[Smarty-pants]

Holy cripes! If Oppo were to make their products to the standards of hykhleif, I might actually cry.
Talk about twisted rationality. Just use an EQ to distort the sound beyond reason if that is what you want.

What really doesn't make sense, is that bass heavy music is... wait for it... bass heavy.
So a flat EQ'd headphone is going to produce all of that bass just the way it is on the source material.
If you want to add a ton more, totally fubaring the spectrum of sound in the music, I think that's just ridiculous.

Many people do listen to music like that though because they don't know any better.
They see others do it and mimic what they do because not everyone is blessed with the knowledge or intellect of how to do it correctly.
These are the same people who put the farty sounding exhaust systems on their car, neon lights, a trunk full of subwoofers,
on their way to a restaurant where they will drown their food in ketchup, tip the waitress a buck, and post a selfie of their saggy-butt jeans on Facebook.
Thanks but no thanks. Extreme emphasis on the NO THANKS.

 

[Sound Eq]

Holy cripes! If Oppo were to make their products to the standards of hykhleif, I might actually cry.
Talk about twisted rationality. Just use an EQ to distort the sound beyond reason if that is what you want.

What really doesn't make sense, is that bass heavy music is... wait for it... bass heavy.
So a flat EQ'd headphone is going to produce all of that bass just the way it is on the source material.
If you want to add a ton more, totally fubaring the spectrum of sound in the music, I think that's just ridiculous.

Many people do listen to music like that though because they don't know any better.
They see others do it and mimic what they do because not everyone is blessed with the knowledge or intellect of how to do it correctly.
These are the same people who put the farty sounding exhaust systems on their car, neon lights, a trunk full of subwoofers,
on their way to a restaurant where they will drown their food in ketchup, tip the waitress a buck, and post a selfie of their saggy-butt jeans on Facebook.
Thanks but no thanks. Extreme emphasis on the NO THANKS.

well that's why I see a lot of the neutral boring headphones being sold on the forum here, everyone loves bass does not have to be bass heavy but it has to have presence, for me the HD800 is so irritating to almost everyone of regular users who heard them. People who buy them end up selling them because its not enjoyable to listen to music without the presence of a good bass end of story.
 
well disagree as you like, who cares, go buy yourself a HD800 and be happy then.
 
Oppo is in asia and in asia they love warm sound with bass.
 
and how many of you who like neutral are in numbers, only a few compared to millions who love coloured sound. Look at denon d7000 its a great headphone, and people who go the denon way know that coloration done properly have more an appeal than boring neutral ones

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

well that's why I see a lot of the neutral boring headphones being sold on the forum here, everyone loves bass does not have to be bass heavy but it has to have presence, for me the HD800 is so irritating to almost everyone of regular users who heard them. People who buy them end up selling them because its not enjoyable to listen to music without the presence of a good bass end of story.

well disagree as you like, who cares, go buy yourself a HD800 and be happy then.

Oppo is in asia and in asia they love warm sound with bass.

and how many of you who like neutral are in numbers, only a few compared to millions who love coloured sound. Look at denon d7000 its a great headphone, and people who go the denon way know that coloration done properly have more an appeal than boring neutral ones

From what I understand Oppo's headphones tend to be mostly neutral with slightly organic, warm, dark sound. That is certainly a liked type of sound signature. Not every headphone needs to be warm though. Yes, people on average like warm sound more than neutral... but that clearly doesn't account for everyone or the HD800/STAX/Shure/other headphones wouldn't be so popular and enjoyed.

By that logic only pop/rap would exist because that's what average people tend to like. Also only luxury cars exist, no racing or sports cars. Also, the only TV shows are sitcoms considered by many boring... because most like them. Also, all literature would have identical plot, every movie would be the same, etc. The world would be backwards with that logic, and totally uninteresting/unique. Neutral headphones have a market among people that like to hear their music uncoloured and people are willing to spend significant amounts money to get that (e.g. SR-009, HD800, LCD-X)... neutral headphones wouldn't exist if there wasn't a niche for them.

That's not to say good bass heavy headphones don't exist, but not everyone enjoys them. I hate when the bass creeps into the midrange which many headphones that bass heads find okay are known to do. Even expensive models such as D7000/TH600 are known to have less clear, accurate midrange a than less bass oriented models.

 

[money4me247]

  well that's why I see a lot of the neutral boring headphones being sold on the forum here, everyone loves bass does not have to be bass heavy but it has to have presence, for me the HD800 is so irritating to almost everyone of regular users who heard them. People who buy them end up selling them because its not enjoyable to listen to music without the presence of a good bass end of story. well disagree as you like, who cares, go buy yourself a HD800 and be happy then.
 
Oppo is in asia and in asia they love warm sound with bass. and how many of you who like neutral are in numbers, only a few compared to millions who love coloured sound. Look at denon d7000 its a great headphone, and people who go the denon way know that coloration done properly have more an appeal than boring neutral ones

 
Frequency Response Comparison of the Headphones You Listed
 
OPPO PM-1

Sennheiser HD-800

Dennon D7000

 
The PM-1 are not described as boring by any means, but they do have a very linear frequency response graph that allows for very accurate sonic reproduction. Bass presence and impact is obviously a good thing. Ideally, we are looking for a linear reproduction of the lower frequencies. A neutral linear pair of headphones does not equate to a lack of bass. There is just no specific over-emphasis of a certain region in the lower frequencies. When a song has bass, neutral headphones will display that bass. However, neutral headphones will not artificially inflate bass when there isn't any bass.
 
Different coloration preferences vary from individuals, so neutral-tuned headphones actually are the easiest to enjoy as you can EQ them yourself for a v-shaped sound signature if you like that sort of thing. However, EQing a non-linear frequency response to neutral is much more difficult.
 
Edit 1: If you compare the frequency response curves of the PM-1 and HD-800s, you will see that they actually have better bass extension and their bass is well-represented. The dennons may sound bassier, but that is because there is a boost in the mid-bass & recession of the lower mids. 

 

[Maelob]

399 would be the sweetpot for me. I think it will make it more appealing for portable use. Continuing wiht the BASS talk, probably a topic for another thread, but if pop music is changing and there a need for more bass then it should be the engeeneers that master the record that should include the information on the track. Then a a proper speaker or headphone can reproduce that information. Is that possible? Seems like common sense. lol

 

[VandyMan]

 Oppo is in asia and in asia they love warm sound with bass

 
I'm wondering what you base this on? I don't live in Asia, so I have no first hand knowledge. However, many companies that make neutral headphones are in Asia (STAX, for example). When Sean Olive/Harmon did tests to see what frequency response curve was preferred, they got the same results for all regions including Asia. I know there are some boutique Japanese brands that are famous for a warm sound, but they are not EDM-bass-heavy just a bit boosted in the mid-bass. The Japanese brands that are more mainstream tend to produce neutral products (Sony, for example).
 
For me, the issue with the PM-1 is that it is light in the treble. The bass is pretty good.

 

[Sound Eq]

lets get back to any news of release date especially HA 2 i hope someone asked the oppo guys for a hint

 

[HasturTheYellow]

PM-3 hopefully around January (First Quarter 2015). As a synergy product, I would hope that the HA-2 would be released around the same time.

 

[Smarty-pants]

The New Oppo PM-3 and HA-2 – RMAF 2014
BY AUDIOHEAD – OCTOBER 14, 2014



Oppo set a very nice tone for its products a few years back with the release of the extremely value-focused BDP-95 Blu-Ray player. The subsequent BDP-105 follow up continued this appealing proposition of quality and feature-rich value. Fast forward to present day and you will find Oppo has burst onto the headphone scene with a pair of planar magentics called the PM-1 and PM-2 as well as a matching amplifier called the HA-1. You can find our full review of the PM-1 [here].

At RMAF this year, the company showcased two working prototypes that let the public know their interesting waltz into personal audio had really just begun. In a well-timed and seemingly deliberate roll out, Oppo has taken a natural progression into the next chapter of portable audio with a reveal of a closed-back headphone called the PM-3 and a smaller portable headphone amplifier called the HA-2. As an individual who sometimes tires of unsuccessful attempts to create “clever” product names, I greatly appreciate Oppo’s straightforward naming syntax for their lines.



The PM-3 is tentatively scheduled for a January launch. Expect pricing to land somewhere south of the $699 PM-2.



The portable HA-2 features a very well designed and aesthetically pleasing outer casing, which sports much of the same attention to detail that Oppo has perfected on its other products. I think its relative size of thin and long over deep is a very wise choice that effectively mirrors the current cellphone trend. The HA-2′s amplification will be a hybrid AB class and digital conversion duties will be fueled by an ESS SABRE 9018 “M”, (two cores as opposed to 8). It will also be iPhone friendly and compatible with some android interfaces. Expect the highest in resolution files (up to 4X DSD) from the PC connection and a price under $500, huzzah! The HA-2 is also aiming for a January 2015 release.





http://www.oppodigital.com/

 

[miceblue]

On the topic of the HA-2, I found out today that I can hear the difference between a native DSD128 master and a downsampled DSD64 version from the same master when using the HA-2 with the AKG K240M. Hooray for the HA-2...not so hooray for my wallet.

 

[Smarty-pants]

^ I'm just going to pretend I didn't read that. la la la...

 

[jagwap]

  well that's why I see a lot of the neutral boring headphones being sold on the forum here, everyone loves bass does not have to be bass heavy but it has to have presence, for me the HD800 is so irritating to almost everyone of regular users who heard them. People who buy them end up selling them because its not enjoyable to listen to music without the presence of a good bass end of story.
 
well disagree as you like, who cares, go buy yourself a HD800 and be happy then.
 
Oppo is in asia and in asia they love warm sound with bass.
 
and how many of you who like neutral are in numbers, only a few compared to millions who love coloured sound. Look at denon d7000 its a great headphone, and people who go the denon way know that coloration done properly have more an appeal than boring neutral ones

Bass emphasis sounds impressive, but it has a bad effect on the group delay of different frequencies.  This messes up the timing of the music.  Generally it is incredibly difficult to make a bass heavy transducer musical.  The reason bass heavy headphones are so liked by people who are fans of hip hop and rap, is the musicians of these genres do not need musical transparency, due to the level of their talent in this area.
 
The less tactful version is: bass-heads don't like music, they like bass.

 

[Currawong]

   Bass presence and impact is obviously a good thing. Ideally, we are looking for a linear reproduction of the lower frequencies. A neutral linear pair of headphones does not equate to a lack of bass. There is just no specific over-emphasis of a certain region in the lower frequencies. 

 
You need to consider also that these three headphones are constructed in a very different manner and that the frequency response graphs only tell you very little. So while the HD-800s are technically excellent when it comes to bass, due to their design, when actually listening to tracks with strong bass, you don't get as much feeling of impact as you do with the classic closed Denons.
 
Given the excellent job Oppo did with the PM-1 and PM-2, given the driver isn't that large, it will be very interesting to hear the results with a closed pair.

 

[Sound Eq]

does this mean that the denon da10 will have a warmer sound because oppo HA2 is using a sabre dac

 

[FunkMasterFey]

VERY excited about this. Due to my listening needs, I'm all about getting the very best sound and design with a closed set of cans. Wish I could check out the prototypes, but I'll definitely be looking for the full release!!!