Napilopez
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2009
- Posts
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- 294
Hey guys! So I had written a PX200-II pre-review of sorts on the full size forum, but I decided that should probably post it here, with updated impressions now that they're past the 150 hour mark. It's basically a big edit of my original review. These minicans deserve more recognition imo, they're a great value.
Excuse me if I mess up my terminology and stuff, I'm still pretty new to this =/
Build Quality/Looks: Although the plastics seem to be the same as in the HD4X8 series(which feels very "breakable" to me), the steel reinforced headband and smaller size makes them feel very durable. Thought I would have prefered an L-plug, the strain reliefs inspire confidence, and the cable is of decent thickness. Doesn't feel like they are going to break anytime soon.
They look really nice off your head. On your head, they look perhaps slightly silly from the front if you're almost bald like me, because of the shape the headband kind of takes, but nothing you can't wear in public. On the scalp of someone with a decent amount of hair though, they look totally fine, quite stylish even. They also look quite nice from a profile view regardless of hair quantities as well, I'd say.
The folding mechanism is totally awesome. Took me a couple of minutes to figure out, then I had it. It also brings a little bag thingy, which i prefer to the plastic casing in the original version of these headphones, as it makes them easily pocketable for me.
Comfort: Surprisingly, very comfortable for me. They don't clamp too hard(I have an average size head), and I can wear them for hours on end with maybe only a little bit of dull pain afterwards. Actually, the past few days I haven't noticed any sort of pain at all, so I'm guessing they've adjusted more to the shape of my head. They feel nice on my head, and often just sort of dissapear. The cups swivel around to give you a nice seal.
Leakage: Very little I find. Leak less than my RX700s or my sister's ATH-FC700s. If it's leaking a lot, then you're probably killing your hearing by listening too loudXD
Isolation: Surprisingly good without music, and awesome with music. With music at moderate volumes, it gets very hard to hear to outside noise, I find. I can even wear them on a crowded NYC subway with volume at decent levels and hear my music pretty fine, but they won't be so isolating that you can't heard people clearly with them on. Definitely feel in my own little world when I'm listening to these, and the isolation is definitely better than that of my RX700s.
Sound: In one word: Impressive. I listen to pretty much every genre you can think of and they handled anything I threw at them.I find their overall sound is actually quite similar to the RX700s, but approaching more of a neutral tone color than a warm one, and with a smoother attack on notes. They sound more naturally colored; voices sound more as if I were hearing a real person speak. At first i was slightly dissapointed with bass amounts(the extension was always there), but after burn in and especially with a better source, the Bass feels very natural, tight, and deep. It's not a bass-head can, but I doubt it will dissapoint you either. It handles DnB quite nicely.
They don't have quite the same speed and attack on notes as the RX700s, and as such you might not get all the detail you want for you umm detail-heads, but it's not bad by any means. By attack on the notes, I mean the "edge" certain instruments have in their notes. For example, on the RX700s I feel more as if I can hear each individually strummed string in an acoustic guitar chord, whereas it feels just slightly more "mushed" together on the PX200s. I can still pick up everything I can on the JVCs, but it doesn't shove it into your face as much =P One thing I noticed as soon as I listened to them was that they compress dynamics less than the RX700s and FC700s, which I hadn't even realized compressed dynamics! I was surprised at the changes in volume within classical music compared to those headphones.
The PX200-IIs are easy to drive, and sound great out of my mytouch 3g celphone(which has no EQs or anything lol). I quite enjoy using these in lower quality files or through online services like pandora or slacker, perhaps because they are more forgiving than the JVCs.
Now for possibly my favorite part: soundstage. They aren't the widest sounding cans I've ever heard, but they're surprisingly open sounding. Wider sounstage than the much bigger RX700s that feels way less "boxed-in" than one might expect for phones so small. I prefer it's soundstage too the both the RX700 and ATH-FC700. Instrument separation and positioning are also quite nice, I find.
They work nicely for pretty much every genre I find; I only feel some added longing for my JVCs when listening to more bass heavy stuff or when I really feel like listening to detail.
All in all, I think they are definitely worth the money. I've got most of the sound of my beloved JVCs in a wayyyyy tinier package. Some may even prefer these to the RX700s because of their more neutral tone color and much more open feeling soundstage.
I'll be happy to try to answer any questions =P
Pictures:
Left: headphones in expanded form.
Right: Headphones in compact form. Yea, the RX700s don't change much. XD.
Excuse me if I mess up my terminology and stuff, I'm still pretty new to this =/
Build Quality/Looks: Although the plastics seem to be the same as in the HD4X8 series(which feels very "breakable" to me), the steel reinforced headband and smaller size makes them feel very durable. Thought I would have prefered an L-plug, the strain reliefs inspire confidence, and the cable is of decent thickness. Doesn't feel like they are going to break anytime soon.
They look really nice off your head. On your head, they look perhaps slightly silly from the front if you're almost bald like me, because of the shape the headband kind of takes, but nothing you can't wear in public. On the scalp of someone with a decent amount of hair though, they look totally fine, quite stylish even. They also look quite nice from a profile view regardless of hair quantities as well, I'd say.
The folding mechanism is totally awesome. Took me a couple of minutes to figure out, then I had it. It also brings a little bag thingy, which i prefer to the plastic casing in the original version of these headphones, as it makes them easily pocketable for me.
Comfort: Surprisingly, very comfortable for me. They don't clamp too hard(I have an average size head), and I can wear them for hours on end with maybe only a little bit of dull pain afterwards. Actually, the past few days I haven't noticed any sort of pain at all, so I'm guessing they've adjusted more to the shape of my head. They feel nice on my head, and often just sort of dissapear. The cups swivel around to give you a nice seal.
Leakage: Very little I find. Leak less than my RX700s or my sister's ATH-FC700s. If it's leaking a lot, then you're probably killing your hearing by listening too loudXD
Isolation: Surprisingly good without music, and awesome with music. With music at moderate volumes, it gets very hard to hear to outside noise, I find. I can even wear them on a crowded NYC subway with volume at decent levels and hear my music pretty fine, but they won't be so isolating that you can't heard people clearly with them on. Definitely feel in my own little world when I'm listening to these, and the isolation is definitely better than that of my RX700s.
Sound: In one word: Impressive. I listen to pretty much every genre you can think of and they handled anything I threw at them.I find their overall sound is actually quite similar to the RX700s, but approaching more of a neutral tone color than a warm one, and with a smoother attack on notes. They sound more naturally colored; voices sound more as if I were hearing a real person speak. At first i was slightly dissapointed with bass amounts(the extension was always there), but after burn in and especially with a better source, the Bass feels very natural, tight, and deep. It's not a bass-head can, but I doubt it will dissapoint you either. It handles DnB quite nicely.
They don't have quite the same speed and attack on notes as the RX700s, and as such you might not get all the detail you want for you umm detail-heads, but it's not bad by any means. By attack on the notes, I mean the "edge" certain instruments have in their notes. For example, on the RX700s I feel more as if I can hear each individually strummed string in an acoustic guitar chord, whereas it feels just slightly more "mushed" together on the PX200s. I can still pick up everything I can on the JVCs, but it doesn't shove it into your face as much =P One thing I noticed as soon as I listened to them was that they compress dynamics less than the RX700s and FC700s, which I hadn't even realized compressed dynamics! I was surprised at the changes in volume within classical music compared to those headphones.
The PX200-IIs are easy to drive, and sound great out of my mytouch 3g celphone(which has no EQs or anything lol). I quite enjoy using these in lower quality files or through online services like pandora or slacker, perhaps because they are more forgiving than the JVCs.
Now for possibly my favorite part: soundstage. They aren't the widest sounding cans I've ever heard, but they're surprisingly open sounding. Wider sounstage than the much bigger RX700s that feels way less "boxed-in" than one might expect for phones so small. I prefer it's soundstage too the both the RX700 and ATH-FC700. Instrument separation and positioning are also quite nice, I find.
They work nicely for pretty much every genre I find; I only feel some added longing for my JVCs when listening to more bass heavy stuff or when I really feel like listening to detail.
All in all, I think they are definitely worth the money. I've got most of the sound of my beloved JVCs in a wayyyyy tinier package. Some may even prefer these to the RX700s because of their more neutral tone color and much more open feeling soundstage.
I'll be happy to try to answer any questions =P
Pictures:
Left: headphones in expanded form.
Right: Headphones in compact form. Yea, the RX700s don't change much. XD.
