[Vaga Liki]

Yenona, the bass is not overdone at all, the mids I feel may be just a hair recessed compared to the highs but it's pretty close IMO. They do have a nice open sound, not as much as my AKG 7xx but more than the M50 by a good margin, once on your ears they seal well and won't leak much if at all. Super light and comfy. I got them for a little above the 11/11 price and would easily pay more than their suggested price of $60. The build seems durable but they focused more on a good sound for the price rather than inflating costs for expensive materials to build them

What is the M50 you're referring to?

The CB-1 suggested seem like they have great sound, but I'm a bit wary of spending $80 on something that several reviewers have mentioned doesn't feel that durable.

Kind of having the same sentiment about the Yenonas considering the poorly designed headphone jack.

 

[slowpickr]

http://aliexpress.com/zQRb6b67

Apparently the same drivers, but angled and with an open back design

Bad link? Gotta have comfort and gotta have closed back. Not in the market for open backs. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Lurk650]

What is the M50 you're referring to?

The CB-1 suggested seem like they have great sound, but I'm a bit wary of spending $80 on something that several reviewers have mentioned doesn't feel that durable.

Kind of having the same sentiment about the Yenonas considering the poorly designed headphone jack.

Audio Technica M50. The 3.5 headphone port may be bad but while connected to my portable (Fiio X3ii and Oppo HA2) it fell off my bed and yanked on the cable of course. Did not come unplugged the headphone so the 6.35 jack is strong

 

[notamethlab]

Figured I'd share this with everyone else.

If you are a new user of the AE mobile app you can get up to $300 in coupons also works if you make a new account regardless if you aren't a "new user", the offer is linked to your device so only 1 per device. One of those is a spend >$100 and get $10 off, also a spend >$15 and get $3 off the rest $30 off $300 and $50 off $500. These can be combined with the AE select coupons which allow up $6 off on orders over $59 AND can also be combined with seller coupons for really good savings. The way I got these was I made a new account and at 12 am I clicked the link, you have to do this within the first 3 minutes of the day because they run out quick. I found this much better and less aggravating then collecting coins all to find out they ran out of coupons, which seems to happen no matter how many times I have tried.

I hope this helps everyone get a good deal on what they want!

 

[peter123]

Pharmaboy
I'm not a big believer in burn in so I'm just using them. Probably haven't played more than 4-5 hours.

Been listening mostly with the Opus #1 but also with my LG G5 (with the Hifi Plus module) and the Shanling M1. Haven't used any amp yet and honestly don't really see any reason to do so as they're not very hard to drive. Will try with the Burson V2+ today and see if I get any significant improvements.

I still find the to be very good, just not with the original pads and they're not on the same level as Pro80 and HD662f for my preferences.

Thanks for sharing about build quality, only way to really know is long time usage. That being said I'm sure that I have at least 30 headphones and these are certainly among the bottom five when it comes to how they feel and build materials but they're also among the cheapest so that's fair enough to me.

Edit : the HM5 pleather pads are perfect for my preference. Extremely little bass bleed and full lush sound with a good amount of air in there, ymmw.

 

[ViniSavordelli]

Bad link? Gotta have comfort and gotta have closed back. Not in the market for open backs. Thanks for the reply.

Ops,

there you go:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Quality-Wood-Headphones-Headband-HiFi-Wired-Stereo-Diy-Music-Headset-PC-Noise-Isolating-Big-Monitor/32704347055.html?spm=2114.13010308.0.0.JawqtQ

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Langsdom-FA890-Original-Premium-Genuine-Wood-Headset-Noise-Cancelling-Stereo-Natural-Surround-Sound-Extremely-Soft-Headphone/32492587658.html?spm=2114.30010308.3.1.4tlY1D&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10091_10090_9999_10088_10089,searchweb201603_1&btsid=d46b2941-24e5-4027-bfe6-dfa125efec0b

 

[Vaga Liki]

Are you using the standard hm5 velour pads or the angled ones?

Would you recommend the yenona for me at this point?

 

[peter123]

My Yenona now have over 20 hours playtime. I've tried them with a lot of different pads and then went back to the stock ones again to confirm.

I've been listening through the Opus #1, Shanling M1 and Conductor V2+ in addition to my LG G5.

First of all, the stock pads doesn't work at all for me. To me the sound is bassy, congested and with rolled off treble when using them. General signature is L-shaped and quite warm. Since this is different from other peoples impressions I'm wondering if we all got the same stock pads. This is what mine looks like:



The diameter of the inner hole is 5x5 cm, on the HM5 memory foam pads the diameter is 6x7 cm (they're originally oval and are still haven't completely lost that shape).

With the HM5 memory foam pleather pads the sound is much more balanced and airy but it also lose some of the overall weight but are still perfectly smooth to my ears. I've also opened up the cups and put a piece of Dynamat (about 3x3 cm) and a very thin piece of fiberglass felt in the same size. This took away the last boominess for me.

Soundwise they're now clean and clear while still maintaining smooth and extremely non-fatiguing. I'm sure others will prefer them with other tunings but this works great for me.

I'd say that I prefer the over the Superlux HD662f by now.

The pads that I've tried are the following and I've put them in the order that I enjoy them:

HM5 pleather
Alpha Pads
HM5 velour
Stock pads
Beyerdynamic DT770

For the $35 these are going for tomorrow I'd say they're well worth it, especially if you like to play around with different pads and tunings or enjoy a full, warm, smooth and L-shaped sound (stock).

 

[Lurk650]

Yes, clean and clear but with stock pads is how I would find them. Bass is balanced for me. The dynamat sounds interesting, installing subs and amp in my car this weekend so maybe I'll see if my buddy has some deadener I can grab a piece.

Can't wait to see how the HM5 sound

 

[peter123]

Yes, clean and clear but with stock pads is how I would find them. Bass is balanced for me. The dynamat sounds interesting, installing subs and amp in my car this weekend so maybe I'll see if my buddy has some deadener I can grab a piece.

Can't wait to see how the HM5 sound

Yeah, I often put a small amount of Dynamat in the cup on cheaper headphones. Pads are on their way

 

[Vidal]

I got my Massdrop HE-350 today, impressed with build, comfort and soundstage. Highs are a bit 

 but will give them time to settle in.

 

[Pharmaboy]

My Yenona now have over 20 hours playtime. I've tried them with a lot of different pads and then went back to the stock ones again to confirm.

I've been listening through the Opus #1, Shanling M1 and Conductor V2+ in addition to my LG G5.

First of all, the stock pads doesn't work at all for me. To me the sound is bassy, congested and with rolled off treble when using them. General signature is L-shaped and quite warm. Since this is different from other peoples impressions I'm wondering if we all got the same stock pads. This is what mine looks like:



The diameter of the inner hole is 5x5 cm, on the HM5 memory foam pads the diameter is 6x7 cm (they're originally oval and are still haven't completely lost that shape).

With the HM5 memory foam pleather pads the sound is much more balanced and airy but it also lose some of the overall weight but are still perfectly smooth to my ears. I've also opened up the cups and put a piece of Dynamat (about 3x3 cm) and a very thin piece of fiberglass felt in the same size. This took away the last boominess for me.

Soundwise they're now clean and clear while still maintaining smooth and extremely non-fatiguing. I'm sure others will prefer them with other tunings but this works great for me.

I'd say that I prefer the over the Superlux HD662f by now.

The pads that I've tried are the following and I've put them in the order that I enjoy them:

HM5 pleather
Alpha Pads
HM5 velour
Stock pads
Beyerdynamic DT770

For the $35 these are going for tomorrow I'd say they're well worth it, especially if you like to play around with different pads and tunings or enjoy a full, warm, smooth and L-shaped sound (stock).

 
The pads in the picture are clearly the same stock pads on my Yenona's. They're about 95mm in outside diameter; 50mm inside (earhole) diameter; and 30mm deep. They're a little softer/less "springy" than the memory foam in the HM5 pads, but not to the point of being "squishy" or objectionably soft.
 
Your sound impressions are very interesting. For one thing, you probably have more headphones in absolute #'s than anyone else on this string; more to the point, you've no doubt heard more inexpensive Chinese headphones than anyone else. So your impressions come from a place of knowledge. But also, I have to entertain the thought that we're seeing a sample-to-sample variation in the Yenona's themselves. In other words, your Yenona's just flat-out sound different from mine. That's not very likely, but it is possible.
 
I've noticed that the Yenona's change over time. For example, after 100s of hours of burn-in and/or head-time, there is clearly more upper frequencies than before. Perhaps more than I like...something I'm trying to check out. This is confounded by the fact that my DAC, the Audio GD NOS 19, also changes quite a bit over time. It's hardly a component most people would regard as "bright," but its frequency balance has varied at different times in the ~400 hrs of my use of it, at times quite markedly (yet temporarily).
 
Audio can be damned hard to pin down sometimes.
 
I'm still looking for affordable angled pleather pads to try w/the Yenona's. I lilke the stock pads quite a lot, but am interested in any audible changes angled pads would make. But I really mean the deepest angled pads--the ones that are at least 1.5" on the tall side, down the 3/4" on the narrow side--not the lower profiles of the cheap ones I see on ebay. And ideally the pads would be a better fit for the ~95mm diameter earcups of the Yenona than the 80 x 120mm angled HM5s.

 

[Lurk650]

Like you Pharma I do enjoy mine stock pads as well. Sound described is different than Peter's findings too. I do honestly believe there is a discrepancy in their QC which is not surprising for a budget Chinese earphone. FWIW mine is from Amazon US.

 

[Pharmaboy]

UPDATE: Just received my Marantz Pro MPH-2 headphones via UPS this afternoon. They look like this:
 

 
 

 
 
Very handsome headphones, and rather similar in design to the Yenona's, yet also different in a number of subtle/telling ways:
 
1 - Both headphones come in very decent boxes/packaging, but the Marantz' box is larger and slightly better designed.
 
2 - The Yenona's come with a garish, red colored cable that is 6.5mm on one end & 3.5mm on the other, with a partial section of coiling in the middle. I thought the cable looked like a Twizzler, too gimmicky to bother with, so I never used it. By contrast, the Marantz comes with a 3M cable that is also 6.5mm on one end & 3.5mm on the other. The 3.5mm end plugs into the bottom of the left earcup via a locking mechanism that probably means aftermarket cables are out of the question. Then again, the stock Marantz cable seems more than decent, albeit too long.
 
3 - The earcups of the Marantz are shallower overall than the Yenona's, with less internal volume. The earpads are also slightly shallower (1" depth/Marantz vs 1 1/8th depth/Yenona's). This may help explain the difference in soundstaging.
 
4 - They Yenona's are extremely comfortable, with relatively soft (but not squishy soft) earpads, very light clamping pressure, and very low weight (~250 grams). They're the kind of headphones you can easily forget you're wearing (until your ears get hot from those pleather earpads sealing to your skull--a closed headphone constant). By contrast, the Marantz are somewhat less comfortable, but still above average. They have more clamping pressure, the result of the visibly more curved radius of the headband (though I'm sure that can be bent to lessen clamping pressure). The pads are not quite as soft as the Yenona's, and the pleather is very slightly thicker/stiffer, for a slightly firmer feel against the head.
 
5 - The Marantz sounded terrific straight out the box--as did the Yenona's. But they're different:
  Soundstage: the Yenona's have a more spacious sound and quite a bit of soundstaging for closed headphones. The sound doesn't seem "locked into" L vs R channels. The Marantz have less soundstage and less of the center image, more L vs R channel feel.
  Frequency balance: the Yenona's have a lot of bass (which I like), and clearly have more mid-bass than the Marantz, which also have a lot of bass--they go low and hit hard...they may even have more sub-bass than the Yenona's (kind of early to tell on that). But the Marantz' midbass is flatter and segues into the midrange very smoothly, more so than the Yenona's. Midrange is the biggest difference between these headphones, with the Marantz having an immediately clearer/cleaner midrange. Both 'phones convey details well, but the Marantz, probably due to the greater midrange clarity, show me certain things I wasn't hearing as clearly on the Yenona's.
 
The seal created by these headphones is quite different. The Yenona's seal relatively well (plenty well for their abundant bass to come through), but you never get that odd "suction" feeling against the ear that 'phones with more sealing power can give. The Marantz definitely seals more, and occasionally I get that weird suction feeling.
 
That's it for now after 2-3 hrs preliminary listening. I'll burn in the Marantz for ~100-150 hours on a mix of music & brownian/pink noise, then see what they sound like.
 
PS: Can't stress how handsome these $39.99 Marantz Pro MPH-2 headphones are in person. It's unbelievable how much value is being packed into these products at such low price points.

 

[crabdog]

UPDATE: Just received my Marantz Pro MPH-2 headphones via UPS this afternoon. They look like this:









Very handsome headphones, and rather similar in design to the Yenona's, yet also different in a number of subtle/telling ways:

1 - Both headphones come in very decent boxes/packaging, but the Marantz' box is larger and slightly better designed.

2 - The Yenona's come with a garish, red colored cable that is 6.5mm on one end & 3.5mm on the other, with a partial section of coiling in the middle. I thought the cable looked like a Twizzler, too gimmicky to bother with, so I never used it. By contrast, the Marantz comes with a 3M cable that is also 6.5mm on one end & 3.5mm on the other. The 3.5mm end plugs into the bottom of the left earcup via a locking mechanism that probably means aftermarket cables are out of the question. Then again, the stock Marantz cable seems more than decent, albeit too long.

3 - The earcups of the Marantz are shallower overall than the Yenona's, with less internal volume. The earpads are also slightly shallower (1" depth/Marantz vs 1 1/8th depth/Yenona's). This may help explain the difference in soundstaging.

4 - They Yenona's are extremely comfortable, with relatively soft (but not squishy soft) earpads, very light clamping pressure, and very low weight (~250 grams). They're the kind of headphones you can easily forget you're wearing (until your ears get hot from those pleather earpads sealing to your skull--a closed headphone constant). By contrast, the Marantz are somewhat less comfortable, but still above average. They have more clamping pressure, the result of the visibly more curved radius of the headband (though I'm sure that can be bent to lessen clamping pressure). The pads are not quite as soft as the Yenona's, and the pleather is very slightly thicker/stiffer, for a slightly firmer feel against the head.

5 - The Marantz sounded terrific straight out the box--as did the Yenona's. But they're different:
  Soundstage: the Yenona's have a more spacious sound and quite a bit of soundstaging for closed headphones. The sound doesn't seem "locked into" L vs R channels. The Marantz have less soundstage and less of the center image, more L vs R channel feel.
  Frequency balance: the Yenona's have a lot of bass (which I like), and clearly have more mid-bass than the Marantz, which also have a lot of bass--they go low and hit hard...they may even have more sub-bass than the Yenona's (kind of early to tell on that). But the Marantz' midbass is flatter and segues into the midrange very smoothly, more so than the Yenona's. Midrange is the biggest difference between these headphones, with the Marantz having an immediately clearer/cleaner midrange. Both 'phones convey details well, but the Marantz, probably due to the greater midrange clarity, show me certain things I wasn't hearing as clearly on the Yenona's.

The seal created by these headphones is quite different. The Yenona's seal relatively well (plenty well for their abundant bass to come through), but you never get that odd "suction" feeling against the ear that 'phones with more sealing power can give. The Marantz definitely seals more, and occasionally I get that weird suction feeling.

That's it for now after 2-3 hrs preliminary listening. I'll burn in the Marantz for ~100-150 hours on a mix of music & brownian/pink noise, then see what they sound like.

PS: Can't stress how handsome these $39.99 Marantz Pro MPH-2 headphones are in person. It's unbelievable how much value is being packed into these products at such low price points.

Thanks for the info. I have a few hours left to decide which phones to get. So many budget options in this price range now