I just took back the ClarityOne W102's and got these. I decided to go Bluetooth to avoid cable damage (ClarityOne's gave me a bad vibe about the cable). I was not aware that the cable comes off of the Classics as well, until now, but no cable is great. Of course Bluetooth sounds worse than cabled...and cabled sounds worse than cabled with an amp, but plenty good for on the go. I was looking at various bluetooth capable headphones, including the Beats, not sure what model, as I didn't look much into them. I wasn't overly impressed with the sound of any of the Beats. This time I had my amp and I listened to them all. Beats was just bass, and bass that muddled into the mids. And the mids and highs were just there, nothing nice about them really. The UE 9000 were $399. For $399, they are really still a better value than the Beats. Issue is, I found the 6000's that were on display to be too large and cheap looking, and the 9000's look to be simply in design. Logitech doesn't give the best vibe for sound quality or quality in general. I did have a pair of UE 600's which were okay, but cheaply built. Sorry Logitech, but when I hear your name, I think mice, keyboards and other various computer products. I was still thinking about the Logitech 9000's however. I was originally going to go with regular non-bluetooth headphones, and the Classics were that, but after Bluetooth was gaining my interest, Harman Kardon was forgotten about, until I realized the store (Apple Store) stocked the bluetooth versions, and for just $50 more than the Classics, $150 less than the UE 9000's. I gave no second thought after that, and I bought the HK's
My first listen was with a FIIO E07K and wow, the sound is amazing. The bass sounds true, with a slight emphasis. The bass does not bleed into the mids and it extends deep with no distortion. It can be felt The mids and highs are clear, not shrill, and the soundstage amazing. Clearly they are meant to sound warmer and not analyitic sound, but they are the perfect sound for me. I enjoyed the W102's but found there to be silibance, and a slight lack of bass with easy distortion. These phone take care of all of that. They sound like open headphones, although there is zero leakage. And I mean zero. They don't look like they would isolate sound well, but the Harman Kardon's leave the music in and keep the sound out. Zero is of course not true, for I can hear the music when I my dad is listening to the headphones, but this is at a listening to music volume, not a background music volume. What is amazing is how they manage to achieve isolation and have a great soundstage. I will burn them in a bit to see what happens, but they actually sound as if the drivers are already loosened up and there are no places in the music that sound like the driver hits a wall where it has trouble moving, which is something I find with most phones until I break them in. WIth just being plugged into the iPod, the volume is still great and they still sound great too. Both decrease, but not a huge amount, considering these are 32ohms (not that that always detemines the volume). An amp brings out more depth and soundstage. With bluetooth, the headphones sound good, just it sounds like the recording quality of the music is slightly worse. For having no wire to play around with, this is not a bad sacrifice for on the go. With bluetooth, volume is not great for all albums, specifically older albums which are rendered quieter than new ones. With new stuff, bluetooth is plenty loud.
The comfort of the Harman Kardon's is great, although a little bit of clamping, which will take some getting used to. The are secure, don't move and the pads are nice feeling, and are soft enough to feel nice, but hard enough to not compress too much.
Build quality is spectacular. Everything feels well put together, looks sturdy, yet is easily to use and not bulky. I won't be using the larger headband likely, but I can see it being annoying to put on. It's not something that concerns me however.
I love the looks of these headphones. The two other reviews on this site seem to attack the looks, but I like the looks a lot. Simplistic, elegant, non-offensive. And I have always liked the style that the name is written: harman/kardon. No capitals just says that they are good, they don't need to prove anything, it's the name, not how it's written. Even the packaging is like that. Actually, even their full sized speakers give off the same aura of stateliness not that many speakers have fancy shapes and colors. This is the opposite stance of companies like Monster, who provide bright colors, odd shapes that scream: "Look at me!! Buy me!!" I prefer the look doesn't need to stand out to look good. Also, I bet more people would rather try to steal a pair of Beats from me, because they are so noticable.
So far, my one issue is microphonics. The cable has high microphonics, but is not noticeable when listening to music.
My first listen was with a FIIO E07K and wow, the sound is amazing. The bass sounds true, with a slight emphasis. The bass does not bleed into the mids and it extends deep with no distortion. It can be felt The mids and highs are clear, not shrill, and the soundstage amazing. Clearly they are meant to sound warmer and not analyitic sound, but they are the perfect sound for me. I enjoyed the W102's but found there to be silibance, and a slight lack of bass with easy distortion. These phone take care of all of that. They sound like open headphones, although there is zero leakage. And I mean zero. They don't look like they would isolate sound well, but the Harman Kardon's leave the music in and keep the sound out. Zero is of course not true, for I can hear the music when I my dad is listening to the headphones, but this is at a listening to music volume, not a background music volume. What is amazing is how they manage to achieve isolation and have a great soundstage. I will burn them in a bit to see what happens, but they actually sound as if the drivers are already loosened up and there are no places in the music that sound like the driver hits a wall where it has trouble moving, which is something I find with most phones until I break them in. WIth just being plugged into the iPod, the volume is still great and they still sound great too. Both decrease, but not a huge amount, considering these are 32ohms (not that that always detemines the volume). An amp brings out more depth and soundstage. With bluetooth, the headphones sound good, just it sounds like the recording quality of the music is slightly worse. For having no wire to play around with, this is not a bad sacrifice for on the go. With bluetooth, volume is not great for all albums, specifically older albums which are rendered quieter than new ones. With new stuff, bluetooth is plenty loud.
The comfort of the Harman Kardon's is great, although a little bit of clamping, which will take some getting used to. The are secure, don't move and the pads are nice feeling, and are soft enough to feel nice, but hard enough to not compress too much.
Build quality is spectacular. Everything feels well put together, looks sturdy, yet is easily to use and not bulky. I won't be using the larger headband likely, but I can see it being annoying to put on. It's not something that concerns me however.
I love the looks of these headphones. The two other reviews on this site seem to attack the looks, but I like the looks a lot. Simplistic, elegant, non-offensive. And I have always liked the style that the name is written: harman/kardon. No capitals just says that they are good, they don't need to prove anything, it's the name, not how it's written. Even the packaging is like that. Actually, even their full sized speakers give off the same aura of stateliness not that many speakers have fancy shapes and colors. This is the opposite stance of companies like Monster, who provide bright colors, odd shapes that scream: "Look at me!! Buy me!!" I prefer the look doesn't need to stand out to look good. Also, I bet more people would rather try to steal a pair of Beats from me, because they are so noticable.
So far, my one issue is microphonics. The cable has high microphonics, but is not noticeable when listening to music.