[Napilopez]

I don't have much time to write at the moment, but I'd like to give a shoutout to the Samson SR850. Some of you may have heard of a headphone called the Superlux 668B or 681. The former especially has recieved some great reviews here on head-fi and some other sites, with quite a few people putting them in the league Sennheiser HD600 and AKG K701. The Samson SR850 are made by Superlux, and apparently share drivers with the 668B.

The SR850 is modelled like an AKG clone, but I couldn't care less about that with sound like this for the price. While I'm not one to like to hype up products against way more expensive products when I barely have experience with those, I can say with full confidence that these headphones are a tremendous deal. I got mine for 50 bucks at B&H in NY because I happened to be at a store with them at the time, but they are available on Amazon for just $36 dollars.

To give you an idea with my own experiences, Some of you may have seen me championing the JVC RX700s, which I love and are well-known as a huge budget value, especially modded. These handily beat those.

Just a couple of weeks ago I bought the Denon D1100s for $130(MSRP 200, street price recently around $160+) and I think they sound great for the price, and they have a number of very positive reviews from those who don't hate the bass quantity. The SR850 handily wins.

The superluxes aren't done burning in, but they already beat the Denons. I have heavily auditioned the ATH-M50, and while I can't say for sure without a direct A/B, from recent memory they are at the very least tied.

I am quite sure my impressions aren't just due to preferences or the psychological effect of their price. Since I only have the Denon D1100 with me, I'll share the immediate sonic differences I can note. Firstly, the sound signature. Although the SR850s are still changing to my ears(adding some bass extension and some forwardness+refinement in the mids), from what I'me hearing, the SR850s are just slightly off neutral, just barely V-shaped. The Denons are much more noticeably V-shaped. But that's fine, different sound signatures are to be expected; I don't necessarily prefer one frequency response to the other. The difference here is in the quality. The Denons have more pronounced treble and bass for example, but both are less refined to my ears. For example, it seems like I can hear a lot more detail in cymbals in the Samson's compared to the Denons, which both give me less detail and are a good deal more harsh(and I'm not sensitive to harsh highs at all). Likewise, the bass on the Denons are less textured than on the Samsons.

Either way, bottom line is that they are at the very least comparable in terms of sound. I am going to sell my D1100s. 36 dollars vs 160.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Sounds interesting, what about bass extension, do the Samson have better bass extension, that's one of my dissappointments with D1100 for my personal taste, that and the slightly laid-back sound, recessed mids and like you also seem to find that it's not very detailed in neither mids or highs in this price class, bass is quite textured IMO though but it doesn't deliver much deep lowend rumble but LOTS of mid bass punch especially so to me it doesn't feel very realistic.

 

[Napilopez]

Hmm, well you are comparing to the XB500s after all XD. I too was dissapointed by the roll off(how peculiar it feels to have so much more rumble from an IEM than from a nearly full-size headphone!) at first, but then I went out and bought a better sound card to see if that would help, and it did a lot to my ears, enough to make it sufficient for me. But it seems like your gear should be more than sufficient so it seems like it's just not enough for your tastes. Running a bass sweep test the Denons are working well for me all the way down to 20hz.. To my ears the SR850 extends about the same(I can hear both down to at least 15hz), but does so more linearly. Still some roll off, but not as noticeable as the denons to me

However, I don't think the sound would appeal to you based on what I read in your review. The SR850 sounds a good deal more akin to the M50 from my memory than the Denon or XB500. The bass is definitely there, and hefty enough for me to heartily enjoy my many dubstep and DnB tracks, but not nearly as in your face as the denons might be. I do find a bit of EQ works with the denons if you're into that kinda thing(I'm not =P). Still, you might want to give them a go as a contrasting sound. They are only $36 after all.

 

[Remior]

http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=review&action=display&thread=5788
 
I have the Superluxx HD668B and i'm very happy with it because they sound very much better than my Sennheiser HD555; Samsom SR850 seems to sounds very very similar and use oem's Superlux drivers too, both a great deal. I guess Chinise Superlux have to say many things on the future for budget headphones.

 

[Remior]

(sorry double post )

 

[Napilopez]

I really wish someone had directly compared the Samsons and the 668B, as all the rockgrotto forums have is a anecdotal mention of similar sound. I would have bought the 668B if they didn't have the samsons right in store XD. It's hard for me to imagine that the 668B might be even better for a similar price. I know the Superluxes are 56 ohms as opposed to 32, but they seem to share drivers(not to mention the official picture on many sites have an old version with the same housing as the 668B).