Sears had a large clearance sale on Nakamichi audio this past weekend. As I needed an excuse to get out of the house following the Alberta Clipper that just hit Chicago, I purchased around $18.00 worth of clearance headphones at my local Sears for in-store pickup. At steep discounted rates, $18 was eight (8) headphones; three of them were the Nakamichi KN850 Fashion Headphone in Blue, Green, and Black. These are my subjective impressions of this particular model. As always, YMMV, etc. etc.
I opened these headphones up this afternoon. The headphones are very light and are very comfortable. However, because of the way that the cups articulate and the shape of the pads, they create a poor-to-non-existent seal on the wearer's ears. The pads are made out of a low quality plastic, perforated with vents, which covers padding of indeterminate composition. The pads are removable. I do not believe that pad rolling these headphones would provide any discernible benefit. The driver housing can be opened and these headphones could be modded. I do not believe that these headphones would benefit from extensive modding. Unlike many headphones I've listened to as of late (read: good headphones), these thankfully did not require an extended audition to describe their sound quality. I can sum it up as such:
Imagine a how a good pair of headphones sounds. Next, imagine a tin can telephone. Finally, imagine listening to the aforementioned good pair of headphones through the tin can telephone. I think you have it.
Extensive distortion, next to no detail extraction, muddy/bloated "single note" low end, no high treble information, and the entire audible spectrum muddled as though trying to listen through a wool hat...yes, somehow the Nakamichi NK850 were a poor value even at $1.98. For that price, you could get of a 1/5th of a Koss KSC-75.
To close, my cat is chewing on the flat, non-detachable cable of these headphones as I write this final sentence. I do not intend to stop him.
I opened these headphones up this afternoon. The headphones are very light and are very comfortable. However, because of the way that the cups articulate and the shape of the pads, they create a poor-to-non-existent seal on the wearer's ears. The pads are made out of a low quality plastic, perforated with vents, which covers padding of indeterminate composition. The pads are removable. I do not believe that pad rolling these headphones would provide any discernible benefit. The driver housing can be opened and these headphones could be modded. I do not believe that these headphones would benefit from extensive modding. Unlike many headphones I've listened to as of late (read: good headphones), these thankfully did not require an extended audition to describe their sound quality. I can sum it up as such:
Imagine a how a good pair of headphones sounds. Next, imagine a tin can telephone. Finally, imagine listening to the aforementioned good pair of headphones through the tin can telephone. I think you have it.
Extensive distortion, next to no detail extraction, muddy/bloated "single note" low end, no high treble information, and the entire audible spectrum muddled as though trying to listen through a wool hat...yes, somehow the Nakamichi NK850 were a poor value even at $1.98. For that price, you could get of a 1/5th of a Koss KSC-75.
To close, my cat is chewing on the flat, non-detachable cable of these headphones as I write this final sentence. I do not intend to stop him.
/review