keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
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- Feb 17, 2010
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Pros: Build feels solid, sound is rather lively, sound quality to price ratio is above average
Cons: Mids lack energy & presence, highs come off a tad dull, bass is a bit loose, very long cable
Style: Closed circumaural
Tonal Balance: Mid-bass emphasized leaning neutral
Listening Set-Up: MusicBee -> Oppo HA-1
Cost at Time of Review: MSRP is $130, intro price is $40 through SonicElectronix at time of review.
Reviewing Process
The HP3BK have received approximately 30 hours of burn-in via music playing through them at normal volumes while at work. I have spent approximately 30 hours of headtime with them either at home or on quiet walks through my neighborhood. I feel that I have enough experience with the HP3BK to confidently report on their sound quality and performance. Despite that, I encourage the reader to seek out other opinions and to audition them, when possible, before making a purchase.The review is written from my Oppo HA-1. I would like to thank NVX/Limitless Creations for the review sample.
Headphone Background
Limitless Creations is a sister company of NVX, a company known for it’s car audio background. Not so long ago they made their foray into the headphone world and quickly became known for their XPT100, which has been a highly popular recommendation. The HP3BK are a closed headphone designed with a balanced sound in mind and a focus on providing a quality sound at a fair price.Accessories
The HP3BK come with a screw-on ¼’’ jack.Build & Fit
Build
From top to bottom the HP3BK feels built rather well. The headband is surrounded in a light padding wrapped in pleather with the innards seemingly made from a flexible plastic. I’ve induced a stress test by bending the headband flat with no negative outcomes. The headband is connected to the earcups through a simple sliding adjustment mechanism which feels a bit unrefined when adjusting. The force needed to adjust them is a bit higher than I’ve experienced with other headphones.
The earcups are made of a mix of plastic and metal. The outer portion are metal which adds some needed weight to the cups while the gimbals connecting the headband to the cups are made from plastic and looks like a potential weak point for stress. The pads are easy to remove, being tucked around the ear-cup like a fitted sheet, and once removed they show that the drivers are angled. Putting the pads back on requires a little patience, but can be done within a minute. The cable has adequate stress relief on both ends, but feels a bit thin and cheap. Those who like to DIY might want to create a removable cable anyway, one thing I wish they’d done from the get-go. Another thing a DIYer might want to do, if they decide to make a removable cable, is experiement with damping materials within the cup, something that the cups are lacking.
Overall the build is above average for the current retail price. When comparing these to Superlux’s products one should easily feel the difference in build quality. When comparing the build to those at its MSRP then these sit slightly above average, coming off better built than the Sennheiser HD280 Pro, even with the Shure SRH840 and slightly below the Audio Technica M50.
Fit
Initially I found the fit to have a bit too much clamp and the pads to be a tad abrasive. Since then I’ve accumulated 30 hours of headtime and have no issues wearing these for 1-2 hours. The clamp is gone with a few stretches of the headband and the pads need an hour or two to break-in before they feel a bit more comfortable on the skin. The pads are semi-plush, a step above the M50 and SRH840 that I have experience with, granted they were both used.
I find that the pressure in keeping these stable is located mostly inwards from the clamping force. The semi-plush pads help alleviate this stress while very little downward force is exerted from the headband. Comfort is certainly on par with anything I’ve tried in the closed $50-$150 range.
Isolation is on par with the Audio Technica M50 and Shure SRH840 in my experiences. Enough to be used in public, but not enough to block out substantial ambient noise with no music played through them. Definitely good enough to be used in public though.
Overall the HP3BK feel and fit like any “studio” circumaural headphone that I’ve worn recently, big names being the SRH840 and the M50. Solid built with decent comfort, the HP3BK are capable of being worn for extended periods with no issues.
Sound Quality
TL
RThe HP3BK is a competent closed budget headphone providing a moderate mid-bass emphasis in otherwise a rather clean and balanced sound. The headphone exhibits some sluggishness and muddiness in the lows with a slight artificial tone through the mids and highs though. Despite that, the sound is highly competitive with any budget closed headphone that I’ve heard.
Bass
The bass is capable of reaching low with no audible distortion to my ears, which is something that I haven’t seen in many budget closed cans. I have not been able to find one track that the HP3BK wasn’t able to reproduce the lowest of lows. When using The Ultimate Headphone Test’s bass response test I find that the drivers deliver response all the way down to 10hz with no distortion even when I have my HA-1 cranked higher than I’d like to. Despite the deep extension, I find that the sub-bass not only falls off a bit after 50hz, but that the sub-bass lacks the refinement found in higher end headphones. The sub-bass has a tendency to come off a bit sluggish and one-note at times, overall lacking control. I’ve noticed that outside of some dampening materials directly behind the driver, there is no damping at all within the cramped housing, which I believe may be the cause.
The mid-bass is a mixed bag, let me start with the good first. I find that the mid-bass is emphasized, though boomy, which enhances the strength of the beat in electronic dance tracks. Songs like Disclosure’s Latch and ODESZA’s Say My Name sounded energetic and I couldn’t help but nod my head along with it. On the same token the mid-bass is a bit too emphasized and boomy to be considered balanced. The emphasis of the mid-bass has a tendency to shift the focus of the track to the mid-bass, causing the mids and highs to come off as washed out. An example of this is Steely Dan’s Black Cow, which sounds rather lifeless and lacking mid and treble energy due to the bass guitar coming off far too prominently.
The bass responds well to EQ though and I highly advise trying it for a more rounded bass response. I also advise Limitless Creations to look into adding some dampening material within the housing to help tighten up the bass a bit. Without EQ I find that the bass is best suited for electronic dance music or beats, often coming off with too forward with a lack of control. For the price and within context of closed budget headphones though, the HP3BK aren’t as I’m making them out to sound. I think the bass is better than most budget closed headphones.
Mids & Highs
The mid range suffers mostly from two things: plasticy tone and bloated mid-bass bleed. Acoustic tracks show that the mids are capable of coming off clean with a slight sense of intimacy, but the quality of the mid range is often overshadowed in full band settings. The mid range often sounds as if there’s a slight scoop missing from their presence in cases of full bands, while coming off plasticy or nasally. This was most apparent in well mastered classic rock tracks from Beatles to Steely Dan. The mid range lacks energy due to the mid-bass bleed which really hurts vocal or guitar driven music, and even when the mid-bass isn’t overbearing the lack of realistic tone takes away from the immersion for me.
The upper mids and highs have a few slight peaks that come off as leaning bright, but overall I find that they’re a bit dull and lacking any sort of sparkle. I find the upper mids and highs to suffer from sounding nasally, much like the mids, while sharing similar presence in the sound. The highs often come off a bit unclear, cymbals, for instance, lack definition and often sound like I’m listening to a lower bit-rate sample.
Overall the mids and highs sound okay on their own, but they are lacking in clarity, detail, presence and natural tonation. When on their own with acoustic voice and guitar tracks the mids come off rather nicely, but when thrown in with a full band setting they quickly reveal their flaws. EQing the bass does help with the presence, but the mids and highs still suffer in other ways.
Presentation
The HP3BK have an average soundstage when all is said and done, even by closed headphone standards. The imaging qualities of the HP3BK are above average, there’s a good sense of position in orchestral songs, but they lack instrument separation to fully give the instruments room to breathe. Width is about average, maybe slightly wider, in comparison to other similarly priced closed headphones and I would put the depth in the above average category. The biggest limiting factor for the HP3BK is the sense of space between the instruments, otherwise the soundstage is done decently well.
