Build

Someone had a field day making these. Pretty good weight, nice shiny backing material, plastic used feels and looks nice. No thin pleather pads, proper magnetics. Unfortunately the magnets on the pads are quite weak, and I often found myself having to reattach them when I picked the headphones up to use. These are one of very few electrostatic headphones you can plug directly into a 3.5mm jack with no adapter or amplifier. For some reason, they need to be charged to function, even in analog mode, which is an incredibly frustrating quirk.

While using these and organizing my room, a sharp shock was delivered to my upper-left ear. It was not enough to burn me, but I have decided not to use these headphones anymore.

Sound

Driving

I had to turn the volume up to 75(Max) on my LGV30 to listen to these at a moderately loud level.

Soundstage

These are closed-backs, so the soundstage isn't very wide. It does have a noticeable depth to it, though.

Tuning/Detail

The resolution on the HP102 isn't great. It's certainly better than a $20 Sony, but I expected far more from the hybrid driver in these. There are no glaring tuning issues in these, and the FR in the manual looks rather flat, but these headphones sounded off, like the music was missing something.

Notes

These feature a built-in MP3 player.

Build

To be honest, I'm not really sure whether these are open or semi-open. They have these small silver grills on the backs of the cups, but I can't see through them. But regardless of that, these are built like tanks. Vintage headphones, so they have a distinct heft to them, but no other comfort issues.

Sound

Driving

These are easy headphones to drive, but like many vintage headphones, the audio jack is a 6.35mm.

Soundstage

Gigantic soundstage, easily extends out of the massive earcups the drivers are housed in, but still feels centered.

Tuning/Detail

I am absolutely blown away by how detailed these are for how old they are. The resolution on these isn't as good as some of my other cans like the Fostex T20v2, but the depth completely makes up for it. No serious tuning issues as far as I can tell.

Build​

The Skullcandy Crushers are closed-back cans with decent build quality. The cups on these don't envelop your ears as much as they consume them. I can't attest to durability since I only use them intermittently.

Sound​

Driving​

The Crushers are very easy headphones to drive.

Soundstage​

The Crushers' soundstage extends about as far as the cups.

Tuning / Detail​

The tuning is where these get really fun. These aren't audiophile headphones by any means, but they do come with a bass slider. This slider can turn up the bass on music to comical levels. Every time I use the Crushers I find myself grinning like a mad scientist as the haptic motors inside start vibrating like a massage chair and the bass destroys the music I'm listening to. Of course, with high levels of audio comes fatigue, and it is very easy to get ear fatigue wearing these. I often find myself having to take them off after as little as 10 minutes of use, although you can attribute that mainly to user error (turning up the slider is just so fun!)

Build​

These are closed back cans with a design reminiscent of AKG's K200 series. They come with a fairly long non-removable cable. In terms of comfort, they envelop the ears completely, but the pads are fairly shallow. Because of this, I've found my ears pressing against the rough, plastic grating thinly veiled behind the fabric inside the pads.

Sound​

Driving​

The Retros are very easy headphones to drive.

Soundstage​

The soundstage of the Retros doesn't go outside of the cups, but this isn't a significant issue since the cups are already fairly large.

Tuning / Detail​

These headphones have some serious bass, and while not necessarily muddy, the bass will take the lead in music played out of the Retros. The Retros have exceptional detail for the price, and are a great option for anyone willing to put up with the comfort issues.

Build​

There are definitely reasons to dislike the cheap plastic build of the UR40s, but I believe that in this case the benefits far outweigh the costs. Because of the material used, the UR40s are uncannily light for a pair of over-ears. Unlike many other cans in this price range ($30-40), they don't overly clamp on your ears or tear out your hair. In terms of durability, they fare well. I've tossed these around quite a few times, and the only damage on them I've been able to find is that one of the metal grills has detached from the outer cup and can now be pushed forward. As far as I can tell, this doesn't affect the headphone in any notable way.

Sound​

Driving
These headphones are very easy to drive.

Soundstage
The staging on the UR40s isn't exceptionally wide, but it is lush. I find myself lost in the music I'm listening to when I use these, especially when it blends with the UR40s' warm tuning.

Tuning / Detail
The UR40s are tuned fairly warm, but while the bass takes the lead in these cans, I've never found that it clogs up the music. These have the expected amount of imaging and detail of hi-fi cans in their price range (good).