[Kouri]

I can confirm that the Stellar Labs version also has the same bevel design on the rear of the cup. I opted to glue a flattened grille to the inside of the assembly after "opening up these delicious cans" . heh.

Yeah, I don't know if Akai went to a different factory to differentiate themselves or what, but as far as I can tell, the 50x is the only clone to retool the cups, change the L/R indicators, and change the pads. Every other copy has the same basic design as the original MDH9000, just with different printing on the band and/or cups and different etching on the aluminum caps.

Interesting that you rolled to Brainwavz pads, as I did the same! Exception being that mine are of the pleather variety. I found it tamed the sound considerably after the modding process. They now have that wide sound stage.... and give a nice relaxed presentation of the music. Relaxed, but not lazy either. For me, the bass sufficient and not over powering with this combination.

I might have a weird set, but the Brainwavz pleather sealed too well, and paired with the open back, anything bassy gave me a headache as if I could actually feel the pressure waves. Hybrids broke the seal enough that I could listen comfortably.

I'm not sure how I feel about the open back mod. I picked up a set of Modern Retro to goof around with. Sound is okay, but soundstage is wiiiiiiiide. Figured I'd open up my HAS-30 to get something close, but nope, even open, they're nowhere as wide. That said, imaging is much better on the HAS-30, and the open back combined with hybrid pad reduces isolation enough that I can hear myself speak when using them as a headset. As far as I'm concerned, imaging + openness = a really nice set of gaming phones. A simple block with a ~10mm hole bored out, and I've got a flat panel to mount a mic to. Attached to the coiled cable, I can run the mic cable inside the coil, and I'm all set for a weekend of Monster Hunter.

As for boomy voices - that's not actually the headphone's fault (I learned the hard way that using good sources while testing is important). I'd set music aside and used the voices from an episode of NCIS to see how much I wanted to reduce bass. Turns out either my cable company has terribly compressed the audio, or the CBS audio techs just warm up the voices a bunch, but even on my 2.1 speaker amp, I can drop the crossover down to it's lowest value (the dial claims 50Hz, but I question the accuracy) and still have voices coming out of the subwoofer. Whoops.

For the sake of having a nice TV pair, though, I went ahead and inserted a teased cotton ball in each earcup. That dropped the bass enough to clear up those NCIS voices, but these definitely aren't bassy headphones anymore. Bass is still there, and *really* deep thuds nearing sub bass still come through fine, but I imagine mid bass is reduced in comparison to the stock HAS-30.

 

[BenF]

So I was curious how @BenF's Takstar recommendation compared to the HAS-30 I enjoyed, and happened across a chart on another board where someone measured their Marantz MPH-2.

So I overlayed the MPH-2 (Orange) over BenF's GM200 (Red) and Pro82 (Green) chart:



The different treble response has me intrigued, so I've gone ahead and ordered the GM200 to give them a listen. I'll probably pick up another HAS-30 once it drops to $40 again just to remind myself what it sounds like stock.

Back to my modded pair, I took @Slater's advice and covered the magnet vent, settling on just under 1/2 covered. Also swapped to Hybrid Brainwavz pads (less sweaty, but kind of itchy, and not as soft as the lovely stock pads). All in all, bass mostly tamed (but still a nice kick when things get really low), but some male voices are a bit boomy. I might try a light application of fiber fill in the cups to rein in the bass a bit more.

Wow, that treble peak around 5kHz looks horrible. It's even larger than TH900's peak at 7.5kHz (since the orange line is lower at 1kHz).
Also, in this region it will affect practically every female voice, making them more sibilant.
Then it dips 23dB in the high treble region - this should make for some boring cymbals/strings, as well as affect the perceived soundstage.

The drop in subbas looks bad, but 99% of my songs wouldn't be affected by it.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I own (or gave away) 4 pairs of ISK MDH9000 clones, one of them heavily modded by @Slater, who clearly knows what he's doing (that solid basic/clone sound get even better).

A note about sources: it's tempting to put your inexpensive clone on any old amp, maybe even the HP output of a sound card. But I found that sources really matter with the clones, and not in ways I could have expected:

• I had tried various of my clones on 4-5 different SS amps and gotten good sound always. The DAC was an NOS design. Bass was great; mids pretty good; soundstaging rather amazing for a closed back; and somewhat closed in/soft treble (not a bad thing if you're treble-averse moi)
• This summer for a change-of-pace, I brought my Marantz MPH-2s up to Canada on vaca along w/my humble all-in-one, the FiiO e10K. I was rewarded with the best sound I've ever heard from this headphone.
  • "That's puzzling" -- except maybe it's not. The inexpensive delta-sigma DAC in the e10K brought the mids & treble to life more than my NOS DAC had. Same excellent bass, but more in other places--but still not fatiguing.
• I impressed by this combo & loaned both units to a local Head-Fi pal whose ears & judgement I trust. He liked the MPH-2s + e10K, too, probably a little more than he had the MPH-2s on other sources. Still not a world-beating HP, but a very listenable one...
• This prompted him to try to try the MPH-2s on his Schitt Fulla. He said the sound was even better (I'll get my gear back soon along w/a loan of the Fulla, and will check for myself).

These clones are fairly efficient & low impedance, so I think they get whatever they need from any halfway decent SS amp. But they also seem to like a sharper DAC than I had back then. It's the only headphone of mine that I can say that about...

 

[bagwell359]

I know nothing about klh audio but I contacted them and asked if they want to be a part of my "best open headphones for $500" shootout which includes hifiman he400/400i/560, sennheiser hd700/hd650, iBasso sr1, brainwavz alara, shure srh1540, ollo S4, audioquest nighthawk carbon, grado rs2i and onkyo a800.

I hope they're willing to participate. Just by not coming up last would mean klh has made a good pair of headphones.

You promised a big review on $500 open backs, you put a bit into the iBasso SR1 thread, but I didn't see more. You're a good writer/reviewer, hope to see more.

This is an interesting sub culture over here BTW.

 

[lavinachtani]

I used the Takstar pro 82 for a while, but now one side had stopped working. So I'm looking to buy open backs now. Any good chi fi open back options that punch way above their weight?
I bought the Philips Shp 9500 and sold it. It was good but somehow I didn't like it that much.
Else I'll up my budget a bit and go with Hifiman He4xx.

 

[baskingshark]

I used the Takstar pro 82 for a while, but now one side had stopped working. So I'm looking to buy open backs now. Any good chi fi open back options that punch way above their weight?
I bought the Philips Shp 9500 and sold it. It was good but somehow I didn't like it that much.
Else I'll up my budget a bit and go with Hifiman He4xx.

I saw the Hifiman HE4xx being sold on massdrop at a promotion price of $130 USD today. (And apparently if u are a new member u get $20 USD off also). Not a bad deal at the price, but I saw multiple reviews saying the sound is good but the HE 4xx build quality is suspect, which put me off from getting it.

I used the CHIFI headphone OKCSC ZX1 and I thought the sound quality is decent for the price. But I think there are newer releases that are upgrades at the same price, YMMV.

 

[Roderick]

You promised a big review on $500 open backs, you put a bit into the iBasso SR1 thread, but I didn't see more. You're a good writer/reviewer, hope to see more.

Thanks for the encouragement! I got sidetracked comparing more expensive headphones when I was trying to figure out which headphones I want as my main ones.

Meanwhile new stuff was released and now I have some catching up to do. As I rarely get any review loaners I have to buy everything myself. That of course takes some time and financial planning.

Propably only way at this point would be releasing what I have so far. Make a thread about it and update it whenever I get a change to try new stuff.

 

[filthyweeb]

to those who have Bosshifi b8 how much sound they leak comparing to something like Takstar Pro 82? Can i use them and listen to Led zeppelin or smth and not annoy people around me ?

 

[Soreniglio]

Hey guys, what would be the best balanced bluetooth headphones among the ones you tried in your opinion?

I've been using the Earfun these days, and even though they're not Chinese/Asian, they sound incredible for the price (40$), and they're very comfy too!

 

[BenF]

Avantree Audition Pro is as good as you can expect from a Bluetooth headphone under 100$ - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32635590777.html
It's 68$ on the app, should be cheaper on 11.11.

I love it for movies/TV, and it's decent for music.

 

[RikudouGoku]

Blon b20 is going for 315 usd on 11/11 on aliexpress.

Edit: found a cheaper store don't have any experience with this store but the price is amazing.




US $450.00 30%OFF | BLON B20 Wooden HiFi Sound Open Flat Diaphragm Music Monitor Studio Stereo Proffessional Audiophile Headphone Headset Earphone
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/NVIWBUec

 

[greenarrow]

Recently purchased this from AliExpress. Sound (in my non-audiophile ears) is good. Bass, mid and high well balance. Source is a Topping A30/D30 combo. The A30 comes with a Burson V5i-d upgrade.

 

[Kouri]

Still modding the HAS-30.
1) Back to stock pads.
2) Covered the driver vents about 2/3.
3) Covered some of the baffle bass vents.
4) 3D-printed new covers to turn them back into closed-backs.
5) Reduced fiber fill to about half a cotton ball per cup.

Bass is still the star of the show, but there isn't any of that headache-inducing pressure from when I only cut the backs open. Mids seem recessed with a bit of bass bleed in vocals. I think I'll try and cover a few more baffle vents.

Also got the GM200 in. Bass is more balanced than my modded HAS-30, but they don't sound like they're hitting as low. Lacking that sub-bass rumble that the HAS-30 and even my little MH755 buds give. Mids aren't as recessed, but vocals can be picky. Sometimes they're fine, sometimes they sound like they're coming through a phone receiver. Detail and imaging are a step above the HAS-30. I appreciate how small (compared to my other cans) they are, and they're decent enough gaming cans when paired with the bass transducer I bolted onto my chair. Still prefer the HAS-30 for all the EDM tracks in my music games though.

EDIT: So apparently the lacking bass on the GM200 is the light clamp. Pressing the cups tighter against my head bumps up the sub bass. I tried bending the headband to increase the clamp, and it works for a minute or two, then resets. I'll try and bend it a bit more and see if it sticks.

 

[CoiL]

Ordered Superlux HD-672 (white) and whiyo velvet pads. Should be nice set for workplace, though, I hope semi-open design doesn`t leak too much sound.

Measurements done with same gear show pretty similar FR to Fidelio X1 (which I love to death):

I hope I can tame that HD-672 treble peak littlebit just with foam/felt layers but if not, will do passive amplitude corrector like for HD-681.

 

[jasswolf]

Hi all, first time poster, long time reader! Appreciate the hard work being done in this thread to deliver great entry level recommendations. I picked up a pair of OKCSC ZX1s and they've been my desktop go-to for music and movies since coming out of the box, though they are quite revealing of poorly mastered audio or crappy equipment.

I picked up a second pair for a friend, but the material covering the driver (i.e. between the driver and the earpad) was very different and quite porous, resulting in a lot more treble peaks seeping straight through. Rather than immediately flagging it for dispute with the seller on AliE (OKCSC store), I foolishly waited for them to send out replacement parts, which turned out to just be a spare pair of pads. I've tried numerous times to work with the store on this issue but once they realise again who I am and what I'm asking, they stop communication.

I sense that if I loosen the glue and replace the material correctly, the sound signature will clean up just fine, but the problem is identifying exactly what the material is. It seems like it's either a somewhat dense foam cut into a thin sheet (3mm thickness), or it's some kind of finer variant of synthetic felt. Do any ZX1 owners have a more technical grasp on the materials used, if only to save me stumbling around a textile store looking for a match?

Here's a blurry close up of the two materials side by side with the earpads removed. The left is the target material, the right is the 'faulty' pair.