[Trikky99]

The HD218 has been overshadowed by its higher end counterparts (the 228 & 238), which made finding information about them difficult. I bought these for $30 + free shipping a few months ago and think I’m ready to share some brief impressions for those who are curious. I ordered these based on the low price and because I wanted some portable headphones for use on campus.
                My Cowon S9 is the main source for these, with the occasional use of my netbook and desktop.  I should note that I have mp3 enhance on and BBE set to 2 (with a flat equalizer). Also, I removed the inner foam in the ear pads (Asteroid mod).
                With that out of the way, we begin with the build quality. As many have noted the first thing I noticed was the thin cable, lack of strain relief, and large input plug. This is the most worrying part of the build quality; mine have put up with light abuse but only time will tell. The ear cups and headband are made from a light but durable plastic with faux leather on both. Overall a very lightweight design with little clamping force; these are the most comfortable headphones I own. They are classified as closed-back headphones and sit right on your ears. They don’t leak as much noise as open-back design, but also allow you to hear much of your surroundings. I think they have a good compromise of isolation.
                Something worth noting is the amplification requirements of these headphones. These are a little harder to drive compared to other portables. My Clip + is able to drive them to insane listening levels, but even my M50s are noticeably louder at the same volume.
                Speaking of, the sound signature on the HD218 was a bit different compared to my usual bass oriented ‘phones. The mids feel prominent here, with rolled off highs and a pleasant amount off bass. The bass takes a back seat to the mids but also come out on specific genres/songs. The rolled off highs are great to me because I can listen to the 218’s for a long time without fatigue.
                As of recently, I’ve mainly been listening to a lot of female vocalists, k-pop, breakbeat, and EDM. Since the midrange is the main focus on the 218, vocals sound fairly forward and clean. When a song starts to get complicated (many instruments playing) it can start to sound a bit congested. I feel the 218’s handle many of these genres well, but for bass-oriented electronic music I have my other headphones to choose from. That’s not to say they don’t have bass, just not as much impact compared to the rest of my headphone collection.
                With that said, the HD218’s get more use than my other headphones since I’ve had them. Lightweight and Comfortable design as well as a non-fatiguing/musical sound are the main reasons for this. Feel free to post your own impressions in this thread, and I hope that this helped anyone who was curious about purchasing these headphones. Thanks Head-fi
 
 
 

 

[duotone]

Thanks for the review, I am going to call into the shopping centre tonight and see if anywhere has the HD218i model in stock.  I like the idea of having the remote for pausing & skipping tracks.

 

[HouseFoxx]

My friend showed up at my door after purchasing these while on an EU excursion, and another feature you didn't seem to list is that once you take the pads off, the middle piece of foam can be simply removed (as it is already completely cut out). This increases the perceived volume greatly, as if you suddenly removed a brick of foam between the driver and the ear. Once the foam is out, you might also come to notice that the mids, low mids, and especially the bass become a lot quicker and more open-sounding in general. It's really to preference whether you like the feel of the extra foam or not, considering it's quite stiff, but I found the phones to be a tad bit more comfortable with them out.

happy Rockin'- HouseFoxx :happy_face1:​