Edifier H840 Hi-Fi Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Monitor Headphone - Black

In Indonesia where I live, Edifier has a decent following due to the popularity of their H180 and H185 earbuds, and their multimedia speakers. When I found out they have a full-sized headphone for USD25 at the time, I jumped on it. The following is a long-term report and there is a link to mod tutorial that I created.

We've heard of headphones that has crappy build quality but sounds great because the manufacturer seemingly put most of the budget in the drivers. Quite the contrary for the H840, in my opinion. It's well built. The plastics used are of good quality, they're thick and feels solid. There is very little to no creaking or noise from the casing itself. The headband and ear pads are soft pleather, definitely not hard or rough. The standard cable is 2 meters long with gold plated jack.

In its stock form, the sound can be described as 'warm' and I imagine suits modern pop music well. It has decent rumble and sub-bass even, but I feel the bass interferes too much with the mid-low and changes the overall balance of the sound. After owning it for ~1 year I decided to modify it to see if I can change the sound signature.

You can read about the mod here: https://willyboy.home.blog/2020/02/19/edifier-h840-review-and-mods/

After the mod, the sound is much much more balanced, I can heard ambience on recordings that were sound just dead and studio-like. The treble is extended and overall balance is improved. The mod is completely reversible, I highly recommend you look into it if you own one of these.

Review of the Edifier H840 Full Size Headphone Here.


http://www.head-fi.org/t/796429/edifier-h840#post_12291616

Edifier is a fairly new brand here at Head-Fi. They make a $50-$80 flagship called the H850. After reading reviews I decided that I didn't need another headphone that sounded like the Edifier H850. Basically they recommend the H840 if your looking for a bass centric signature, and man do they deliver. It's actually hard to tell by looking at these headphones that they would sound like they do. They defy gravity puting out the volume of sound they produce in relationship to weight.

They are far from perfect, but ended up being a really fun headphone to use in my home rig. After picking them up I spent about an hour just using them with an iPhone. They are actually made to be a folding portable headphone. Out of the phone I realized I would need to do some EQ to lower the bass. Using EQ is just a thing I never do. Still with portable use, EQ is the only way to tame the bass response. Interestingly when I arrived home a month ago the entertainment really started. Using a home system the H840s scaled to a place few cheap headphones could ever go to. The bass amount was still there but the sound-stage opened up and even the lower mids and bass areas were filled with detail. I had no interest in EQ or ever using them with a phone again. Due to the build quality, I also felt they would last longer indoors. They seem to have spent 98% of the cost on sound and 2% on build.

There is a link to the full review above. Enjoy.



Edit:
More time has passed and mental and physical burn-in have taken place. I have started to like using them with a portable device.