As there doesn’t seem to be much discussion about these at the moment, I thought I’d give my impressions after a few days...
Looking for a “backup” pair of travelling cans, I stumbled upon these on Amazon for 99€. At the price, I thought they were worth a punt.
First impressions were very positive: solid, professional packaging and presentation, clean design (think Grado by Dieter Rams...) and camera (“proper” analogue camera)-grade materials. If Nikon made headphones...
The first listen was disappointing, to say the least. Yes, the soundstage was enormous for closed cans (way bigger and more tactile than anything my modified Beyer T51p can produce), and there was plenty of “air”. However, the bass was slow, uncontrolled and boomy. Before sending them back, I remembered a similar issue with my M&J hybrid cans, and left them to “cook” for 30 hours at a fairly high volume on the end of a DAP playing some Manu Katché on a continuous loop. When I tried them again, the bass had moved into line. They now sound very much like portable, closed HD650s. I’m keeping them.
Interestingly, they seem to work particularly well either straight out of my old Hifiman HM-650 (Minibox card) or out of the Aune B1S portable class A amp. They don’t seem to like tubes (unlike the HD650!).
Just one small gripe to finish: Whilst I praised the build quality earlier, there is something I should mention. This morning, I folded them up (with the cups rotated flat) and put them in my suitcase. On unpacking them this evening, I noticed that some anodising had worn away where the cups had touched. No big deal, but I had expected better from something designed for the road! I guess I’ll touch the relevant cup up with some automotive paint, and won’t fold them up completely any more. Maybe I should transport them in a slim case.
Looking for a “backup” pair of travelling cans, I stumbled upon these on Amazon for 99€. At the price, I thought they were worth a punt.
First impressions were very positive: solid, professional packaging and presentation, clean design (think Grado by Dieter Rams...) and camera (“proper” analogue camera)-grade materials. If Nikon made headphones...
The first listen was disappointing, to say the least. Yes, the soundstage was enormous for closed cans (way bigger and more tactile than anything my modified Beyer T51p can produce), and there was plenty of “air”. However, the bass was slow, uncontrolled and boomy. Before sending them back, I remembered a similar issue with my M&J hybrid cans, and left them to “cook” for 30 hours at a fairly high volume on the end of a DAP playing some Manu Katché on a continuous loop. When I tried them again, the bass had moved into line. They now sound very much like portable, closed HD650s. I’m keeping them.
Interestingly, they seem to work particularly well either straight out of my old Hifiman HM-650 (Minibox card) or out of the Aune B1S portable class A amp. They don’t seem to like tubes (unlike the HD650!).
Just one small gripe to finish: Whilst I praised the build quality earlier, there is something I should mention. This morning, I folded them up (with the cups rotated flat) and put them in my suitcase. On unpacking them this evening, I noticed that some anodising had worn away where the cups had touched. No big deal, but I had expected better from something designed for the road! I guess I’ll touch the relevant cup up with some automotive paint, and won’t fold them up completely any more. Maybe I should transport them in a slim case.
