Final SONOROUS III
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Introduction
Final is a company that needs no introduction. It has a long history in the audio industry, and in the past several years it specializes in the design and manufacture of IEMs and headphones. I have reviewed some Final IEMs, ranging from the very modestly priced E2000C/E3000C to the Company’s flagship (and very expensive) A8000. Obviously, all these IEMs do not have the same performance. A8000 has a stellar performance in terms of balance, transparency, natural presentation and almost zero distortion; it is among the very best IEMs on the planet today, and it is my personal reference set. On the other hand, even very reasonably priced Final IEMs, like E2000/E3000, have a lot of the merits of their (much higher priced) siblings, like A8000. These merits are summarized to want I call “Final tonality”, which for me is unique, and I dare to say that I have not found in almost all other IEMs that I have tried.
However, Final also makes headphones! Currently, they are making the D series, the Sonorous series and the wireless UX series. Originally, the Sonorous series included many models, from the flagship (and really highly priced) Sonorous X and VIII to the rather modestly priced Sonorous III and II. Recently, Final decided to discontinue all Sonorous models except for the III and II, keeping as their flagship headphones the D8000, which however use a planar magnetic driver, so it is a whole different design.
I recently got a sample of Sonorous III, and I was very much interested to see how good they sound given that their MSRP is $399.00 and sometimes go on sale for as low as $299.00, so certainly they won't break your bank!
Description
Sonorous is a whole series originally including six different models, II, III, IV, VI, VIII and X. Now, it is quite interesting that II, III, VIII and X are single dynamic driver models, while IV and VI are hybrid, adding to the dynamic driver a balance armature one.
The first thing that I have to point out is that the flagship Sonorous X shares quite a bit with Sonorous III. As much as this might sound crazy and before you blame me that I am highly exaggerating, please allow me to mention a few things that may convince you for the truthfulness of my statement. First of all, if you put Sonorous X and III side by side, you will realize that they have the same type of exterior housing; just look at the above pictures! Of course, the ear cups of the X are made of highly polished stainless steel and aluminum, while for the III it was used textured ABS of excellent quality; please let me also mention that the whole of the Sonorous series is manufactured in the premises of Final in Japan. So, although the III may be considered the “poor man’s” X, it nonetheless looks really nice.
Even more interesting is that Sonorous X and III share the same driver philosophy: A 50mm dynamic driver, with the driver unit integrated with the front plate. This design, according to Final, reduces the instabilities, such as resonance and deflection, that adversely affect sound quality and at the same time enhance clarity. Now, on the X, the driver unit and the front plate are machined as an integrated unit from the same piece of aluminum magnesium alloy, while on the III the front plate is moulded from a hard resin that is comprised of hard polycarbonate strengthened with 30% glass added to it. It is also remarkable that both the X and the III sport the same titanium diaphragm.
Another common feature that both the Sonorous X and III share is the BAM (Balancing Air Movement) mechanism. This was originally developed for balanced armature drivers, and it is the first time that it has been employed on a dynamic driver. The idea of the BAM system is to optimize the air pressure on the front and the back of the diaphragm, and the result is the accurate reproduction of bass tones and the three-dimensional spatial representation. On top of that, Final applied on III even more precise tuning based on knowledge obtained through the development of X.
Moreover, both Sonorous X and III employ a 3.5mm metal plated monaural termination plugs, which takes care of poor connection through changes over time. Furthermore, on the headphone end the plugs are terminated with a locking mechanism that rotates 90 degrees, which is a Final’s proprietary system.
Last but not least, Final knows that the ear pads used in headphones play an important role in sound quality; the reason is very simple: The low frequency varies with the space between the ear pad and the ear. In order to achieve optimal sound quality and superior fit, Final employed synthetic leather, which is equally flexible both horizontally and vertically, and has carefully chosen the sponge padding materials which, with the right apertures on the interior and exterior of the pads, ensure clear sound quality with sealed headphones. It is really impressive that Final developed different set of pads for different Sonorous models, while particular attention was given into the pads used in Sonorous III.
Attention to every little detail might be unusual or even considered peculiarity for some companies, but it is the trend for and should therefore be expected from Final! The question is how all this meticulous design translates into sound quality; let’s find out!
The sound
I hope it became clear that Sonorous III shares a number of common features with the flagship Sonorous X, so it is natural to expect, and it is actually no wonder, that the two share quite a bit in their sound signature. Although I do believe that this is a true statement, I cannot confirm it, simply because I did not have a chance to listen to the X. On the other hand, I am also pretty sure that the X is a true and clear upgrade of the III; otherwise, how could one justify an “upgrade” in the price of III by 12x?
Nonetheless, I shall go ahead and say it upfront: The sound signature of Sonorous III is simply exquisite, far beyond of what one would expect from a set costing $299.00-$399.00. It is balanced, yet natural and realistic; so, it is not sterile, and certainly not neutral, a term that many people like to use. As I have mentioned in previous reviews, to me there is no real neutrality in a sound signature; the main reason for this is that the tuning of a headphone or an IEM is made by a real person, who no matter how much tries to keep his personal preference out of the tuning, it is really impossible to do it 100%.
So, Sonorous III has the beautiful, and unique I should say, Final tonality that characterizes every headphone or IEM made by the Company. It has a really relaxed sound with precisely the correct amount of bass, mids and tremble, and it invites you to listen more and more to it.
The bass is balanced between sub- and mid-bass, and if you ask me which one is prevailing, I would have a hard time to tell you; in some musical pieces I thought that it is the sub-bass and in others I thought it is the mid-bass; so, Sonorous III is a chameleon that can change according to the song, which I do like. Nonetheless, in all cases, whether sub- or mid-bass, it is full, polite, tight and extremely well controlled.
The mids are never forward or recessed, and both female and male vocals are presented beautifully, with a sense of naturalness and realism.
The tremble is very extended, so the sound is crisp and very detailed without any hint of roll of; however, it is never harsh and, no matter for how long you listen to, you never get the impression of fatigueness.
The soundstage is huge, in height, width and depth, while the image is spatial and holographic; you feel that the sound is all around you and fills the room and beyond. The separation and dynamics are excellent, while Sonorous III is really an easy load.
I tried Sonorous III on a big variety of songs like “The Look Of Love” by Diana Krall, from the album with the same name, Verve, or “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Jack Savoretti, Lanza Music Limited, and in all of them all female and male vocals were beautifully presented. I also played through the III many jazz pieces by Vince Guaraldi, and the performance was nothing short of outstanding. Finally, I tried Sonorous III in “Fanfare For The Volunteer” by Mark O’Connor, from the album with the same name, Sony Classical. This is a beautiful and very demanding orchestral piece with many high and low passages, which is very common in orchestral music, and once again Sonorous III managed to deliver it in a masterful way.
Another interesting thing is that although Sonorous III is on the heavy side, weighting 410g, I never felt any discomfort, at least not up to 2-3 hours that I was wearing it; you certainly feel that it is on your head, but it does not tend to press you and thus lead you to remove it.
Now, as I already mentioned, Final, having realized the importance of ear pads, provides in its Sonorous series five types, A-E; my Sonorous III came with the D-type, and it is quite interesting that also appropriate for it is B-, C- and E-type pads; I don’t have them, but I promise to ask Final for them and update my review.
Selected comparison
I compared Sonorous III to Sennheiser HD599, one of Sennheiser’s popular models. Both headphones have similar sensitivity, although the Sonorous III is an easier load, 16Ω versus 50Ω for the HD599 (which is also a fairly easy load).
The HD599 is cheaper, costing $199.95. It has a balanced sound signature, but clearly on the warm side, which is probably the reason for its popularity. It lacks the transparency and resolution of Sonorous III and, up to a point, its holographic image. The dynamics and separation is about the same in both sets. I guess one has, up to a certain extent, to sacrifice some of the resolution and transparency for the warm sound signature; this is not necessarily bad, but rather a matter of choice, and it is also something that many people do prefer.
Overall, the Sonorous III is, for my taste, superior to HD599. Of course, one could say that the III is $100.00 more expensive; personally, I wouldn’t mind paying $100.00 if I would enjoy the level of performance that Sonorous III has to offer.
Conclusion
I know that $299.00-$399.00 that Sonorous III costs is not little money. However, I dare to say that for what it does is a true bargain. It has the great Final tonality, so it is beautifully balanced, yet natural and with a sense of realism that you rarely meet at this price level. It has an articulate and well controlled bass, mellow mids and extended tremble. It also has a huge soundstage, spatial image and great dynamics and separation. And on top of all this, its quality is unsurpassed.
I am pretty sure that Sonorous III performance is very close to that of Sonorous X for just a fraction of the cost, while you would have to pay substantially more if you wanted to go to the next level. Personally, I am most satisfied with what Sonorous III can do, and I could not be more enthusiastic about it.
Specifications
Housing: ABS
Driver: 50mmΦ dynamic
Sensitivity: 105dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Weight: 410g
Cord length: 1.5ｍ
https://snext-final.com
Reviewer’s note: The reviewer is grateful to Kyo of Final Inc. for sending him a sample of Sonorous III.
Final is a company that needs no introduction. It has a long history in the audio industry, and in the past several years it specializes in the design and manufacture of IEMs and headphones. I have reviewed some Final IEMs, ranging from the very modestly priced E2000C/E3000C to the Company’s flagship (and very expensive) A8000. Obviously, all these IEMs do not have the same performance. A8000 has a stellar performance in terms of balance, transparency, natural presentation and almost zero distortion; it is among the very best IEMs on the planet today, and it is my personal reference set. On the other hand, even very reasonably priced Final IEMs, like E2000/E3000, have a lot of the merits of their (much higher priced) siblings, like A8000. These merits are summarized to want I call “Final tonality”, which for me is unique, and I dare to say that I have not found in almost all other IEMs that I have tried.
However, Final also makes headphones! Currently, they are making the D series, the Sonorous series and the wireless UX series. Originally, the Sonorous series included many models, from the flagship (and really highly priced) Sonorous X and VIII to the rather modestly priced Sonorous III and II. Recently, Final decided to discontinue all Sonorous models except for the III and II, keeping as their flagship headphones the D8000, which however use a planar magnetic driver, so it is a whole different design.
I recently got a sample of Sonorous III, and I was very much interested to see how good they sound given that their MSRP is $399.00 and sometimes go on sale for as low as $299.00, so certainly they won't break your bank!
Description
Sonorous is a whole series originally including six different models, II, III, IV, VI, VIII and X. Now, it is quite interesting that II, III, VIII and X are single dynamic driver models, while IV and VI are hybrid, adding to the dynamic driver a balance armature one.
The first thing that I have to point out is that the flagship Sonorous X shares quite a bit with Sonorous III. As much as this might sound crazy and before you blame me that I am highly exaggerating, please allow me to mention a few things that may convince you for the truthfulness of my statement. First of all, if you put Sonorous X and III side by side, you will realize that they have the same type of exterior housing; just look at the above pictures! Of course, the ear cups of the X are made of highly polished stainless steel and aluminum, while for the III it was used textured ABS of excellent quality; please let me also mention that the whole of the Sonorous series is manufactured in the premises of Final in Japan. So, although the III may be considered the “poor man’s” X, it nonetheless looks really nice.
Even more interesting is that Sonorous X and III share the same driver philosophy: A 50mm dynamic driver, with the driver unit integrated with the front plate. This design, according to Final, reduces the instabilities, such as resonance and deflection, that adversely affect sound quality and at the same time enhance clarity. Now, on the X, the driver unit and the front plate are machined as an integrated unit from the same piece of aluminum magnesium alloy, while on the III the front plate is moulded from a hard resin that is comprised of hard polycarbonate strengthened with 30% glass added to it. It is also remarkable that both the X and the III sport the same titanium diaphragm.
Another common feature that both the Sonorous X and III share is the BAM (Balancing Air Movement) mechanism. This was originally developed for balanced armature drivers, and it is the first time that it has been employed on a dynamic driver. The idea of the BAM system is to optimize the air pressure on the front and the back of the diaphragm, and the result is the accurate reproduction of bass tones and the three-dimensional spatial representation. On top of that, Final applied on III even more precise tuning based on knowledge obtained through the development of X.
Moreover, both Sonorous X and III employ a 3.5mm metal plated monaural termination plugs, which takes care of poor connection through changes over time. Furthermore, on the headphone end the plugs are terminated with a locking mechanism that rotates 90 degrees, which is a Final’s proprietary system.
Last but not least, Final knows that the ear pads used in headphones play an important role in sound quality; the reason is very simple: The low frequency varies with the space between the ear pad and the ear. In order to achieve optimal sound quality and superior fit, Final employed synthetic leather, which is equally flexible both horizontally and vertically, and has carefully chosen the sponge padding materials which, with the right apertures on the interior and exterior of the pads, ensure clear sound quality with sealed headphones. It is really impressive that Final developed different set of pads for different Sonorous models, while particular attention was given into the pads used in Sonorous III.
Attention to every little detail might be unusual or even considered peculiarity for some companies, but it is the trend for and should therefore be expected from Final! The question is how all this meticulous design translates into sound quality; let’s find out!
The sound
I hope it became clear that Sonorous III shares a number of common features with the flagship Sonorous X, so it is natural to expect, and it is actually no wonder, that the two share quite a bit in their sound signature. Although I do believe that this is a true statement, I cannot confirm it, simply because I did not have a chance to listen to the X. On the other hand, I am also pretty sure that the X is a true and clear upgrade of the III; otherwise, how could one justify an “upgrade” in the price of III by 12x?
Nonetheless, I shall go ahead and say it upfront: The sound signature of Sonorous III is simply exquisite, far beyond of what one would expect from a set costing $299.00-$399.00. It is balanced, yet natural and realistic; so, it is not sterile, and certainly not neutral, a term that many people like to use. As I have mentioned in previous reviews, to me there is no real neutrality in a sound signature; the main reason for this is that the tuning of a headphone or an IEM is made by a real person, who no matter how much tries to keep his personal preference out of the tuning, it is really impossible to do it 100%.
So, Sonorous III has the beautiful, and unique I should say, Final tonality that characterizes every headphone or IEM made by the Company. It has a really relaxed sound with precisely the correct amount of bass, mids and tremble, and it invites you to listen more and more to it.
The bass is balanced between sub- and mid-bass, and if you ask me which one is prevailing, I would have a hard time to tell you; in some musical pieces I thought that it is the sub-bass and in others I thought it is the mid-bass; so, Sonorous III is a chameleon that can change according to the song, which I do like. Nonetheless, in all cases, whether sub- or mid-bass, it is full, polite, tight and extremely well controlled.
The mids are never forward or recessed, and both female and male vocals are presented beautifully, with a sense of naturalness and realism.
The tremble is very extended, so the sound is crisp and very detailed without any hint of roll of; however, it is never harsh and, no matter for how long you listen to, you never get the impression of fatigueness.
The soundstage is huge, in height, width and depth, while the image is spatial and holographic; you feel that the sound is all around you and fills the room and beyond. The separation and dynamics are excellent, while Sonorous III is really an easy load.
I tried Sonorous III on a big variety of songs like “The Look Of Love” by Diana Krall, from the album with the same name, Verve, or “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Jack Savoretti, Lanza Music Limited, and in all of them all female and male vocals were beautifully presented. I also played through the III many jazz pieces by Vince Guaraldi, and the performance was nothing short of outstanding. Finally, I tried Sonorous III in “Fanfare For The Volunteer” by Mark O’Connor, from the album with the same name, Sony Classical. This is a beautiful and very demanding orchestral piece with many high and low passages, which is very common in orchestral music, and once again Sonorous III managed to deliver it in a masterful way.
Another interesting thing is that although Sonorous III is on the heavy side, weighting 410g, I never felt any discomfort, at least not up to 2-3 hours that I was wearing it; you certainly feel that it is on your head, but it does not tend to press you and thus lead you to remove it.
Now, as I already mentioned, Final, having realized the importance of ear pads, provides in its Sonorous series five types, A-E; my Sonorous III came with the D-type, and it is quite interesting that also appropriate for it is B-, C- and E-type pads; I don’t have them, but I promise to ask Final for them and update my review.
Selected comparison
I compared Sonorous III to Sennheiser HD599, one of Sennheiser’s popular models. Both headphones have similar sensitivity, although the Sonorous III is an easier load, 16Ω versus 50Ω for the HD599 (which is also a fairly easy load).
The HD599 is cheaper, costing $199.95. It has a balanced sound signature, but clearly on the warm side, which is probably the reason for its popularity. It lacks the transparency and resolution of Sonorous III and, up to a point, its holographic image. The dynamics and separation is about the same in both sets. I guess one has, up to a certain extent, to sacrifice some of the resolution and transparency for the warm sound signature; this is not necessarily bad, but rather a matter of choice, and it is also something that many people do prefer.
Overall, the Sonorous III is, for my taste, superior to HD599. Of course, one could say that the III is $100.00 more expensive; personally, I wouldn’t mind paying $100.00 if I would enjoy the level of performance that Sonorous III has to offer.
Conclusion
I know that $299.00-$399.00 that Sonorous III costs is not little money. However, I dare to say that for what it does is a true bargain. It has the great Final tonality, so it is beautifully balanced, yet natural and with a sense of realism that you rarely meet at this price level. It has an articulate and well controlled bass, mellow mids and extended tremble. It also has a huge soundstage, spatial image and great dynamics and separation. And on top of all this, its quality is unsurpassed.
I am pretty sure that Sonorous III performance is very close to that of Sonorous X for just a fraction of the cost, while you would have to pay substantially more if you wanted to go to the next level. Personally, I am most satisfied with what Sonorous III can do, and I could not be more enthusiastic about it.
Specifications
Housing: ABS
Driver: 50mmΦ dynamic
Sensitivity: 105dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Weight: 410g
Cord length: 1.5ｍ
https://snext-final.com
Reviewer’s note: The reviewer is grateful to Kyo of Final Inc. for sending him a sample of Sonorous III.
kmmbd
Good review, and I love the Sonorous III. The only closed-back with better staging among the ones I've heard is the Sennheiser HD820 and that tells a lot.
branislav
Great headphone for the money. A bit dry sounding and lacking in soundstage depth but again for the money it was hard to beat. Nighthawk were the opposite spectrum.
notaris
Sonorous III is truly underrated; I had not realized that before the review. Final used a lot of the experience they got from the development of Sonorous VIII and X; so, I am sure that the X and III will appear to be "cut from the same fabric", although they have different sound signatures. Another thing is that the signature changes with the pads; I have the Pandora Hope VI, which has the A-type pads (it has an amazing performance, although it is a different, hybrid, concept); I am trying to get the B-, C- and E-types in order to update my review.
fortunate son
For great delight, use the III with an all tube amp and upgrade the cable and install the Final B type pads. See hifiplus and 6moons reviews online.
Cho Worsh
Respectfully disagree with this member's views on Sonorous II. The stock E type and some B and D type pads were used with them and I did not like anything about the sound of the Sonorous II with any of those pads. But the Sonorous III with the B pads with a tube rectified amplifier bring me great joy.
Hooga
@fortunate son I recently discovered Meze 99 connectors are compatible with Sonorous
@Cho Worsh dear friend tastes are subjective
there's even people on the planet who like pineapple on pizza 
@Cho Worsh dear friend tastes are subjective
there's even people on the planet who like pineapple on pizza 
Firstly I would like to thank HiFiHeadphones for the loan unit, as always I will try to write an honest review. These received the usual 50hrs of burn-in, no real differences were noted.
Gear Used:
Audio Opus #2 > Sonorous III
Tech Specs:
MSRP: £299
Packaging, Build Quality and Accessories:
The packaging is a nice glossy white box with a picture of the Sonorous III on the front, on the back you get info and specs. Also on the back is a exploded view of the headphones, and what technologies are used. Overall an attractive box, once you open it the headphones are held securely by a cardboard insert, and they are easy to remove from the box with minimal space wasted on packaging.
Build quality feels excellent like all other Final products, the housing is ABS, the headband is metal, the cable is detachable and very rubbery and flexible. The earpads are soft and everything feels well made. With some care I can’t see any problems with the build quality.
Accessories are minimal, all you get is a jack adaptor. I would have liked to see at least a soft carry case/bag. These are made to be semi-portable due to the short cable and they are relatively easy to drive so a bag would be useful to protect them in your bag.
Comfort and Isolation:
The cups are shallow and also the opening is quite small for circumaural headphones however I do find them comfortable for a couple of hours use. The clamping force isn’t too strong but they do feel secure, they are not the lightest of headphones but the padding on the headband, along with the width make them very comfortable. So no real complaints, only after long 2 hour+ listening sessions do these start to get a little uncomfortable.
Isolation is actually quite good, they block out the tapping of my noisy mechanical keyboard easily, and dull traffic noise when out and about. They won’t block out as much as most IEM’s but they are good for out and about use due to minimal leakage and also fairly good isolation.
Sound:
Split in to the usual categories with a conclusion at the end.
Lows: The first thing that springs to mind is full bodied and smooth, the lows just fill the sound with excellent body but without sounding bloated. I would say they do have a boost in the lows, that helps when there is outside noise, but also makes these very fun to listen to. The reverberation from kick drums is felt within the cups, these can move some air but the lows are never overwhelming. Audioslave - Cochise has a very grungy bass line that cuts through the mix on these with great affect.
Mids: The mids are pushed slightly behind the lows, so vocals do not cut through the mix quite as clean as with some headphones, but they are still present and have very good positioning within the soundstage. They do fair better with softer music in the mids, it seems to be during more complex passages they get pushed slightly behind the lows. The detail is there, and they do have power, it’s is just a little farther behind in the mix. Vocals don’t suffer from sibilance, neither are they overly warm from the boost in the lows, they sound very smooth and natural, in that sense the mids are very good on these.
Highs: The highs are present but lack overall extension, they are there in quantity and prevents these from sounding dark. I like the amount of treble presence these have you can hear all the different cymbal crashes clearly with good separation. They have good detail up top, and are never boring, they just lack effortless extension.
Instrument separation is excellent and the soundstage is incredible for closed back headphones. Very impressive width and also depth, they do excel here.
Conclusion: I find these to be a very easy going headphone to listen to, they have excellent soundstage capabilities and also the timbre is very good. They are not the fastest headphones, which means they fair better with slower and well recorded music. When you feed them a good quality recording they shine giving you a real insight into the layers of the song. They may lack a little extension up top, but this is easy to overlook, the lows are not overwhelming and do not get in the way of overall enjoyment.
As I am sat here writing this conclusion, Radiohead – Sail To The Moon has come on, and the separation, the depth and the overall euphoric sound is really something quite special on these. Technically these may be lacking in some areas, but they do have some special and unique qualities that suit some genres perfectly, making them a real treat to listen to.
Sound Perfection Rating: 8/10 (euphoric and very special with the right music)
Gear Used:
Audio Opus #2 > Sonorous III
Tech Specs:
MSRP: £299
Packaging, Build Quality and Accessories:
The packaging is a nice glossy white box with a picture of the Sonorous III on the front, on the back you get info and specs. Also on the back is a exploded view of the headphones, and what technologies are used. Overall an attractive box, once you open it the headphones are held securely by a cardboard insert, and they are easy to remove from the box with minimal space wasted on packaging.
Build quality feels excellent like all other Final products, the housing is ABS, the headband is metal, the cable is detachable and very rubbery and flexible. The earpads are soft and everything feels well made. With some care I can’t see any problems with the build quality.
Accessories are minimal, all you get is a jack adaptor. I would have liked to see at least a soft carry case/bag. These are made to be semi-portable due to the short cable and they are relatively easy to drive so a bag would be useful to protect them in your bag.
Comfort and Isolation:
The cups are shallow and also the opening is quite small for circumaural headphones however I do find them comfortable for a couple of hours use. The clamping force isn’t too strong but they do feel secure, they are not the lightest of headphones but the padding on the headband, along with the width make them very comfortable. So no real complaints, only after long 2 hour+ listening sessions do these start to get a little uncomfortable.
Isolation is actually quite good, they block out the tapping of my noisy mechanical keyboard easily, and dull traffic noise when out and about. They won’t block out as much as most IEM’s but they are good for out and about use due to minimal leakage and also fairly good isolation.
Sound:
Split in to the usual categories with a conclusion at the end.
Lows: The first thing that springs to mind is full bodied and smooth, the lows just fill the sound with excellent body but without sounding bloated. I would say they do have a boost in the lows, that helps when there is outside noise, but also makes these very fun to listen to. The reverberation from kick drums is felt within the cups, these can move some air but the lows are never overwhelming. Audioslave - Cochise has a very grungy bass line that cuts through the mix on these with great affect.
Mids: The mids are pushed slightly behind the lows, so vocals do not cut through the mix quite as clean as with some headphones, but they are still present and have very good positioning within the soundstage. They do fair better with softer music in the mids, it seems to be during more complex passages they get pushed slightly behind the lows. The detail is there, and they do have power, it’s is just a little farther behind in the mix. Vocals don’t suffer from sibilance, neither are they overly warm from the boost in the lows, they sound very smooth and natural, in that sense the mids are very good on these.
Highs: The highs are present but lack overall extension, they are there in quantity and prevents these from sounding dark. I like the amount of treble presence these have you can hear all the different cymbal crashes clearly with good separation. They have good detail up top, and are never boring, they just lack effortless extension.
Instrument separation is excellent and the soundstage is incredible for closed back headphones. Very impressive width and also depth, they do excel here.
Conclusion: I find these to be a very easy going headphone to listen to, they have excellent soundstage capabilities and also the timbre is very good. They are not the fastest headphones, which means they fair better with slower and well recorded music. When you feed them a good quality recording they shine giving you a real insight into the layers of the song. They may lack a little extension up top, but this is easy to overlook, the lows are not overwhelming and do not get in the way of overall enjoyment.
As I am sat here writing this conclusion, Radiohead – Sail To The Moon has come on, and the separation, the depth and the overall euphoric sound is really something quite special on these. Technically these may be lacking in some areas, but they do have some special and unique qualities that suit some genres perfectly, making them a real treat to listen to.
Sound Perfection Rating: 8/10 (euphoric and very special with the right music)
dunring
We just got a second pair of these, got one on a Topping DX5 (full version not the lite) and it's great. Comparing to other closed backs in this price range, I'd never get the Beyerdynamic DT1770 again, or DT17xx which is more of a comparison as it's easy to drive also. This is maybe the first headphones with pleather pads I really like, the Hyperx Cloud Orbit was nice, but the onboard amp/DAC wouldn't get loud enough for most people on pre-volume war recordings. Get one used on Amazon warehouse for 200 beans and you'll feel like you stole it.
