I must first start this by giving a large thank you to @TorqueAudio for selecting me to be a participant in their reviewer tour for their brand new T402v pre-production model. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to demo and review your new headphones, so again thank you.
Before I begin the review on the T402v one must understand the group that these are geared for, which is the main stream media/consumer crowd. This quite often I had to remind myself of for it’s a realm I rarely go in depth with but it was a great experience nonetheless.
The Opening Experience
The initial handshake presented with meeting someone the first time. Will it be a firm handshake that demands respect, or will it be a limp one that will be forgotten about once you part ways? In the case of Torque Audio’s T402v I was given a great firm and proud handshake.
The product was presented very nicely but did have a little too much activity on the box for my taste. Upon opening it you have a wonderfully presentation in front of you that begins with a greeting card (that’s also the warranty and product info.) from Torque which is presented proudly on top of the headphones that are placed inside precision cut foam to protect it. Beneath the headphones you open up the bottom half which contains the traveler's pouch that’s holding the two pads that come with the T402v’s; circumaural (over-ear) and supra-aural (on-ear). As well as another pouch that holds the very nicely built mic cable.
I must say that the way these were packaged and presented to me really left me excited to put them on my head and begin listening to them.
Construction
So how is the build quality on these? Not to be dishonest I was a little worried about the build for I’ve learned most mainstream geared equipment isn’t exactly made to last. The T402v’s however absolutely do not fall into that stereotype.
These are built very solidly using a very little plastic and being gracious with aluminum. The headband is built to take copious amounts of abuse, in fact on the website there’s even a picture of a person “wringing” out the headband to show its durability, I did not administer this test. The ear cups swivel very smoothly to one side but they “taughted” up when rotated to the other as well as the cups came off, so I don’t believe they are designed to rotate a full 180 degrees.
The cable is very well built and put together. Despite it not being a tangle free cable they never tangled up on me or even kinked up for that matter, however I just had them for 5 short days and I can honestly see them gaining memory over time. The microphone I didn’t like at all; the people I was talking to said I sounded very distant and almost as if in a well. In addition to that the volume buttons weren’t the easiest to press.
Comfort
Something I don’t think is given a lot of thoughts about when sound and then looks is the focal points. And with the T402v’s I think this was somewhat apparent. Initially they’re respectably comfortable with a slightly above normal clamping force. With the circumaural pads my glasses were pushed forward and pushing them back was difficult so I often had to remove my them. The supra-aural pads I could only wear for about 1 ½ hours before they became to uncomfortable for me to wear at all, which doesn’t sound like much but I personally can’t wear on-ear because they usually become too painful after only 30 min to I tip my hat to these pads.
Though overall I still find these to be respectably comfortable and wouldn’t unrecommend them to anyone based on comfort.
Sound
The most important aspect of an audio piece is the representation of the audio. Per the Torque master himself these are “intentionally tuned for ‘consumers’ or the ‘masses’” which did give me some worry for my mind immediately went to the Beats and Bose sound. But worry and personal bias aside I gave these a true unbiased listen for the entirety of my 5 days with them.
Though I found these to have a rather small soundstage overall as well as the instrument separation could use some work, the positional cues were awesome. Quite often I felt nicely enveloped in the performance I was listening to especially if I was using it as background music or just relaxing. Now when I was critically listening to it is where I I couldn’t enjoy it as much. Being designed specifically for the mainstream audience I can’t count off too much for this because more often than not the general listener just wants to hear and enjoy the beat of the music instead of nitpicking every minute detail.
Critical listening aside these are absolutely a fun headphone to listen to and no matter if I’m listening to “The Pride” by Five Finger Death Punch or “Wayfaring Stranger” by Trace Adkins, I always felt the “get up and dance” vib. Which is awesome to have in any headphone but certainly one for the masses.
So onto the more individual aspects and I think you’ll learn more about these by dissecting each frequency range. ALSO the most indistinguishable high point that are present in the T402v is the fact that these have different filters inside the ear cups and are changed as easily as rotating them. The summary given below is the general synopsis I gathered from the 4 filters though each one will alter your personal experience. The 4 filters are as follows from least filtration to most (bass):
- Black (No filter): The one I used the vast majority of the time and provides the least bias towards the bass punch
- Red: The only other filter I would utilize, this one provides a nice touch of bass punch when you’re wanting a little more “umph” in your music without going to out of control.
- Blue: Where I feel the bass lovers will start, this filter definitely tones up the feels. I sometimes used this but I’m not a fan of too much bass
- Yellow: Super bass mode activate, I didn’t use this filter but to test it for this one greatly increased the bass hit to Beats levels. I’m confident bass heads will be more or less tied to this filter for they’ll definitely get their fix.
Treble
The highs of the T402v is very predominately recessed. Across the board the highs didn’t impress me much at all. While listening to the song “Diva Dance” from the movie The Fifth Element as I’m sure you know she gets way up there into the almost piercing levels. While listening to her with these the most I got was a ‘umm is that it”? So I wasn’t that impressed with the treble at all on these.
Mids
The saving grace of the T402v from an audiophile perspective. The vocals are very clean very intimate. They’re also very forward so you can easily pick out the artist away from the surrounding and often overwhelming instruments. The male vocals especially shine due to the prominent bass bias the exist on these so artists like Trace Adkins, ZZ Top etc… really shine. However female artists usually don’t get the same love because of the very recessed treble.
Bass
The immediate focal point of the T402v. One cannot listen to these and not instantly realize that, so bass heads definitely take note for these play wonderful with hard rock and rap (especially rap) and have a very nice hit to it. Now, on that not the bass does also have its quirks. The sub bass when one actually feels the bass I found to be quite lacking, especially on songs I greatly enjoy getting that. Also the decay is very drawn out and extended which I believe is what hurts the separation of other notes.
Something to keep in mind though, and something I’ve learned personally, is that the mainstream consumer actually enjoys this sound and isn’t necessarily something to defer from. For again these are specifically designed to appeal towards the mainstream crowd, and I believe they hit that nail on the head.
Conclusion
The Torque Audio T402v is absolutely a front runner in the mainstream consumer market and one that goes against the current in terms of design and build. Toque definitely but a great focus on the build quality and design over pure profit margin and from personally talking with them my opinion on this is solidified. Are these a top notch audiophile headphone? No, but these do however make a great pair to just enjoy and jam to the beat to without having to worry about breaking it or wishing you brought a different pair.due to the tank like build and interchangeable filters.
Also a quick final note is to restate that this was a pre-production model that Torque Audio sent me so your experience may be somewhat different, primarily I was told in the aesthetics.
Till next time my friends, also make sure to check out my Unboxing and Review videos!