[lumberjake]

I really think the HP100 have very good bass. they possess a rare feature that other reviewers have mentioned and that is that if the track playing is not particularly bass heavy the headphones sound like headphones without much bass however on track with bass they have such a wonderful effortless bass sound that isn't monstrous but is bottomless and strong through the spectrum. Not te fastest nor are they slow by any means nor are they the most impactfull but they are extremely pleasant to hear on electronic tracks. I find them far better than bass cannon cans as they are really great at so many things, they just aren't the best at anything particular. I mean, for a closed can they have decent soundstage and imaging, great bass , mids that are neutral and detailed but not Grado detail and smooth highs that again perhaps not the sharpest but certainly not weak. I give them high praise but for the money, I haven't heard a better sounding headphone, hell they can fight some $500 cans. I guess their weakness is that they don;t really knock it out of the park in any particular area and people tend to like a certain sound signature that can be found better with say an AKG for sharp detail and sound stage for example. Some people dis these after reading how great they are and then comment that they are nothing special and don't know what all the excitement is about but, again, I think they are looking for these to be super good at something but what they miss is how awesome these are at the sum of all the various areas that make a great headphone great. Plus they're comfortable...for me. Sorry if this sounds like a shameless plug but I really like these Soundmagics however they do have issues with QC that need to be addressed.

 

[cocolinho]

I received mine yesterday , it's still early but screw I'm impressed!
Had the chance to listen Momentum & K550 several times, to me those HP100 are better sounding, I'm even thinking to sell my Mad Dogs which are a bit too close & dark for me (even though they are very good sounding too but different flavor)

 

[joshwalnut]

  I received mine yesterday , it's still early but screw I'm impressed!
Had the chance to listen Momentum & K550 several times, to me those HP100 are better sounding, I'm even thinking to sell my Mad Dogs which are a bit too close & dark for me (even though they are very good sounding too but different flavor)

 
Yeah the soundmagics are the only headphone out of the box that i was impressed with from the get-go... the other 2 grew on me over time... or they burned in... not sure.. lol.. it only gets better though!
 
I keep switching from the original stock ear pads to the velour DT770 ear pads... boy what a difference ear pad material has on the sound. Still not sure which one i like better... it's like trying to choose between kristen bell and olivia wilde.... one is tamed, pretty and funny while the other one is kinky, wild and sexy.... lmao

 

[money4me247]

 
I keep switching from the original stock ear pads to the velour DT770 ear pads... boy what a difference ear pad material has on the sound. Still not sure which one i like better... it's like trying to choose between kristen bell and olivia wilde.... one is tamed, pretty and funny while the other one is kinky, wild and sexy.... lmao

lolllerwagonsss!!! ROTFL at comparing headphone ear pads to girls.

 

[Primetime86]

These are a good headphone, for me I found them a tad cold sounding. I sold these so I could get the Denon D600 which is a better and more fun sounding phone. Compared to my Denons the Denon are a bit warmer with a bit fuller bass. The D600 soundstage is noticeably better. The HP's mid range is a bit more forward though but overall the Denon have a nicer tone and win in more areas. 
 
Compared to my Mad Dogs, no contest. I put the MD in the Hifi league while the HP100 are competing in the Middle of Midfi league. The Mad dog make the HP sound thin and boring due to it's lively and full mid range. The MD un amped doesn't sound very good but amped correctly the difference is very obvious, 
 
I may buy these again but I have trouble seeing where they fit in as i'm trying cut down.

 

[ostewart]

Did you amp them properly? As I would not call them cold sounding.

 

[Primetime86]

I used them with my portable E11 mostly. They where not terribly cold just a tiny bit as most of my phones are pretty warm and musical. The only reason I sold them was because the D600 where better and my main home phones are the Mad dogs so no place for them.

 

[joshwalnut]

  I used them with my portable E11 mostly. They where not terribly cold just a tiny bit as most of my phones are pretty warm and musical. The only reason I sold them was because the D600 where better and my main home phones are the Mad dogs so no place for them.

 
I was going to get the d600's but there seems to be a lot of hate about them not even coming close to the old denons... it's sometimes hard to make an informed decision with butt hurt fanboys writing mixed reviews. Plus i got the hp100's for a third of what i would have paid for the d600's. That's why i knew i was going to get something at least decent when i got the hp100's because soundmagic is pretty much unheard of except for the IEM's.
 
So far all i've used with the hp100's is the FiiO E10.. they sound awfully amazing with that (price to performance).. i don't know what would happen if i plugged them into a proper amp >_> lol

 

[dreame77]

I made a choice to stay with Denon D600 after listening to SoundMAGIC HP100, Philips X1 and Denon D600 at the same period of time. It was not easy choice, and I still wander if it was right decision. Main reason for HP100 was bad comfort, cause after 1-2 hours my ears begin to hurt. 
Additionally I even tried the HP200 open version, but that piece was broken (impedance of about 300 ohm and no soundstage). 
 
If to choose between D600, X1 and HP100, sound wise it would be either HP100 or D600. X1 do have too soft and smooth sound, and when switch right from D600 or HP100 I hear that a lot of details and sound is missing. Yeah, the soundstage of X1 is VERY wide, but not much 3d. 
D600 are the most 3d sounding phones, with great depth. On the other hand HP100 do not have this big 3d and depth, but sound very balanced in this sense (After direct comparison with X1 I could not say where the soundstage is better). 
D600 vs HP100: the last do have very detailed sound in whole frequency range, while D600 miss it on low and high frequency a bit. 
But the instruments separation is superb on D600, and I like that it have great effect of presence. 
Some say that D600 are great for movies, but it is not true because they have to much bass and booms sound overwhelmed, 
while it is perfect on HP100 (X1 also not great for movies). With D600 the sound is like in cinema, but I prefer more correct sound of HP100 (Iron Man 3 with all that metal clang was perfect! neither X1, nor D600 could give me that feeling).
 
But for me the comfort was the main thing, and there D600 is the best, followed by X1 and HP100 at the end. 
(In Germany prices are 236€ for D600, 200€ for X1 and 200€ for HP100)

 

[joshwalnut]

Nice comparison. You might be on to something there about the d600's being too boomy for movie watching but perfect for certain genres of music. I was once fooling around with the equalizer in vlc while listening to music and boosted the 100hz-200hz while listening to the hp100's... sounded pretty good with the music at the time, i then switched to a movie and holy boom-boom and distortion... lol
 
As for the comfort, i put a piece of rolled up paper towel about 3 inches long behind the ear cup towards the back of the ear cup. This also angles the driver towards the ear and mostly i did it so my ears would stop touching the driver. I do this on both velour and leather pads... only thing the velour has over the leather (or pleather..?) when it comes to comfort is that they don't make your ears sweat after a prolonged listening session ~4-5 hours. Even then. I highly recommend the paper towel mod on these.. it only takes a second. Oh and if i'm listening at high volumes for 30 minutes or longer with the stock leather pads, my ears start to ache... my only guess is the very closed enclosure and the sound waves bouncing off my eardrums.

 

[andre550]

After narrowing my future headphones buy to one of these two (DENON and SOUNDMAGIC) and reading the last posts in this thread i still can't decide... I really like a decent deep bass but don't want it to compromise the mids freq. I'll will use my headphones at home so portability and confort wise, i'd choose clarity and detail in overall sound performance. I'll use them with my ipod or iphone without amp. Could this have any influence in my decision between these 2 headphones?

 

[dreame77]

Without AMP HP100 would not give you all that bass: detailed and well structured down to very low frequency. On the previous page I talked about the sound from iPhone5. 
It seems that impedance curve do have a peak on the low end. The mid bass would present, but sub bas would change to very soft and weak. In other words, directly from iDevices you'll get a fall in frequency respond below ~100Hz. 
But with Denon D600, bass is well present with iPhone5. In fact without amp D600 is more bass sounding phones, than with it. 
 
Edit: Forgot to mention that with Denon D600 you would get that kind of sound only with thick 3m cable and not the "smpartphone" one with buttons for iPhone. 
With second cable sound would not better than from some 50-100$ phones (too boomy sound, no clarity, no soundstage, recessed high freq.). 

 

[andre550]

Thank you for the info. I still didn't make my decision but i'm close to do it soon
Can you recomend me a good portable iphone 5 amp for a future buy?

 

[ostewart]

JDS Labs C5D

 

[dreame77]

I tried with Fiio e17, but even versions like e07 would be enough.  Versions e11 and e12 would be sufficient for 300 Ohm phones.
It is interesting to mention that using a Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro (250 Ohm version) with iPhone5 without any amp, and with Fiio e17, I didn't get any difference in sound. 
 
But you should go for a better research, as every portable amp do have different sound. Some are warm, other have more bass or treble sound. Here was a good comparison of compact amps, you should read it.