Edifier M815 Over-the-ear Headphones with Mic and Volume Control - Black

EDIFIER M-815 Multi purpose Closed headphone

Firstly, I want to thank Thomas from Edifier for giving me this headphones in exchange of my honest and objective review. I'm not affiliated to Edifier and find this opportunity for free review sample here on Headfi forum. As my curious ears want to try everything, I could not pass this opportunity.




CONSTRUCTION:
The construction of the M-815 is rather fragile and all made of plastic. The positive side is that it's extremely light but I feel that the headphone can broke if you drop them on a hard floor. Because of the glossy plastic it can be very easily scratch. It have false leather cusions that are thick and very comfortable and a memory foam padding on the headband that don't cause any pression on top of the head. The M-815 have a rather urban look, not too flashy with his glossy black plastic, and not that far from looking like the Beat headphones. you don't look like an astronaut that just land in the middle of the street when you wear them in public.

PACKAGING :

The packaging look like this.




It include an air plane adapter and extra 20cm plug. Not much to tell about this.

-SOUND-

For this review I use mostly my Ibasso Dx90 without extra amplifier. I will include some impressions of sounds performance with my Ipod Touch and my Macbook with the E7 Dac-Amp (Wolfson WM8740).

LOW :
This is bass monster headphones, first time I try them wasn't really aware of this, just thinking, well they soud bassy and it kick hard. Real bone breaking bass appear when the seal is very tigh. When you got this, the bass doesn't escape, it is there, everywhere, big vast subwoofer like bass. For some, it's a turn off, but I need this type of soundsignature for my Trap Rap and IDM music collection and it play this extremely well. Neutral headphones for this type of music isn't very exciting and I guess the producer did not want you to have a analytical headphones like you were a serious classical music critic that search for any imperfections in a composition. So, yes, Basshead closed headphones we have here, bass that extend far in the low, with some tweaking so it feel more rounded, punchy and full. Not a lot a texture, rather bright too, but even if the bass stole the star to everything else it do not bloat on mids and high. Listening to Earl Sweatshirt right now, sound is way more fun and lively than my Sennheiser HD280 that cost twice the price, but the construction of Sennheiser is invincible and have an emphasis on more lower frequencies. Still, as said the bass isn't perfect and can make sound weird too textured synth bass....wich happen with the very first track of Sweatshirt, when I put the Ibasso to low gain it became more listenable. When I try this headphones with my Ipod touch it was way too bassy for normal human being and after 1 minutes I got an headaches so...with the right gear the bass is joyfull and plentyfull, very accurate and airy, bright without harshness and it do not make any distortion. I love it!

MIDS:
Hum, so, this is a classic V shaped sound with a classic V shaped issue : lack of fowardness in medium frequencies. Vocals can feel a little bit too backward with some type of music (Trap not include) and I guess this can be easily compensate with a good EQ (wich the Ibasso do not have). Anyway, the mids are there and quite clear and bright, they do not disappear as with cheap headphones, no distortion issue either, just not enough airy and present to my taste. I like warm, thick mids with good spatiality wich this Closed headphones do not deliver, but this is personal taste. I can't say the vocals and instruments like violin or saxophone sound bad but I prefer how the mids sound with the Edifier M-710 on-ear headphones wich are very present, more textured and have an in-you-face ''grado-ish'' style. Because of the vast (!) soundstage of the M-815 some people will adore the mids as they are stock in the middle of a very lively and energic sound and have enough presence to be enjoyable but not mesmerising. If I give a note to the mids it will be a 7 out of 10, wich is not bad at all. The problem of recessive mids only occur when big bass take big place, listening right now to Julian Holter at low gain the toms it hard with violin and slap bass and her voice is beautifully presented, I think the problem will be more present with high compressed music as this album is in 24bit flac and sound superb with the M-815.

HIGHS and TREBLE :
Details retreival is quite good with this headphones, it is tweaked a little to fit better in pop genre but this is a well done soundsignature that do not cause ear fatigue (the bass can tough) and give lot of energy and instruments separation feel (not balanced). Treble haven't a lot of sparkle and is on the bright side, it can tend to make the sound dry both you do not have any sibilance and the envelopping bass give roundness to the overall sound presentation and warm the treble a little bit. You must know that I have the bad habbit of listening music REALLY LOUD, don't do that kid, acouphene isn't urban legend. So, at max volume the highs became more peircing and some type of voice will begin to hiss. Normal human being will just heard smoothness with the Edifier, they are less bright than their on-ear brother and I feel highs is a little roll off at the bottom end. Lack of texture is there too and treble lack sparkle to help a more balanced sound presentation. Another time, for 40$ you got lots of details that is way above it's price range and I judge this 40$ headphones sound as I will judge a 300$ pair, this is why you must take what I write in perspective of his price range.




OVERALL SOUND IMPRESSIONS :
Personally, I adore this headphones and feel they are a hidden gem, perhaps their look or all plastic construction did not help them to get the praise that they deserve but they are confortable and light because of this design. The soundstage is quite big for a closed can and instruments separation very good for their little price. Bass is very exciting and boomy but not bloated like some closed headphones I heard at more than twice the price. More I listen to them and more I consider them as a good all arounder, really as a guy that have own 1000$ headphone I begin to think price value tend to diminish when the price go higher. It's a soundsignature that fit our taste that we search and if you are like me and listen to a wide range of music this belong to your collection. All type of beat driven electronic music is really fun with the Edifier M-815.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

INTRODUCTION

About a couple of weeks ago. Thomas from Edifier contacted me to review another one of their new products. I accepted the offer and chose the M815 because of the legacy that the M850 introduced. It seems that I was right to pick it. The M815 is quite interesting. So I give my gratitude to Thomas and everyone else on Edifier for giving me the opportunity to review the M815. I will now go into detail of the M815. First the Build Quality.

BUILD QUALITY

The way the M815 was designed seems quite average. The thing that troubles me is the small strain relief at the bottom of the left ear cup. It's not thick. Neither is it stiff. It moves a bit. So I suggest to be very careful when handling with the cord. The housing of the headphones are made of a thick and lightweight plastic. It feels somewhat sturdy, along with a very thick and rubbery cable and the auxilary jack is also fairly sturdy. So it should last for a long time. Although the M815 is not very flexible. So don't twist it. Now for the design/fit and specifications.

SPECIFICATIONS

What's in the box

M815 Headphone x 1；3M Cable；User Manual x 1

M815 FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz～20kHz

IMPEDANCE: 40Ω

CONNECTOR TYPE: Straight

SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL: 101dB

CABLE LENGTH: 1.3m

WEIGHT: 0.19KG

CONNECTOR: 3.5mm

INLINE CONTROL: Included

DESIGN/FIT

The M815 lacks the ability to fold near the ear cups. Due to the lack of folding. It would be wise to get a headphone case that's big enough to store it. The M815 has the cable on the left side. Which also contains a volume slider and a mute switch. I tried the volume slider and it works like a charm. You can adjust the volume for anything to your liking. Only up to maximum volume the device is on or what the device is generally capable of. I tried the mute switch and it only works on phone calls. It doesn't work on my ASUS Zenfone 2 when it comes to music playback. I used Poweramp and Neutron and it was inconclusive. The fit is quite good. I have a lot of hair, bit it's not and issue to get a secure fit. BTW, the comfort for these are amazing and I hardly get hot ears from wearing the M815 for hours at a time. The noise isolation is decent. Not the best out there. I find myself turning up the volume at noisy environments. Not at noise deafening levels though.







Before I go on to the SQ. I should mention that I used my ASUS Zenfone 2 with the Poweramp and Neutron apps. With at least 25 hours of burn in. Along with the Topping NX2 and no EQ for proper feedback.

The results.

SOUND QUALITY

BASS

It's fast. Around the same speed as my Ultrasone HFI-450. It's well controlled and can extend the shallow regions of subbass. The texture is quite good too. You can hear various tones of bass. Which leads me to believe that the M815 can do well with Trap, Chillstep and Trance. I tested that out. I listened to Fighting For Freedom (Nish Remix) by StripE (MP3: 320KBPS Hard Trance). The bassline in that track demonstrated very good speed, control and depth. The great thing about the midbass is that it's kind of muted. So it will not bleed into midrange. Speaking of which.

MIDRANGE

This is where it gets good. It's amazing. The midrange is so transparent, detailed and slightly warm. It reminds me of my DUNU Titan 1. It's generally around the same level in clarity and detail. The M815 demonstrates forward vocals quite well. I listened to Young by Vallis Alps (FLAC 771 KBPS) on my Zenfone 2. It's like the lead singer was singing really close to me. Her vocals was very clear and distinct. I can hear her. Word for word. The guitars sound quite well rendered in this song. No sibilance to speak of either. Which reminds me.

TREBLE

It's also forward. Very forward and bright. No hissing. Just sparkly and extended treble. It also provides an airiness to the sound. As a result. The music can sound pretty lively with the right track. For example. The track Silvery Wings (Short Version) by Onoken (MP3 320 KBPS) demonstrates the liveliness of guitars. I just love that track even more now. Thanks Edifier. Now about that airiness.

SOUNDSTAGE/HEADSTAGE

The sense of space is pretty good for a closed back headphone. It's not like my Beyerdynamic DTX910, but it's close. The width is a couple of centimeters past the dynamic drivers inside the headphones. The depth is above average for its' price point. The M815's depth is a slightly scaled back version of the Beyerdynamic DTX 910. The height is very good. The M815 can push the air as high as the top of the ear cups. Pretty similar to my Ultrasone HFI-450. Before I end this review. There are a couple of more things to mention....

ACCURACY/IMAGING

Another great aspect of the M815. The accuracy is pretty decent. It's good at portraying the recording of the music at a decent level. Due to the bright and neutral qualities of the sound the M815 and the great accuracy. The imaging is pretty vivid. You can hear what the image of the instruments and vocals very clearly. The timbre also sounds very natural. The vocals and strings do not sound artificial at all. Unless if they are suppose to be artificial.

SEPARATION/LAYERING

It's pretty impressive what the M815 is capable of in these categories. The instruments and vocals keep themselves away from each other pretty well for most soundtracks I listen to. Mostly. In very fast tracks they may stumble a bit. For what it's worth. It's very satisfactory.


AMPING

This is the tricky part. I used my Zenfone 2 and it seems that Neutron was the most capable. I found myself turning up the volume near the max with Poweramp. Now with the NX2. The only music player I could use with the USB DAC was Neutron. Otherwise the amp was more than enough for both players. The volume was 50/50 on both devices. It's probably because of the higher than average impedance of 40 ohms from the M815.

CONCLUSION

In the end. It seems that the M815 was close. I do not own the M815, but in comparison to my other headphones. It held it's own quite well. For those of you that are looking for a balanced and neutral sound with fast bass and a slightly above average soundstage. The M815 is for you. If you demand lots of bass and the lack of portability bothers you. Then look elsewhere. Otherwise for $50. It's hard for me to say no because the pros slightly outweigh the cons.