Vesperaudio
Member of the Trade: Vesperaudio
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Right, different cable and a bit more dense damping. Difference is very subtle.
PHONON SMB-02 - HOLY GRAIL
- Thread starter phatalleycat
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omniweltall
Headphoneus Supremus
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He's trying to sell headphones.
devastonz
New Head-Fier
Out of curiosity i asked someone on this forum who have meze 99 and phonon smb on their headphone list.
And here's the reply:
Hi my friend.
99 is more “tasty” but good sound, and I really love these headphones. But smb-02 is a more professional and more adult approach to sound. If you like natkralny, monitor sound, with the smell of a Japanese studio and at the same time very musical, then this is SMB-02.
I asked him more about the comparison about the bass, mid, and theble but he didn't reply
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I really need to visit Headfonia again to try it out. Didn't manage to catch it on my first time.
devastonz
New Head-Fier
Unfortunately Headfonia Store offline store is closed forever. They only sell online right now so u can't try headphone at their store anymore.
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Wait what? Really?
Was business really that bad? That's such a shame...
How about their Singapore branch? I really thought they were going well.. But maybe business about selling such a niche hobby like headphone's not too big here...
How about Jaben? Are they still going ok with the central store in STC?
crazywipe
100+ Head-Fier
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The best way I can describe is something flat like the hd600, without the midbass hump and with a darker treble response.
It's very good on technicalities, dark background, very little or no grain in the sound. Imaging is wide and layered, a notch up to many monitor headphone under 300.
Flat/dark sound lacks a bit of excitement in genres like fast rock and metal. Anyway, its a kind of non-fatiguing sound that is very listenable for yours. The good thing about the smb02 is that sounds very clean and clear even with the dark signature.
To me, the bass is the only part that I am not 100% happy with. I would like a bit more body and tightness.
Anyway, even with the small fault on bass, to me, it's a reference headphone and beats all the closed headphone I tried under 300. Keep in mind that I have the dac edition. The original smb 02 maybe has a somewhat better bass response (or more bass)
I bet the 99 is more fun, less reference.
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All closed down unfortunately. I got into the hobby too late
. Their online and Tokopedia store are still up though.Edit: Graphs moved to a new post below
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devastonz
New Head-Fier
All closed down unfortunately. I got into the hobby too late
PHONON 4400 & SMB-02 DS-DAC Edition Measurements:
(MiniDSP EARS. Purr1n's compensation. 500Hz 84dB normalized. 1/12 smoothing)
PHONON SMB-02 Yaxi Pads (red) vs PHONON 4400 (purple) vs Sennheiser HD650/6XX (green) vs Sennheiser HD660S (blue)
Where did u find the graph? I've search man times on google but only find one from innerfidelity. Thanks.
This is from my own unit. I used a MiniDSP EARS to measure so it's not the most accurate.
devastonz
New Head-Fier
Wow you have huge collection of headphones and IEMs. Can you please compare phonon smb to Senn HD660s ? Thank you.
Frequency response:
Sennheiser HD660s has a more neutral sounding tuning whereas the PHONON SMB-02 has a more fun tuning. The SMB-02 definitely has more bass than HD660S but even though it's comparably so, it's not a bassy headphone. Axel Grell mentioned that closed back headphones (and IEMs) do need more bass to sound more natural compared to open backs.
Bass:
PHONON SMB-02's bass has about the about the same distortion and warmth as the HD650. HD660S uses the HD700 drivers which are much cleaner sounding in the bass. Pianos and guitars have more weight on the SMB-02 and thus sounds more exciting. The HD660S has clean bass but sounds too polite.
Mids & Vocals:
The SMB-02 has a more powerful timbre whereas the HD660S has a soft timbre. The Sennheiser HD650 still is one of the most natural timbre of the headphones in my collection, particularly for vocals and thus switching to the HD660S sounds more muted but is still great. SMB-02 is clear in the vocals but female vocals do not sound as full.
Treble:
Both headphones have clear sounding treble and pick out the sounds of cymbals and triangles very well.
Soundstage:
The HD660S places the vocalist in front of the instruments whereas the PHONON SMB-02 places the instruments around you. The open back nature of the HD660S makes music hall feel larger even though the stage is smaller.
Imaging:
The HD660S is much better in imaging, and you can feel the instruments separated on a stage whereas the SMB-02 places them wider in large blobs to the Left, Center and Right.
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PJDubyaM
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Not seeing a dedicated thread for the 4400, so: Ghostly International have launched their own limited-edition collaboration:
https://ghostly.com/products/phonon-4400-headphones-ghostly-edition
https://ghostly.com/products/phonon-4400-headphones-ghostly-edition
PHONON SMB-02 DS-DAC Edition Measurements (inc. PHONON 4400):
(MiniDSP EARS. Uncompensated. 500Hz 84dB normalized. 1/12 smoothing)
Below is the Harman IE 2019 Target. For your reference when judging uncompensated measurements. Do note that the effect of resonance frequency is not accurate for my MiniDSP EARS rig.
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs Yaxi Pads (purple)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs PHONON 4400 (blue)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7SE (red)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs NightOwl Carbon (magenta)
(MiniDSP EARS. Uncompensated. 500Hz 84dB normalized. 1/12 smoothing)
Below is the Harman IE 2019 Target. For your reference when judging uncompensated measurements. Do note that the effect of resonance frequency is not accurate for my MiniDSP EARS rig.
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs Yaxi Pads (purple)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs PHONON 4400 (blue)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7SE (red)
Right Only: PHONON SMB-02 Default Pads (black) vs NightOwl Carbon (magenta)
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Hamlap
100+ Head-Fier
Bump!
Would this still be an awesome option for about $300 nowadays?
Would this still be an awesome option for about $300 nowadays?
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