[nick n]

so $110 in the States, and Canada is $329, same company and same product simply rerouted.  Seriously...

 

[Hutnicks]

Quote:

so $110 in the States, and Canada is $329, same company and same product simply rerouted.  Seriously...

Nothing changes except back in the 70's Canadian pricing was "only" 150 percent of US.
 
Wonder why PO boxes across the border are so  popular.

 

[nick n]

Yeah even when we are on par it's still a gouge.

 

[alpha10]

I like the sound a lot, but they don't fit my ears well, amazing price right now at amazon.com

 

[raspiguy]

So it looks like the price has dropped another $10 and the code still works. They're coming up to $100 including shipping

Annoying to hear this (nothing on you, though). I was up late when the promo email came out advertising the $110 price & ordered immediately, then regretfully saw the $139 pre-coupon price the next morning and that exact thought occurred to me. My order was already well into the processing stage, so at the time, all I could do was dismiss it, telling myself the coupon value must've been adjusted in-tandem. I suppose not, though. I'm seriously really annoyed with the way that Newegg has handled this product's promotion/pricing. I squeezed my disposable cash balance to get the SS, which turned into a nearly month-long 'special' price that easily could have waited. Then jumped on this deal early to buy a gift set for my brother, and rather than be rewarded for responding quickly, I learn that I yet again didn't get the 'true' deal price. Not that $10 difference matters all that much, it's just annoying to know it. Time for the 'egg to adjust it's Iron Egg Guarantee program to include promo coupon specials.

All that aside, I agree with a lot of the positive comments about the sound, and for $110/$130, I think the set is easily worth it even if just from a lineup diversification standpoint. Agreed that it's so refreshing to put these on and hear something where the bass is firmly present in a supporting role rather than the 'bull in a china shop'. I think that it's fair to say there's $200 worth of sound, fit, and off-head looks.

I won't get into analyzing the sound too much because I still don't 'speak head-fi', but a comment on the fit: I own both the M-80 and DT1350, and while there's an initial clamping issue with the Mikros that's going to have to be worked out somehow (see below), these are by far the easiest of the three sets to throw on and start enjoying without all the fussy tweaking. I don't know how some of the other owners in this thread find issue with the fit. The only other detailed review you used to be able to find aside from this thread used to be the video / Amazon review from Dale Thorn, who went into detail about his big gripe being that the pivot action made them hard to keep in place -- while I saw what he meant the very first time I placed them on my head, the 'issue' was a non-factor three seconds later when I pushed them back on my ears by about half an inch. Solved. Honestly, I can't see how such an experienced and well-respected reviewer couldn't have gotten over that hurdle -- a hurdle, I think, that applies just as much to the DT 1350 with it's dual-direction pivot but somehow is never mentioned by all the people praising them. Point being it shouldn't be that big of a factor in the overall impression even if somebody can't find the (easy) way around it. I think that the fidgeting and pushback I need to do with the DT1350s to try to get a seal every time I first put them on ruins the experience. With these, I actually get to enjoy putting them on. The M-80s are somewhere in between, though much closer to the Mikros set in terms of ease of use.

Also, concerning the fit/foam -- it's a nice 'collapsing' foam that makes getting a good seal a cakewalk. Someone else talked about how the foam is more solid, but I think that's misleading. To me, it seems that the hard initial clamp is what makes the foam seem 'hard' because it's just so fully compressed. My strategy for working out the clamp is that whenever I'm not using them, I adjust the extensions out to about an inch and a half and then wedge the supplied case in between those two metal points length-wise for their 'resting' position. That width is just a little bit wider than my head, so hopefully it'll help accelerate the stretching process without prematurely wearing in the earpiece foam and losing that nice seal. There's no bending the headband because the inside is some type of non-conforming plastic, and there's no fooling with the metal sliders because you'll ruin their ability to hold place.

Concerning the clamp -- in some Newegg and Amazon photos, there's a picture looking at them where they're presented as having a resting state where the cups sit 4 inches apart, but that picture is BS -- easily manufactured somehow. These things ship with such a grip that you can't leave them resting with the cups facing each other without fully compressing the bottom-edge foam where they meet. I don't know what the folks at ML were thinking or how they missed that as a potential issue -- I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the pivoting cups were a late-stage addition meant to solve that problem for storage.

One other plus about these -- from the pictures, the earcups look like they're basic black plastic, but I'm actually pretty sure that they're plastic covered with a super-thin layer of pleather. Makes for a nicer feel when handling them, and probably makes them slightly more drop-resistant. Also should account for a lot of the weight difference -- they're 5.8oz vs. 6.6oz for both the 1350 and M-80 sets.

Anyway, hope these earn a spot in future discussions as a unique 'consumer option' as they're a pretty good buy for under two bills. Considering some of the pricing you can get on them, I think it's high time these stop getting compared to their MSRP peers up at $300, but I don't think that that necessarily means they aren't a worthy option.

 

[juggos]

Quote:

Annoying to hear this (nothing on you, though). I was up late when the promo email came out advertising the $110 price & ordered immediately, then regretfully saw the $139 pre-coupon price the next morning and that exact thought occurred to me. My order was already well into the processing stage, so at the time, all I could do was dismiss it, telling myself the coupon value must've been adjusted in-tandem. I suppose not, though. I'm seriously really annoyed with the way that Newegg has handled this product's promotion/pricing. I squeezed my disposable cash balance to get the SS, which turned into a nearly month-long 'special' price that easily could have waited. Then jumped on this deal early to buy a gift set for my brother, and rather than be rewarded for responding quickly, I learn that I yet again didn't get the 'true' deal price. Not that $10 difference matters all that much, it's just annoying to know it. Time for the 'egg to adjust it's Iron Egg Guarantee program to include promo coupon specials.

All that aside, I agree with a lot of the positive comments about the sound, and for $110/$130, I think the set is easily worth it even if just from a lineup diversification standpoint. Agreed that it's so refreshing to put these on and hear something where the bass is firmly present in a supporting role rather than the 'bull in a china shop'. I think that it's fair to say there's $200 worth of sound, fit, and off-head looks.

I won't get into analyzing the sound too much because I still don't 'speak head-fi', but a comment on the fit: I own both the M-80 and DT1350, and while there's an initial clamping issue with the Mikros that's going to have to be worked out somehow (see below), these are by far the easiest of the three sets to throw on and start enjoying without all the fussy tweaking. I don't know how some of the other owners in this thread find issue with the fit. The only other detailed review you used to be able to find aside from this thread used to be the video / Amazon review from Dale Thorn, who went into detail about his big gripe being that the pivot action made them hard to keep in place -- while I saw what he meant the very first time I placed them on my head, the 'issue' was a non-factor three seconds later when I pushed them back on my ears by about half an inch. Solved. Honestly, I can't see how such an experienced and well-respected reviewer couldn't have gotten over that hurdle -- a hurdle, I think, that applies just as much to the DT 1350 with it's dual-direction pivot but somehow is never mentioned by all the people praising them. Point being it shouldn't be that big of a factor in the overall impression even if somebody can't find the (easy) way around it. I think that the fidgeting and pushback I need to do with the DT1350s to try to get a seal every time I first put them on ruins the experience. With these, I actually get to enjoy putting them on. The M-80s are somewhere in between, though much closer to the Mikros set in terms of ease of use.

Also, concerning the fit/foam -- it's a nice 'collapsing' foam that makes getting a good seal a cakewalk. Someone else talked about how the foam is more solid, but I think that's misleading. To me, it seems that the hard initial clamp is what makes the foam seem 'hard' because it's just so fully compressed. My strategy for working out the clamp is that whenever I'm not using them, I adjust the extensions out to about an inch and a half and then wedge the supplied case in between those two metal points length-wise for their 'resting' position. That width is just a little bit wider than my head, so hopefully it'll help accelerate the stretching process without prematurely wearing in the earpiece foam and losing that nice seal. There's no bending the headband because the inside is some type of non-conforming plastic, and there's no fooling with the metal sliders because you'll ruin their ability to hold place.

Concerning the clamp -- in some Newegg and Amazon photos, there's a picture looking at them where they're presented as having a resting state where the cups sit 4 inches apart, but that picture is BS -- easily manufactured somehow. These things ship with such a grip that you can't leave them resting with the cups facing each other without fully compressing the bottom-edge foam where they meet. I don't know what the folks at ML were thinking or how they missed that as a potential issue -- I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the pivoting cups were a late-stage addition meant to solve that problem for storage.

One other plus about these -- from the pictures, the earcups look like they're basic black plastic, but I'm actually pretty sure that they're plastic covered with a super-thin layer of pleather. Makes for a nicer feel when handling them, and probably makes them slightly more drop-resistant. Also should account for a lot of the weight difference -- they're 5.8oz vs. 6.6oz for both the 1350 and M-80 sets.

Anyway, hope these earn a spot in future discussions as a unique 'consumer option' as they're a pretty good buy for under two bills. Considering some of the pricing you can get on them, I think it's high time these stop getting compared to their MSRP peers up at $300, but I don't think that that necessarily means they aren't a worthy option.

Hi raspiguy, I also was very disappointed with Newegg regarding the product pricing and promotions. I also initially ordered these when it was their shell shocker deal of the day for $130 only to see it fall to $100 using a coupon code a few weeks later. I emailed them to inquire as to whether I would be able to get the difference refunded since it was an iron egg guarantee product and it was newegg themselves who was offering the better price. The response I got was that their iron egg guarantee doesn't accept coupon codes however the customer service rep was willing to give me a $15 gift card (which I was told would take 1-2 days for me to receive). I didn't bother to fight them to get a full $30 gift card so I accepted and I also put in another order for a pair of these before I got the gift card code (I placed the order instantly since the price seemed to be fluctuating). I received the gift card later that day but the order had shipped out before I received it so I contacted them again to see if I could apply the code to my order. I was told they can't apply gift cards and since it has already shipped, I couldn't cancel the order and place a new one. Their suggestion was to just refuse the order on delivery and place a new order (there's no penalty fee for this). However I couldn't be bothered and didn't wanna piss off the mail guy. All in all a very disappointing experience but I did manage to get two pairs for $230 and I still have the $15 gift card so I'm just enjoying my pair and trying to forget that I didn't get the best deal for it.

I'm also willing to sell the gift card here for $12, if anyone is interested please PM me

 

[7keys]

These are $99 at neweggca if you put in newcustomercaaugust at checkout. 
 
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826532001 

 

[r3cc0s]

I've been a long time audiophile and this site along with headwize at the time got me into the game...
 
but my last pair of cans' were a set of AKG 701's (pre 702), Grado RS-2s, Senn 580s Sony MDR-V6, Koss KSC-75s (modded) and using a maveric tubedac as source/amp (oh and a AT ANC7b for the plane and work)
 
since... I've been working on my stereo and have been just deadset to build a system arround my Totem Arro's which to me have the best tonal accuracy and balance of any midrange of just about any speaker, let alone price range.
 
I like the totem sound, but of the lot, including the Model 1's, I prefer the Totem Arro's soft dome tweeter... its incredibly revelaing and fast with that peerless 4.5 woofer and yet never brittle sounding like berillyum.
 
Anyways, I paired my totem arro's to a SLI-80 using Shuguang Treasure tube KT88's/12ax7's and Sylvania Chrome dome 6sn7 and have not looked back
 
my source is a Jolida JD100A modded, also running the Treasure 12ax7's...
 
Kept an old Mirage Subwoofer BPS-15 and haven't looked back.
 
However being that I've saw these headphones on newegg for $99+ shipping CAD ... and seeing this thread, I had to jump on it.
 
 
Got them, and the immediate impressions were: cold, analytical, dry with an emphasis on the upper midrange. Bass was there... not pronounced but its deep and extended.
 
To me, it reminded me of the MDR-V6's.. but with a worse fit lol
 
(I don't have my V6's or my AKG's anymore)
 
however, I now have about 25 hours on them... I'm starting to change my mind.
First... for closed can's, the soundstage is very much simular to a Grado soundstage. There is more than I can recall to the MDR-V6's, but not much more... they aren't Sennheiser 580/600's... but they not bad for closed can's
The sound? Very much about tonal accuracy and speed... Its a sound that I enjoy out of my Totem setup, and I can see that is present with the Martin Logan Electrostats (my buddy has an old set of ELS)
I do belive that there is more emphasis on a involved midrange, yet unlike the MDR-V6, it isn't grating or really ever sibilent.
 
From using my tube-dac, which isn't the best but isn't bad... to a Total Airhead and a phone jack... these are definately source dependant. Even with a low impedance, they are not effecient cans at all, and need some current to drive them to their potential.
 
That being said, so far their potential is very very good... in fact outside of how the RS-2's are so forward and have a "viscreal" feel because of how the cups move on your ears, they aren't too far away from the Grado sound, and about the same level of Detail/Quality as even the RS2's I have.
 
When comapred to my KSC-75's they lack the spaciousness and warmth... but outside of the spatial aspect, you realize quickly that the warmth of the KSCs aren't accurate, and they are nowhere near the level in terms of detail, as the transients are lost.
 
for $99 not a bad set of cans at all!

 

[Speakerphile]

Quote:

I've been a long time audiophile and this site along with headwize at the time got me into the game...
 
but my last pair of cans' were a set of AKG 701's (pre 702), Grado RS-2s, Senn 580s Sony MDR-V6, Koss KSC-75s (modded) and using a maveric tubedac as source/amp (oh and a AT ANC7b for the plane and work)
 
since... I've been working on my stereo and have been just deadset to build a system arround my Totem Arro's which to me have the best tonal accuracy and balance of any midrange of just about any speaker, let alone price range.
 
I like the totem sound, but of the lot, including the Model 1's, I prefer the Totem Arro's soft dome tweeter... its incredibly revelaing and fast with that peerless 4.5 woofer and yet never brittle sounding like berillyum.
 
Anyways, I paired my totem arro's to a SLI-80 using Shuguang Treasure tube KT88's/12ax7's and Sylvania Chrome dome 6sn7 and have not looked back
 
my source is a Jolida JD100A modded, also running the Treasure 12ax7's...
 
Kept an old Mirage Subwoofer BPS-15 and haven't looked back.
 
However being that I've saw these headphones on newegg for $99+ shipping CAD ... and seeing this thread, I had to jump on it.
 
 
Got them, and the immediate impressions were: cold, analytical, dry with an emphasis on the upper midrange. Bass was there... not pronounced but its deep and extended.
 
To me, it reminded me of the MDR-V6's.. but with a worse fit lol
 
(I don't have my V6's or my AKG's anymore)
 
however, I now have about 25 hours on them... I'm starting to change my mind.
First... for closed can's, the soundstage is very much simular to a Grado soundstage. There is more than I can recall to the MDR-V6's, but not much more... they aren't Sennheiser 580/600's... but they not bad for closed can's
The sound? Very much about tonal accuracy and speed... Its a sound that I enjoy out of my Totem setup, and I can see that is present with the Martin Logan Electrostats (my buddy has an old set of ELS)
I do belive that there is more emphasis on a involved midrange, yet unlike the MDR-V6, it isn't grating or really ever sibilent.
 
From using my tube-dac, which isn't the best but isn't bad... to a Total Airhead and a phone jack... these are definately source dependant. Even with a low impedance, they are not effecient cans at all, and need some current to drive them to their potential.
 
That being said, so far their potential is very very good... in fact outside of how the RS-2's are so forward and have a "viscreal" feel because of how the cups move on your ears, they aren't too far away from the Grado sound, and about the same level of Detail/Quality as even the RS2's I have.
 
When comapred to my KSC-75's they lack the spaciousness and warmth... but outside of the spatial aspect, you realize quickly that the warmth of the KSCs aren't accurate, and they are nowhere near the level in terms of detail, as the transients are lost.
 
for $99 not a bad set of cans at all!

 
Especially not the first set they've ever done.  FWIW, their goal was to get a similar sound to their electrostats.  I think they got as close as they could for a dynamic driver.  My big pain point(no pun intended) was the fit.  I rather enjoyed the sound for certain types of music.  

 

[hillbilly559]

I just read this thread.
 
Newegg now has these for $99.99 w/ free shipping & a coupon for $20 off!!! (PPBTS011)= $79.99!!!
 
At this price I took the plunge, and hope the more favorable reviews were correct.
 
My home theater is all Martin Logan, and I'm hoping some qualities of these HPs are similar.

 

[Craigster75]

  I just read this thread.
 
Newegg now has these for $99.99 w/ free shipping & a coupon for $20 off!!! (PPBTS011)= $79.99!!!
 
At this price I took the plunge, and hope the more favorable reviews were correct.
 
My home theater is all Martin Logan, and I'm hoping some qualities of these HPs are similar.

Sounds like Martin Logan is getting out of the headphone business.

 

[Speakerphile]

  Sounds like Martin Logan is getting out of the headphone business.

 
Well, they're at least getting out of these models.  Given that Paradigm is staying in the business I suspect they'll give it another shot.  

 

[Craigster75]

   
Well, they're at least getting out of these models.  Given that Paradigm is staying in the business I suspect they'll give it another shot.  

IMO, these failed sonically where PSB succeeded and the market responded accordingly, although I prefer the looks of the Martin Logan to the M4U line. 

 

[Speakerphile]

  IMO, these failed sonically where PSB succeeded and the market responded accordingly, although I prefer the looks of the Martin Logan to the M4U line. 

 
I would agree, though it's kind of an apples to oranges comparison.  I don't think it was the same consumer looking at both headphones, aside from you that is!  They'll probable try again.  I'm sure I'l  hear something soon.   

 

[doctorjazz]

Got these from Newegg, have to say, I'm in the camp that really likes them, especially at the price. Fast, detailed, staging is great (also a long time audiophile, though haven't listened to big rig much, Krell preamp needs to be sent back for a new potentiometer-$500, sheesh, been stalling). Feel the clamping, but the cups are soft so not uncomfortable to me. Find the bass to be there, though could be more. What is there is tuneful, round, sharp, not flabby. Also find them to be like iem's, in that the slightest change in position dramatically effects the bass, need to move them slightly around, twist slightly, constantly, to keep bass happening. Still, happy, at discount price, to have them, really enjoying them