jaycee1
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2013
- Posts
- 204
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I'll write up a full review later, but these circumaural open headphones are just UNBELIEVABLE!
A recent pair of on ear headphones had impressed me with their sound quality, but were a major letdown in terms of comfort (lack thereof). Therefore, I began a search for potentially great sounding circumaurals. I already have a pair of JVC circumaurals. Those are good, but despite endless mods, they never were able to achieve the status of great sounding headphones.
I pulled these UR40's out of their adult-proof box, and was very concerned about their ability to match the sound quality of my open on ear headphones.
After listening for about 5 seconds, I was completely floored. The first word that came to mind: PERFECT. PERFECT. This is almost exactly what I was originally looking for: a truly neutral headphone with exceptional realism, including the type of impact that catches your attention. These seem to be completely non-fatiguing, yet exciting to listen to.
The bass is very powerful, but in a realistic manner. It never overwhelms or calls undue attention to itself. Yet, when the source supplies some strong bass, the UR40's are more than ready to deliver with full impact.
The treble is very, very neutral: it doesn't sizzle or stand out. It delivers what the source encodes.
The midrange is more of the same: there isn't any undue coloration, and the mids are not overly forward.
Also, and this was my initial reservation: these headphones seem to be completely free of any odd delays or echoes as a result of the circumaural design. I hope I resist the desire to mod. These are spot-on out of the box.
Overall, what you get is MUSIC. You get what what's encoded in the source. There is a tiny bit of extra bass slam, but again, it is so musical and realistic, it never seems exaggerated or silly. I am just amazed at how effortlessly these headphones deliver such a balanced, realistic sound.
One extra bonus: even though these are open back, they provide some minimal amount of noise isolation: it's probably only 5 dBA or so, but it's just enough so that it's an unexpected and welcome bonus.
A recent pair of on ear headphones had impressed me with their sound quality, but were a major letdown in terms of comfort (lack thereof). Therefore, I began a search for potentially great sounding circumaurals. I already have a pair of JVC circumaurals. Those are good, but despite endless mods, they never were able to achieve the status of great sounding headphones.
I pulled these UR40's out of their adult-proof box, and was very concerned about their ability to match the sound quality of my open on ear headphones.
After listening for about 5 seconds, I was completely floored. The first word that came to mind: PERFECT. PERFECT. This is almost exactly what I was originally looking for: a truly neutral headphone with exceptional realism, including the type of impact that catches your attention. These seem to be completely non-fatiguing, yet exciting to listen to.
The bass is very powerful, but in a realistic manner. It never overwhelms or calls undue attention to itself. Yet, when the source supplies some strong bass, the UR40's are more than ready to deliver with full impact.
The treble is very, very neutral: it doesn't sizzle or stand out. It delivers what the source encodes.
The midrange is more of the same: there isn't any undue coloration, and the mids are not overly forward.
Also, and this was my initial reservation: these headphones seem to be completely free of any odd delays or echoes as a result of the circumaural design. I hope I resist the desire to mod. These are spot-on out of the box.
Overall, what you get is MUSIC. You get what what's encoded in the source. There is a tiny bit of extra bass slam, but again, it is so musical and realistic, it never seems exaggerated or silly. I am just amazed at how effortlessly these headphones deliver such a balanced, realistic sound.
One extra bonus: even though these are open back, they provide some minimal amount of noise isolation: it's probably only 5 dBA or so, but it's just enough so that it's an unexpected and welcome bonus.
There have over the years been other threads on HF discussing this particular unit and I'm not certain why they in 2013 suddenly are better than they were 5-10 years ago. I have owned a pair at one time. Time changes as well as opinions..I guess
