germanium
Headphoneus Supremus
I bought these headphones from Gold Planar that cost only $79.99. While they seem very cheaply constructed they also appear that they would be durable with possibly the exception of the driver. I only say possibly the driver due to its unknown source & relative cheap plastic construction which is likely glued together as opposed to being screwed together in more expensive planars.
The driver itself is rather small for a planar driver, only about 50mm. About the size of some larger dynamic drivers. The drivers are indeed planar though. The front side of the driver is not vented with through leaky earpads nor tuned paper filters so these qualify as semi open where only the back of the driver is acoustically exposed to the outside world.
Given this semi open nature which frankly is necessary to get much bass at all, actually do quite well in the bass department. Bass sound is very clean, articulate & extended though a little soft at the very nether reaches I.E. sub bass region. The sub bass frequencies are still quite there just a little soft. Bass detail is at a very high order revealing more of the harmonic structure than any dynamic headphone I have heard. Very close to the Etymotic Research ER4P earphones but less dry sounding than the ER4P earphones.
The midrange on these is what I would call lush. Not overly detailed but not necessarily lacking much in detail either. Percussive sounds really stand out in the midband as does having a huge sense of space. Sometimes that sense of space is almost too much though obscuring the more direct sounds. Close mikes vocals can sound a little thick & lacking in air but not always. This is recording specific actually & when other instruments come in they sound lively enough to grab my attention.
About the only downfall of these cheap planars is the high treble is quite soft but still present & sweet, not harsh. Sibilance is reduced & sound is somewhat lacking in airiness. What's there though is quite detailed though just soft. In many circles this could be seen as a positive trait though I do like just a little more life up there.
I have used these with my LG V60 & my home computer with modified Asus Strix RAID DLX soundcard which has a very powerful headphone amp. It did very well on the V60 as long as I tricked into higher gain mode & only sounded slightly better on my computer. I would say the LG V60 is about the only phone I would recommend for these headphones though they may do ok on lesser cell phone depending on your volume needs.
Internally these earphones there is a paper damping material inside the backside of the driver which is made of material circuit boards are made of followed by a felt pad then a foam pad which holds the felt pad against the back of the driver. The magnets are likely attached to the circuit board as well as plastic faceplate at front of driver. The magnets are advertised to be n50 neodymium magnets. These have the second highest guauss of any permanent magnet for given size. Only stronger is n52 neodymium. Given the sensitivity of this driver that is actually believable. The unit as a whole appears to be glued together so only repair option is to replace whole driver. Driver is held in my 3 Tiny Phillips head screws. Hopefully they used a very high quality glue that can withstand vibration & the magnets effort to push the assembly apart.
The headband seams well built but the driver units have a fixed vertical position which only changes with the extension or retraction headband size adjustment. This can make the headphones uncomfortable if you have a smaller head & need to retract the size adjustment. Other words they will press too hard on top of the ear if not fully extended. Extending them produces a more even pressure on ears. I suggest for those with smaller heads use something as a spacer between top of head & the headband& leave the headband fully extended. The driver units do pivot horizontally 90 degrees so that part is ok. The stalks that drivers mount to are very heavy duty aluminium given their actual load. These are way overkill.
The driver itself is rather small for a planar driver, only about 50mm. About the size of some larger dynamic drivers. The drivers are indeed planar though. The front side of the driver is not vented with through leaky earpads nor tuned paper filters so these qualify as semi open where only the back of the driver is acoustically exposed to the outside world.
Given this semi open nature which frankly is necessary to get much bass at all, actually do quite well in the bass department. Bass sound is very clean, articulate & extended though a little soft at the very nether reaches I.E. sub bass region. The sub bass frequencies are still quite there just a little soft. Bass detail is at a very high order revealing more of the harmonic structure than any dynamic headphone I have heard. Very close to the Etymotic Research ER4P earphones but less dry sounding than the ER4P earphones.
The midrange on these is what I would call lush. Not overly detailed but not necessarily lacking much in detail either. Percussive sounds really stand out in the midband as does having a huge sense of space. Sometimes that sense of space is almost too much though obscuring the more direct sounds. Close mikes vocals can sound a little thick & lacking in air but not always. This is recording specific actually & when other instruments come in they sound lively enough to grab my attention.
About the only downfall of these cheap planars is the high treble is quite soft but still present & sweet, not harsh. Sibilance is reduced & sound is somewhat lacking in airiness. What's there though is quite detailed though just soft. In many circles this could be seen as a positive trait though I do like just a little more life up there.
I have used these with my LG V60 & my home computer with modified Asus Strix RAID DLX soundcard which has a very powerful headphone amp. It did very well on the V60 as long as I tricked into higher gain mode & only sounded slightly better on my computer. I would say the LG V60 is about the only phone I would recommend for these headphones though they may do ok on lesser cell phone depending on your volume needs.
Internally these earphones there is a paper damping material inside the backside of the driver which is made of material circuit boards are made of followed by a felt pad then a foam pad which holds the felt pad against the back of the driver. The magnets are likely attached to the circuit board as well as plastic faceplate at front of driver. The magnets are advertised to be n50 neodymium magnets. These have the second highest guauss of any permanent magnet for given size. Only stronger is n52 neodymium. Given the sensitivity of this driver that is actually believable. The unit as a whole appears to be glued together so only repair option is to replace whole driver. Driver is held in my 3 Tiny Phillips head screws. Hopefully they used a very high quality glue that can withstand vibration & the magnets effort to push the assembly apart.
The headband seams well built but the driver units have a fixed vertical position which only changes with the extension or retraction headband size adjustment. This can make the headphones uncomfortable if you have a smaller head & need to retract the size adjustment. Other words they will press too hard on top of the ear if not fully extended. Extending them produces a more even pressure on ears. I suggest for those with smaller heads use something as a spacer between top of head & the headband& leave the headband fully extended. The driver units do pivot horizontally 90 degrees so that part is ok. The stalks that drivers mount to are very heavy duty aluminium given their actual load. These are way overkill.
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