[]|[ GorE]

Specifications :-

Price : 25 - 30 $
Name : SBC HP805
Driver width : 40mm
Impedance : 32 Ohms
Sensitivity : 104 db
Type : Semi Open.
The BEHIND top part of the driver is covered by the headband spring mechanism.Rest of the driver breathers freely.
The driver is a Grado lookalike from front and back.

Subjective loudness : EVen though the sensitivity is a lot more than my koss,i find i only have to reduce the volume on my Live! 24 bit sound card compared to my koss by 4 %.
Koss : 17 %
Philips : 13 %


Build Quality : 9/10
Awesome.Very good value for the money.All parts are held together using screws and snap on

parts.All plastic construction but the plastic doesnt resonate when tapped on using your knuckles.The headband is not leather(as it looks like in the philips photos) but is made of rexin.

The ear cushions are very soft and deep.Think 1.5 times the width of the Koss UR40 pads and are shaped to angle the drivers at an angle to your ears.No pleather or anything here.
The textile covering the foam pads has been sewn on from front and behind which alleviates all fears of the pads getting torn.

Comfort : 8/10 .
Thats because you never forget you are wearing them unlike the ur40's but thats due to the shape of the ear cushions that touch your ear at various points and not coz of the weight.


Misc : 10/10

The one sided cable is about the width of grado ones.It has a nice screwon grooves at the beginning of the 3.5 mm connector for attachment to the included 6.3mm connector.
I dont see any need to replace the cable.


Sound Quality :

Objective :-

Frequency Response :-

Philips: Good frequency reponse throught the audible range.No noticable dips or peaks.

Koss : 2 to 3 db dips at 3700-4300 Hz and at 6900-7300Hz.
3 db bass gain between 80-250 Hz.

Driver Matching :-

Philips : I guess the QC is very good at the philips factory.Very well matched with no audible differences between left and right.

Koss : Small Driver matching problems most occuring above 8 Khz.


Subjective Tests :-

1)Green Day : Wake me up when september ends.

The guitar at the song beginning is very clear and its nuances are clearly audible.You dont have to "listen" for them as you have to on the koss.All other instruments are at equal volumes with none taking the front stage.

Not to mention the eye blinking impact when the first drum hits.

The koss gets blown away here.

2)Mariah Carey : We belong together.

Pretty much a tie here except that on the koss there is no distance between mariah and you.
On the philips if you close your eyes,she seems to be on stage.

3)Isley Brothers - Living For The Love Of You

Pretty equal here but for the soundstage.The singer again sounds on the stage.

4)Thalia Feat Fat Joe - I Want You

The koss is beaten on intelligibility of words."Thalia" sounds like "Aliyah" on the koss.I had to search for the lyrics on the koss.I dont need them now !

5)Ronan Keating - If Tomorrow Never Comes

Again the philips beats the koss on vocal intelligibility.The song gets a nice ambience on the philips.
Every word is clear as windex cleaned glass.

6)Pet Shop Boys - Heart

Pretty close here but the philips has the midrange impact and snarl missing on the koss.

7)
Luther Vandross - Dance With My Father

I never knew there was glittering at the songs beginning at such a volume.Nuff said.

8)Gwen Stefani - Cool

Miss Gwen sound raspy as she does in real life.The koss smoothens her voice by quite a bit.

9)Elissa - Kol-Youm-Fi-Omry

Eliss is a wonderful lebanese female singer whose songs are recorded very well unlike most other arabic artistes.Philips brings a lot of instruments to the table.You can hear each instrument play a different tune.

11)Sara K. - If I Could Sing Your Blues

You can hear some frets at the songs beginning invisible on the koss.Even thought the song sound better overall on the the philips,it doesnt tingle your spine like the koss does.

12)Leny Andrade - Maiden Voyage

The piano sound richer here but at the same time veers on the edge of honkiness.The Grado drivers have a sloping rise about 2000Hz onwards and since these drivers resemble the grados,could this be the reason for the mentioned flaw ? Yet it sounds more detailed on the philips.

13)Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal :

The koss beats the philips on tonal balance though not on detail.I guess this is because most of MJ's recording sound "juicy"."Bad" sounds better on the Koss.

14)Michael Jackson - Thriller :

THe opening wind that accompanies the crack of thunder is more audible on the philips.However unlike the above case,The album sounds better on the philips.

15) Ray Charles - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word feat Elton John :

The "odd" sound that most instruments make other than their main tones,you know the slight air disturbance something like that is audible on most instruments here unlike on the koss.
ELton sounds better here.

16)The Corrs - At Your Side

Instrumens on extreme left and right are more audible.The treble sounds very right.I find this track to be very good to test transient and treble response.Most consumer grade speakers sound trashy here,but not the koss or the philips.
But the philips wins.

17)Serious Sam : THe Second Encounter : Fight5.ogg
Serios Sam is a crazy FPS shooter game with some of the better game music around.
Sam shouts "WAR" at the beginning of the song.On the koss,you ask yourself whether he really shouted war ?

18)Zero 7 - Destiny

so much texture here on the philips missing on the koss.

19)Gladiator : Am i not merciful

Tonally better than the koss.With much more instruments audible and a textured wall of sound,unlike the koss which veils a bit too much.
BUT,the song sounds more enjoyable on the koss due to its peaky bass and recessed midrange.

20)Episode III : Anakin vs. Obi-Wan

Sounds livelier with a soundstage that has immense height and width.Come to think of it,it sounded the same at my local THX theater.You can actually pick out individual instruments from the same set

of instruments.

21)Episode III : Battle of the Heroes

The inital build up sounds faster with a drum on the right hand side.The male choir sounds very textured.Better than it did a the theater.

22)Shawshank Redemption - Main Theme

Better ,better,better.No competition here.So many instruments low in volume are audible on the philips.
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________

Source Hardware Information :
1)400W Powersafe SMPS
2)CPU Heatsink grounded
3)SoundBlaster Live! 24 bit sound card in "Headphone Out" Mode.
4)Panasonic CDP-310 CD/DVD Player with headphone out.

Audio Format :
1)All songs were either in Lossless APE or 192 + Kbps MP3's.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________

I am actually tired of writing as much as i have done.But the fact remains that we have a new budget king that thouroughly beats the best of the koss ksc ,IMO : the UR40.It has more texture and better soundstage,sounds richer in ALL of the above tests.I am sorry for not doing any jazz tests but will later by popular demand.


Please ask to clear any of your doubts.

- Sushant Gore.

 

[]|[ GorE]

Large Photo Link : http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/s/s...05_00_rtp_.jpg


Moderators : I think the review is good enougth to add to "Featured Reviews".

 

[CookieFactory]

Thanks for the review ]|[ GorE, I might give the Philips a go

 

[technetium]

Good review, although I would have liked a broader reference list, instead of just the ur-40

 

[sgrossklass]

I had hope for this one, as it seems to be quite a bit more open than the old HP800. The driver uses a CCAW voice coil and neodymium magnet and has a 40 mm diaphragm... pretty ordinary (at least for inexpensive cans that are any good) but the HP800 still had to get by with ferrite only magnets. Angled drivers, cool. As for the Grado lookalike factor, apparently Philips also produces headphone drivers for use by other manufacturers, so it might be related to that. Now I only have to resist the urge to buy one of these...

 

[]|[ GorE]

I could review more jazz and movie soundtracks if you wish.
The reason i chose the ur40 for comparison is because its easiy more detailed than the sporta pro(which i heard at the retailer) and the ktx pro which i previously owned ( with the "coin" cut a hole mod ).

 

[no1likesme]

i may have to look into a set of theese

 

[]|[ GorE]

Update :


Rammstein : Links 2,3,4 (German):

The footsteps in the beginning sound more complete.From the leg lifting up and hitting the ground.Also no matter what the lead singer sings,the other instruments are still audible.
The koss looses the details in the footsteps and also cant "multi - task"

Kingdom of Heaven OST : Light of Life (Arabic)

The female singer sounds sweeter and more "innocent".The tin drums and other arabian instruments sound more distinct.
You can also hear her taking in breath before she starts a new sentence.

Kingdom of Heaven OST : Better Man

Okay ! I got my hair standing up ! When the crescendo builds up and the hawker like sounding man starts his "oh oh oh ro ah aha ah ah .......(guttural sounding)" ,its sheer audio bliss.
Overall,it sounds warmer on the philips.

Hulk OST - Velvet Revolver - Set Me Free

The koss sound better but the lyrics are clearer on the philips.
Koss wins here due to its colder style and boomier bass.

Passion of the Christ OST - The Stoning

Richer and warmer than the koss.Frets audibility is the biggest difference here.The song makes you sad on the philips.In the case of koss,it makes it sound regal (as if reminding us of what christ did and will do for us).

20.Brad Fiedel - It's Over (Goodbye)

THis is a tough one because the industrial sounds and effects used by Brad Fiedel naturally tend to sound better on the koss.On the other hand,the angled drivers on the HP805 give the song a good sense of ambience and space.


Important Note : Sound change quite a bit after 10 hours of burn-in using pink noise.Bass was non-existant and first and the mids were too hot.

 

[VicAjax]

i'm confused... the thread title says KSC, yet the review compares to UR40? IMHO the KSC is far superior in SQ to the UR40, so that's a big difference.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax i'm confused... the thread title says KSC, yet the review compares to UR40? IMHO the KSC is far superior in SQ to the UR40, so that's a big difference.

x2.

Did you compare them amped? IMHO you havent really heard the KSC till you amp it with at least a govibe. Does the Philips scale up as well as the Koss when amped?

Doesn't look like Philips exports to the US. Your price quote of $25-$30... is that USD? If you factor import fees into the total price, you're no longer talking about a $30 headphone.

IMHO you have a very good review, but you need to clarify some of these items before it qualifies as a "Featured Review"... Of course we'll let the mods decide

Koss prices vary widely depending on where you are located. So, a $20 Koss bargain in the USA is not so in other parts of the world, same goes for AKG and other makes.

 

[Jahn]

I am very confused.

What is the name of the Koss can you compared?

Is it the UR40? or the KSC-35? Or the KSC-75? It would be good to name the can you are comparing, thanks!

 

[lini]

GorE: Nice review - I wasn't even aware that Philips has revamped their headphone line-up yet again. The new construction looks fairly trustworthy, too - better than the old 805, I'd assume. How about squeaking parts and microphonics, which were a problem on a lot of recent Philips models (including the HP400/430 and HP830)? And you don't have a Creative HQ-1300 (= so far my king of budget phones) at hand for comparision, by any chance? That would be interesting... Price over here is ~ 25 Euro, btw - while the Koss UR-40 is ~ 60 Euro.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[sgrossklass]

I guess "the old 805" was supposed to read "the old 800"? That one was indeed somewhat prone to breaking. (The worst probably is the HS900.) It was subject to some creaking noises, too. As for the HQ-1300 (seemingly pretty much the same as a Labtec 840), there have been multiple reports of somewhat weak bass, which doesn't seem to be the case for the SHP805. And yes, most of the Koss stuff is overpriced here, only the most common models (KSC-75 and PortaPro and such) aren't.

 

[]|[ GorE]

The review was against the UR40 which is to me sounds better than the other ksc phones i have tried IF you angle the cushions properly and get a very good fit.

Philips price :-

Price in Dubai,United Arab Emirates : 30$
Price in India : 25$

Koss UR40 Price :-

Dubai : 45 $
India : 147 $

No creaking noises and microphonics so far.The cables very nice and a bit soft !

 

[xluben]

I got my UR40's for $25 (online), but I can't find any places that sell the Philips that you have. They do look nice, but I'm not really looking for any new heapdhones.

What did you mean about angleing the drivers on the UR40's? I haven't tried, but I think putting a little of foam under the back of the pads might be enough to angle the drivers a bit.

I did try putting KSC75 drivers in Eggphones enclosures (took off the backs), which angled them. I removed the foam in front of the drivers and the midrange really came out (a little too much). Suprisingly the bass didn't suffer too much.

I just decided to take the foam from behind the UR40 drivers (I took it out a long time ago) and put it in front of the drivers (tucked under the circumaural earpad). Which turns the UR40's into supraaural headphones with about 1/2" of foam between the drivers and your ears. I think they are pretty comfortable (coming from someone who has never like supraaural headphones) due to the thickness/softness of the foam, but of course it does change the sound a bit. I think it hides a bit of midrange and treble, but the bass seems pretty comparable to before I put the foam in. I think they might also sound a little more 'spacious'. Overall it is a much more laid back sound which I kind of like. They are a good compliment to my Super.fi 5EB's.

I think these might be a good candidate for some holes in their pads (making comfies into flats), but I just don't have the motivation to do it myself. If anyone wants to try it, let me know how it goes.