After a week of delays with customs, which caused me to not get these in time for my trip last week, I finally got my paws on the Oppo today.
Some general thoughts (a more detailed review to come in a week or two):
Packaging:
A very nicely packaged box, with everything neatly placed inside. Reminds me a little of the packaging that expensive Japanese maki-e fountain pens come in, actually. That being said, from the description here, I was expecting something different and a lot more exotic. Personally, I think the LCD2 hard case is a lot more practical but this one sure looks nice. I am going to put it away and put the cans in a Hippo Case for storage and travel, however.
Fit/Comfort:
Very comfortable! Not weighing half a kilo helps. They are on par with the HD800s and the HD650s in comfort, atleast on my head.
Sound:
I like a warm sound with smooth, somewhat rolled-off highs and a prominent midrange. I like the HD650s and love the LCD2s - and despite all of that, manage to get along with the HD800s for some genres of music. The Oppos have a very smooth treble, and have the kind of sound that I can listen to for a long time - non-fatiguing, smooth and well-balanced, without too much in the way of artificial coloration to create a short-term impact.
However, while these are very nice, balanced headphones, they arent a patch on the LCD2s. The LCD2s have weight and dynamic impact that leave the Oppos behind. In the first movement of Solti's stirring rendition of Dvorak's 9th, the LCD2s have a slam that made me jump the first time I heard it - the Oppos recreate it well but lack that visceral body, weight and dynamic impact.
I also feel that the lack of top end energy is affecting timbre and, for want of a better word, "bite" - many instruments that have their primary notes in the midrange have a leading treble edge which gives them a sharp and distinct sound live; done wrong, this can be reproduced as a bright, fatiguing sound or a more polite rendition. The LCD2s, to my mind, come the closest to doing this right (and so, surprisingly, do the NAD HP50s) - the PM1s err on the side of politeness. This isnt a bad thing - they lack a little of the immediacy of the LCD2s, but they do a lot of other things right - weight, comfort, portability and an easy-listening, balanced sound where you can stop obsessing about audioweenie traits and focus on the music.
Summary
I am keeping them. Purely on audio quality, I probably wouldnt spend $1100 on them - however, I have been looking for a pair of transportable headphones for use in hotels and these fit that bill perfectly, and their weight & comfort is worth a premium for me.
And for the record, even though my post comes across as lukewarm, that isnt the case. I like them a lot - they will probably get as much head time as my LCD2s (given my hectic travel life), and I've been looking for a pair of headphones to fit those requirements for a while. With these, that search has come to an end.
