[pashhtk27]

Hey, I’m a soundmagic fan myself. I have the HP150, and HP200, and I used to have a pair of e10c IEMs.

They make good stuff, although their hinge design on their full size headphones is seriously flawed and needs to be changed to be more robust.

With my ancient E18s and battered E80 cable coming apart, along with the shoddy plastic on P30, I can very well agree. But then for the price you can't ask much and I've mishandled them a lot!

 

[hifi80sman]

UPDATE: Replaced the SIVGA SV002 ear pads with original Meze 99 ear pads and calms the sibilance a bit, while also slightly improving the bass. The change is not drastic, rather, it refines some of the "rough edges" and an overall smoother listen. If you're into extremely granular details, then the stock pads work better, but for me, I enjoy more of a detailed, yet silky texture. I think they look pretty sharp with the Meze 99 pads.

 

[slapo]

I only have one SoundMagic headphone, the Vento P55. It sounds good, the build is really nice, but the pads...
They're the annoying sort of on-ears, roughly 83mm for the cups, which just cover the sensitive parts of my ears and even the thicker parts get annoyed after about an hour. While they are about 2cm thick, the clamp compresses them hard enough so their thickness doesn't matter. I tried super plush (cca 3cm) and soft pads and they are much nicer, but literally wrap around my ears. Anything larger and the highs go off the hook. So I'm still looking for better pads. I guess I'll probably end up selling them because of comfort issues.

Soundstage is OK with the plush pads, not much of it with the stock ones, though. Detail is decent, bass is fine, so is treble, mids seem maybe a little recessed, but vocals sound good still.
Not sure I'd pay the £149 they retail for on Amazon. I paid £60 for mine on sale, and, honestly, I'm happy I haven't paid more for them.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

UPDATE: Replaced the SIVGA SV002 ear pads with original Meze 99 ear pads and calms the sibilance a bit, while also slightly improving the bass. The change is not drastic, rather, it refines some of the "rough edges" and an overall smoother listen. If you're into extremely granular details, then the stock pads work better, but for me, I enjoy more of a detailed, yet silky texture. I think they look pretty sharp with the Meze 99 pads.

They look like $200 headphones, easily.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

I recently loaned my modded HD681 to a friend, he finally got around to giving them a listen and his response was perfect, "So, these headphones are awesome!!!"
It's nice when you can open a fellow music lovers eyes to the world of Chifi...I'll probably wind up selling him my set, since I just bought some Kinden (bosshifi clones) to play with.

 

[hifi80sman]

I recently loaned my modded HD681 to a friend, he finally got around to giving them a listen and his response was perfect, "So, these headphones are awesome!!!"
It's nice when you can open a fellow music lovers eyes to the world of Chifi...I'll probably wind up selling him my set, since I just bought some Kinden (bosshifi clones) to play with.

What's your opinion on the build quality of the HD681? Also, if you had to compare to a name brand headphone, what is it similar to?

 

[slapo]

A Chifi take on the Porta Pro:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lig...Microphone-Mic-for-Cellphone/32817210755.html
I was briefly tempted, but the KSC75 are not that much more and excellent.

 

[Humblepie]

Not tempted by the porta pro and not tempted by those. The looks and being on ear just don't appeal to me at all.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Not tempted by the porta pro and not tempted by those. The looks and being on ear just don't appeal to me at all.

Have to give a shout-out to the Porta Pro. I use mine only for exercise (4-5 mile daily walk), and it is superbly suited for that: they're light, relatively comfortable, and have excellent sound. In fact, the sound is quite surprising for such a light/portable headphone. I didn't even get them with the expectation of good sound, but that's what I got, including more bass than expected.

 

[Slater]

Not tempted by the porta pro and not tempted by those. The looks and being on ear just don't appeal to me at all.

You may change your mind if you heard them. They are ridiculously good. Like ‘you will be shocked at how much you paid’ good.

I prefer the KSC75 with the $3 PartsExpress headband myself. Total cost $16 ($13+$3).

 

[mbwilson111]

I prefer the KSC75 with the $3 PartsExpress headband myself.

I do too. The KSC75 sounds amazing and doesn't put pressure anywhere with that headband. The porta pros that I had in the 90's ate my hair. If I really really had to, I could live with just the KSC75. Of course that is true of other things that I have as well.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I do too. The KSC75 sounds amazing and doesn't put pressure anywhere with that headband. The porta pros that I had in the 90's ate my hair. If I really really had to, I could live with just the KSC75. Of course that is true of other things that I have as well.

so that's what happened to my hair!

 

[mbwilson111]

so that's what happened to my hair!

Yup. Quit using the porta pro and it will all grow back.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

What's your opinion on the build quality of the HD681? Also, if you had to compare to a name brand headphone, what is it similar to?

The build quality is more than acceptable. They are definitely inexpensive materials, but I don't feel as if the will easily break or fall apart. I think I paid $12.00 for them on a Gearbest coupon, and at that price the build quality is amazing...it's all about perspective, right?
In terms of sound, the headphones I have that they sound closest to are the Philips SHP9500s...bear in mind, I have modded both headphones, but the Phillips have better bass, more...richness, fullness to the mids? The HD681 are a leaner, brighter presentation...not thin per se, just, not quite as full bodied.
To be honest, that's not really fair to the HD681 though, because the 9500s have responded REALLY well to the mods I performed and they are literally as good or better than my Fidelio L2s in some ways and only slightly behind them in a couple of others....the Superluxes are left trying to compete with some really great sounding headphones and they just lag a little bit behind. I am going to try some Sorbothane damping mods on them to try to get them closer....
but if I had less than $50 to spend, I'd get the HD681 and be really happy with the decision.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Original B7, like the pictures of the Kinden model shown on Amazon, shipped with those Oval opening earpads. The newer ones ship with better Round opening earpads. The newer earpads are much better. Let us know which ones you get.

They are shipping with the odd oval pads. I say 'odd' because they are round pads, with an oval opening, which is an odd choice. I mean, round pads, round opening, right? Why put an oval opening? It's too bad because the pleather is fairly nice, they aren't memory foam, but it is nice foam. The opening is just too small.
I have the Freeboss pads on them now.