I have to say i reviewed these with great expectations! I used these headphones in a very quite room with foam on the walls to isolate sound. For the amp i used the McIntosh MHA-100. I started out thinking that these will be amazing. The looks are amazing, and they feel really comfortable at first.
Sound
However when i started up Pink-Floyd's- Money off of the Dark Side Of The Moon album 24bit audio from Vinyl all i can say is bass. I heard the bass crystal clear and really really heavy. At first i checked the amp to see if the bass was tuned up, and then after searching over anything a plugging in a different headphone i figured it out that it was just the headphones. The amount of bass i heard was almost a joke. Everything was there, but i struggled to hear the rest over the bass. So from there i was like well ill try something that doesnt have as much bass maybe blaming the track. So i changed it to Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches off of the Kind Of Blue album of course this was Vinyl aswell. I started it up and sounded great to be honest. However as soon as (ANY) bass came in, it just blew it out of the water. I struggled to hear the soft relaxed sound that I am use to. I kind of snickered to be honest thinking this had to be a joke. So I thought well lets try Adele. So I pulled out the 19 Album from Adele and i started to listen to Daydreamer. Honestly this sound amazing! I Could hear the picking of the guitar and i could hear her voice crystal clear. So I went on to Pantera and there track 5 minutes alone off of the Far Beyond Driven Album. That just brought me back to the bass. I like bass dont get me wrong, but when it is all you hear with everything else in the back ground its a big no. I put on some Tech N9ne hoping they would shine and still all i got was bass which is great if you like beats. I spent hours with these and I feel like the only songs that i could truly enjoy had to have little to no bass. Right after i was done listening to these I put on the Audeze El-8 open back, keeping in mind that i still used the MHA-100 amp and the Audeze gave me clarity that the amp wasnt having an issue with over driving the bass. I tried all of the songs i tested with the MHP1000 and the Audeze didnt shake my ears, and overall it gave me a more full sound keeping in mind the difference between closed back and open back i expected there to be more bass in the MHP1000. So further more I put on some HD-650's aswell they shined with the MHA-100. I went back to the McIntosh MHP1000 and i got an adapter and plugged it into the Oppo HA-2, and to my surprise it came in pretty well, it couldnt fulley drive the headphones but in this case that was good. With less of a drive to it i really liked it and found myself enjoying it, so after awhile i plugged it back into the McIntosh MHA-100. I tried playing it at a lower level then what i liked and it became much more enjoyable. I was playing music at around 3.5 watts on the MHA-100 or -25db give or a take a few. That is when I expericened heavy bass beyond imgination. Although at a lower level i felt like i could really enjoy it and it be pretty accurate and warm. So if i had to recommend these headphones I would say use them to listen to music in a softer more quite manner. These are not a headphone that stays enjoyable the louder it goes.
Design and Comfort
I have to say these were some very beautiful headphones! I love everything about the way they look. There bright blue cable shines and it feels very durable and a resonable weight. It was very comfortable until you really started to play music then the bass would just shake your ears and wear you out within a hour. I was really sad about this. I expected so much more from McIntosh. They should honestly just stay with amps. Which is sad and hard for me to say. I hate to be a hater.
Value
Honestly this a very short section. I felt like they were a sub $500 headphone that competed with beats for the bass heads. Their comfort is amazing until the bass starts shaking your ears in it then your ears get worn out within 45min. I would say just get beats in stead which kills me. These arent up to par with anything that is $500 or up. Honestly I love the McIntosh Amp it is amazing hands down i would recommend it! Although when it comes to the headphone I would say let McIntosh improve and innovate for a few more years then take a look at them.
Sound
However when i started up Pink-Floyd's- Money off of the Dark Side Of The Moon album 24bit audio from Vinyl all i can say is bass. I heard the bass crystal clear and really really heavy. At first i checked the amp to see if the bass was tuned up, and then after searching over anything a plugging in a different headphone i figured it out that it was just the headphones. The amount of bass i heard was almost a joke. Everything was there, but i struggled to hear the rest over the bass. So from there i was like well ill try something that doesnt have as much bass maybe blaming the track. So i changed it to Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches off of the Kind Of Blue album of course this was Vinyl aswell. I started it up and sounded great to be honest. However as soon as (ANY) bass came in, it just blew it out of the water. I struggled to hear the soft relaxed sound that I am use to. I kind of snickered to be honest thinking this had to be a joke. So I thought well lets try Adele. So I pulled out the 19 Album from Adele and i started to listen to Daydreamer. Honestly this sound amazing! I Could hear the picking of the guitar and i could hear her voice crystal clear. So I went on to Pantera and there track 5 minutes alone off of the Far Beyond Driven Album. That just brought me back to the bass. I like bass dont get me wrong, but when it is all you hear with everything else in the back ground its a big no. I put on some Tech N9ne hoping they would shine and still all i got was bass which is great if you like beats. I spent hours with these and I feel like the only songs that i could truly enjoy had to have little to no bass. Right after i was done listening to these I put on the Audeze El-8 open back, keeping in mind that i still used the MHA-100 amp and the Audeze gave me clarity that the amp wasnt having an issue with over driving the bass. I tried all of the songs i tested with the MHP1000 and the Audeze didnt shake my ears, and overall it gave me a more full sound keeping in mind the difference between closed back and open back i expected there to be more bass in the MHP1000. So further more I put on some HD-650's aswell they shined with the MHA-100. I went back to the McIntosh MHP1000 and i got an adapter and plugged it into the Oppo HA-2, and to my surprise it came in pretty well, it couldnt fulley drive the headphones but in this case that was good. With less of a drive to it i really liked it and found myself enjoying it, so after awhile i plugged it back into the McIntosh MHA-100. I tried playing it at a lower level then what i liked and it became much more enjoyable. I was playing music at around 3.5 watts on the MHA-100 or -25db give or a take a few. That is when I expericened heavy bass beyond imgination. Although at a lower level i felt like i could really enjoy it and it be pretty accurate and warm. So if i had to recommend these headphones I would say use them to listen to music in a softer more quite manner. These are not a headphone that stays enjoyable the louder it goes.
Design and Comfort
I have to say these were some very beautiful headphones! I love everything about the way they look. There bright blue cable shines and it feels very durable and a resonable weight. It was very comfortable until you really started to play music then the bass would just shake your ears and wear you out within a hour. I was really sad about this. I expected so much more from McIntosh. They should honestly just stay with amps. Which is sad and hard for me to say. I hate to be a hater.
Value
Honestly this a very short section. I felt like they were a sub $500 headphone that competed with beats for the bass heads. Their comfort is amazing until the bass starts shaking your ears in it then your ears get worn out within 45min. I would say just get beats in stead which kills me. These arent up to par with anything that is $500 or up. Honestly I love the McIntosh Amp it is amazing hands down i would recommend it! Although when it comes to the headphone I would say let McIntosh improve and innovate for a few more years then take a look at them.
