DT880, SR325, ER4P, KSC35,etc

[swalker]

my wallet has seen its limit and my visit to head-fi has been rather infrequent in recent days compared to my earlier sleepless nights spent reading all the old reviews on this forum. I think I can safely conclude my journey has seen the end until I can fully recharge my fuel (i.e. 'till i get a high paying job). Anyway, I'll just leave my (very non-audiophile) comments on the headphones I've owned since my cursed discovery of this forum.

KSC35s : I bought these from martin after reading all the rave reviews on them. I had owned KSC50s prior to them so I had a good idea of how they would sound. Soundwise, they aren't that different from KSC50s except that the vocals sound fuller due to the closer positioning of the drivers to the ears. The bass of these can indeed be overpowering at times and those who are looking for the clarity of vocals and sparking guitars would be disappointed. They are very comfortable because of their light weight despite the low-tech clip mechanism. If you like to enjoy bass heavy music in outdoors, these are, handsdown, the best headphones i've used. And at the price of $20, they destroy Sony Streetstyles.

MX500s and Sony E888 Earbuds : Never owned these but borrowed and used them extensively. E888s are more comfortable than MX500s because they fit much better in my ears but I can see how they can be too small for some people's ears. Compared to MX500 Sony has much clearer and airer vocal and better sounding guitars. However MX500 sound a bit more "solid" due to their more pronounced midrange and bass. E888s soundstage, to me, seem "bigger" where MX500's is "deeper". (With foamies). At the end, I preferred E888s for their clarity and vocals but MX500s are a very good choice for the price.

Koss Plugs : I like them. They are boomy and peaky but very listenable after some modding and cheap. Cheap isolation at a low price with a little microphonic is a good thing to have.

Koss R80s : They are good for their street price of US$40. They are fully closed and isolate a decent amount of outside noise and pretty light. They share a lot of characteristics of KSC35/50s. Heavy bass but fairly good highs and vocals and the overall sound generally feel "smooth" without peaks. These are my first choice for canadian winters as they do a good job of keeping my ears warm.

The biggest problem of R80 is not the sound but the fragile construction. Luckily Koss will always give you a new pair for around $8.

Philips HP100s : I guess they are OK. Closed 'phones which isolate suprisingly little. There is no padding on top so if you do not have much hair on top of your head you might get some scars. Also the fit is rather iffy on my ears as they tend to slip off easily when i move my head around. The sound is somewhat like bundled earphones with distant vocals with lots of echo. They aren't offensive but I prefer R80s.

DT880s : Ahhh, my first foray into the world of high class full sized headphones (I got Etys before these). I must commend Beyerdymic for the great build quality. They are great. Everything is solid and all parts can be replaced. They even threw in an extension cable, a screw-in 1/4-1/8 converter and a servicable aluminium box. Pretty impressive stuff especially compared to Grados.

They have a wide soundstage. It's wide and extends well up and down. Yet there is no "head-in-a-fishbowl" sensation. Overall the sound is generally warm with a peak in the treble region. Other than that peak the sound is very smooth and sounded especially great with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik where the peak actually gave extra energy to the violion sound. Overall, there isn't really that much wrong with the headphones. They aren't offensive and everything is presented fairly evenly from the treble to the bass. However I just couldn't like their velvety sound which lini once described as silver texture. It is almost as if the sound is diffused a wee bit too much. Also the headphone in general seemed a bit to slow and too "full&rich" sounding for my taste after Etys so eventually sold them. However all things considered, these 'phones are excellent all arounders. I should also note that in my experience they weren't too peaky about the amps as they sounded just dandy out of my soundcards.

SR325s : I traded DT880s for these hoping they would provide sound that's leaner and faster. Even though they are known for their fatiguing sound, I actually found the sound to be a little smoother than DT880s. (notice that i didn't say they are flatter). The vocals are a bit more "liquid" and intimate than DT880s' without that velvety teture. One disclaimer is I only get that vocal when I use reversed bowl pads. With the stock bowl pads the vocal turns nasal. On my ears, they are comfortable even with the reversed bowl pad and do not make my ears as hot as the circumural headphones. I don't know how to describe this but I feel that the supraaural design of Grados gives them that extra intimacy at the expense of the collapsed soundstage. However at the end I still much prefer Etys. I must mention that I'm really disappointed with the build quality and extras with Grados. I mean.. these are expensive headphones, couldn't they at least include a 1/8-1/4 converter? And I'm not even talking about the paper box (which looks awfully like a cheap tie package box)

ER4P : I bought these blindly (as with DT880 and SR325) hoping the raving reviews are true.. and to me they were right. Comfort is a big issue but to me the Etys are the most comfortable cans especially since they do not warm up my ears like others and my ears got toughened up after using the Plugs for many times.

The in-ear nature of Etys combined with their incredible detailed sound provides a very unique listening experience. It's like your brain is connected directly to the music and the intimacy I get from that sensation is just amazing. Everything sounds just very solid to my ears and it always sounds fast and clean. No matter how fast the beat, I can hear the each drum hit very clearly separated from other instuments and all the plucks in guitar strings sound just right. The high end energy seems lacking just a bit compared to the rest of the sound spectrum even when I added a 50 something extra ohm resistor to make them close to ER4S. With my tigger Meta42 amp, I get plenty of bass and sometimes i think the upper bass/lower mid area bit too much. Etys seem to be pretty amp independent. They sound great out of pretty much anything. Even tho' they are picky about noise from the sauce, i find them tonally very forgiving. It's as if they take music and "etynize" into the Ety sound. However they do sound a good deal better out of the Meta than out of my soundcard.

One big - actually critical - weakness of the Etys to me is the soundstage or lackthereof. I think they are fine in terms of width, but seem very collapsed up-and-down. My solution was to use the Yamaha U50 virtualizer(number9 and MacDEF had threads on it and auction4it.com still has them on stock from time to time). To my ears, the Yamaha soundcard did wonders with the Etys; full, wide soundstage with all the Ety goodness. DT880 and SR325 just cannot satisfy my ears the way Etys can and at this point I doubt if I can find a pair of full-sized headphones that can provide the same type of enjoyment.

I guess(or hope) it's the last post I'm gonna write on this forum for a while. must.. stay away.. from.. this..forum..

Ok, I tried..

 

[Guyferd]

interesting review!
So in the end you much prefer etys to them all?
etys to me sound very good.. but the hassle of putting them in and the microphonic finally makes me dump them.
if only ety has come up with the new cable earlier(now in developing stage), then I would still perhaps stay with it.

 

[FrostyMMB]

Thanks for the review. I've been intrigued by the DT880s, possibly interested in comparing them to the SR325s to see which I prefer. I find the upper mid hump of the SR325s bothersome and the overall presentation a tad peaky for my tastes, but you say that the DT880 has a hump somewhere in the high end as well? I like the intimacy of the Grados, and from what I read it's as intimate as it comes in the open can world. Do the DT880s come anywhere close to that? However, I don't mind a small soundstage after spending years with a closed can, and I like the in-head sound of the Etys. Then again, I like the sound to have volume in or around the head (like a circumaural closed can), rather than on a line or plane like the Etys.

 

[swalker]

I think DT880's treble peak sounded pronounced because the rest of the sound spectrum is pretty neutral. The high end is not as hyped up as SR325's to my ears. DT880 is not as "intimate" as the Grados but by no means sound distant. Actually there are times I think the vocals on the Grados sound a bit more distant than on the Beyers. The problem with Beyers is sometimes the vocal plays itself out of the rest of the music but many people might even prefer it that way. I think I'd really liked DT880s had it not been for the texture and the relatively slow sound compared to the SR325 and Etys. If you like to hear the sound around your head, DT880s are definitely superior in that regard. I need to use the virtualizer with Etys to get the kind of enveloping sound I'm looking for. With DT880s.. I had to turn the thing off as it sounded very "fakey" and echoey.