[Danny23]

Re-stock of the Openheart Grado clones, the OH2000 now in ali, I´ve just bought one.

let us know how they sound when they arrive!

 

[Danny23]

Anyone found a good quality chi-fi wireless ANC headphones? Anything similar to Sony XM3/4 and Senn Momentum 3?

 

[vs3x]

Anyone found a good quality chi-fi wireless ANC headphones? Anything similar to Sony XM3/4 and Senn Momentum 3?

may be HiVi AW-83 ...it's a venerable brand
...but - why exactly Chinese?
as for me (user Status BT One) - Status Flagship ANC look interesting (if I was interested ANC)

 

[Danny23]

may be HiVi AW-83 ...it's a venerable brand
...but - why exactly Chinese?
as for me (user Status BT One) - Status Flagship ANC look interesting (if I was interested ANC)

Yeah it doesn’t have to be Chinese, mainly looking there as a lower price point, I had taken a look at the status ANC, not read too much reaction to them yet

 

[nraymond]

Yeah it doesn’t have to be Chinese, mainly looking there as a lower price point, I had taken a look at the status ANC, not read too much reaction to them yet

ANC is rather complicated. It involves microphones and a DSP so it can create inverse sound waves to cancel out external sound in real-time, in addition to the needed amplifier and (if wireless) BlueTooth circuitry. There tends to be a correlation between the cost of an ANC solution and the quality of the experience because of the complexity.

 

[Mullle Meck]

ANC is rather complicated. It involves microphones and a DSP so it can create inverse sound waves to cancel out external sound in real-time, in addition to the needed amplifier and (if wireless) BlueTooth circuitry. There tends to be a correlation between the cost of an ANC solution and the quality of the experience because of the complexity.

To put it simple: Can audio circuitry be bought super cheap from china: yes
Can high quality audio circuitry be bought from china super cheap: no

The chi-fi bargains that has come out in recent years either boil down to either low to mid end wired headphones or low end wireless stuff

Also, if you want good ANC, alot of R'n'D is required and there is where large companies such as Sony or Bose have the upper hand

 

[skeewiff]

let us know how they sound when they arrive!

Received today, just listening now as I supposed mid-high oriented grado sound and power hungry, shipped with two different cushion pads, will post later impressions.
I think that the different reviews I´ve read in this thread are right, the drivers aren´t good, they´re ok for the shell housing and the goodies (bag, cable, etc) but they lack bass.

 

[dissociativity]

Did anyone ever post a teardown guide for the OH2000? I'd like to put a fancier driver that has bass that exists.
Don't get me wrong I'm the opposite of a basshead, but it's utterly missing here vs the nice punch in my alessandro MS1s that I'd love to transplant the driver from into these!

 

[Roderick]

You just twist them like bottle caps. Both back and front come of like that. I just pushed the driver out. There was no glue.

I tried modding the headphones with stock driver but I did not get great results. The diaphgram does not move much and it seems thick. Reminds me of old AKG drivers that were notorius of being bass light.

I replaced the stock driver with peerless hpd-50n25pr00-32 and it sounds much better. After one hour of listening my first impression is that it sounds VERY good.
.

 

[skeewiff]

I tried modding the headphones with stock driver but I did not get great results. The diaphgram does not move much and it seems thick. Reminds me of old AKG drivers that were notorius of being bass light.

I replaced the stock driver with peerless hpd-50n25pr00-32 and it sounds much better. After one hour of listening my first impression is that it sounds VERY good.
.

Can you provide a simple wiring diagram? I´m going to buy the same drivers. Thanks.

 

[raccoon city]

Some headphones that I really like are my JVC HA-S680's.
They are over-ear, closed-back, have plenty of bass, and accept Brainwavz earpads.
The problem is that they have been discontinued, and are really tough/impossible to purchase anymore.
Has JVC come out with a similar pair of headphones that I simply am not aware of?

 

[Roderick]

Can you provide a simple wiring diagram? I´m going to buy the same drivers. Thanks.

Side with + sign is for red wire.
You propably want to cut some of the wire and strip it so you can use "fresh" wire instead of the dirty part that was connected to the stock driver. Atleast on my headphones the wires were covered with protective black rubber I could not remove completely.

After fitting in the driver you will notice that the driver cover does not fit back anymore. You need to cut of some of the plastic edge.

It looks scary but with a sharp blade it is easier than it looks. Driver is stable in the housing so you should get a good grip.

I bend the headband using alot of force. It won't break. This is of course not necessary If you get a good stable fit without bending it.

I tried different sort of damping mods, removed the black paper, grille, stacked magnets etc. Only mod that works with 100% certainty is sealing/partially closing the center vent behind the driver. Closing it reduces bass. I left it fully open but some might prefer less bass.

These are quite amazing for the money. Only major downside is small soundstage but some might like the "in your face" presentation. I'd say soundstage is smaller than on hd650 or Focal headphones but not as bad as on Sivga Phoenix. Imaging is excellent. Even with limited debth there are very distinct layers in the soundfield. If I recall it's even better than on Sivga Phoenix which was quite good at imaging allready.

These sound very dynamic and do percussion particularly well. Highs are quite neutral to my ears so these lack the airy Grado sound. Bass can get bit bloated at times but it's not that bad. I prefer slight bloat over absence of bass. Bass can really slam. I'm quite surprised considering the foam pads and very open cups.

I feel midrange emphasizes guitar and other instruments on expense of vocals. I love these for rock/heavy music and everything with saxophones sounds great. However because these lack the vocal presence I keep pushing up the volume more than I should.

These are not the most detailed headphones around. For the money I'm not complaining but I think it's something worth noticing.


Here is frequency response compared to Sennheiser HD6XX

Peaks in 2khz and 3,5khz are real but I think they're about 3-4db instead of 5-6db they look like on the graph. Fake ear on minidsp Ears does weird stuff with on-ear headphones. Here is OH2000 with Grado RS2E

That 2-3khz mountain on Grado is also real but it is in reality about half from what I've measured. There are alot of measurements about those Grados around.

Hmm...These have similarities with both HD6XX and RS2E. Warm grado maybe? Regarding overall soundquality I think these are every bit as good as HD6XX or Grados. Only affordable open back headphone I have is Takstar HI2050 and it is no contest. And I really like those Takstars! These Drivers are known to be good so it should not be that big of a surprise that the headphones sound good. Of course housing and pads are atleast as important as the driver but I think we got lucky here. These sound great even with just driver transplant, no complicated modding required.

Other observations:
- Flat pads still sound horrible
- This is best suited for desktop setups with nice amplifiers. On A&K SR15 and Tidal I could sometimes max the volume with some tracks and it was not too loud.
- Headband sucks. I can even feel the cold metal throught the thin padding.
- Even with bowl pads its still on-ear headphone. After few hours my ears get a bit sore.

 

[theangelboy]

I know this thread is a bit chaotic and I feel like this post might just be screaming into the void a bit, but I thought I would share my quick impressions/findings of the (Blon?) Bosshifi B8.

I picked a pair from AliExpress back in 2019 during the 11/11 sale for $60. They arrived about a month later and I tried them. I found them harsh in the upper midrange/lower treble and generally boomy so they sat around unused until I tooks some time to do some pad rolling. Of the pads I had at, some velour M50 pads made the bass really tight, deep and fun but it still felt metallic and unnatural in the higher frequencies.

A few weeks ago I decided to try and try some front dampening materials to quell the unnaturalness and harshness. I tried a bunch of different materials but it wasn't a big success and didn't really improve that much. I decided that bringing the midrange up might be the best way to even it out since with the highs brought down the bass became too much. So I decided that I would give some genuine leather pads a try since those usually really help bring up mids. I found a very affordable pair of sheepskin M50 pads on AliExpress (shipped from a USA warehouse, noless) for about $12. So I ordered a pair.

They arrived yesterday and I gave them a try. Right away it warmed up the midrange and got rid of the metallic nature of the highs! Success! After more listening it really is a nice pairing. Bass is still punchy, albeit a little less extended compared to the velour pad, but much more in line with the other frequencies volume-wise. The midrange is smooth and vocals are really nice. Highs are reduced and smoothed out but there is still detail there and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. It's a nice warm experience.

Of the other sound metrics, my only real complaint would be the soundstage is pretty claustrophobic; it's a very in-your-head experience. But since it's a closed back I'll give it pass on that point. Imaging also isn't the most amazing thing, but plenty good for the price. Dynamics are also pretty good and it doesn't feel particularly compressed.

Fit and finish of the B8 was always impressive for the price and now it finally has sound to match. It also has pretty good passive noise isolation with the leather pads, making them a great option for traveling. I also wore them for several hours yesterday and no major discomfort. Overall it's a really impressive package for $75ish. I think I still like the sound of the CAL!2 with velour pads more with that biocellulose magic but build, looks, and comfort are all vastly better on the B8.

Anyway, if you have a B8 and you aren't thrilled with the sound, give some real leather pads a try, definitely improves them in my book.

P.S. Do any B8/SV006 owners have a favorite case that fits them while folded flat? All of the headphone cases I have are for headphone that don't fold flat and it would be nice to have a hard case for travel when that becomes a thing at some point....

 

[Adide]

On my B8 I did the cup dampening mod using some cotton disks from the wife (it's described somewhere in the thread). This mod got bass into focus and reduced upper mids ringing (subjectivity, I don't have measuring gear).
Also blocked back vents to reduce bass a bit (used some putty from the kid plus some scotch tape - lazy I know).
Both mods are easy to perform and reversible.
I'm using stock pads that although are kind of on-ear rather than around the ear are very comfortable for me.
Running them from a powerful Xduoo-TA01 hybrid amp. DAC is Audioquest Dragonfly Black.

Crazy good stuff I'd say, very musical and detailed, pretty balanced with lively mids and excellent extensions, very good soundstage for a closed back.

Akg k550 with stock pads lacks sub-bass, bass punch and sparkle in comparison. I'm trying to get rid of these AKGs else I might resort to some pads rolling to bring them in line.

 

[cappuchino]

I'm planning to buy this headphone to dip my toes in this form factor. I'm quite sure it uses the same "shell" (don't know the right term) as the Openheart OH2000. Not sure with the drivers but cable definitely looks different. It went for 30 USD as lowest I've seen. Link

And here's my question: Would earpads change the sound noticeably (and what type/shape) like how eartips are with IEMs?

Here are the pads I'm looking at... selling for 2 USD a pair

*G-cushion copy