[psyco1]

My parents tried to hook up a cheap set of phones that came with an old walkman-ish thing to a 1/8" splitter on the back of their comp. I took a listen an literally shuddered, it was so bad. I think it's freq. curve may have looked like the Matterhorn, with the peak at 1 or 2 khz. Bad, very bad.

So, I opted to get a set of Senn 201s for them after reading everyones take on them and after playing them a while, I must say I'm impressed. I put them on and loaded up APC's 13th Step and thought to myself "Holy Crap. $20?". Sure, bass and treble extension isn't as good as some phones, the soundstage isn't A900 big and the imaging and detail isn't Ety-like, but for the price it's a decent sounding phone. It has a reserved Senn house sound that I think works better with classical or ambient than with rock/metal, but these are for my parents, so I don't think that'll be much of a problem.

Really though, closed, $20 and this good sounding. How the hell did Sennheiser do this?

 

[nierika]

Quote:

Originally Posted by psyco1 Really though, closed, $20 and this good sounding. How the hell did Sennheiser do this?

I think they are growing drivers on trees now!

 

[Teerawit]

I agree. The HD201 is INCREDIBLE for $20. It made me re-evaluate why I bought more expensive headphones in the first place.

 

[OlManRivah]

re-ordered mine today from Amazon. Ecost has had them on backorder. How comfortable are they?

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit I agree. The HD201 is INCREDIBLE for $20. It made me re-evaluate why I bought more expensive headphones in the first place.

Me too...


Paired with my equally unpretentious on paper Kenwood DP-X337 PCDP, the HD201 sounds like a little wonder - I can't believe I've found my perfect phone for a PCDP "setup" when it costed me 20 euro !! For "musical enjoyment" I preferred it to: PX100, HD497, AKG K141S.

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OlManRivah How comfortable are they?

Very. Fits my head/ears like a glove (I don't know if I'm normal or abnormal anyway

)

 

[IEATTEFLON]

They sound pretty bad to me. I opened mine up and it has the same 27mm drivers as the stock cheapies that come with portable cd players. My main problem with them is that they distort a lot under music with any heavy bass passages. I've heard cheaper headphones that had more excursion limits. Styling and comfort is pretty good so I think I'll mod koss ksc drivers into them.

 

[Yaboosh]

Is this the new FOTM? It seems that these have grown immensely in popularity around here in the past few weeks.

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IEATTEFLON They sound pretty bad to me. I opened mine up and it has the same 27mm drivers as the stock cheapies that come with portable cd players. My main problem with them is that they distort a lot under music with any heavy bass passages. I've heard cheaper headphones that had more excursion limits. Styling and comfort is pretty good so I think I'll mod koss ksc drivers into them.

The drivers are not "stock" stuff.

They're seemingly the same ones that Sennheiser uses in (some of) their current UHF wireless headphones. Obviously a "casual" headphone sounds nothing like that.

I can't speak about the bass issue you talk of - I don't listen to the right music or at the right volume to witness that.

 

[MrXpress]

Meh. I got mine and was impressed initially, but that has long worn off and I rarely listen to them anymore. I can't get into the hollow sound, and my KSC-75's blow them away.

 

[Andrea]

"hollow" (for you) = transparent (for me)

But, actually, the overall balance needs a bit of help (read: bass boost) to be fully convincing.

 

[DaHoboFest]

you think they are comfy? How, there isn't enough distance from the driver to the farthest stick out of the pad. So your ear gets squished against your head and the driver.

 

[psyco1]

I had no problem with the fit, no ear squashing at all.

 

[Factor]

I agree that there should be more space between the driver and the thickest part of the bad but the weight and the clamping power are light enough so that this isn't that huge a problem.

I think the key with these is that they're good for the price. The resonance of the plastic shell isn't horrible but it's there (it seems like you can hear it most in vocals), and the not-so-hot low and high extension would totally piss me off if these things cost, say, $50. They seem to have their price range pretty well dominated though. Decent detail, and the frequencies you do hear seem well-balanced. Thankfully they don't have that mid/upper-bass exaggeration that seems common with $20 closed cans.

 

[FaRKle]

I got these for my lil Bro's Bday. I tried'em when they came (no tape on the box) and they sound great for the cost. I compared them right there with my HD580's and they sounded a bit airier in the highs, and all around weren't as clear, but for the cost they are unbeatable. No problems with comfort too. Tried'em with a buncha glasses to see how they'd feel.