[bareyb]

I've owned a lot of different headphones and this one tops all the dynamic headphones I've ever heard. It doesn't beat my STAX but I wouldn't expect that, so that's all right. Compared to my STAX it has little more sub-bas, a little less upper mids and a little more treble. Very nice presentation indeed, extremely musical and very versatile. It plays everything you throw at it with the kind of ease only very good headphones do. The quality of the sound is also very good, it's not as fast and precise as my STAX, but it is top notch among dynamic headphones. The Soundmagic HP100 is imo the best closed back headphone you can get, with a musical edge that is hard to beat, even for open back dynamic designs.

Seriously? You think these are the best closed back can in the World? That is quite a statement... Do the rest of you agree?  I have got to hear these.... 

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

Seriously? You think these are the best closed back can in the World? That is quite a statement... Do the rest of you agree?  I have got to hear these.... 

Hahaha, of course they are the best .

 

[Dafo]

Quote:

Seriously? You think these are the best closed back can in the World? That is quite a statement... Do the rest of you agree?  I have got to hear these.... 

Yeah allright, when you put it like that then I went a bit overboard with that one, but I'm quite happy with the sound It's the best closed can I've heard, and the sound signature is near perfect, given my personal preference. That's actually what I meant with "imo", it's an opinion, not a statement. 
If you can find another headphone that sounds like the hp100 and adds other qualities to that, then of course the hp100 is beaten. 

 

[bareyb]

Quote:

Yeah allright, when you put it like that then I went a bit overboard with that one, but I'm quite happy with the sound It's the best closed can I've heard, and the sound signature is near perfect, given my personal preference. That's actually what I meant with "imo", it's an opinion, not a statement. 
If you can find another headphone that sounds like the hp100 and adds other qualities to that, then of course the hp100 is beaten. 

Lol. I got you. I'm actually thinking of surprising my son with a set of them. They sound like a fantastic value. They certainly appear to have the right hardware for some good Bass. 53mm driver is one of the larger I've seen...  Do they have a powerful low end? I'd think the Basshead community might be interested in these as well (I posted a link over there).  

 

[kkl10]

Quote:

Do they have a powerful low end? I'd think the Basshead community might be interested in these as well (I posted a link over there).  

 
No.
They have an upperbass suckout, several dbs drop, which devoids the sound of impact.

 

[mrbigsby]

I dont agree, i love the lower end. I find i cant use the bass boost on my c5 with these as it becomes too overwhelming. Im a definite bass head, and these although not DT770 are satisfying. I no longer listen to my beyers and find them hollow, they are in the FS section.

 

[Oregonian]

Quote:

 
No.
They have an upperbass suckout, several dbs drop, which devoids the sound of impact.

 
Bareyb...............this is what I'm talking about with the mixed opinions on the bass.  Looks like I'm going to have to buy a set and try them out.  Been thinking about moving my DT770 LE 32ohm anyway since they aren't getting any use due to my Q40 and XB700's.  Hmmmmm............

 

[bareyb]

Quote:

 
Bareyb...............this is what I'm talking about with the mixed opinions on the bass.  Looks like I'm going to have to buy a set and try them out.  Been thinking about moving my DT770 LE 32ohm anyway since they aren't getting any use due to my Q40 and XB700's.  Hmmmmm............

Yeah. Could be another case like with the Th-900s. The Bass is so clean it sounds like it's less Bassy than other phones with more distortion. The Freq. Response looks like they have a some bloom there but not overly accentuated. I'll be looking forward to hearing your impressions Oregonian. 
 

 

[mrbigsby]

there have been 2 revisions. one with the driver right up on the ear, then it was recessed due to some drivers getting damaged. Im told the 2013 ones are the recessed rev 2. Not sure how far back the rev 2 goes- i have NOV 12 and am awaiting a response as to which rev they are. To my ears the graph is accurate up to the point of bass, then it becomes just a pretty picture. But perhaps my pinna are just that.
 
Dates and numbers are situated under the box.

 

[Dafo]

Lol. I got you. I'm actually thinking of surprising my son with a set of them. They sound like a fantastic value. They certainly appear to have the right hardware for some good Bass. 53mm driver is one of the larger I've seen...  Do they have a powerful low end? I'd think the Basshead community might be interested in these as well (I posted a link over there).  

Yes, the bass is present all the way down to the deepest of deep. With the dac in my Meier Corda Aria the deep bass is tremendous on a track like Mark Knopflers Wanderlust. With my Valab NOS dac the bass is less present, but in no way lacking. 
It depends on what you're used to, if you're used to the ultrasone pro900 then the hp100 will appear less bassy for sure.

 

[Dafo]

Quote:

there have been 2 revisions. one with the driver right up on the ear, then it was recessed due to some drivers getting damaged. Im told the 2013 ones are the recessed rev 2. Not sure how far back the rev 2 goes- i have NOV 12 and am awaiting a response as to which rev they are. To my ears the graph is accurate up to the point of bass, then it becomes just a pretty picture. But perhaps my pinna are just that.
 
Dates and numbers are situated under the box.

Mine is also a NOV 12

 

[kkl10]

FWIW, mine was bought brand new two weeks ago and had a foam in front of the driver, directly underneath the earpads...
It's not visible on ClieOS review pics.
No idea which revision it was, I sold it already.
Reading about all this different impressions makes me think that Soundmagic has been making some significant changes in this headphone tuning, or you guys may not be getting the right grip of the bass nature in this headphone...
 
On mine there was a pretty obvious lack of information between 100 - ~250Hz, at around 250 there was a sudden rise of several dBs.
The sub to upper bass response would be represented by a descending line in a FR with a % rise in a THD graph.
At 300 Hz it would go relative flat until 2Khz...
That's why the subbass had some presence on mine.
And no, it wasn't due to the fact that the bass was very clean, there was just no upper bass volume in there.
The timbre of most instruments were thinned out because of this and there was absolutelly no impact nor body to the sound, completelly unnatural and pathetic.
The bass seemed indeed "clean" because there was no upper bass.
 
I'm no basshead nor used to bass heavy headphones, by the way, I can take bass light sound signatures without problem.
I think the HP100 may be a good candidate for modding.

 

[bareyb]

Quote:

FWIW, mine was bought brand new two weeks ago and had a foam in front of the driver, directly underneath the earpads...
It's not visible on ClieOS review pics.
No idea which revision it was, I sold it already.
Reading about all this different impressions makes me think that Soundmagic has been making some significant changes in this headphone tuning, or you guys may not be getting the right grip of the bass nature in this headphone...
 
On mine there was a pretty obvious lack of information between 100 - ~250Hz, at around 250 there was a sudden rise of several dBs.
The sub to upper bass response would be represented by a descending line in a FR with a % rise in a THD graph.
At 300 Hz it would go relative flat until 2Khz...
That's why the subbass had some presence on mine.
And no, it wasn't due to the fact that the bass was very clean, there was just no upper bass volume in there.
The timbre of most instruments were thinned out because of this and there was absolutelly no impact nor body to the sound, completelly unnatural and pathetic.
The bass seemed indeed "clean" because there was no upper bass.
 
I'm no basshead nor used to bass heavy headphones, by the way, I can take bass light sound signatures without problem.
I think the HP100 may be a good candidate for modding.

What Amp were you using to drive them? 

 

[Dafo]

FWIW, mine was bought brand new two weeks ago and had a foam in front of the driver, directly underneath the earpads...
It's not visible on ClieOS review pics.
No idea which revision it was, I sold it already.
Reading about all this different impressions makes me think that Soundmagic has been making some significant changes in this headphone tuning, or you guys may not be getting the right grip of the bass nature in this headphone...

On mine there was a pretty obvious lack of information between 100 - ~250Hz, at around 250 there was a sudden rise of several dBs.
The sub to upper bass response would be represented by a descending line in a FR with a % rise in a THD graph.
At 300 Hz it would go relative flat until 2Khz...
That's why the subbass had some presence on mine.
And no, it wasn't due to the fact that the bass was very clean, there was just no upper bass volume in there.
The timbre of most instruments were thinned out because of this and there was absolutelly no impact nor body to the sound, completelly unnatural and pathetic.
The bass seemed indeed "clean" because there was no upper bass.

I'm no basshead nor used to bass heavy headphones, by the way, I can take bass light sound signatures without problem.
I think the HP100 may be a good candidate for modding.

I don't think the hp100 is a bassheads phone, but on the other hand I don't think it lacks any bass at all. Again as mentioned above, it depends on what you're used to and also what equipment you're using.
My reference is the stax, which has very high quality bass, completely free of resonance, flat and not rolled off. The hp100 is very close to that just adding a little more in the deep end.

 

[SteveSatch]

Anyone in So Ca have these so I could give them a listen and see how they fit my head/ears?