BodieBill
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
- Posts
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I bought the Taket from Takei san via a Japanese friend of mine who also lives in The Netherlands. The set arrived about two weeks ago, so it is about time I post some impressions.
For some context: I have owned a Sony CD3000 since 2001 which where my main headphones, driven by a Creek headphone amp. A few months ago I upgraded the Creek to a Doge 6210, which I modded with the help of HeadFi member cotdt. The Sony went to a different level. Lots of details, large soundstage, maybe a tiny bit too sharp / tiring in the upper frequencies. Next I tried a NOS Beyer DT880, which sounded pleasantly warm and relaxing, but could not offer the details and soundstage I was looking for. Next was the AKG 701, which - after considerable burn in - sounded very much to my liking, not having the cozy blanket over the sound I was used to with this design, and with lots of details but no shrillness. My main criticism is the tight fit on my head, which is irritating for extended listening or hot days.
The Taket review by Duggeh made me curious, so I took the plunge...
Out of the box the Taket was a revelation. It has a sound that I never heard in headphones before. I would describe it as
- direct!!
- open
- closer to the sound of speakers than anything I have heard
- seemingly unlimited frequency spectrum, from very deep bass via gorgeous mids to clear and subtle highs
- very fast
- impressive sound decay
In my case it is driven by a (modded) Cayin A88-T tube amp with triode and ultralinear modes, which works very well, making volumes possible much louder than I would ever want. The Taket is the non-XLR version with the leather headband.
I have not read anything about burning in the H2 or TR2, and I did not notice much change over time: its sound signature was apparent after one hour listening. I feel it may have slightly improved after some days, but that may be my imagination.
My main interests are classical music, jazz, traditional world music and pop, in that order if I take the % of time I listen to them. So I was struck by someone remarking here that the Taket´s bass is just too much for classical music, and a distraction in loud complex passages. I tend to disagree with that: the bass is certainly impressive and more so than in any other headphones I know. However this bass provides a foundation for the whole frequency range, putting the midrange and highs in perpective and adding to the perception of soundstage and detailed imaging. Actually I had the same experience when adding a subwoofer to my Spendor SP100 speakers (which go deep down themselves): with the subwoofer on its lowest setting (20 Hz and down) and at low volume, the effect is not a bass boost but rather an improvement of soundstage. The H2 does the same - only occasionally, for some jazz, the upright bass can become a little too much and uncontrolled.
Another HeadFi remark is that the H2 does not have a black but rather a ´grey´ background. The reason for this might be that the low end of the sound spectrum contains so much information. Most accoustic recordings done outside a controlled studio (and this includes a lot of classical music and jazz) tend to have ´rumble´. On recordings in churches you normally hear traffic, on others air conditioning, and so forth. A good example is the Bach cantatas cycle by Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan: beautiful acoustics and recordings, but each CD starts and ends with a rather loud rumble due to what could be an electricity aggregate.
Still another remark made in this forum is that the Taket is forgiving. Is it? Well, yes and no. It is very forgiving in terms of tone quality as the mids are velvety and the highs are hardly ever shrill. But it is rather revealing because of the sheer amount of detail. The latter is most apparent in classical music with soft passages, where you can hear conductors, singers and musicians breath, snore, turn sheet music, hit the music stand etc. The Taket reveals it all, which I think is a good thing. Of course this is not apparent with studio-produced pop music with consistently high volume levels.
One strange thing happened when first listening to the H2, and this was repeated several times: a slight midrange distortion appeared in loud passages, but went away when reversing or otherwise moving the headphones. It may be that some of my hairs had entered the mesh, as suggested bu Duggeh. Or maybe it is a result of a sudden movement of the headphones: yesterday the distortion occured immediately after I dropped my head when falling asleep (!) while listening... The problem is minor as it does not occur often and goes away when I blow through the headphones or rearrange them. Something to watch though, and I wonder whether anyone else has experienced something similar.
Last but not least: these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn. They leave the ears free if you like them to, and are feather light. I have not listened to my speakers in two weeks which I would not have thought possible with any other headphones. I could finally consider moving to a smaller house...
For some context: I have owned a Sony CD3000 since 2001 which where my main headphones, driven by a Creek headphone amp. A few months ago I upgraded the Creek to a Doge 6210, which I modded with the help of HeadFi member cotdt. The Sony went to a different level. Lots of details, large soundstage, maybe a tiny bit too sharp / tiring in the upper frequencies. Next I tried a NOS Beyer DT880, which sounded pleasantly warm and relaxing, but could not offer the details and soundstage I was looking for. Next was the AKG 701, which - after considerable burn in - sounded very much to my liking, not having the cozy blanket over the sound I was used to with this design, and with lots of details but no shrillness. My main criticism is the tight fit on my head, which is irritating for extended listening or hot days.
The Taket review by Duggeh made me curious, so I took the plunge...
Out of the box the Taket was a revelation. It has a sound that I never heard in headphones before. I would describe it as
- direct!!
- open
- closer to the sound of speakers than anything I have heard
- seemingly unlimited frequency spectrum, from very deep bass via gorgeous mids to clear and subtle highs
- very fast
- impressive sound decay
In my case it is driven by a (modded) Cayin A88-T tube amp with triode and ultralinear modes, which works very well, making volumes possible much louder than I would ever want. The Taket is the non-XLR version with the leather headband.
I have not read anything about burning in the H2 or TR2, and I did not notice much change over time: its sound signature was apparent after one hour listening. I feel it may have slightly improved after some days, but that may be my imagination.
My main interests are classical music, jazz, traditional world music and pop, in that order if I take the % of time I listen to them. So I was struck by someone remarking here that the Taket´s bass is just too much for classical music, and a distraction in loud complex passages. I tend to disagree with that: the bass is certainly impressive and more so than in any other headphones I know. However this bass provides a foundation for the whole frequency range, putting the midrange and highs in perpective and adding to the perception of soundstage and detailed imaging. Actually I had the same experience when adding a subwoofer to my Spendor SP100 speakers (which go deep down themselves): with the subwoofer on its lowest setting (20 Hz and down) and at low volume, the effect is not a bass boost but rather an improvement of soundstage. The H2 does the same - only occasionally, for some jazz, the upright bass can become a little too much and uncontrolled.
Another HeadFi remark is that the H2 does not have a black but rather a ´grey´ background. The reason for this might be that the low end of the sound spectrum contains so much information. Most accoustic recordings done outside a controlled studio (and this includes a lot of classical music and jazz) tend to have ´rumble´. On recordings in churches you normally hear traffic, on others air conditioning, and so forth. A good example is the Bach cantatas cycle by Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan: beautiful acoustics and recordings, but each CD starts and ends with a rather loud rumble due to what could be an electricity aggregate.
Still another remark made in this forum is that the Taket is forgiving. Is it? Well, yes and no. It is very forgiving in terms of tone quality as the mids are velvety and the highs are hardly ever shrill. But it is rather revealing because of the sheer amount of detail. The latter is most apparent in classical music with soft passages, where you can hear conductors, singers and musicians breath, snore, turn sheet music, hit the music stand etc. The Taket reveals it all, which I think is a good thing. Of course this is not apparent with studio-produced pop music with consistently high volume levels.
One strange thing happened when first listening to the H2, and this was repeated several times: a slight midrange distortion appeared in loud passages, but went away when reversing or otherwise moving the headphones. It may be that some of my hairs had entered the mesh, as suggested bu Duggeh. Or maybe it is a result of a sudden movement of the headphones: yesterday the distortion occured immediately after I dropped my head when falling asleep (!) while listening... The problem is minor as it does not occur often and goes away when I blow through the headphones or rearrange them. Something to watch though, and I wonder whether anyone else has experienced something similar.
Last but not least: these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn. They leave the ears free if you like them to, and are feather light. I have not listened to my speakers in two weeks which I would not have thought possible with any other headphones. I could finally consider moving to a smaller house...
