SDA
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2004
- Posts
- 279
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- 0
Initial thoughts and impressions:
- 24-ohm? That's pretty low.. might be an issue for sources that can't deliver much current. Also, that guy on the packaging.. well, you just have to see it.
- This thing is LIGHT, even quite a bit lighter than the MDR-XD200. I took it inside immediately to avoid having the wind blow it away. (Yes, I open packages outside.)
- These pads smell strange. Kind of like pool float mixed with new carpet. They're also stretched more than I expect pleather to be, not that wrinkly at all. That might change.
Thoughts as t approaches now:
These seem like medium-sized headphones to me, but I think that's a perception thing, since I've lived with circumaural headphones for so long. For circumaural headphones, these have small-to-medium-sized cups. Most importantly, the cups are relatively thin, and they don't stick out on your head a lot. The color scheme and overall design are simple and easy on the eyes.
I plugged them into the headphone out onto my obsolete laptop, and was surprised to find that, with all volume settings at maximum and the laptop's integrated sound volume control (function key plus stuff) at maximum, the headphones were still bearably loud. Again with the weak sources stuff. I then plugged them into my PIMETA and played with the volume control. They're about as loud at 10 o' clock as my K501 is at 12 o' clock, with the volume control starting at, uh, 6:45. Wow.
Early impressions.. definitely bass-heavy, some mids are recessed (vocals). There's definitely roll off in the very high treble, but that shouldn't surprise anyone considering the headphone. Actually, none of this should really come as a surprise, seeing as this is a closed headphone with an MSRP of $25 we're dealing with-- and one that hasn't been burned in at all, at that.
After about an hour and a half of burn-in (physical and/or psychological), vocals are seeming less and less recessed (still a little nasal, but nothing obnoxious at all), though the bass is of course still heavy. Mids still seem a little weird compared to my K501, but that's among the most unfair comparisons I could possibly make. The boosted bass plus the recessed vocals make it sound somewhat congested. Soundstage is pretty flat. On the other hand, it's not awful flabby uncontrolled bass. It's not Grado bass, either, but it's certainly better than its predecessors (I think the bass hump starts to happen a little lower on the spectrum than it did with the 2x2), and it makes them pretty fun. The mids aren't recessed across the board, either.. most instruments are decent, excellent given that, again, this is a cheap closed headphone.
Isolation is decent. Nothing incredible, it's there, and better than the XD200. They seem better at keeping noise in than they are at keeping it out. Perhaps it's just that the noise that they try to keep out is a hell of a lot more powerful. They fail my isolation acid test (a Delta FFB1212SHE, FFB0812EHE and FFB0612EHE "Banshee" powered up simultaneously), but everything fails my acid test, even canalphones. There's a reason I keep those fans in a drawer and not in my computer. I guess it's a pretty useless test, but I have to feel like I didn't waste money buying the fans.
Overall, I feel pretty safe saying that these are quite nice for the price. Maybe you didn't get that impression from what I've said so far, but frankly, I'm just a lot better at criticism than I am at praise. These are pretty fun-sounding cans that don't seem to really do anything wrong, and even with the minimal physical and psychological burn-in I think they're excellent for what they are. (I'll admit that I haven't heard every cheap closed headphone out there, but I've heard the HD2x2 and XD200, and most cheap closed headphones suck anyway.) They look good, too.
I happen to have an HD212PRO (very similar to the cheaper HD202, if memory serves) and an MDR-XD200 around here somewhere, and I'm thinking about doing a comparison between them and the HD201 after the 201's had a little more burn-in. Battle of the cheap closed headphones, or something like that. Any interest?
- 24-ohm? That's pretty low.. might be an issue for sources that can't deliver much current. Also, that guy on the packaging.. well, you just have to see it.
- This thing is LIGHT, even quite a bit lighter than the MDR-XD200. I took it inside immediately to avoid having the wind blow it away. (Yes, I open packages outside.)
- These pads smell strange. Kind of like pool float mixed with new carpet. They're also stretched more than I expect pleather to be, not that wrinkly at all. That might change.
Thoughts as t approaches now:
These seem like medium-sized headphones to me, but I think that's a perception thing, since I've lived with circumaural headphones for so long. For circumaural headphones, these have small-to-medium-sized cups. Most importantly, the cups are relatively thin, and they don't stick out on your head a lot. The color scheme and overall design are simple and easy on the eyes.
I plugged them into the headphone out onto my obsolete laptop, and was surprised to find that, with all volume settings at maximum and the laptop's integrated sound volume control (function key plus stuff) at maximum, the headphones were still bearably loud. Again with the weak sources stuff. I then plugged them into my PIMETA and played with the volume control. They're about as loud at 10 o' clock as my K501 is at 12 o' clock, with the volume control starting at, uh, 6:45. Wow.
Early impressions.. definitely bass-heavy, some mids are recessed (vocals). There's definitely roll off in the very high treble, but that shouldn't surprise anyone considering the headphone. Actually, none of this should really come as a surprise, seeing as this is a closed headphone with an MSRP of $25 we're dealing with-- and one that hasn't been burned in at all, at that.
After about an hour and a half of burn-in (physical and/or psychological), vocals are seeming less and less recessed (still a little nasal, but nothing obnoxious at all), though the bass is of course still heavy. Mids still seem a little weird compared to my K501, but that's among the most unfair comparisons I could possibly make. The boosted bass plus the recessed vocals make it sound somewhat congested. Soundstage is pretty flat. On the other hand, it's not awful flabby uncontrolled bass. It's not Grado bass, either, but it's certainly better than its predecessors (I think the bass hump starts to happen a little lower on the spectrum than it did with the 2x2), and it makes them pretty fun. The mids aren't recessed across the board, either.. most instruments are decent, excellent given that, again, this is a cheap closed headphone.
Isolation is decent. Nothing incredible, it's there, and better than the XD200. They seem better at keeping noise in than they are at keeping it out. Perhaps it's just that the noise that they try to keep out is a hell of a lot more powerful. They fail my isolation acid test (a Delta FFB1212SHE, FFB0812EHE and FFB0612EHE "Banshee" powered up simultaneously), but everything fails my acid test, even canalphones. There's a reason I keep those fans in a drawer and not in my computer. I guess it's a pretty useless test, but I have to feel like I didn't waste money buying the fans.
Overall, I feel pretty safe saying that these are quite nice for the price. Maybe you didn't get that impression from what I've said so far, but frankly, I'm just a lot better at criticism than I am at praise. These are pretty fun-sounding cans that don't seem to really do anything wrong, and even with the minimal physical and psychological burn-in I think they're excellent for what they are. (I'll admit that I haven't heard every cheap closed headphone out there, but I've heard the HD2x2 and XD200, and most cheap closed headphones suck anyway.) They look good, too.
I happen to have an HD212PRO (very similar to the cheaper HD202, if memory serves) and an MDR-XD200 around here somewhere, and I'm thinking about doing a comparison between them and the HD201 after the 201's had a little more burn-in. Battle of the cheap closed headphones, or something like that. Any interest?