[HiFiGuy528]

buy the P3 for looks and build quality.  The sound is just OK.

 

[2Erly]

^ Yea, they look cool, what about the P5s though?

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

^ Yea, they look cool, what about the P5s though?

well with the p5s there are headphones like the beyerdynamic dt1350 or hd25 (with cloth pads) that sound better, but I find that I like the p5s better for everyday use because I don't feel I need too carry a portable amp with me too use them. So if I am not out too bring a whole portable reference rig with me the p5s are nice because they are small, practical, and comfy headphones that I can get good sound straight out of my iphone.

 

[SONIC BOOM]

plus the time I tried too fly with my hd25s the stupid child molesting tsa was scared of all the wires coming out of the headphones.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

 Forward midrange with little to no high frequency details and little to no sub bass.  These are very colored headphones. 

 
Yeah, that's what I got too. I'm passing on these.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

buy them for the looks and features, not for the sound.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

buy them for the looks and features, not for the sound.

It's about the bling, not the other way around.

 

[PolkManiac]

Any changes to your impressions now that they've had a week or so to burn in?  It looks like these are readily available most places today, contemplating getting a pair for compare to my V-Moda M80s

 

[PolkManiac]

So I stopped by Best Buy yesterday and picked up a pair of these, and I'm not impressed.  I did some initial listening and then let these burn in for 18 hours.  Let me start by saying that I really wanted to like these, they're beautiful and are compact and I really like the design overall, all they needed to do was sound good enough and I'd be sold.
 
Here are my impressions.
 
First, the build quality, aesthetics, and comfort on these are all very good.  Let's go ahead and get that out of the way now, if all you want is something that looks and feels good then these may be for you.  Now on to the sound:
 
In a word, muffled. After 18 hours or so on continuous playback to break them in the sound really hasn't changed much at all, so I doubt it'll change much going forward either.

First of all, out of the box and un-equalized these are borderline unlistenable. There is NO top end, and I don't mean that like "they're missing that last little bit of sparkle", no I mean no top end. There's lots of upper bass, midrange that is there but overshadowed by the bass and a top end that is virtually non-existant. I don't have the tools to measure them, but if I did I suspect the FR curve would be a line that goes from upper left to lower right with a few weird spikes. If you have music that is excessively bright to the point of unlistenable on other headphones it may work well on these - I do not have any and cannot think of any though and just see how any human with normal hearing could enjoy these unequalized.

No problem, that's why we have equalizers right? Well first off I'm generally opposed to equalization on principle alone, but even moreso on portable devices because of the battery hit. However, to really give these a fair shake and be able to form any coherent opinion other than 'suck' I played around with the EQ settings on the iPhone.

I tried all the options, and the two that sounded the best were bass reducer and treble booster. Treble booster just bumps up the treble while mostly leaving everything else alone, bass reducer drops the bass down a bit which results in the high end popping out a little. Treble booster worked best 90% of the time but for music that was real bassy I went the other way. Even with the EQ engaged though, these still have a very dark sound to them. So with the treble engaged the highs were a bit better, they were at least there but were very thin sounding, but the overall sound of the headphone was still very colored and dark. That upper bass just overshadows the entire midrange and just throws the whole sound way out of balance.  I suppose some forms of Rock and maybe electronic music sound ok, but overall the sound is just not good even when equalized.

I also dug out the Zune to get a comparison on another device even though these are engineered to iDevices. The results on the Zune are exactly the same. In fact when playing back the same file the Zune and iPhone sound remarkably similar (I still hate the lack of physical volume buttons on my Zune though).

So in review, not impressed

 

[HiFiGuy528]

After extensive testing, i found an easy fix for the P3. Flip the ear pads upside down and the highs and mids clears up nicely. You won't lose any bass either. Try it! Let us know your thoughts.

 

[Ric4001]

Do the pads still fit snugly when you flip them?  Looks like the channel for the cord connection will now be on the bottom and the cord connection would prevent a snug fit.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

no, it won't snap in like it should, but mine does hold up well enough to enjoy.  Perhaps someone here could make a mod.

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

no, it won't snap in like it should, but mine does hold up well enough to enjoy.  Perhaps someone here could make a mod.

I am going to pick a pair up within a week and will be trying to come up with homebrew earpads for them.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Quote:

I am going to pick a pair up within a week and will be trying to come up with homebrew earpads for them.

 
GREAT!  Keep us posted.

 

[valerianaoff]

Genuine thanks for the video...been eyeing the P3 for a while now. Gorgeous !!!