When I have found these Harman Kardon for a ridiculously cheap price, I had already decided that I would have kept the Fidelio M2BT, the best of all those I have tested (obviously).
But given the price I said to myself that I could try them and eventually keep them as second pair at home if they where good enough.
Well, they very good, but I will not keep them because they do not add anything to what the Fidelio has to offer.
I would say they reach the 75% of what the M2BT can give. But, hey, that is VERY GOOD!!! The Fidelio are just wonderful! 75% of wonderful is very good
Plus, they are more comfortable and have a better BT Range than the Fidelio (which is a reason why I was tempted to keep them. With the Fidelio I have a blind spot in my kitchen, with the HK not).
They need some EQ to sound more lively. A bit more Sub Bass, a bit more upper mid, a bit more highs, et voilá, they are amazing.
The detail is very good, the sound stage is actually not so great for an Over the Ear (the Fidelio actually sometimes beat them here) but is decent.
The bass is VERY good. It is rich and has body and it is strong enough without being too much. It also improves notably with some EQ.
It never reaches the level of the Fidelio M2BT, not in quantity and not in quality. Not even with the EQ. But, attention attention, the fact is that the Fidelio have just the best bass of all the BT Headphones I have tested [EDIT: I have now tried the UE9000. They are on par with the Fidelio].
The Upper-Mids are a bit lacking for my tastes, so I perceive the sound as not particularly warm and lively. But they improve with EQ.
The highs are very nice, present, clear, not harsh.
Yes, they look strange but once you have them in your hands you like them more than in internet. I did. I actually like how they look on my head, they do not protrude ridiculously like some headphones do. They have just some quite big speakers with that rectangular form, and that is what they wanted to look like, so, I like their stubbornness.
The finishing is just VERY good, the impression is of a very high class headphone. There even is a second Headband, bigger, for bigger heads, and instructions on how to change it. Strange decision, compared to the most headphones which just telescopically adjust to the head. But probably this allow them a more precise fit.
Even the packaging is top class. And the synthetic leather carrying bag is also very nice.
These headphones are clearly not directed to very young people, or at least not to the kind of people who buy Beats or Skullcandy or JBL.
These are classy headphones, they look different, they sound excellent, they have that kind of "Dell Latitude" business touch, if you know what I mean.
Business high class kind of people. Or people who just have refined tastes.
A couple of negative aspects which I have noticed in these days:
- they do not make any bip when you turn them on, and considering their little on/off button sometimes I cover the button with my finger and I cannot see when it blinks, so I press it too long and instead of turning on they go in pairing mode.
But in change they have a unique feature, the LED blinks differently according to which Codec is in use. SO you can confirm if your source (smartphone, notebook, etc) is streaming in Aptx.
- if you wear some pullover with tall neck or something else around your neck, the lower part of the speakers will touch it when you move your head a lot, and the metal construction will quirk a bit
I could not notice any other negative aspects.
But given the price I said to myself that I could try them and eventually keep them as second pair at home if they where good enough.
Well, they very good, but I will not keep them because they do not add anything to what the Fidelio has to offer.
I would say they reach the 75% of what the M2BT can give. But, hey, that is VERY GOOD!!! The Fidelio are just wonderful! 75% of wonderful is very good
Plus, they are more comfortable and have a better BT Range than the Fidelio (which is a reason why I was tempted to keep them. With the Fidelio I have a blind spot in my kitchen, with the HK not).
They need some EQ to sound more lively. A bit more Sub Bass, a bit more upper mid, a bit more highs, et voilá, they are amazing.
The detail is very good, the sound stage is actually not so great for an Over the Ear (the Fidelio actually sometimes beat them here) but is decent.
The bass is VERY good. It is rich and has body and it is strong enough without being too much. It also improves notably with some EQ.
It never reaches the level of the Fidelio M2BT, not in quantity and not in quality. Not even with the EQ. But, attention attention, the fact is that the Fidelio have just the best bass of all the BT Headphones I have tested [EDIT: I have now tried the UE9000. They are on par with the Fidelio].
The Upper-Mids are a bit lacking for my tastes, so I perceive the sound as not particularly warm and lively. But they improve with EQ.
The highs are very nice, present, clear, not harsh.
Yes, they look strange but once you have them in your hands you like them more than in internet. I did. I actually like how they look on my head, they do not protrude ridiculously like some headphones do. They have just some quite big speakers with that rectangular form, and that is what they wanted to look like, so, I like their stubbornness.
The finishing is just VERY good, the impression is of a very high class headphone. There even is a second Headband, bigger, for bigger heads, and instructions on how to change it. Strange decision, compared to the most headphones which just telescopically adjust to the head. But probably this allow them a more precise fit.
Even the packaging is top class. And the synthetic leather carrying bag is also very nice.
These headphones are clearly not directed to very young people, or at least not to the kind of people who buy Beats or Skullcandy or JBL.
These are classy headphones, they look different, they sound excellent, they have that kind of "Dell Latitude" business touch, if you know what I mean.
Business high class kind of people. Or people who just have refined tastes.
A couple of negative aspects which I have noticed in these days:
- they do not make any bip when you turn them on, and considering their little on/off button sometimes I cover the button with my finger and I cannot see when it blinks, so I press it too long and instead of turning on they go in pairing mode.
But in change they have a unique feature, the LED blinks differently according to which Codec is in use. SO you can confirm if your source (smartphone, notebook, etc) is streaming in Aptx.
- if you wear some pullover with tall neck or something else around your neck, the lower part of the speakers will touch it when you move your head a lot, and the metal construction will quirk a bit
I could not notice any other negative aspects.
I also noticed that touching metal band by anything could generate unpleasant quirk (it's more noticeable when you intentionally hit it with a nail). Which could be sometimes annoying.
I found that (to my personal preference) bass is lacking a little bit and I also found turning them on/off confusing.
Other than that I pretty much liked the headphone but I had to give it back as I found pitching after long use disqualifying (for me).