Gemini HSR1000 Studio Reference Headphone

Gemini HSR-1000s
 
Isolation: Okay, but not great. They aren't going to block out the world, but they will make it more manageable. I would like to have something much more isolating. 7/10
 
Comfort: The pad size could be bigger, over a couple of hours they will somewhat hurt my ears.  I can wear them for multiple hours, though. They do not have a death grip. Overall, they are pretty comfortable. If I could find replacement pads that are more isolating and more comfortable, I would buy them in a heartbeat. 8.5/10
 
Sound: For testing the sound, I used this test file. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/69968986/MyMusic/CombinedTestTrack.mp3
The song samples contained are:
 
Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, Strobe by Deadmau5, Pirate Bay by Savant, I Want It All by Queen, Small Two of Pieces from Xenogears, Home Sweet Home + Title Theme from Earthbound,
Star Stealing Girl from Chrono Cross, Aquatic Ambiance from Donkey Kong Country, For River from To The Moon, and finally the Final Fantasy VII Main Theme performed during Tour De Japon.
 
My main priority when listening to these songs is to question, how well do the headphones provide the intended emotion that the song sets out to create?
 
Songs that did not perform well:
~~~Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, I Want It All by Queen, Small Two of Pieces from Xenogears, and Aquatic Ambiance~~~
The reason being that these songs are very vocal focused, and the headphones have a dip around 4 Khz, which I personally find to be a very important area for vocal listening. None of these songs provide emotion without EQ. I Want It All is heavily lacking even with EQ. Rock music does not mix with DJ headphones, I believe. It sounds lifeless. The drums are great, but the guitar, man. It makes me sad :c
 
Aquatic Ambiance, on the other hand, suffers from the impactful bass. The song should be relaxing, but the bass breaks any attempt at a soothing piece.
 
Songs that are okay:
~~~Final Fantasy VII Theme~~~
This song, listened to on the best of equipment, will take my breath away. On the Gemini's, this  will only make me smile. An acceptable reproduction, but not the best.
 
Songs that are great:
~~~Strobe by Deadmau5, Pirate Bay by Savant, Earthbound music, Star Stealing Girl from Chrono Cross, and For River from To The Moon~~~
Do you like Bass impact? Because these headphones got it. I'm normally not a bass head, in fact, I'm into treble, but the bass production on these are nice.
Pirate Bay proves that the headphones will do well with dubstep and the like. Strobe has a wonderful kick to it, and the organ is perfectly eerie.
On the other hand, the bass really makes the Earthbound track something else. I didn't even know the bass synth went so low in Home Sweet Home!
Star Stealing Girl might be here and not on "okay" because of the EQ I started using, but it also is a wonderful reproduction of the piece. The instruments are well separated and clear, and I believe that is great. The piano in For River also sounds wonderful on these headphones.
 
The sound is much more transparent than I expected, overall. I love how revealing these can be, but this also can bring some harshness to your listening experience in the treble, making them possibly too revealing for some people. They also do not reproduce vocals as well as I had hoped. The soundstage is slightly better than your average closed headphones. I find these to be a wonderful new edition to my tiny headphone collection.
 
9/10
 
Conclusion:
I found these headphones to be lacking slightly in isolation, comfort, and vocal reproduction, but making up for it in almost every other aspect of the sound.

I wrote a really long review for these, but the settings on my PC made me give unwarranted criticism towards this headphone. Seriously, for $45-55 on Amazon, these things are a steal. I'm still taken aback by the all-metal build quality of this thing compared to more expensive headphones. Very linear response other than the boosted sub bass. Its bass is outright incredible, not overblown, but it gets the fundamentals really good. You can hear things like the pressure of a viola's bow on the string or the punch of a guitar strum. The mid-bass is not boosted, but these take bass boosts like a champ, its bass is really well done. Its mids are also very present, linear, and detailed.
 
On the downside, its treble, albeit detailed, is very dry, has the most distortion, and responds the least well to EQ, and its soundstage isn't the widest in the world, although it has good instrument separation and 3d positioning. But really, for $50 you shouldn't expect the world. This little off-brand hp can stand up to some hp's up to 3 times its price however. Really if you have a sub $150 budget, these are outstanding unless you want the aesthetics or name-brand or something.

The Gemini HSR1000 Studio Reference Headphones are my first foray into high-quality sound. They are quite easy to drive; so far I have tried them using my laptop, a desktop computer with a dedicated Creative sound card, my bookshelf stereo, and a portable music player. All gave equally impressive results, though the portable music player was not able to push the volume as high (but high enough for even those who like their music loud). I initially had an odd problem where they was way too much bass in the left ear during about the first half hour of use, but everything seems to have balanced out now (that, or I've gotten used to it). Having been exposed to the headphone's exaggerated bass, I can say that although it is not as noticeable at a lower volume, the bass is quite impactful ("punchy;" I am just now listening to a track with some prominent hits of the bass drum and I can not only hear it, but feel it) and wide-sounding. The mids are clear but not as detailed as I would have liked, and the highs are about the same as the mids with perhaps a little bit more detail.
 
The overall sound is very open, warm, and full-bodied. The balance is quite good. I can't really say anything about whether or not they should be considered reference headphones as I lack the experience to, but each range of pitches seems to fit into is proper place in volume, power and presentation.
 
I highly, highly recommend these to anyone seeking a good pair of headphones under $100, especially if they are to be your first taste of audiophile-grade sound.

I got these off a friend for 40$, they go new for about 60 - 70$. The driver appears to be of Audio Technica origin and the fact it's 53 mm, which makes my guess a lot more likely. Sound-wise it's a bit artificial but expansive sounding for a closed headphone, changing the pads helps make it sound less artificial. Comfort is alright, they're not as heavy as my T50rp II and are a little heavier than my ATH-M35s and they're kind of large but adjust just enough to fit my head, which is subjectively on the larger side. They're very easy to drive with my Schiit Magni, and I notice when I turn the knob past halfway there's a very large amount of noise so I'm assuming that either these headphones have a high noisefloor or they're overly sensitive. They're really loud at 1/3 of the Magni and they've got a flat if not basslight sound which isn't bad but leaves you wanting a bit, if you're me. The cable is coiled like an old fashion telephone and is a bit short and obnoxious, but who really cares at this price. The construction is seemingly solid and some parts are even made of metal. I'd recommend them for anyone looking for a closed headphone under 100$.