[JensL]

While looking for some magazines the other day, the swedish "Hifi & Musik" caught my eye, because it had a huge headphone on the cover, the Philips HP1000.

The 7-page(!) article was called "We choose the worlds best headphone!".
Of course, I bought the magazine...
It's not often we see this kinda test in our Scandinavian Hifi-mags.

These phones were tested:

- AKG 271 Studio
- AKG K301 XTRA
- Beyer DT880
- Beyer Dt531
- Bose TriPort
- Grado SR80
- Grado SR325
- Koss Pro4AA Titanium
- Koss Pro3AA Titanium
- Philips SBC HP1000
- Philips SBC HP890
- Sennheiser HD600
- Sennheiser HD650
- Sony MDR-CD2000
- Sony MDR-CD580

Hifi & Musik have written quite a few articles about headphones, they actually have tested a few phone amps, and they especially like the HD600.
I haven't bought more than 2 or 3 issues of the magazine,
so it's hard to say what kind of people these guys are.
But their findings on a few other items sounded quite...sound.

They didn't say much about the equipment used for testing, but at least the X-Can v3 were there.
The Sony DP-IF8000 headphone was apparently used also,
an amp made for digital IR-phones, with options for speaker-simulation.

These "awards" were given out:

- Most portable : Bose TriPort
- Bang for bucks : AKG K301, DT531, Sony CD580, Philips HP890 and HP1000
- Great sound : Philips HP1000


The test is quite interesting, actually.
Some of the opinions was quite similar to what is said on this board, but quite a lot differs somewhat from what people here feel.
For example : The Swedes liked the Bose TriPort quite a bit.

Another suprise was the Philips HP1000, as they really liked it.
The sound was the tests most well-balanced and pleasant, with good bass, a clear yet warm midrange. The highs reminded them about electrostats.
The HP1000 was lacking some details and bass compared to the HD650, but at less than half the price, it was an almost unbeatable combination.


Almost.


The unquestionable winner of the test was the HD650.
To do any better, you'd have to spend way over $1.300.

An interesting opinion was that if the HD600 was 15% better than the HD580, the HD650 was at least 30% better than the HD600.

Their conclusion was that the Sennheiser HD650 was now their new reference headphone (the HD600 being their previous).

The final sentence in the HD650 test :
"The HD650 is our new reference, and with all certainty the best dynamic headphone in the world".

That last part is a pretty bold statement, but I guess it's true for a lot of head-fiers here.

If anyone is interested, I can translate some more of the test, and maybe scan some grade-sheets?

Hope this was somewhat interesting.

Regards
Jens

 

[Tyson]

What did they say about the K271's?

 

[JensL]

Well, they called the 271's the "monitor phone".

A few notes:

- Large and comfortable, but the driver itself pushes on the ear, which is annoying.

- Great bass as it a closed phone, but it still spacious and airy in the highs, like the K401/501.

- Not as varm and pleasant as the K301 XTRA (easy listening phone), but the K301 is also veiled and thick.

- A more clear and sharp sound than the K301, but also kinda metallic sounding in the highs. Could also have need a fuller sound, more body.

- "a sober phone with ambitions of being a reference"

- They actually preferred the K301's...


So, not their cup of tea, I guess.


Grades:

Sound : 4 of 5
Comfort : 3+ of 5
Sensitivity : 3 of 5 (91dB)
Bang for bucks : 3 of 5

Price in Sweden: $280

Regards
Jens

 

[NetRunner]

Someone might comment on the lack of best Grado and Sony phones.. Also Stax was too expensive? Or did they comment on leaving out some pricier alternatives?

Hmm.. Could you tell what they liked about the DT531, as it has been sometimes recommended here? *..And I have it..

*

 

[ADS]

What did they say about the DT880?

 

[Anders]

Jens, I don't really see the point in presenting excerpts from a review in a magazine that you have no idea of its profile and quality. IMHO, this magazine is one of those I trust less, although there can be decent reviews sometimes. It is something in the style of What HiFi, but with much less editorial resources.
The reviews in this magazine are condensed from the beginning and usually without mention of test equipment and methodology. So when it is condensed one more time, what do you get?

Snake recently wrote a long and excellent post on how to interpret reviews and I take the freedom to cite it here:

Quote:

Originally posted by Snake Sound is, regretfully, very subjective. Exactly how many people of the world absolutely adore Bose products, versus exactly how many people of the world swear off them with a bazooka? One of the first rules in audiophile HiFi, when reading a review, is that you must get a grasp of where the review's taste is coming from. You must research their prior history of preferred equipment examples and judge if that reviewer's taste in the 'bias' of playback matches our own. This is very, very important and why, in high end audio, respected reviewers stay around for a very, very long time. The readership has learned to trust the judgement of the reviewer, trust that his or her taste runs with the majority of their preferences. This can also be learned from the comparisons used during the review itself; what other components are being used as examples during the review as a yardstick to quote against? As noted in other threads, to be a sound, 'reference' review the reviewer must have a relatively broad spectrum of experience to draw against during the comparison. Now, in high end the idea of comparison is ideally to compare against live music itself, but since we compare reproducers to other reproducers of this live music comparisons between each other directly ends up coming into play. For instance, let's take K240's. The review you read might have lacked any comparisons to other equipment in total. So, how do you really know where they stand as they offer these comparisons? The next scenario is that they compared the K240's to speakers of a certain class (say, Bose, JBL midline goods or low end Infinity). In that case you know where their experiences lie, and judge 'I do / do not like those speakers myself and now have a starting point to acknoledging the validity of this review'. This does mean that you must gain experience in high end sound by listening to some systems directly, so that you will develop a preference towards a particular 'style' of 'sound'. Regretfully this is unavoidable and quite true. There are a number of 'classic sounds' - styles of reproductions (forward 'American' sound, neutral 'American' sound, mellow 'British' sound, forward 'British' sound, 'German' sound, 'Japanese' sound and 'Canadian' sound being very general tags used amongst others) - of which you, and only you, must decide your preference from. Then you must learn to 'read' these reviews from the mind's eye of your experience and match the two up to gain the most important thing - a personal truth of how this product will work for you. In general, though, the 'tweakier' the reviewer's taste ('they didn't measure up to my Martin Logans / B&W Matrix / Celestion SL's / WATTs - WAMM's') the most you can trust their tastes But, as even these 'reference' items have unique 'sounds' a mental viewpoint is helpful to understand that when they say 'this items did not have the midrange openness of my Logans' you can understand the exact reference and draw a 'graph in your mind' to plot exactly where the item indeed does fall. So, it's a learning experience. Learn which sounds like what, who likes what, what compares to what, and which can you accept in your own tastes and life. It will take time to come up to speed for the comparisons. Sorry about that but there's no other way. For instance, now you know that you do not agree with those who like K240's, and that general type of sound (personal note now: I agree with you, as I sold them. I don't own Stax for nothin'! ). That's one graph plot in the lesson of comparisons learned. You may wish to gain some quick 'experience' by using places like this forum - you listen to previous comparisons made by others, and then ask questions based upon your own viewpoint experiences. In other words, a question like 'I have B&W 805's and I was thinking about K600's / Stax 3030's / Stenn's. Which one?'. This gives others a reference for your tastes and allows them, based upon their personal viewpoints, to make comparisons for you and communicate that comparison is common terms. That common term clause is important otherwise the comparison, from your viewpoint, is useless in absolute terms. Well, welcome to high end!! All the best of luck on your journey, but please don't give up! It's a great learning experience (but the biggest catch-22 of all time, for as you experience more greatness from fine-quality items mediocrity just won't do!). Snake

 

[JensL]

NetRunner, yeah, they mentioned the Sony CD3000, but they actually said it was no longer manufactured.
Heh....the price for the CD3000 was said to be $945.


In regards to Stax, I guess they concentrated on the dynamic phones.

Also, the Grado SR325 is quite good, and about the same price as the HD650 in Sweden.


Here's some notes from the DT531's:

- Called the "Budget Audiophile"

- It is now cheaper in Sweden because there's a new distributor

- The sound is remarkably similar to the DT880. Very well-balanced, sharp highs and a nice fullness to the sound.

- Both the DT531 and DT880 are very detailed, yet soft and pleasant sounding.

- The Beyers need good amplification to be at their best.

- Difference between DT531 and DT880 are how pure and detailed they are sounding. DT531 are more coloured and not so 3D in the imaging.

- There are more similarities than differences.

- They actually prefer the DT531, as it is more "fun" and forward.

- All in all a lovely audiophile phone for those with a good amp.


Grades:

Sound : 4 of 5
Comfort : 4 of 5
Sensitivity : 3 of 5 (94dB)
Bang for buck : 5 of 5

Price in Sweden : $150

JL

 

[Wmcmanus]

Ummm, the best 7 headphone in the world were in that list of 15? There must be some invisible ink somewhere because I don't see 'em. HD650 maybe, they sure sounded good when I heard them at the NYC meet.

Yet, it's hard to take something like this seriously. Missing from the field were: Orpheus, R-10, Omega II, L3000, HP-1000 series, Edition 7, K-1000, CD3000, RS-1, W2002, etc.

 

[JensL]

Anders, that's a good comment.

You might know Hifi & Musik better than me,
it definately is no Stereophile.
Could we say that they are more like "regular" people, than the Stereophile gurus?

This test seemed quite thorough, but they could've given some more info about how they tested.

This is not THE definitive headphone comparison,
but it might be fun to hear what some swedes think about some of our fave phones, don't you think?


JL

 

[Anders]

I think these opinions have very little to do with what country you live in. Maybe you should consider sports instead?

 

[JensL]

Wmcmanus, also a good comment.

Yep, it's definately missing some of the best phones,
but I guess you should take the title with a grain of salt.
Well, I smiled a little when I saw it, thinking about this board,
and the fairly exotic phones and amps.

Also, I think they were concentrating on phones that were still in production, and easily available on the swedish market.
Hence, no AT, no Orpheus, no "exotic" Grados.
Grados are also ridiculously overpriced in Scandinavia.

Well, I'm happy to see that they even test phones in magazine up here in Scandinavia.
Maybe they can convince someone to swap their $5 Sonys with some CD2000's?

I think this is better than nothing...

JL

 

[JensL]

Anders, I'm not sure exactly what you mean...

Don't you think there could be a difference in what an american and a swede (or norwegian for that matter) thinks is excellent sound?

I think it could be.

I also think it's even more up to the individual.
If you like classical, you might not like the DT770,
if you like heavy metal, you might really like the DT770.
.....or maybe the opposite?

JL

 

[MartinB]

I agree with Anders47. That magazine really sucks!
They don't know what they are talking about! I got really pissed when I saw this review over a month ago and posted on some swedish forums and critisized the mag.
They say that the HD650 is if not the best headphone in the world but definetely the best dynamic headhone in the world.
I guess they didn't know about a lot of good headphones like:
Grado RS1, RS2, HP1, HP2, MDR-R10, K1000 and so on...

 

[JensL]

ADS, here some notes about the DT880's :

- Called "The Perfectionist"

- Looks kinda 70's, very comfortable, but they don't like the coiled cable.

- DT880 got better bass control and focus than the DT531, which also gives a better stereo perspective, but the Senns and CD2000 have even better perspective.

- Even if the DT880 have 96 dB sensitivity, as opposed to the DT531's 94 dB, it sounds like the opposite because of the DT880's tighter and more controlled bass.

- They think the sound is great overall, but a little tame and indifferent, especially when compared to the energetic CD2000.
The DT880 is more focused and objective.

- They REALLY like the highs, it's even up to HD650's standards.
Sounds like an electrostat.


Grades:

Sound : 4 of 5
Comfort : 4 of 5
Sensitivity : 3 of 5 (96db)
Bang for bucks : 4 of 5

Price in Sweden : $398

JL

 

[JensL]

MartinB, I agree with some of what you say.

Hifi & Musik should not have been so bold in their statements.
No matter what you're reviewing, you should not use the phrase "It's the best in the world" very often.

It's especially true here.

My guess is that they know about most of the R10's, K1000's and RS1's etc, but they're extremely expensive, and hard to find.

But, of course, all these phones, and a few dozens more, should be included if they are comparing the best phones in the world.

It would've better with another title for the review.

On the other hand....how many 15-headphone comparison have you seen in ANY hifi magazine lately?
Even if you hate the mag.

JL