Blighty
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- Posts
- 376
- Likes
- 10
Philips HP 890 Overview
I received my pair of HP890s in about 14 business days from Germany. They were packed sufficiently(double boxed) and comes in an impressive heavy duty cardboard display box(575g). The presentation stand that came with it was a very nice touch(290g). The phones themselves weigh in at a hefty 330g, the cable 55g. The gold plated 1/4" stereo adapter is the screw-in type. The self-adjusting headband is comfortable although it took me a few minutes to find the best position to place the headphones on my head. The velvet earcushions are very large and completely surround my ears and look rather ridiculous in the mirror. They are, however, very soft and smooth. There is sufficient space that your ears do not make contact with the transducers. Definitely not a set of headphones to wear out in public due to its massive size.
I was pleased with the overall construction and aesthetics that generally befits a headphone costing significantly more. The headphone cable is almost the polar opposite(detachable, single sided) of the Grado SR60's rigid, heavy, dual sided cable. Although the cable is thick, it remains very light and flexible(probably not very abrasion resistant due to thin rubber insulator) and not thin and cheap like the one that came with the HD-570s. Whereas the SR60 cable was slightly microphonic, the HP890 does not show any hint of this effect. The only thing noticeably missing are the instructions and warranty papers. Everything in the thin plastic mold that held the HP in the box was twist-tied down to the plastic mold, including the adapter, cables, and headphone -- it took a while to get everything untied ;(
Purchase Information
The total purchase price from Meier Audio was $105USD via Paypal(yeah it cost $10USD more but I hate using money orders). Added to the total a ~$10USD for Canadian taxes/handling fee for a grand total of $115USD. Shipping was a little slow at nearly 3 weeks. It generally takes me about 5-7 business days to send something from Canada to Europe via international airmail. I am not sure what business mail is from Germany but I suspect that it is not nearly as fast.
An in-depth review needs to be written regarding this headphone and will be done shortly after I break them in for 48hrs or so. They sounded fine out of the box but I just want to make sure that they are in optimal condition before I hype anything especially since I have an anti-hype personality if anything.
I received my pair of HP890s in about 14 business days from Germany. They were packed sufficiently(double boxed) and comes in an impressive heavy duty cardboard display box(575g). The presentation stand that came with it was a very nice touch(290g). The phones themselves weigh in at a hefty 330g, the cable 55g. The gold plated 1/4" stereo adapter is the screw-in type. The self-adjusting headband is comfortable although it took me a few minutes to find the best position to place the headphones on my head. The velvet earcushions are very large and completely surround my ears and look rather ridiculous in the mirror. They are, however, very soft and smooth. There is sufficient space that your ears do not make contact with the transducers. Definitely not a set of headphones to wear out in public due to its massive size.
I was pleased with the overall construction and aesthetics that generally befits a headphone costing significantly more. The headphone cable is almost the polar opposite(detachable, single sided) of the Grado SR60's rigid, heavy, dual sided cable. Although the cable is thick, it remains very light and flexible(probably not very abrasion resistant due to thin rubber insulator) and not thin and cheap like the one that came with the HD-570s. Whereas the SR60 cable was slightly microphonic, the HP890 does not show any hint of this effect. The only thing noticeably missing are the instructions and warranty papers. Everything in the thin plastic mold that held the HP in the box was twist-tied down to the plastic mold, including the adapter, cables, and headphone -- it took a while to get everything untied ;(
Purchase Information
The total purchase price from Meier Audio was $105USD via Paypal(yeah it cost $10USD more but I hate using money orders). Added to the total a ~$10USD for Canadian taxes/handling fee for a grand total of $115USD. Shipping was a little slow at nearly 3 weeks. It generally takes me about 5-7 business days to send something from Canada to Europe via international airmail. I am not sure what business mail is from Germany but I suspect that it is not nearly as fast.
An in-depth review needs to be written regarding this headphone and will be done shortly after I break them in for 48hrs or so. They sounded fine out of the box but I just want to make sure that they are in optimal condition before I hype anything especially since I have an anti-hype personality if anything.