kunuggs
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2006
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This is my first review so bear with me
I joined almost exactly two months ago (I had lingered without registering for a while before that). I am a poor college kid who has to pay his own way yet wants to be an audiophile (impossible!!!). So, I did my research for the best of the "cheapies". I decided that I should buy a few different types of headphones to see which type was for me. So, I decided, based on reccomendations here and reviews at headwize.com and headphone.com, to purchase the
Koss KSC-75 = open, clip-on-the-ear type
Sennheiser HD-201 = closed, over the ear type
Creative EP-630 = canalphones (aka wannabe iem's
)
I figured that this way I could
a) not break the bank
b) figure out what "type" of phones I wanted eventually
c) figure out the exact "sound" I was looking for (in the inevitable future upgrade)
The cost breakdown (all from amazon.com)
Creative EP-630 $35.95 = $25.95 + 7.54 s&h + 2.46 tax
Sennheiser HD-201 $17.99 (free s&h when ordered with Koss')
Koss KSC-75 $13.99 (free s&h when ordered with Senns')
Note:
All tracks tested on my Computer -> iTunes -> SB Extigy -> Cans
All tracks are "high quality" (subjective, I know); that is, atleast 192 VBR AAC with the Miles and Telefon Tel Aviv tracks being the only ALAC files
Now, on to the music
First Test Track: Miles Davis - So What from Kind of Blue (Remastered)
I have listened to this particular track so many times, so I though it was perfect for testing purposes
Sennheiser: very good stereo separation, good sound stage, good instrument separation, very pleasant to listen to. To me, sound stage seems set up like this: piano on the far left, horn (I'm bad telling the diff. between trumpet and sax), bass just barely left of center, different horn, drums on the far right. Each is distinct from the other and are separated well and, if I concentrate at all, I can "listen" to just one instrument at a time and "block" the others out very easily.
Koss: Can immediately tell that the Koss' are louder at a given volume on iTunes (had to turn it down a little). The entire stage seems "pushed forward" compared to the senns and maybe even slightly thinner, or not as deep. The right to left separation is comparable with (maybe) the koss barely winning (too close to accurately tell). Bass is almost overbearing, but I like bass.
Creative: bass seems slightly more satisfying than the senns. I'm not even sure about deeper, but definitely fuller (might be conceived as boomier, but I think boomier has a negative connotation and fuller has a positive conotation; and since the bass on the Creative's is more engaging TO ME, I'll say fuller ;P) Needs even less volume than the Koss for same "perceived" volume, even in a "silent" environment ie. my apartment.
Second Test Track: Dave Matthews Band - #41 from Crash
A good all around test track. A bunch of different instruments playing all at once with great percussion. Nice bass and male vocals.
Sennheiser: track is overall enjoyable with these. The Senn "veil" rears its ugly head on this track. It's almost like when someone throws you a football and, it ALMOST gets to you, but just falls flat right in front of you. OK, maybe that was a little too rant-like/dramatic; but it feels like the highs are there, ie. the cymbals are distinct from one another, but something is clearly missing.
Koss: This track sounds AWESOME. Good separation and, once again, they are clearly defined. When Dave "belts" out a yell at 1:12, I got shivers. No joke. This track probably sounds good on just about any stereo, but it KILLS on headphones. Even the repetitive 4(?) note riff by the guitar in the far left channel doesn't get old becuase it sounds SO NICE. The engineers did not make any haste. Bass doesn't seem at all overbearing like with the Miles track.
Creative: not as immediately "engaging" as the the koss, but maybe less irritable (I'm not sure that makes sense). The creatives don't seem to handle dynamics as well as the Koss. During more complicated passages (I noticed at 2:30-3 minutes in this track), the creatives lost a noticable amount of detail and separation. The individual notes were still "there", but they seemed "connected" with the other notes much more (not in a good way).
Third Test Track(s): I grouped some good electronic together for this part
Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough from Fahrenheit Fair Enough
Aphex Twin - Bucephalus Bouncing Ball from Come To Daddy EP
Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry from Ultravisitor
Sennheiser: the actual sound wasn't anything great on this track because there is an immense amount of high freq. material that just got dulled by the veil. But, the sound stage was great on a 3D level, not just "2D" like the creatives.
Koss: handled the entire track(s) well. Nothing seemed really to stick out as really good or bad, and this is a good thing. It basically was good in all areas but not less than good in any areas whereas the Creative and Senn had particularly good and bad sections, which means basically less "coherent", all attributes considered.
Creatives: they WOW'ed me on Telefon Tel Aviv track. The depth is decent, but what suprised me was the "up-down" sound stage (properly called "height" maybe?). This track rips into an absolute frenzy at 1:59 that, at first, sounds like totally random sounds alternating from far left to far right. Once you actually listen carefully, you realize that each "bleep" is perfectly choreographed (sp?) with the next. These phones had these sounds appearing everywhere on a 2 dimensional sound stage of L-R and Up-Down. Depth wasn't amazing, but apparently never is with canalphones/iem's.
Side notes
All listening for review done through sb extigy headphone out. Through my iPod mini, I tried the HD-201's once and never again because they sounded horrible. The creatives and koss sounded just fine through the mini. I think that the sb extigy soundcard had plenty of juice for all 3 cans, there is the possiblility that if I had an amp, my thoughts would be different.
Conclusion
For jazz (or atleast my selected jazz track), the sennheisers won. It's not that jazz is any less demanding of phones, I just think that since So What is such a relaxing track, I didn't mind the veil as much as the other tracks. In fact, it may be the very reason I liked the senn's for jazz over the others. There was no "in your face-ness" to distract you from just getting lost in the song.
For jazzy/alternative, or whatever you want to call Dave Matthews Band, the Koss' won. They had great separation, were very engaging and great highs. The Koss' should also keep any bass head happy as they go very deep.
For electronic, the Koss once again excelled. Veiled highs from Senns just won't fly with complicated electronic passages with multiple high freq. sections. Electronic was also good with the creatives, but the creatives couldn't handle extremely complex sections with as much dexterity as the koss'.
Concluding Remarks
Being as these are all different types of headphones, they all feel very different on your head/ears. I feel that comfort is going to be subjective because some people don't like sticking things in their ears, for example. I, for one, took a few weeks to get used to the Koss because they rubbed my ear too much and turned it red within about 30-45 minutes of usage (yes, I adjested the metal clip a lot). Even now after owning them for a while, I'm not entirely comfortable using them for long periods of time. Couple that with the fact that I find them fatiguing over time (moreso because they are so forward as opposed to being bright), and I can't really recommend them for a person who plans to only buy one set of cans and/or use them for extended listening periods. This all sound contradictory to my review, but it's how I feel.
On the other hand, the Senn's were probably the most boring of the group (to overgeneralize) but I would recommend them to anyone wearing headphones for long periods of time (not out of an iPod) who doesn't want to break the bank.
Furthermore, the Creatives' were frustrating because the microphonics annoyed me while walking with the iPod. These microphonics were non-existent when sitting at my computer desk, but I don't need isolation at my computer desk.
Interestingly, the Creatives have been getting the most usage lately because I use them on campus and in the library where isolation is more important to me than, say, absolute crispness in the highs or depth of the soundstage. Furthermore, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of these to my friends (depending on what they needed them for) because they each have their niche in my current lifestyle and are very reasonably priced.
On an ending note, thank you for reading my first review. Please let me know what you think about it and if I made any stupid errors.
I joined almost exactly two months ago (I had lingered without registering for a while before that). I am a poor college kid who has to pay his own way yet wants to be an audiophile (impossible!!!). So, I did my research for the best of the "cheapies". I decided that I should buy a few different types of headphones to see which type was for me. So, I decided, based on reccomendations here and reviews at headwize.com and headphone.com, to purchase the
Koss KSC-75 = open, clip-on-the-ear type
Sennheiser HD-201 = closed, over the ear type
Creative EP-630 = canalphones (aka wannabe iem's
I figured that this way I could
a) not break the bank
b) figure out what "type" of phones I wanted eventually
c) figure out the exact "sound" I was looking for (in the inevitable future upgrade)
The cost breakdown (all from amazon.com)
Creative EP-630 $35.95 = $25.95 + 7.54 s&h + 2.46 tax
Sennheiser HD-201 $17.99 (free s&h when ordered with Koss')
Koss KSC-75 $13.99 (free s&h when ordered with Senns')
Note:
All tracks tested on my Computer -> iTunes -> SB Extigy -> Cans
All tracks are "high quality" (subjective, I know); that is, atleast 192 VBR AAC with the Miles and Telefon Tel Aviv tracks being the only ALAC files
Now, on to the music
First Test Track: Miles Davis - So What from Kind of Blue (Remastered)
I have listened to this particular track so many times, so I though it was perfect for testing purposes
Sennheiser: very good stereo separation, good sound stage, good instrument separation, very pleasant to listen to. To me, sound stage seems set up like this: piano on the far left, horn (I'm bad telling the diff. between trumpet and sax), bass just barely left of center, different horn, drums on the far right. Each is distinct from the other and are separated well and, if I concentrate at all, I can "listen" to just one instrument at a time and "block" the others out very easily.
Koss: Can immediately tell that the Koss' are louder at a given volume on iTunes (had to turn it down a little). The entire stage seems "pushed forward" compared to the senns and maybe even slightly thinner, or not as deep. The right to left separation is comparable with (maybe) the koss barely winning (too close to accurately tell). Bass is almost overbearing, but I like bass.
Creative: bass seems slightly more satisfying than the senns. I'm not even sure about deeper, but definitely fuller (might be conceived as boomier, but I think boomier has a negative connotation and fuller has a positive conotation; and since the bass on the Creative's is more engaging TO ME, I'll say fuller ;P) Needs even less volume than the Koss for same "perceived" volume, even in a "silent" environment ie. my apartment.
Second Test Track: Dave Matthews Band - #41 from Crash
A good all around test track. A bunch of different instruments playing all at once with great percussion. Nice bass and male vocals.
Sennheiser: track is overall enjoyable with these. The Senn "veil" rears its ugly head on this track. It's almost like when someone throws you a football and, it ALMOST gets to you, but just falls flat right in front of you. OK, maybe that was a little too rant-like/dramatic; but it feels like the highs are there, ie. the cymbals are distinct from one another, but something is clearly missing.
Koss: This track sounds AWESOME. Good separation and, once again, they are clearly defined. When Dave "belts" out a yell at 1:12, I got shivers. No joke. This track probably sounds good on just about any stereo, but it KILLS on headphones. Even the repetitive 4(?) note riff by the guitar in the far left channel doesn't get old becuase it sounds SO NICE. The engineers did not make any haste. Bass doesn't seem at all overbearing like with the Miles track.
Creative: not as immediately "engaging" as the the koss, but maybe less irritable (I'm not sure that makes sense). The creatives don't seem to handle dynamics as well as the Koss. During more complicated passages (I noticed at 2:30-3 minutes in this track), the creatives lost a noticable amount of detail and separation. The individual notes were still "there", but they seemed "connected" with the other notes much more (not in a good way).
Third Test Track(s): I grouped some good electronic together for this part
Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough from Fahrenheit Fair Enough
Aphex Twin - Bucephalus Bouncing Ball from Come To Daddy EP
Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry from Ultravisitor
Sennheiser: the actual sound wasn't anything great on this track because there is an immense amount of high freq. material that just got dulled by the veil. But, the sound stage was great on a 3D level, not just "2D" like the creatives.
Koss: handled the entire track(s) well. Nothing seemed really to stick out as really good or bad, and this is a good thing. It basically was good in all areas but not less than good in any areas whereas the Creative and Senn had particularly good and bad sections, which means basically less "coherent", all attributes considered.
Creatives: they WOW'ed me on Telefon Tel Aviv track. The depth is decent, but what suprised me was the "up-down" sound stage (properly called "height" maybe?). This track rips into an absolute frenzy at 1:59 that, at first, sounds like totally random sounds alternating from far left to far right. Once you actually listen carefully, you realize that each "bleep" is perfectly choreographed (sp?) with the next. These phones had these sounds appearing everywhere on a 2 dimensional sound stage of L-R and Up-Down. Depth wasn't amazing, but apparently never is with canalphones/iem's.
Side notes
All listening for review done through sb extigy headphone out. Through my iPod mini, I tried the HD-201's once and never again because they sounded horrible. The creatives and koss sounded just fine through the mini. I think that the sb extigy soundcard had plenty of juice for all 3 cans, there is the possiblility that if I had an amp, my thoughts would be different.
Conclusion
For jazz (or atleast my selected jazz track), the sennheisers won. It's not that jazz is any less demanding of phones, I just think that since So What is such a relaxing track, I didn't mind the veil as much as the other tracks. In fact, it may be the very reason I liked the senn's for jazz over the others. There was no "in your face-ness" to distract you from just getting lost in the song.
For jazzy/alternative, or whatever you want to call Dave Matthews Band, the Koss' won. They had great separation, were very engaging and great highs. The Koss' should also keep any bass head happy as they go very deep.
For electronic, the Koss once again excelled. Veiled highs from Senns just won't fly with complicated electronic passages with multiple high freq. sections. Electronic was also good with the creatives, but the creatives couldn't handle extremely complex sections with as much dexterity as the koss'.
Concluding Remarks
Being as these are all different types of headphones, they all feel very different on your head/ears. I feel that comfort is going to be subjective because some people don't like sticking things in their ears, for example. I, for one, took a few weeks to get used to the Koss because they rubbed my ear too much and turned it red within about 30-45 minutes of usage (yes, I adjested the metal clip a lot). Even now after owning them for a while, I'm not entirely comfortable using them for long periods of time. Couple that with the fact that I find them fatiguing over time (moreso because they are so forward as opposed to being bright), and I can't really recommend them for a person who plans to only buy one set of cans and/or use them for extended listening periods. This all sound contradictory to my review, but it's how I feel.
On the other hand, the Senn's were probably the most boring of the group (to overgeneralize) but I would recommend them to anyone wearing headphones for long periods of time (not out of an iPod) who doesn't want to break the bank.
Furthermore, the Creatives' were frustrating because the microphonics annoyed me while walking with the iPod. These microphonics were non-existent when sitting at my computer desk, but I don't need isolation at my computer desk.
Interestingly, the Creatives have been getting the most usage lately because I use them on campus and in the library where isolation is more important to me than, say, absolute crispness in the highs or depth of the soundstage. Furthermore, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of these to my friends (depending on what they needed them for) because they each have their niche in my current lifestyle and are very reasonably priced.
On an ending note, thank you for reading my first review. Please let me know what you think about it and if I made any stupid errors.
