Tavilyn
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2015
- Posts
- 118
- Likes
- 12
Hi all,
So, while bored this morning I decided to plug my Kingston HyperX Cloud 2 into my E10K. Gamer headset (rebranded Takstar or some such) at the hundred-dollar price point, amp/dac at around the same (these are Canadian dollars, by the way). ...And I've got to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
These are closed cans, and they definitely sound it, but they're not utter crap the way a lot of gamer headphones are. I also ought to mention that they clamp pretty tightly; if you headbang or snap your head around, you don't have to be afraid of these flopping off your head. I've got the velour pads on mine, but the pleather they come with might be even nicer for what I've put together.
As for sound, they're definitely v-shaped and aggressive. The bass is not near on par with the x2s, but it's not neutral either. The treble is occasionally tinny and sybillant, but generally it's quite sharp right through the spectrum. Mids aren't hiding, either; they're well-accounted for. This isn't a steep v-curve, from what I understand. The soundstage is tight, but instrument separation does occur. They get plenty loud through the E10K, which appears to have fleshed them out. They turned from a meh pair of headphones to a half-decent het, especially when you consider that the whole rig cost me just over two hundred bucks.
Personally I want better than this; I want more bass than these cans have, and just a bit less of an artificial feel to some of the treble (it sounds like it's coming out of a margarine container sometimes, filtered in some way). However, for anyone who's in the market for something fairly cheap that possesses fairly decent characteristics, this might be a workable combo, with the added benefit that if down the road you want to upgrade the headphones, you won't go horribly wrong starting with the E10K. It kind of tips the logic of "buy the headphones and worry about amp later" on its head.
Anyway, just thought I'd toss this out here, since I figured someone might get some use out of it. If you want a blow-by-blow of how stuff sounds through every part of the range, I'm probably not your guy though.
So, while bored this morning I decided to plug my Kingston HyperX Cloud 2 into my E10K. Gamer headset (rebranded Takstar or some such) at the hundred-dollar price point, amp/dac at around the same (these are Canadian dollars, by the way). ...And I've got to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
These are closed cans, and they definitely sound it, but they're not utter crap the way a lot of gamer headphones are. I also ought to mention that they clamp pretty tightly; if you headbang or snap your head around, you don't have to be afraid of these flopping off your head. I've got the velour pads on mine, but the pleather they come with might be even nicer for what I've put together.
As for sound, they're definitely v-shaped and aggressive. The bass is not near on par with the x2s, but it's not neutral either. The treble is occasionally tinny and sybillant, but generally it's quite sharp right through the spectrum. Mids aren't hiding, either; they're well-accounted for. This isn't a steep v-curve, from what I understand. The soundstage is tight, but instrument separation does occur. They get plenty loud through the E10K, which appears to have fleshed them out. They turned from a meh pair of headphones to a half-decent het, especially when you consider that the whole rig cost me just over two hundred bucks.
Personally I want better than this; I want more bass than these cans have, and just a bit less of an artificial feel to some of the treble (it sounds like it's coming out of a margarine container sometimes, filtered in some way). However, for anyone who's in the market for something fairly cheap that possesses fairly decent characteristics, this might be a workable combo, with the added benefit that if down the road you want to upgrade the headphones, you won't go horribly wrong starting with the E10K. It kind of tips the logic of "buy the headphones and worry about amp later" on its head.
Anyway, just thought I'd toss this out here, since I figured someone might get some use out of it. If you want a blow-by-blow of how stuff sounds through every part of the range, I'm probably not your guy though.
