Music Guy123
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 12, 2012
- Posts
- 33
- Likes
- 11
Right, so I thought, I probably better give something back to the forum that so kindly helped me find some headphones! So, here is my story! Now, I started out with some wireless Sonys that someone gave me because he didn't want them anymore. They were alright, I thought the sound quality was good, they were clear but suffered from interference from my phone. However, they were comfortable, very comfortable, they did slip around when I tried to bend down and pick something up but they weren't too bad. The problems were that I couldn't transport them anywhere for obvious reasons, so I decided I would treat myself to some brand new headphones! I had a look on google and instantly spotted the M50s as the most popular headphone. However, I had a budget of around £60 and these wouldn't really fit in! So, I looked at their little brother the M30. I was almost set on these, I did get recommended the V6s but for several reasons I turned away from them in favour of the M30. Then I did some more googling and found the SRH 440. I thought this would be even better but I saw comfort issues (although sorted using the 840's pads). Then someone posted that the ZX700s were worth a thought, I looked them up, they seemed good. All reviews were pretty much complementary, saying they competed with the M50s. So, i looked into these and they looked perfect, they were £100 (~$155) in a Sony store which was a little steep but they were about £65 (~$100) on Amazon. So, I thought, perfect, I have received some birthday money, i'll get these! However, for several reasons, I delayed the buy by a couple of weeks so, when it came to buying day, in the morning, I found them on amazon for £50 (~$75)!! So, perfect, but I had a little thing in the back of my head saying, they may be fake, they may be American imports by some guy not paying import taxes (I like to perfectly legal!) or something of the kind! So, these were ordered on Sunday, they arrived on Wednesday morning, I got my mits on them in the evening!
So, I tore open the box and was over-joyed to see the European packaging (the plastic packaging rather than the carboard box that is being sold in America) (I think that is right anyway!). So, I decided to open the packaging carefully incase I needed to send them back, I was still weary of fakes due to the price! The headphones were well packaged and hard to get to! But they were protected! So, I got the back of and jumped for joy as I saw the 1.8m extension cable! I was hoping it would come but i know in some cases this doesn't happen so was not expecting to get one. I continued through and got my hands on the actual headphone! So, first impressions were good, rich sound, good comfort, and solidly built but I'll go through these in separate parts! So, firstly, let me tell you, I am very new to proper headphones, I am not really able to explain the sound very well but I will try! So here goes:
Comfort:
I will start with how it feels in my hands. The headband is incredibly well padded with very soft, plush pleather. As for the actual ear cups, they are padded with soft pleather around the edges but the padding isn't actually that thick. In the middle of the earcups, there is no padding, just a little netting. Behind the netting is the plastic covering the big 50mm drivers. I have fairly small, non sticky out ears so I don't have any problem with this. However, if you have sticky out ears or wombat sized ones, you may want to try these headphones on before you buy them. The internal dimensions of the earcups is 6cm x 4cm. So, they aren't huge but they are big enough! So, putting these on your head, the ears are very comfortable but you do get a little heat after a while, however, this isn't a problem, 30s every hour of removing the headphones lets your ears cool down enough for the next hour, so isn't really a problem! The headband at first did cause a little bit of pressure on the top of my head, however, after some adjustment and time, this was sorted and it is perfect now! Also, these are light on the head, clamping force isn't huge but it is there, it is not uncomfortable by any means though. Moderate headbanging is absolutely fine, they will stick, extreme headbanging can cause them to slip slightly but not too bad! I now have a very comfortable set of headphones, I forget I am wearing them after a little while!
Isolation:
When music is not being played, you can hear someone talking but it is hard to make out exactly what they are saying. With music playing, you can hardly hear anything! Ok, they aren't completely noise cancelling but I like that. They let enough in for you to beware of your surroundings, but not enough for your music to be disturbed. The advantage of this is that you don't have to ramp up the volume to hear the music, these are perfect for car journeys!
Build quality, features etc.
These feel solid, they have flex but no creaks. The ear cups are made from ABS which is very resistant and is solid. The pleather doesn't feel bullet proof but it isn't bad. It doesn't feel like it will flake, possibly become peirced though if you aren't careful. As for size compatibility and fitting, they rotate on one main axis like most headphones but they have a little movement around a verticle axis. This means they fit snugly around your head and if you want to pull one side back so you only listen through one side, you can do this easily without affecting the fit on the other side. I do like this feature although I wish the movement wasn't so limited but it does mean that it doesn't become a slippery customer when you try to pick it up. One small problem though is that you can't fold it up, this isn't really a problem for me as my headphones have never folded up so I am not used to it, so don't require it, but some people may. The extension of the headband to fit head sizes is ample, and it feels solid. Now for the cable. It is attached which isn't great but it could be worse. The connections are relatively solid, the cable in general doesn't feel bad and doesn't seem to tangle but I do have a small feeling that a connection could come loose. Still, I am sure it is better than it looks, Sony aren't really a brand you associate to breakages so I think it will be fine. The extension cable is brilliant, I never would have thought it would be so useful, now I don't know how I would do without! It finishes in a small 3.5mm jack which is good for me as I plug it into a laptop. However, some people may want it to terminate into a larger jack. Fornuately for me, I have an adapter that I just leave in my amp for when I want to use it as I don't have any 6.3mm headphone plugs. I would have liked to see an adapter being included but for me, it is fine. One thing I noticed with the extension that is annoying to me is that when you plug the headphone cord into the extension, there is no resounding 'click'. It just slips in, it means I have to look twice to check it is in. Also, it does mean that it is susceptible to slipping out if you aren't careful. But again, not a huge problem! Overall, I really do like the combination of the 1.2m cable attached, meaning you can use the headphones for portable use with the extension for home use. I have no problem as I have a 3.5 to 6.3mm adapter but without it, I would be a bit annoyed. As for looks, they don't look bad, they are quite slim, if someone was walking down the street with them, it would look fine. I think the earcups look quite nice but that is personal opinion!
Sound Quality:
Now, I am not experienced enough to be able to detail how it sounds but all I know is my jaw dropped when I first heard these! For £50 I was expecting good, but I thought my wireless headphones were decent and I didn't think quality would get much better, boy was I wrong! Such an improvement here, I can hardly believe it! I have been burning these in and i think they are still in their burn in stage but the sound of them has kinda matured. It is very good. I plugged them into my audiolab 8000a amp with a Pioneer CD player (I can't be bothered to go and check the model name but it is a relatively good quality one!). Sound improved from that of my laptop but it wasn't a massive step up. The soundstage is better, and the bass is a little nicer but generally, I don't have a huge problem with the sound coming from the 1000kbps files from my laptop's Dolby sound room. As for iPods and iPhones, i don't really like the sound from my iPhone 3G, I much prefer that of my iPod classic. Unfortunately, because I have so many songs and videos, I can only listen at 256kbps on my iPod classic but this isn't that bad. The volume limited iPod classic (It is EU law, caused by the French
!) has no problem driving these headphones and the sound quality is very good for what it is. My main source though is my 2.5 yr old laptop running Linux, playing files of Banshee. The higher bit rate files are very nice, the lower bit rate ones sound fine too though. A couple of things I noticed with these headphones, the mids are bright, but the bass although not huge, is there and is smooth and controlled. The vocals are great, words can easily be depicted but my favourite part of my upgrade to these headphones is the soundstage improvements. Although it is not that wide (does widen when amped properly) it does allow you to pick up individual instruments and noise sources. It is the first time I have been able to properly appreciate Flea's bass playing without 80,000+ people surrounding me!
Overall, (for me anyway) these are a great phones and I'd strongly recommend them to anyone, especially at the price of £50 (~$77), don't forget that headphones are always cheaper though in the U.S.! Sorry for my lack of knowledge about headphones but I hope that some people appreciate my review! And if anyone is thinking about buying these, feel free to PM me if you want to know some more about these! So, there you have it, my attempt at a review, concluding with the fact that these are brilliant and I highly recommend them!
So, I tore open the box and was over-joyed to see the European packaging (the plastic packaging rather than the carboard box that is being sold in America) (I think that is right anyway!). So, I decided to open the packaging carefully incase I needed to send them back, I was still weary of fakes due to the price! The headphones were well packaged and hard to get to! But they were protected! So, I got the back of and jumped for joy as I saw the 1.8m extension cable! I was hoping it would come but i know in some cases this doesn't happen so was not expecting to get one. I continued through and got my hands on the actual headphone! So, first impressions were good, rich sound, good comfort, and solidly built but I'll go through these in separate parts! So, firstly, let me tell you, I am very new to proper headphones, I am not really able to explain the sound very well but I will try! So here goes:
Comfort:
I will start with how it feels in my hands. The headband is incredibly well padded with very soft, plush pleather. As for the actual ear cups, they are padded with soft pleather around the edges but the padding isn't actually that thick. In the middle of the earcups, there is no padding, just a little netting. Behind the netting is the plastic covering the big 50mm drivers. I have fairly small, non sticky out ears so I don't have any problem with this. However, if you have sticky out ears or wombat sized ones, you may want to try these headphones on before you buy them. The internal dimensions of the earcups is 6cm x 4cm. So, they aren't huge but they are big enough! So, putting these on your head, the ears are very comfortable but you do get a little heat after a while, however, this isn't a problem, 30s every hour of removing the headphones lets your ears cool down enough for the next hour, so isn't really a problem! The headband at first did cause a little bit of pressure on the top of my head, however, after some adjustment and time, this was sorted and it is perfect now! Also, these are light on the head, clamping force isn't huge but it is there, it is not uncomfortable by any means though. Moderate headbanging is absolutely fine, they will stick, extreme headbanging can cause them to slip slightly but not too bad! I now have a very comfortable set of headphones, I forget I am wearing them after a little while!
Isolation:
When music is not being played, you can hear someone talking but it is hard to make out exactly what they are saying. With music playing, you can hardly hear anything! Ok, they aren't completely noise cancelling but I like that. They let enough in for you to beware of your surroundings, but not enough for your music to be disturbed. The advantage of this is that you don't have to ramp up the volume to hear the music, these are perfect for car journeys!
Build quality, features etc.
These feel solid, they have flex but no creaks. The ear cups are made from ABS which is very resistant and is solid. The pleather doesn't feel bullet proof but it isn't bad. It doesn't feel like it will flake, possibly become peirced though if you aren't careful. As for size compatibility and fitting, they rotate on one main axis like most headphones but they have a little movement around a verticle axis. This means they fit snugly around your head and if you want to pull one side back so you only listen through one side, you can do this easily without affecting the fit on the other side. I do like this feature although I wish the movement wasn't so limited but it does mean that it doesn't become a slippery customer when you try to pick it up. One small problem though is that you can't fold it up, this isn't really a problem for me as my headphones have never folded up so I am not used to it, so don't require it, but some people may. The extension of the headband to fit head sizes is ample, and it feels solid. Now for the cable. It is attached which isn't great but it could be worse. The connections are relatively solid, the cable in general doesn't feel bad and doesn't seem to tangle but I do have a small feeling that a connection could come loose. Still, I am sure it is better than it looks, Sony aren't really a brand you associate to breakages so I think it will be fine. The extension cable is brilliant, I never would have thought it would be so useful, now I don't know how I would do without! It finishes in a small 3.5mm jack which is good for me as I plug it into a laptop. However, some people may want it to terminate into a larger jack. Fornuately for me, I have an adapter that I just leave in my amp for when I want to use it as I don't have any 6.3mm headphone plugs. I would have liked to see an adapter being included but for me, it is fine. One thing I noticed with the extension that is annoying to me is that when you plug the headphone cord into the extension, there is no resounding 'click'. It just slips in, it means I have to look twice to check it is in. Also, it does mean that it is susceptible to slipping out if you aren't careful. But again, not a huge problem! Overall, I really do like the combination of the 1.2m cable attached, meaning you can use the headphones for portable use with the extension for home use. I have no problem as I have a 3.5 to 6.3mm adapter but without it, I would be a bit annoyed. As for looks, they don't look bad, they are quite slim, if someone was walking down the street with them, it would look fine. I think the earcups look quite nice but that is personal opinion!
Sound Quality:
Now, I am not experienced enough to be able to detail how it sounds but all I know is my jaw dropped when I first heard these! For £50 I was expecting good, but I thought my wireless headphones were decent and I didn't think quality would get much better, boy was I wrong! Such an improvement here, I can hardly believe it! I have been burning these in and i think they are still in their burn in stage but the sound of them has kinda matured. It is very good. I plugged them into my audiolab 8000a amp with a Pioneer CD player (I can't be bothered to go and check the model name but it is a relatively good quality one!). Sound improved from that of my laptop but it wasn't a massive step up. The soundstage is better, and the bass is a little nicer but generally, I don't have a huge problem with the sound coming from the 1000kbps files from my laptop's Dolby sound room. As for iPods and iPhones, i don't really like the sound from my iPhone 3G, I much prefer that of my iPod classic. Unfortunately, because I have so many songs and videos, I can only listen at 256kbps on my iPod classic but this isn't that bad. The volume limited iPod classic (It is EU law, caused by the French
!) has no problem driving these headphones and the sound quality is very good for what it is. My main source though is my 2.5 yr old laptop running Linux, playing files of Banshee. The higher bit rate files are very nice, the lower bit rate ones sound fine too though. A couple of things I noticed with these headphones, the mids are bright, but the bass although not huge, is there and is smooth and controlled. The vocals are great, words can easily be depicted but my favourite part of my upgrade to these headphones is the soundstage improvements. Although it is not that wide (does widen when amped properly) it does allow you to pick up individual instruments and noise sources. It is the first time I have been able to properly appreciate Flea's bass playing without 80,000+ people surrounding me!Overall, (for me anyway) these are a great phones and I'd strongly recommend them to anyone, especially at the price of £50 (~$77), don't forget that headphones are always cheaper though in the U.S.! Sorry for my lack of knowledge about headphones but I hope that some people appreciate my review! And if anyone is thinking about buying these, feel free to PM me if you want to know some more about these! So, there you have it, my attempt at a review, concluding with the fact that these are brilliant and I highly recommend them!
