not a rumble. Now Doin' It Right, on the BT's, they handle huge bass rumbles in bass boost. They do rattle on the left driver because of them being dropped. The 172's... forget it, they make no bass at the frequencies of the sound, and with boost, you can heard the drivers distorting...not just a distortion, but the exactly what is happening with the distortion. Perhaps burn in will help.
 
Money For Nothing and Industrial Disease- Dire Straits: Despite the hard hits, there is no distortion of the 172's at any point. There is great punch, and nice clarity and brightness
 
Fleetwood Mac-Greatest Hits: Whole album pretty much. Sounds clear, punchy, yet crisp on the 172's. Bass isn't as strong compared to the BT's of course, but the BT's miss the mids and highs that the 172's bring forward in this album.
 
Touch of Grey and The Music Never Stopped- Grateful Dead: Both sounded great, although I like a tad more punch that the BT's can deliver.
 
Multiple songs of the Commodores: The 172's shows off the vocals very nice, delivering a good sparkle. There is punch to the bass when needed. Overall, the Commodores sound better on the 172's than the BT's.
 
Mickey Hart Band- Mysterium Tremendum and Superorganism: Mickey Hart produces some neat stuff, songs of which have great vocals, odd little noises that need good headphones to hear, and good bass. The 172's show off clarity in the mids better than the BT's and a little more clarity, but are missing some nice bass. I guess both phones are equally good with Mickey Hart, just in different areas.
 
Pink Floyd- Endless River: A very instrumental, mid and treble oriented album. The 172's give a good sparkle and soundstage.
 
Steely Dan- Greatest Hits: I can't stay Steely Dan is a group with big bass, so the 172's accurately represent the songs, giving good clarity to the mids.
 
Many more songs, although I found myself picking natural bass songs, rather than stuff like rap, or current music. The 172's show off the pop of the drum kick, or a shake in upper bass, but when you get to a song where there is an electronic 10hz note coming through to rumble the ground, the 172's can't take it. The BT's, on the other had, have little issue with any range of bass, and can really make your head rumble...but not a muffled one like something like Beats produce
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         Treble: Coming from the H/K BT's, treble is slightly brighter in thr K172's, bringing out some vocals more in lower treble, but really more noticeable in the sparkle in upper treble, where high notes that are often simply just heard have a decent ring to them. On mp3 songs, this can lead to sibilance, but on flac albums or songs, I can feel the note without feeling pierced by it. The treble isn't that forward though, and I am sure there are a number of headphones out there with a lot more treble.
 
          Mids: The focus of the 172's. They are very forward, very lively and very crisp. In some cases, it can be too much mids, but overall, the phones just bring out the main parts of the songs very well, and you can hear all the is happening. Nothing drowns out the mids in these phones.
 
          Bass: This is the failing point of the 172's. The are extremely light on bass. I feel that they have been improving since I first listened, but I hope the bass will deepen a bit more. The 172's have little issue with drum kicks, and bass instruments can rumble, but the bass does not extend low enough, and when it does, it can distort. Electronic forms of bass are terrible, such as Daft Punk or forms of rap. The 172's are a phone that likes classical, classic rock, earlier electronic music like Moby and Thomas Dolby, or music where the bass wasn't simply meant to be the whole song, but merely add to a song.
 
 
          
           Soundstage: Soundstage is actually quite nice with the 172's, a bit better than the BT's but this could largely be due to the mids being more prominent. Clearly, open headphones would scoff at the soundstage of the 172's or the BT's.
 
 
Overall: The 172's are a nice headphone, especially with the cheap price I paid for them. If they were over $100, I would look elsewhere. While they present clarity and the mids and highs better than my Harman/Kardon's BT's, they have less bass, and distort very easily in the deep bass. I still like them, but not near as much as the BT's; I can survive with a phone that is a little too warm, but I feel that AKG should not have a phone that distorts on any form of music. Less bass, fine, but having distortion on a lesser degree of bass than the BT's (even when the BT's are not use the bass boost of the E12), not really acceptable when you get into any range like AKG. The 172's leave a listener to pick what music will actually work. Any headphone has a genre that is best, but every headphone should not have trouble producing sound
 
I will continue to burn in and see what happens. The headphones have already improved from when I first received them, so hopefully they will improve a bit more.

I just took back the ClarityOne W102's and got these. I decided to go Bluetooth to avoid cable damage (ClarityOne's gave me a bad vibe about the cable). I was not aware that the cable comes off of the Classics as well, until now, but no cable is great. Of course Bluetooth sounds worse than cabled...and cabled sounds worse than cabled with an amp, but plenty good for on the go. I was looking at various bluetooth capable headphones, including the Beats, not sure what model, as I didn't look much into them. I wasn't overly impressed with the sound of any of the Beats. This time I had my amp and I listened to them all. Beats was just bass, and bass that muddled into the mids. And the mids and highs were just there, nothing nice about them really. The UE 9000 were $399. For $399, they are really still a better value than the Beats. Issue is, I found the 6000's that were on display to be too large and cheap looking, and the 9000's look to be simply in design. Logitech doesn't give the best vibe for sound quality or quality in general.  I did have a pair of UE 600's which were okay, but cheaply built. Sorry Logitech, but when I hear your name, I think mice, keyboards and other various computer products. I was still thinking about the Logitech 9000's however. I was originally going to go with regular non-bluetooth headphones, and the Classics were that, but after Bluetooth was gaining my interest, Harman Kardon was forgotten about, until I realized the store (Apple Store) stocked the bluetooth versions, and for just $50 more than the Classics, $150 less than the UE 9000's. I gave no second thought after that, and I bought the HK's
 
My first listen was with a FIIO E07K and wow, the sound is amazing. The bass sounds true, with a slight emphasis. The bass does not bleed into the mids and it extends deep with no distortion. It can be felt The mids and highs are clear, not shrill, and the soundstage amazing. Clearly they are meant to sound warmer and not analyitic sound, but they are the perfect sound for me. I enjoyed the W102's but found there to be silibance, and a slight lack of bass with easy distortion. These phone take care of all of that. They sound like open headphones, although there is zero leakage. And I mean zero. They don't look like they would isolate sound well, but the Harman Kardon's leave the music in and keep the sound out. Zero is of course not true, for I can hear the music when I my dad is listening to the headphones, but this is at a listening to music volume, not a background music volume. What is amazing is how they manage to achieve isolation and have a great soundstage. I will burn them in a bit to see what happens, but they actually sound as if the drivers are already loosened up and there are no places in the music that sound like the driver hits a wall where it has trouble moving, which is something I find with most phones until I break them in. WIth just being plugged into the iPod, the volume is still great and they still sound great too. Both decrease, but not a huge amount, considering these are 32ohms (not that that always detemines the volume). An amp brings out more depth and soundstage. With bluetooth, the headphones sound good, just it sounds like the recording quality of the music is slightly worse. For having no wire to play around with, this is not a bad sacrifice for on the go. With bluetooth, volume is not great for all albums, specifically older albums which are rendered quieter than new ones. With new stuff, bluetooth is plenty loud.
 
The comfort of the Harman Kardon's is great, although a little bit of clamping, which will take some getting used to. The are secure, don't move and the pads are nice feeling, and are soft enough to feel nice, but hard enough to not compress too much. 
 
Build quality is spectacular. Everything feels well put together, looks sturdy, yet is easily to use and not bulky. I won't be using the larger headband likely, but I can see it being annoying to put on. It's not something that concerns me however. 
 
I love the looks of these headphones. The two other reviews on this site seem to attack the looks, but I like the looks a lot. Simplistic, elegant, non-offensive. And I have always liked the style that the name is written: harman/kardon. No capitals just says that they are good, they don't need to prove anything, it's the name, not how it's written. Even the packaging is like that. Actually, even their full sized speakers give off the same aura of stateliness not that many speakers have fancy shapes and colors. This is the opposite stance of companies like Monster, who provide bright colors, odd shapes that scream: "Look at me!! Buy me!!" I prefer the look doesn't need to stand out to look good. Also, I bet more people would rather try to steal a pair of Beats from me, because they are so noticable.
 
So far, my one issue is microphonics. The cable has high microphonics, but is not noticeable when listening to music.

The Image One's were the first over-ear/ on- ear headphone I purchased. I was always concerned about them not being as loud as in ears, and the portability issues as well, but with an amp, I was no longer concerned with volume, and I actually now find full sizes to be as portable as in ears. At the store, I was torn between a few in-ears, and the reference versions of these, which as far as I know are the same sound, just the reference series has a different look, and perhaps better materials (better as in better looking material perhaps). The Image Ones are truly a great pair of headphones, and I loved them even more when I was more of a bass head. Not saying I don't enjoy them still. The bass they provide is a powerful as Beats, but cleaner and more accurate, especially amping them. They have decent mids and highs, but they are muffled when they are not plugged into an amp. With an amp, the mids and highs are good, but not sparkling, for the headphones are really meant for bass. In the sound department, I would give them a 10/10 for bass heads, but now an 8/10 for my taste, as I would no longer consider myself a basshead. Really, there isn't much else to say about sound. The bass can be lessened with an amp, revealing a great sound when you don't want to be analytical about sound, just have something to listen to when doing things like writing a paper.
 
Comfort wise, the Image One's are quite comfortable really, but due to having smaller head, the headphones were just always too big for me. I find this with many headphones, but the Image One's also have zero clamping. If my head were larger, adjusting the headphone band would increase clamping actually, for as with most headphones, they go in a horseshoe shape to allow some clamping, and making them taller also would make them to have to be stretched further to be put on ones head. I still think the Image One's clamping force would be lower regardless. MY other gripe with the Image Ones' is that I don't know if they are over ears or on ears. My ears are not huge, but not tiny, and the pads extended on parts of it slightly past my ears, and this stopped any isolation. They were not initially like that, but after use, the pads clearly flatten out a tad, and seemed to push outwards.. The pads never got widen enough to go around ny ears. If clamping force were stronger, the force would make the foam widen inwards and outwards, and conform to my ears better, offering a better seal. As a result, I found myself needing to push the pads towards the center of the driver to reshape them. This would work for some time, but another issue came about: The material holding onto the drive casings would stretch and the pads became somewhat easy to take off from the housings. Unfortunely, it a not easy to pop them on again. Even with this dislikes, the Image Ones where never uncomfortable, and with their lightweight design I hardly felt them, but during listening, I could feel sound leakage at times.
 
The Image Ones are light, but well built overall. The cable seems like it would be a weak place, but it worked well until something caught the wire on the left driver as I stood up and ripped it out. This was after a lot of use and a few good yank on the wires from similar incidents, mind you. I have another pair though, which will be discussed soon for why I do. While not a build weakness, the "paint" stuff on the headband that makes it flat black and also give it a texture that is hard to explain comes off very easily, leaving behind a different luster black. This just was annoying, for the headphones are nice looking, with a very conservative, professional look. I did have one breakage, the left drive swivel cracked, but this crack never got any worse. The crack gave the area more flex, and I was initially worried, so I contacted Klipsch. This is when I saw how great of a company they were. I told them the issue, they asked for shipping information. I thought they were going to send a new swivel, but no, I got a whole new pair of headphones. They didn't ask for proof of the damage. That is very impressive, especially when after my SoundMagic amp broke after a week of using it at home, MP4Nation wanted it shipped all the way back to China to get it repaired or replaced. It was an okay sounding amp, but was horribly made. I just tossed it and didn't bother sending it back. Even though my original Images Ones are toast, I still have a never used pair in a case sitting in my closet, and it is nice to have customer service like that. Of course the Image One's are marked up in price, like any headphone, but I like that a company would trust a customer and not require proof, and better yet, send a whole new pair, and not just a replacement part. Klipsch is an excellent company to deal with. While I prefer the Shure SE215's over Klipsch's S4's, Shure never responded back to me after I complimented them on how pleased I was with the cabling they use. Customer service is, I feel, extremely important, and whether you find a product to be better or worse than another, the company that cares about their customers is a good company. I've had great support from ClarityOne and Comply, if that helps anyone.
 
Back to the Image Ones, they are a good set of headphones, and the muffled mids and highs disappear with the use of a half decent amp (I was using an E11 with them before I lost the E11, and when they broke not long after).  They are no doubt bass heavy and they will impress most bassheads with delivering punchy, boomy, yet clean bass. One who wants neutral and analytical sound should probably look at another set, but for anyone, they have a fun sound, and with bass turned down, one will hear a sound that is great for listening for background music. They are a comfortable pair of headphones, but would be better with more clamping and/or smaller size. They would also be better if they were over-ears, or even smaller pads that are more  on-ear rather than in between. Someone with small ears will find these to be just large enough to be over-ears, and one with large ears will find them to be great on-ears. For me, my ears are just in the middle, and with a pad size that is right in the middle, sound leakage occurs. Overall a good buy, especially for $80. I got them for almost $150, but everything is more money in Canada it seems.

I picked these Nakamichi headphones up from Donny B's, an electronic shop in Kenora, Ontario. I'm quite sure they are a Radioshack for the most part. I am not sure if they are around anymore, because they were selling everything away when I got the headphones, including these headphones. I got them for $20, and he told me they were originally $150. I can find reviews or sales of this headphone on the internet, so it is not common it seems. 
 
The sound is decent when amped, although from how quiet it is on the E07K, even on 12 gain, they are clearly high impedance. The E07K powers them at 50-60 with 50 being the level of sound I like and 60 being a bit too loud. They have decent bass, mids and highs. There is nothing that stands out, so they are neutral. They are comfortable. The issue with the sound is that even though they aren't open back, the sound to someone standing next to them while they are on your head is nearly as loud as it is to you, who is wearing it. Even holding them together and covering the semi-open backs does not muffle the sound, which is odd. They are comfortable, despite the fact that the pad are hard and made from something that isn't even vinyl, just some sort of coated foam that was cracking off when I opened the headphones. The headband is the same.
 
Quality isn't great, other than the cable, which seems pretty tough. The plastic is thick, but looks like it would crack easy. Also, the previously mentioned pad material, which isn't even up to par with the Sennheiser pad material (a material that I found to be way to thin and will likely rip easily).
 
Overall, they are great for $20, even for $100, just taking sound into account. 

I gave these headphones to my father some time ago. They were decent, but I have moved onto much better ones and have found my niche to be over-ears rather than in-ears, partly due to full-sized have better, real life sound, and also due to the fact that I had a major ear infection in my right ear a while back, and I believe it actually blew my eardrum. Now, there is almost always fluid buildup in my right ear, and my sinus issues don't help matters. In ear headphones simply perpetuate the problem, especially in ears that are meant to go deep into the ear. I am mentioning this because, simply put, the S4's were the worst in-ears for bringing about that issue with my right ear. I hearing is still good thankfully. During the time when I got the S4's, I got them as gift. This gift was actually a pair of S3's. With rockbox on my Sansa, I blew both S3's drivers in a matter of ten minutes, and the ten minutes before destroying the drivers, the sound was horrible. The S4's were a godsend compared to the S3's. Like the S3's, I liked how lightweight and comfortable the S4's were. They went deep in the ear canals, but did not seem like they were. Isolation was as good as many headphones are with Comply foams.
 
The sound of the S4's is great really, and they certainly deserved the praise they received. I loved the bass that came out of them. Unlike other in-ears I had before, namely the Skullcandy Smokin' Buds, they bass did not cause eventual loose drivers and the annoying rattling that came with it. The S4's were really my true step up from crap that came with the Sansa and the not much better Skullcandy's. I of course knew that those headphones sounded terrible, but I wasn't well versed in the world of headphones at the time. The mids and highs were decent, although did not stand out. I can't say they were dead either, but the S4's clearly focused on what many and that range, and even more expensive headphones do: Bass. The S4's bass cannot be compared to the terribly overprices Beat's bass, but the bass is actually clearer and more natural sounding than the Beats. The mids and highs are clearer though. I know I am comparing in-ears to over/on ears, but it seems that headphones like the Beats are what everyone compares another headphone's bass level to. Overall, what I did not enjoy about the S4's was the overall unnatural sound. This is caused by a completely non-existent soundstage, and that magical resonance after an orchestra ends or the depth of the drums being behind the singer are not there. The orchestral notes simply become quieter, rather than echo away, and the vocals and drums sound next to each other and right up in your face. Don't get me wrong, the S4's sound good, but they sound like in-ears, while there are some in-ears that manage to actually sound like over-ears. When I was into in-ears, I never bought them because I like the sound of in-ears over over-ears, I bought them for portability, but sought a sound similar to the over-ear size. The S4's don't live up.
 
What really hurts the S4's I find is build quality. First, the driver housings seem to be made from a thin, easily cracked plastic. I never had anything happen to the housings, but was always thinking about something happening. The S4's cable is terribly thin and tangled. Just before I gave the headphones to my father, I noticed wear in some of the sheath, and it was going a gray color, versus the original white color. The area of the sheath felt pelt-like, or powdery. It never wore down to expose the cable, but I doubt there is much left until it does. Lastly, the cable doesn't fit tightly into the rubber stress relief rubber on the base of the housings, and that lead to me thinking a slight pull will put the wires out of the driver. To make matters worse, the rubber parts have molding seams and of bother housings, the rubber split on the seams, essentially making the stress relief non-existent.
 
Overall, the S4's are decent, offering good sound quality for the price, but they fall in quality. For $80, I think it is hard finding better sound, but for a bit more, you can get a pair of Shure SE215's, which don't sound similar to the S4's in any way really, but their sound impressed my about the same amount. The SE215 are top notch quality though, and maybe the few more dollars for them is worth it.

I cannot recall when I purchased the Shure SE215's, but I know that I immediately enjoyed them. This was of course before I moved on to more expensive models, and then shifted to on ear and over ear headphones, which offer better sound overall. The only reason I went with IEM's is because they were often easier to drive and ended up being louder. As a bagpiper, it is clear I like music loud, and before I knew about amps, headphones weren't good enough. The SE215's aren't the easiest in-ears to drive, and near full volume is needed to listen to them for me.

The SE215's have excellent bass, especially for the price of $100. The bass doesn't sound false, although clearly enhanced. The bass does fairly well in not hurting the mids, although the headphones have little soundstage, so seperation is not perfect, and the bass does bleed into the mids at times, along with the mids bleeding in the highs. What hurts this bleed more is that the mids and highs are very recessed and are merely there, never standing out or sparkling. I prefer a v curve in headphones, although over time the v curve has become closer to a level line for me. At the time, I enjoyed a strong v curve. The SE215's have a V curve, but only slightly at the highs, and with the bass being so strong, nothing else is ever focused on. The odd thing is, while recessed, the mids and highs became shrill at times, almost like the sound from mids and highs are blocked off somewhere, and when volume is high enough, only the shrillness comes through. I really enjoyed the headphones, and eventually shifted into foam tips, to deal with the shrillness. This helped, but seemed to dull the music even more. It was a worthy sacrifice at the time. Listening to the SE215's recent, a while after I last really used them, I can say I really don't like the sound, due to a lack of clarity, and too heavy of a bass, which I actually find to be unclear as well. With an amp, a FIIO E11 a the time the clarity improved, but the E11 boosted bass further. I have yet to try them on the E07k, but I suspect they will still not suit me well. My tastes have changed clearly, focusing more on musicality and clarity, rather than enhanced bass and highs, although I still do like small v-curve in the sound. As was stated before, the SE215's also lack any form of soundstage, and especially with foam tips, sound very closed in. With the amount of bass and lack of soundstage, these headphones will suit music such as rap and hip hop. These headphones will work with any current (mainstream) music really, which, for the most part, has abandoned musicality and any art form which music once had, for heavy, synthetic bass, and autotune. Sorry for the attack on anyone who likes current music, but I feel music of today, at least the stuff by artists like Bieber and Rihana, does not require audiophile level headphones, as there is no soundstage and naturalness that is needed to be displayed. Essentially, I believe a $40 pair of bass heavy phones will sound better that a less bass-emphasized high end headphone, for bass is the only thing that matters in the music. The SE2015's are bass heavy, and will suit current stuff just fine.


While the sound no longer impresses me, the quality of the SE215's continues to impress. The driver housings of the SE215's look somewhat week, but are made from a decently strong plastic. Better yet is the cable, it being 3-4 times thicker than the cables of many other in-ears, such as the Klipsch S4's. The drives can also be removed from the cable, which is nice if the cable were to fall apart, but I don't see the point if they provide such a great cable (not saying it is a bad thing though).


Price-wise, the SE215's were a good price I felt. $100 isn't cheap, but these headphones provide better sound and are of better quality than many other headphones in a similar price range.

These are a relatively unheard of set of headphones for the manufacturer ClarityOne, which happens to be a fairly unknown company as well. I had purchases the EB110's, and I liked them a lot, but the wiring in the jack shorted somewhere, so I decided to take them back for good reason. I was going to get the same headphones again, but decided to pay a bit more and get ClarityOne's newest headphone. I also usually prefer headphones over earphones.

I have just started listening to them, and have found them to be very, very mid heavy, moderate treble and lacking bass. This is me comparing to Klispch ImageOne's as my last over ear/ on ear headphone, which ever you would consider the Image One's to be, so they are likely a more balance set of phones than anything. This is, however, likely going to change, because I can actually feel, not just hear, that the headphones will burn in a considerable amount. This will likely open up the treble a tad, and the bass a fair amount I hope, but leave the amazing clarity that I currently hear in the treble. Right now, music sounds plain odd, not bad, but not what I am used to. The W102's are nowhere near the sound the EB110's were, and while they will burn in a lot, they will never be the v-curve sound signature the EB110's are.

The w102's are 8ohms, but not overly loud, and I find myself having to play these phones louder than I did on the EB110's and closer to what the ImageOne's volume setting was at. This could be due to lesser isolation than the EB110's, which is another thing to note: The W102's are not meant to be sound isolating. They don't fit extremely tight, but there is also not a huge amount of sound leakage. They are extremely comfortable, and I can not feel them on my head.

The quality of the W102's is top notch, other than the silver embellishments at the very ends of each side, which are a shiny fake chrome that look like will have chipping occurring. There is flaws in the manufacturing of this plastic as well. On the other hand, the pad material is great, nice and soft. Also, the pads are fitted into the headphones nicely, and won't pop off like the ones on the ImageOne's did. The headband has decently padded and has a good amount of surface area. The driver bodies are made out of aluminum and while they may chip over some portable use, they look well put together. The headphones aren't tight on the head, but don't move around either. The cable looks to be one-up on the EB110's cable, with a thick fabric shroud over the main cable. There is not much stress relief, which is what caused the EB110's quick shorting out, but the fabric is thick and doesn't allow the cable to flex extremely easy, which help. Microphonics is completely zero.



I will let you know more once burn in brings out the headphones, and as well as the sound with the e07k amping the headphones.


*UPDATE*

I let some pink noise go through the headphone for a couple hours at work and listened to them on my break. Very obvious that burn-in was working, for the original sound was much too harsh to have gotten used to in the 20 minutes of listening before playing the pink noise. I let the pink noise continue overnight and wow, what a great set of headphones, truly a neutral sound, a slightly recessed treble. The bass is not booming, but it can be felt even when you can't hear it a lot; a pulse travels through you, and not even on really low bass. Mids are great, but on lesser recordings, especially if they are mp3, there is a harshness to the mids...but on good recordings in lossless, mids are great. On Low Down, by Boz Scaggs, the overall song is warmly mastered, focusing on bass, and the warmth really shows in the headphones. On Great Big Sea's Lukey, the sound is harsh, possibly because of the recording quality, and this is made obvious on the W102's. Soundstage is great, not open headphone good, but they sound semi-open. I will be trying these phones on the E07K, which just came in, and so I will be expecting heavier bass, and a little bit more warmth, which I don't mind, as well as increased volume, which is greatly needed on a few of the albums I have on the Ipod. I will be using a LOD too, not an auxillary cable, so the cleanest sound can come through. One more thing to note is these headphones make flaws in music obvious, meaning any pop or sizzle in the sound file is clearly there. The distortion in Rocket Man, by Elton John when the drums are hit hard is very annoying. I will have to find a better recording I think. I heard this on other headphones, but it sounds truly disgusting on these headphones.

Overall, I would have paid $400 to get this sound from a set of headphones. The clarity is remarkable, and you can hear every small noise the artist makes while they play, like shuffling on a chair. On the 1812 by Tchaikovsky, you can hear resonance from the cannon and the sudden silences, and even with a song like Let There Be Rock, by AC/DC, which was never meant for soundstage and depth, you hear depth in the headphones, allowing the singing to stand out from the constantly sounding guitar and bass.

UPDATE

The burn-in process still seems to be working its wonders on the W102's. The somewhat harsh mids have dimished alsmost completely, but are still very forward, allowing the sound as a whole to be almost completely neutral. Bass remains to be on the lighter side, but still present in how it can be felt. I am coming from Image Ones, so the bass of most phones will sound small compared to them. The clarity of the W102's continues to be incredible. On reading about various phones, I came across a thread of the Etymotic ER4's, and the description of their sound is how I feel the W102's are. The acccuracy truly grows on you. I can hear little noises in the left channel, and I think they are clipping noises, but when I actually focus on them, I find they are notes from a guitar, or a drum, not loud , but there. It's something I never heard before. With an amp, I have come across an issue with the W102's: Distortion. The are low impedance and high sensitivity, and this leads to quick distortion, so even a bump of the bass to 2 on the E07K can result in distortion, but unlikely. 4, however does have distortion for sure. 4 is also too much bass for the most part, which actually makes me angry with the E07K: Why does the bass and treble increase and decrease in 2's? There is no point to make it in 10 levels up or down, just makes 5 levels.



*Update*

The headphones are gone now, I returned them. While good sound, the cable, like their younger in-ear brother has poor stress relief. I had returned the EB110's because of the cable shorting out in under a week, the same with the W102's. A shame they can't make some decent cable on the headphones.