[Hisoundfi]

My pair has been stuck in San Francisco for the last three days. It must be at a music festival, or riding a trolly, or at a boy's club or something...

Uehdbdldpwpabwyyofpcnebwjwoe!!!

 

[Hisoundfi]

Vivo xe800 vs GR07BE...

I'm going to make this short. They are both great, but in the end the GR07BE is better IMHO.

Build quality on the vivo xe800 cable is sketchy. The cable isn't of high quality. I like the housings but wish I could go over the ear with them without having to swap channels.

The sound on the vivo xe800 is great, but the GR07BE is slightly better.

Bass: vivo xe800 has a slightly boomier bass that is slower in attack and decay. It works great for some genres, but not all. The GR07BE bass is world class, extends down to the center of the earth, and is quick in attack and decay. Round one goes to GR07BE

Mids: This is a tricky one. Mids are more forward and musical on the vivo xe800, creating more of a 3-d sense of imaging. However, the bass presentation combined with the mids causes them to have a slightly less sense of clarity. The GR07BE seems almost recessed when coming from the xe800, but is not "lacking" in terms of tone.

Because the only knock I've ever had on the GR07BE has been imaging, I give a slight edge to the vivo xe800 for midrange.

Treble- This comes down to preference. The vivo xe800 is smoother in its treble presentation. It has enough detail and clarity to be impressed. There were times when I was listening to them that I felt like treble could have been a hair sharper.

Anyone who has experienced the GR07BE will probably agree with when I say that they are "perfectly sibilant", meaning that they aren't always hot up top, but it does show when tracks are recorded with sibilance. The GR07BE doesn't put a "bandaid" on sibilant recordings, which some might not like, but to my ears it sounds much more natural and revealing to my ears.

Soundstage: Extensions on both ends is better on GR07BE. Width goes to the GR07BE. Mids are lusher with better imaging and great bass on the xe800.

Thid is a pretty close match up, but I give a slight edge to the GR07BE.

I hope this helps.

 

[sujitsky]

My pair has been stuck in San Francisco for the last three days. It must be at a music festival, or riding a trolly, or at a boy's club or something...

Uehdbdldpwpabwyyofpcnebwjwoe!!!

lol .... hope it is on its way soon!

 

[Salmonelas]

I couldnt wait for @twister6. I want to hear biocell driver ( it will not be like GR07 i guess but...) so i hit the buy button...again.Damn you all in headfi ,i have a family,i have to buy dipers and milk,damn you all!!!

 

[Hisoundfi]

But remember, I'm the psycho that put the DGS100 in elite status so you might not want to take my for for it lol

 

[clee290]

Just received my 'thick' cable from Aliexpress. Unfortunately, one of the connectors is defective..

 
The part circled on the right is the main issue. The black piece isn't flush with the rest of the connector, so I can't get it into any device. I'm not sure what the left part is. It's not just a visual marking, when I run my nail in that area it feels as if there is a small recess. I'm not sure if it has any effect on the cable, but I can't test it anyways as the protruding black piece is preventing me from doing anything.
 
Going to contact the seller and see what can be done about this.

 

[bhazard]

Awesome comparison for the GR07 vs XE800. As thought, very close to the GR07 with a new tuning for almost half the price.

 

[Theseeker7839]

Everyone , i just came across this thread very recently and it is mind bogglingly long. Obviously i read thread as i could but i hit ceiling and couldn't further than that. So, I apparently get the sense that some chinese manufacturers produce high quality headphones that are very similar in quality and performance to popula brand name headphones like sony. I did get the sense that there are a lot of hit and misses sometimes like the takstar pro 80 where the headphone cups are not properly aligned. But i did here there were good ones too. I am right now looking for a great full size headphone and am a novice by the way.  Can anyone recommend me a good one that i can get on amazon. Thank you very much!!!

 

[Hisoundfi]

Just received my 'thick' cable from Aliexpress. Unfortunately, one of the connectors is defective..



The part circled on the right is the main issue. The black piece isn't flush with the rest of the connector, so I can't get it into any device. I'm not sure what the left part is. It's not just a visual marking, when I run my nail in that area it feels as if there is a small recess. I'm not sure if it has any effect on the cable, but I can't test it anyways as the protruding black piece is preventing me from doing anything.

Going to contact the seller and see what can be done about this.

I had the same issue. It's easily fixable. TThere's a band petruding out too far. Take a pliers and squeeze enough to compromise the black plastic band, and turn the plug. You're basically using force to reshape the ring.

Hope this helps

 

[Hisoundfi]

Be careful not to rip the ring off, use enough force to reshape it.

Cheers

 

[clee290]

I had the same issue. It's easily fixable. TThere's a band petruding out too far. Take a pliers and squeeze enough to compromise the black plastic band, and turn the plug. You're basically using force to reshape the ring.

Hope this helps

Haha yea, that was the first thing I thought of doing. I just wanted to post here and contact the seller before potentially damaging the connector even more Thanks though! Good to know you were able to fix it successfully.

 

[Hisoundfi]

Haha yea, that was the first thing I thought of doing. I just wanted to post here and contact the seller before potentially damaging the connector even more Thanks though! Good to know you were able to fix it successfully.

The materials this seller uses is top notch. However, his qc is suspect

 

[bhazard]

  Everyone , i just came across this thread very recently and it is mind bogglingly long. Obviously i read thread as i could but i hit ceiling and couldn't further than that. So, I apparently get the sense that some chinese manufacturers produce high quality headphones that are very similar in quality and performance to popula brand name headphones like sony. I did get the sense that there are a lot of hit and misses sometimes like the takstar pro 80 where the headphone cups are not properly aligned. But i did here there were good ones too. I am right now looking for a great full size headphone and am a novice by the way.  Can anyone recommend me a good one that i can get on amazon. Thank you very much!!!

The Pro 80 is an excellent starting point. Purchase Brainwavz HM5 earpads for them, and you're golden for a long time.

 

[clee290]

The materials this seller uses is top notch. However, his qc is suspect

Oh yea, the cable itself is really well made. 

 

[threi]

I put the comfort padding back on the hd681 evo, it's the thick sound dampening felt over the driver that I removed. They really do sound 1000 times better this way. I'm really happy with them with this mod.

Glad someone else can vouch for the 681 Evos. The thick felt really does make an impact on the sound. It makes the highs roll off earlier, which makes the headphones sound a lot more "muffled" than they really are. The "superlux" treble is all there, just hidden. With the felt removed the treble extension is increased and it sounds a lot airier (this is backed up with frequency response graphs on another site). I really don't understand superlux's decision there.
 
I A/B them with my 668B all the time, and honestly I prefer the EVOs. Although the midbass is very slightly bloated on the evo, it can extend pretty low. Unlike the 668B, which has a noticeable bass rolloff. You can dampen the bass in many ways with the EVO (filter, ebay pads), but you can't really "add" subbass to the 668Bs. Because of that (and the fact that you are getting a free pair of velours in the box), I think that the EVO is unquestionably the better headphone.
 
(although it could be argued that if you are willing to resort to damping mods and filters the original HD681 may be technically the best choice since it has the most extension on both ends)