Just got these yesterday. Initial impressions are very good.
Build: Very well-build, rounded and smooth with a metal outer case. Flat cable which feelt sturdy enough, not always the biggest fan of them but as a bonus the cable always feels quite sturdy, since the shape just feels better protected to certain bending, and isn't as thin and flimsy as some lower-price headphones can be.
Comfort & Fit: The soundtube is quite slim and the tapering off of the diameter of it as it extends from the housing, coupled with the round smooth shaped of the housing itself, makes these very comfortable to wear. Really there was nothing to it, immediately it feels like you've worn these for years, completely nonintrusive for my ears. Despite not being ported they have a airy feel to them in your ears, they don't feel boxed in like some headphones can. I'm using the biggest of the included tips, YMMV but various size and diameter tips, and general fit, will modify the bass and treble response so make sure to try various combos to find what feels, but also sounds the most natural to your ears.
Sound: Smooth, very even across the spectrum, well-detailed, and with good to great sharpness, liveliness and clarity in transient sounds (gunshots, shattering glass). Generally I found that at levels where dialogue in for example T2 were at my usual levels, smashing and crashing sounds really pop with great levels of detail and clarity. The dynamic range of these is one of the highlights.
Overall response curve on my pair is slightly focused on the bass, low-mids and mids, with a bit of a dip around 4-6KHz and then swinging up slightly towards the top end, so a gentle S-shape. While the general curve to my ears is slightly wavy though there are almost no "focal points" in the sound where excessive weight is put.
Quite spacious and airy, movies with a centered dialogue exchange and orchestral soundtrack filling the sides have a natural sound, not the widest I've heard but engaging and enveloping.
Crisp-sounding thanks to the slightly elevated top-end, but like others have said, not as dramatically skewed as the SoundMAGIC E10. The well-controlled and responsive dynamic response also helps the snap from hihats and snare drums.
Most material I've used these on fall naturally in place with it, not really any cases of overpowering bass, or a skewed sensation to the frequency response. They are almost always neither too bright, too bassy, or too muddy.
Even something like Hans Zimmers "The Kraken" from Pirates 2 fairs quite well, that soundtrack is very low-middy and muffled due to the way it was mixed (supposedly to give a layered sense of dimensionality and depth) so most headphones struggle with it, either not giving a sense of space due to not reproducing what little 2-6KHz room sound there is, or just overblowing and making the bass sound completely messy.
In particular I really like the performance of ambient textured sounds vs. dynamic snaps and crackles. Transients really are quite alive and have a fine, well-tuned crisp point to them. Thanks to this instrument separation is very good, even slight drum hits have a well-defined point to them.
Overall: So yeah, excellent for the price, and very good regardless of price. To my ears they sound slightly colored thanks to the perceived slight peak in the top end, which makes that always stand out slightly and making itself heard and noticed as a slight point of resonance or attention. However might just be that the headphones I listened to just before these was missing that portion and my ears and brain need a day or two to compensate correctly making it all fall into place.
Feels like alot of attention by the right people went into these. Definitely prefer these over something like the E10, and they seem to work for pretty much anything thanks to the overall very even sound, and their great dynamics and energy.
Will now judge it!
