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Some people (even in this community) can't stand to wear in-ear monitors, eliminating many of the best affordable on-the-go closed headphone choices. If this describes you, then you know how challenging it can be to find supra-aural (on-the-ear) or circumaural (over-the-ear) headphones that are lightweight, compact, stylish, sound good, and affordable. Today, Massdrop will start taking orders for the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones, and, with it, they’ve announced a solid contender that is all of those things.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones bring an affordable model of Foster’s biocellulose driver headphone family that ranges from the more affordable (like the Creative Aurvana Live) to the high-end (like the TH-900 Mk2). Other current-production headphones in the family include the E-MU Walnut (which is essentially the walnut wood version of the E-MU Purpleheart), the E-MU Teak, the Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00 series, and the Fostex TH-610.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones are most like the E-MU Walnut, both models essentially being wood-cupped versions of the Creative Aurvana Live. (We don’t currently have the E-MU Walnut or Creative Aurvana Live here, so I won’t yet be offering any comparative commentary with respect to those.) The E-MU Purpleheart is quite light in weight (219 grams), so, in terms of build quality, one might think it a bit delicate in its construction. However, after a close examination, it seems to be built quite nicely, and torquing its headband back and forth did not show any obvious signs of fragility despite its lightweight build. (Keep in mind that I wasn’t doing V-MODA levels of corkscrew torquing here, just mild but significant twisting.)
The Purpleheart’s wood earcups are very nicely finished, with a shallow profile that matches nicely with the lightweight plastic frame of the E-MU headphone. The matte finish of the cups on the sample I’m using is smooth, with the grain subtly showing through. There are no logos or print on the cups--in fact, there’s no print on the outside of the headband either--resulting in a headphone with a very understated appearance.
Earpad size on the E-MU Purpleheart is going to make it supra-aural (on-the-ear) for most, and circumaural (around-the-ear) for the smaller-eared among us. For me, the pads do touch my ears, but the combination of very reasonable clamping force, and the cushion and surface softness makes for comfortable long-term wear over my very average-sized ears. The earpad outer covering is made of protein leather.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart's cable is a thinner, lightweight design, and is dual-side entry (meaning the cable goes to both earcups, not just into one). Unfortunately, the cable is not removable, but perhaps those inclined to modify their headphones would be able to make easy work of that. The cables is terminated with a gold-plated 3.5mm stereo miniplug.
The headphone's nominal impedance (according to Massdrop) is 32 ohms, with sensitivity rated at 103 dB, and maximum input power of 1300 milliwatts.
In terms of sound signature, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart is lovely sounding, with a spectral tilt that’s definitely on the warm side. It’s bassy, but I don’t find it overly bassy. I’m currently in Japan for e-Earphone’s Portable Audio Festival, and I was just on my way back up to my hotel room when I walked by these gentlemen playing jazz in the hotel lobby...
...so I sat down to listen and watch, which I like to do whenever I can, whether in recording sessions, clubs, private recitals, the orchestra--or a hotel lobby. I love the sound of a live, unamplified acoustic performance. For me, there’s no substitute for physically being in the presence of acoustics charged directly by musical instruments within them--that sense, that tactile feel, of the music on your skin, on your body, your face, not just your ears. It's a conversation I've had many times with Jerry Harvey (of JH Audio), who feels that trying to reclaim the magic of that live feel from a headphone means having precise, fast, impactful bass presentation, but with some emphasis (versus ruler-flat by-the-book-neutral bass). Over the last several years, I've come to agree with him more and more, with each additional recording session I've been in, which each resultant recording from those sessions to compare to.
Anyway, after listening to these gentlemen playing in the lobby, I headed upstairs to my hotel room, put on the E-MU Purplehearts, listened to the Brad Mehldau Trio while I answered email, and stopped to appreciate the surprisingly realistic presence and timbre of the stand-up bass being communicated by these headphones, especially considering the price. Not surprisingly, the E-MU Purplehearts can't carve out and get around every vibration of a bass note the way the best headphones can, but it certainly does more than its 75 bucks might suggest it would, especially for a closed-back headphone.
The Purpleheart's richness of tone is also present in its midband, but with less overt bloom or emphasis compared to its bass presentation. The one thing I do wish more for when listening to the E-MU is more shimmer, more treble presence. However, in this regard, it's good for a $75 headphone, and I'd rather a headphone err on the side of treble smoothness than treble stridency (and I've found it tends to swing one way or the other more commonly in less expensive headphones).
In terms of imaging, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones do a fine job, without any sense of claustrophobia, especially in consideration of its closed-back, relatively small earcups. As I type this very sentence, "Robbers" by Cold War Kids shuffled into play, and while certainly no audiophile recording, there's enough width from the Purplehearts to give Nathan Willet's high voice space to breathe amidst the pretty spare (for a rock track) arrangement. In general, I've found very satisfactory soundstage space from the Purplehearts--again, especially considering their closed-back, small-earcup form factor.
Just before leaving for Japan, we took some quick measurements of the Massdrop x E-MU Purplehearts. Here's the frequency response plot (click on the graph to see a larger version):
Audio measurements were made using:
Consider these measurements preliminary, since we kind of rushed them, but know that there's nothing about what I see in them that seems out of place with my subjective assessment of these headphones. We may re-measure them at some point soon, and, if we do, we'll include more plots in this very post, like THD (total harmonic distortion).
As I understand it, the Sennheiser x Massdrop HD6XX was actually purchased by more non-audiophile Massdrop customers than audiophile ones, with the first batch of 5000 of them selling out in minutes. The feverishness with which the HD6XX sold out shows that for $200, non-audiophiles are willing to take the chance to see what a legendary audiophile headphone can do. At only $75, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones may appeal to those folks just as strongly, especially given that they're closed-back and portable. I think it'll also strongly appeal to the audiophile types <raises hand> for a portable, very capable example of what Foster's excellent biocellulose drivers can do in a nicely executed, very affordable headphone.
The drop goes live at 6:00 a.m. PST (9:00 a.m. EST), and there are only going to be 3000 available. I wish I could tell you you'd have a lot of time to think this through before purchasing one, but after the whole Sennheiser x Massdrop frenzy, I wouldn't count on it.
Here's the link to the drop. Good luck.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones bring an affordable model of Foster’s biocellulose driver headphone family that ranges from the more affordable (like the Creative Aurvana Live) to the high-end (like the TH-900 Mk2). Other current-production headphones in the family include the E-MU Walnut (which is essentially the walnut wood version of the E-MU Purpleheart), the E-MU Teak, the Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00 series, and the Fostex TH-610.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones are most like the E-MU Walnut, both models essentially being wood-cupped versions of the Creative Aurvana Live. (We don’t currently have the E-MU Walnut or Creative Aurvana Live here, so I won’t yet be offering any comparative commentary with respect to those.) The E-MU Purpleheart is quite light in weight (219 grams), so, in terms of build quality, one might think it a bit delicate in its construction. However, after a close examination, it seems to be built quite nicely, and torquing its headband back and forth did not show any obvious signs of fragility despite its lightweight build. (Keep in mind that I wasn’t doing V-MODA levels of corkscrew torquing here, just mild but significant twisting.)
The Purpleheart’s wood earcups are very nicely finished, with a shallow profile that matches nicely with the lightweight plastic frame of the E-MU headphone. The matte finish of the cups on the sample I’m using is smooth, with the grain subtly showing through. There are no logos or print on the cups--in fact, there’s no print on the outside of the headband either--resulting in a headphone with a very understated appearance.
Earpad size on the E-MU Purpleheart is going to make it supra-aural (on-the-ear) for most, and circumaural (around-the-ear) for the smaller-eared among us. For me, the pads do touch my ears, but the combination of very reasonable clamping force, and the cushion and surface softness makes for comfortable long-term wear over my very average-sized ears. The earpad outer covering is made of protein leather.
The Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart's cable is a thinner, lightweight design, and is dual-side entry (meaning the cable goes to both earcups, not just into one). Unfortunately, the cable is not removable, but perhaps those inclined to modify their headphones would be able to make easy work of that. The cables is terminated with a gold-plated 3.5mm stereo miniplug.
The headphone's nominal impedance (according to Massdrop) is 32 ohms, with sensitivity rated at 103 dB, and maximum input power of 1300 milliwatts.
In terms of sound signature, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart is lovely sounding, with a spectral tilt that’s definitely on the warm side. It’s bassy, but I don’t find it overly bassy. I’m currently in Japan for e-Earphone’s Portable Audio Festival, and I was just on my way back up to my hotel room when I walked by these gentlemen playing jazz in the hotel lobby...
...so I sat down to listen and watch, which I like to do whenever I can, whether in recording sessions, clubs, private recitals, the orchestra--or a hotel lobby. I love the sound of a live, unamplified acoustic performance. For me, there’s no substitute for physically being in the presence of acoustics charged directly by musical instruments within them--that sense, that tactile feel, of the music on your skin, on your body, your face, not just your ears. It's a conversation I've had many times with Jerry Harvey (of JH Audio), who feels that trying to reclaim the magic of that live feel from a headphone means having precise, fast, impactful bass presentation, but with some emphasis (versus ruler-flat by-the-book-neutral bass). Over the last several years, I've come to agree with him more and more, with each additional recording session I've been in, which each resultant recording from those sessions to compare to.
Anyway, after listening to these gentlemen playing in the lobby, I headed upstairs to my hotel room, put on the E-MU Purplehearts, listened to the Brad Mehldau Trio while I answered email, and stopped to appreciate the surprisingly realistic presence and timbre of the stand-up bass being communicated by these headphones, especially considering the price. Not surprisingly, the E-MU Purplehearts can't carve out and get around every vibration of a bass note the way the best headphones can, but it certainly does more than its 75 bucks might suggest it would, especially for a closed-back headphone.
The Purpleheart's richness of tone is also present in its midband, but with less overt bloom or emphasis compared to its bass presentation. The one thing I do wish more for when listening to the E-MU is more shimmer, more treble presence. However, in this regard, it's good for a $75 headphone, and I'd rather a headphone err on the side of treble smoothness than treble stridency (and I've found it tends to swing one way or the other more commonly in less expensive headphones).
In terms of imaging, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones do a fine job, without any sense of claustrophobia, especially in consideration of its closed-back, relatively small earcups. As I type this very sentence, "Robbers" by Cold War Kids shuffled into play, and while certainly no audiophile recording, there's enough width from the Purplehearts to give Nathan Willet's high voice space to breathe amidst the pretty spare (for a rock track) arrangement. In general, I've found very satisfactory soundstage space from the Purplehearts--again, especially considering their closed-back, small-earcup form factor.
Just before leaving for Japan, we took some quick measurements of the Massdrop x E-MU Purplehearts. Here's the frequency response plot (click on the graph to see a larger version):
To put that up against a very common (around here) reference, here's the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart (solid line) versus the Sennheiser x Massdrop HD6XX, which is the same as the Sennheiser HD650 (dashed line):
Audio measurements were made using:
- Audio Precision APx555 audio analyzer
- G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 KEMAR with anthropometric pinnae and low-noise ear simulators
- Rupert Neve Designs RNHP headphone amplifier
- Herzan acoustic enclosure (custom)
Consider these measurements preliminary, since we kind of rushed them, but know that there's nothing about what I see in them that seems out of place with my subjective assessment of these headphones. We may re-measure them at some point soon, and, if we do, we'll include more plots in this very post, like THD (total harmonic distortion).
As I understand it, the Sennheiser x Massdrop HD6XX was actually purchased by more non-audiophile Massdrop customers than audiophile ones, with the first batch of 5000 of them selling out in minutes. The feverishness with which the HD6XX sold out shows that for $200, non-audiophiles are willing to take the chance to see what a legendary audiophile headphone can do. At only $75, the Massdrop x E-MU Purpleheart headphones may appeal to those folks just as strongly, especially given that they're closed-back and portable. I think it'll also strongly appeal to the audiophile types <raises hand> for a portable, very capable example of what Foster's excellent biocellulose drivers can do in a nicely executed, very affordable headphone.
The drop goes live at 6:00 a.m. PST (9:00 a.m. EST), and there are only going to be 3000 available. I wish I could tell you you'd have a lot of time to think this through before purchasing one, but after the whole Sennheiser x Massdrop frenzy, I wouldn't count on it.
Here's the link to the drop. Good luck.
