[cmirza]

Bloated bass, recessed mids, and some sibilance... I hope burn in helps these, but I think I'll be holding on to my K81DJs.

 

[flamerz]

I'd like to hear what your conclusions later, cmirza. Although I don't need these at all, as I have K81DJ's, they look great. I really want to hear that these sound great.

Also, how big are these in comparison to K81DJ's?

 

[incognitoedleon]

I don't think the bass and midrange issues out of the box are serious at all. The only thing I find distracting is the sibilance. But even then, it doesn't rear it's ugly head all the time. If you own the K81DJ's, there isn't too much of a reason to pick these up as well. They are probably more of a side grade. Based on the descriptions I read on the K81DJ's, these Panny's have better comfort and less bass bloat. The trade off being the sibilance.

 

[PPK812]

ahh it sounds good then

btw are you guys all using them out of amp?

would they sound ok, say out of a Zen Vision M, at 40ohms, I'm not sure if thats a bit too high for DAPs to drive.

thanks

 

[wilier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PPK812 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ahh it sounds good then btw are you guys all using them out of amp? would they sound ok, say out of a Zen Vision M, at 40ohms, I'm not sure if thats a bit too high for DAPs to drive. thanks

nope, they sound completely horrid without an amp.

as i've stated earlier, they sound totally hollow. amping them will boost the lows and highs substantially...but the headphones then become really bright.

 

[cmirza]

They are very nice looking and quite comfortable, but the sound does nothing for me. I think I'll be returning them and using the money to recable my K81DJs.

 

[ColdFireArow]

Opinions are all over the board could it be sources?

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnmnkh /img/forum/go_quote.gif IMO, They are superior to any headphones around 100$.

That sounds like brand new toy syndrome. I also always overrated all my new cans. Pooh, when I think of the first things I wrote about the K81...

 

[incognitoedleon]

Ha, maybe I suffered a bit of new toy syndrome myself. I tried them out again this morning after around 12 hours of burn in and the recessed mids seemed a bit more noticable. Also they sounded brighter than I remembered. I love the SR325i, which a lot of people find insanely bright and fatiguing. So maybe I'm working with a different definition of "piercing highs" than most folks.

 

[in_utero]

I wounder how these would compare to my current portable cans (Philips SBC HN110)...

 

[lipidicman]

Any DT231 owners tried these? Until I saw the hysteria over the K81 I thought beyer had the budget closed can market sealed up.

I was musing on the comments about how the Pannys seem to need a good amp. I find the DT231 to sound nice with an amp, but lacking (and strangley hollow) out of weaker sources like my shuffle or laptop (these even drive my 580 nicely!)

 

[Inkmo]

ah and I so had my hopes up. I don't know if I wanna fuss with an amp on this one.... thats why I was so interested. that 4 foot cord and single sided entry was making these things look very no fuss...

might still give them a try if I can snag em cheep, but I'm looking for a killer closed portable in the 100 dollar range that won't see me futzing with a bunch of extraneous cable or an amp.

 

[sayrum]

how's the detail on these?
i'm looking for a can to replace my ath ck7 + i love their detailed precise sound...
(but sibilance aint my cup of tea either.)

 

[plainsong]

These are K81dj killers...the caveat being that the K81's will give you more isolation. But these are just the total package. They look cool, have a shorter cable, closed, aren't isolation champs, but give enough isolation to be useful, have a good soundstage and good sound quality for the price.

In fact, maybe better than good SQ for the price. I'd rate them as closed MS-1's. They're not bright and harsh (well, they are closed ms-1's so if you found those bright...), and the mids aren't any more recessed than any other closed headphone, so all-in-all, they're keepers. I'd say the bass is a tad big, and that colors the entire sound towards the darker, but it's not as big a problem as say, the ath-fc7. Not by a long way. No, your ears adjust to it and for portable use, yeah, it's fun.

It doesn't need an amp. The bass tightens up a little bit if you use one. I use these for trips into the city, where I have to put on and take off the headphones all the time. Then once I'm gonna have headphones on for a while I switch to Sensas. So obviously the worst of their flaws come out when you first make that switch, but your ears will adjust. I happen to use the Hornet since I was already using it with the Sensas anyway, but you don't need to buy an amp for these. The sound is full enough without. In fact, with less bass impact sans amp, you may prefer it without.

 

[cmirza]

I don't find most Grados bright, particularly not the MS1s. But I did find the RP-HTX7 harsh in the highs. It's freq response seemed very 'V' shaped, flabby bass, harsh highs and lacking in the mids.

Stock K81DJs seemed a little too bassy for me but fairly balanced in mids and highs. After removing the foam insert they were perfect to me, tightened up bass, strong mids and slightly sparkly highs, almost like closed MS1s.

It seems like I should like the RP-HTX7 sound, maybe I got a bad pair...