[wab]

A good find blr! They cost only $20 here in Philips-land so I might check'em out.

 

[Buddha]

Just grabbed a set of these from the local electronics shop @ $28.

Initial impression positive ... sound continues to improve with burn in...seem like a match for the ksc 35 if ur looking for a closed? phone... more l8r..

 

[coolvij]

ALL RIGHT! My search for a (cheap) closed can has ended. I was disappointed by the EX70, the Plugs are off-limits

, and now..THIS!

 

[Braver]

come to think of it, I believe I remember a mention of this pair of cans a while back at headwize...gues I'll be picking em up!

how closed are they tho? do they isolate well?

 

[wab]

I kinda like those ultra-high-resolution pictures on the Philips website:
sbchp550_sec1_h.jpg

 

[blr]

Tvhead.

You're right. This is what I wrote about the HP550 back then. It was based on a brief audition in an electronic store in Stockholm. The phones were on a stand together with other phones fed from a cheap boombox system. I must admit I overlooked this. It must have been the source, which rolled-off the treble. It was not surprising since (as I wrotre then and still stand behind) several Philips buds and full size phones have rolled-off treble. With my sources and the HP550 however, I don't feel this at all. I don't think it is a change in opinion, just the pair I've been auditioning didn't sound that sparkiling in the treble as the pair I got a couple of days ago. Could be that the demo model was a deffective one also, dunno.
Still, I feel bad about it, since I've been trying to audition many phones and do it OBJECTIVELY. Obviously I failed at least once, sorry.
However, now that I have them, I've had the oportunity to hear them from many different sources and my opinion from this review stands, i.e. these are good.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

...from my local Target discount department store on 9th Avenue and North Avenue, near Winston Plaza shopping center in Melrose Park. I think they'll be my new standard closed portable cans after I had listened to the Koss UR-30's (whose ENTIRE bass range is overblown, and whose upper mids are depressed as well). 'Nuff said.

 

[Gluegun]

Okay, okay,

Are you saying you will be able to compare this phillips with the sony ex70lp with the koss ur-30 and the Sony V6?

YES!!!

Eagle driver, can you do a comparison of all of those? With music, portably, and with computer gaming?

 

[Tim D]

I can try Philips street styles and earbuds, but nothing nicer...haven't gone to Target though. Anyone have any ideas about these?

Anyhow I can agree with blr that sometimes rating headphones is really like a driving exam. You never get points for what you may do exceeding well, but you can get docked hard for even the slightest mistakes.

That is why I'm really interested in these cans, or any cheap cans that may not exceed in areas, but don't make much mistakes.

 

[Neruda]

behold the HP550 in all its glory:

I'm sorry, but I gotta say...them's some ugly phones

. A bit too flashy for me...

 

[Tim D]

Heh, those phones would look awesome, perfectly in place in an apartment with Ikea furniture and blow up translucent colored couches.

 

[fiddler]

Quote:

I'm sorry, but I gotta say...them's some ugly phones . A bit too flashy for me...

Gotta agree with you there Neruda.. It looks VEEEEERY tacky to me...

 

[blr]

Thanx Tim for saying this. I really didn't feel good about not digging into these cans earlier. My mistake, but better late than never.
Anyhow, these HP550 will be my new reference sub 50USD closed portable cans. I was hooked on a Pro2 PH1000 up to now but hese Philips cans are even better, more detail and better bass resolution, plus they're realy comfy.
I don't know how they compare against Koss UR series, since I haven't heard these, but to me they sounded better than PortaPro. Only from memory (don't take this for granted) I'd say that V7506 would have deeper bass and perhaps slightly less mids compared to HP550. I wish I still had my DT250s, could have been interesting comparison, although the Beyers cost a lot more.

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

Neruda said... I'm sorry, but I gotta say...them's some ugly phones . A bit too flashy for me...

This coming from a K1000 lover...

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Gluegun, I currently don't have any PC games that take any advantage of 3D positional audio.

But I can definitely tell you that here is my overall ranking of closed headphones, based on listening to a variety of music types on both my home and portable audio equipment:

Sony MDR-V600 < Koss UR-30 = Sony MDR-V700DJ < Koss UR-20 = Sony MDR-V900 < Philips SBC-HP550 = Sony MDR-EX70LP < Sony MDR-V6/MDR-7506 (to my ears)