[xanlamin]

HP150 is my fav closed-back hp at the moment. Period.

 

[lumberjake]

Still love my HP100 but they have fallen a couple of times and have broken at the crotch of the Y cup attachment.
What is a bit of a mystery and I am a bit surprised I haven't read about this anywhere is the apparent lack of conductor to the drivers through this  Y piece. Am I missing something obvious or what? I don't see how the signal could reach the drivers. Is it that the Y piece is somehow made from conductive material? It has fallen but not from far and always landed on carpet. The cups are large and the Y is rather small but I still feel that the material is rather fragile considering there is plastic that size that would be very difficult to crack. Actually, it is unusual that it cracks rather than bends. I am beginning to wonder if it is fragile because they used some unusual conductive material. I have super glued it back together when I noticed the opposite cup begin to have fatigue cracking. Anyone know how the signal travels to the actual drivers? Where is the copper?
 
Soundmagic, if you are to do other versions, I would either use a tougher material or a design that doesn't create a stress riser. Everything else is perfect, well, very good at least.

 

[rajeevrn]

Ok my final impressions with the Creative Recon 3d and the Soundmagic hp100... not so bad after all... the highs are beautiful, the mids are not as recessed as people say they are....they are just there in the right place.bass impact is very good...really fast with most songs...this is a very good buy. I am really happy. The pairing is recommended.
 
My soundmagic hp100 doesnt sound good with the dragonfly dac though.
 
Do you guys think I should pick up the HP 150?

 

[Suopermanni]

Does anyone know where to buy the HP150 in Australia or know a seller that will ship here?

 

[lumberjake]

Heard the Dragonfly is a thinner sounding DAC. I use an HRT Headstreamer connected to my Macbook. The HP100 definitely sounds far better through the headstreamer which also has an amp along with a DAC. It is a cheap bare bones device but makes the Soundmagic sound way better. I think these headphones like a bit of power because the bass is just incredible and goes so deep, it will literally vibrate the cups on some EDM tracks. I never really knew that a DAC/amp could improve sound so much as everything sounds better from sound stage to detail.
I have ordered a Fiio e18 for use with my portable set up with my HTC One and yamaha eph100. The sound coming out of my phone is listenable but after hearing through a decent DAC/amp , I know the potential improvement is big. 

 

[rajeevrn]

  Does anyone know where to buy the HP150 in Australia or know a seller that will ship here?

The HP 150 is available from a dealer here in India for 10,000 Indian Rupees translates to 186.678 AUD. Delivery charges will be extra. Must ask the dealer. There is only one left in stock so please let me know soon.

 

[rajeevrn]

  Heard the Dragonfly is a thinner sounding DAC. I use an HRT Headstreamer connected to my Macbook. The HP100 definitely sounds far better through the headstreamer which also has an amp along with a DAC. It is a cheap bare bones device but makes the Soundmagic sound way better. I think these headphones like a bit of power because the bass is just incredible and goes so deep, it will literally vibrate the cups on some EDM tracks. I never really knew that a DAC/amp could improve sound so much as everything sounds better from sound stage to detail.
I have ordered a Fiio e18 for use with my portable set up with my HTC One and yamaha eph100. The sound coming out of my phone is listenable but after hearing through a decent DAC/amp , I know the potential improvement is big. 

Its not about sounding thinner, it sounds a bit muffled through the dragonfly DAC, maybe not enough power, but yes I am confident that it sounds better through other AMPs/ DACs. Connected to an Onkyo TX SR 804 receiver and audio was simply amazing, great body and richness stood out from before.

 

[DecentLevi]

Hello Guys, does anybody know from direct experience (or maybe even from research) if the HP 100 has less bass than the HP 150? Because I just got my HP 150 and after through testing I've found that it just has WAAYY too much bass for me.. About 3.5 decibels too much, and this is far from linear/neutral. THANKS!

 

[rajeevrn]

  Hello Guys, does anybody know from direct experience (or maybe even from research) if the HP 100 has less bass than the HP 150? Because I just got my HP 150 and after through testing I've found that it just has WAAYY too much bass for me.. About 3.5 decibels too much, and this is far from linear/neutral. THANKS!

Yes the hp 100 should be less bassy than the hp 150. The HP 100 is a more neutral sounding headphone, though it too is a little bright and a little bassy to be neutral. I hope I am correct here.

 

[DecentLevi]

Hello Rajeevrn, I see you own the HP-100. But have you actually tried the HP-150? If not, then would you mind to please tell me where you had read about the difference in bass level of the HP150 compared to 100?

It is my impression that the people at SoundMagic just guestemated that the 100 and 150 sound the same because of the same driver and copied the same frequency graph from the 100 to the box of the 150 without any actual frequency testing. Because the bass in the 150 seems like it should raise up about 3-5 decibels from the 150hz and down, making it FAR from the flat graph that they show.
I am burning mine in now with 'pink noise' at a med. loud volume for about 20 hours to see if this will reduce the bass.

 

[rajeevrn]

Hello Rajeevrn, I see you own the HP-100. But have you actually tried the HP-150? If not, then would you mind to please tell me where you had read about the difference in bass level of the HP150 compared to 100?

It is my impression that the people at SoundMagic just guestemated that the 100 and 150 sound the same because of the same driver and copied the same frequency graph from the 100 to the box of the 150 without any actual frequency testing. Because the bass in the 150 seems like it should raise up about 3-5 decibels from the 150hz and down, making it FAR from the flat graph that they show.
I am burning mine in now with 'pink noise' at a med. loud volume for about 20 hours to see if this will reduce the bass.

 
Well, I dont merely own the HP 100, I have used it for well over 50 hrs already and from what I can say it is far from being a basshead headphone. Actually if it were any bit more thin, then you wouldnt like it either. The bass doesnt catch your attention on most tracks unless you play close attention to it and then you notice it has great impact but it is never boomy and not too weighted at all. Almost neutral on the bass, its the highs that really shine.

 

[nScott89]

Background Hello everyone! I've burnt in these headphones for around 150 hours or longer so I think it's time for my review/impressions. Please note that this is coming from the very proud owner of Sennheiser HD558 and previously HD555. I also used to own the Alessandro MS1 which is a lot like the Grado SR80 or SR125 from what I've read. I wasn't a huge fan of the MS1. It was just too hot for my tastes. This is doing the HD414 reverse quarter mod when i thought boosted bass performance. Eventually I got rid of them when the diaphragm became deformed somehow. The MS1 was ok but as I was saying it was too hot for my tastes. I particularly love the HD558 because of their relaxed nature. Their bass is pretty shallow and nonexistent out of the box so what I did to make them much more impactful is use a 75ohm inline resistor that essentially warms the sound up a lot. It's a ER4P to ER4S adapter. This has turned the HD558 into an extremely well rounded headphone. One that I will continue to use for movies and TV and some music, especially long listening sessions. This is primarily due to their very light weight, clamping force, and cup shape. I have neck problems and big round circumaural cups tend to give me neck/head aches. Of my earphones I would rank my HiFiMan HE262 above my VSonic GR07 if only due to the additional comfort provided. I prefer the sound of the GR07 slightly over the HD262 but this mild preference in sound is outweighed by the comfort of my HE262.
 
Source DAC/AMP = Aune T1 with Philips Miniwatt E188CC SQ, Gold Pin
 
So now that you have some background about me and the type of sound I enjoy let's get started with the HP100 impressions.
 
Comfort: Out of the box the HP100 was, simply, uncomfortable for me. They were ok for the first 15-30 minutes but they started hurting my ears and head shortly after. One way they were particularly uncomfortable was how thin the ear pads became after short listening periods. My ears would touch the drivers and as a result my ears were catching huge amounts of sub-bass that were very fatiguing. Bone conduction sucks ....  Once thing that helped me was stuffing the pads with a cut s-video cable to prevent the pads from collapsing to a point where my ears touched the drivers. This helped increase my listening time to around 2-3 hours but after that I was having to switch back to my HD558 because the pads continued to collapse. The headband is also shaped very weird. I have a fairly large head. When I put the cans on, the headband flattens out significantly to where it puts pressure in the very top of my crown. This also added significantly to the fatigue levels I was reaching with the stock phones.
 
Not very positive so far? Keep reading. It gets better from here.
 
Comfort Pt. 2 Ok. So now that I got that out of the way, allow me discuss what I did to fix them for me. I replaced the ear pads with Beyerdynamics EDT770VB. I left the driver screens in place that came with the new pads, if anyone is wondering. This effectively lifted the drivers off of my ears and they tend to stay off my ears MUCH better than the original memory foam pads. I've not noticed any significant compression over time. I also put a Headband pad on. These 2 modifications, along with a slight bend of the adjustment arms outward has effectively solved my comfort problems. And it only cost me $50... Anyways.... On to the sound. 
 
Bass As I noted in the comfort section there was a huge problem with the bass stock due to the drivers conducting directly to my ear. This effectively provided a 6dB boost to 40-70hz and 2-3dB from 70 to 130. Not a good sound. Very fatiguing. (Alright I'm sure you're tired of hearing about my issues that have been fixed by the mods.) Now that I've modified the headphones the bass is very close to neutral if ever so slightly warm. The bass is very realistic. The kick drums have significant power to them and bass guitars are very well textured and smooth. Bass quantity and quality feel great here. I feel that the bass extension is also VERY well done. I can hear very very low notes through the full bodied bass. Detail here is superb. Bass gets top notch marks from me. Very well balanced. Not overpowering or anemic. Very natural reverb. Bass is definitely there when it is needed. I about had a hissy fit listening to Captain Panic!'s Monolith album. 
 
Edit: So.... After some more listening I can see what people are saying about the bass being recessed. Sub-bass is certainly not an issue but bass is a little underrepresented. I have W1000X replacement pads on the way to see what difference they will make. I still feel that bass is done well here but I volume levels could probably be raised a bit to suit more people.
 
Mids Some say that the mids are a bit recessed. Maybe very slightly stock but I feel they are very well balanced after putting the Beyer pads on. Mids are VERY well balanced now. Guitar is very detailed as well as vocals. I can definitely tell these are a lot 'faster' than my HD558. The detail levels are much higher than the Sennheisers but not fatiguing. Certainly more noticable. There are times that I'm hearing some sibillance. It's kind of strange though because I generally expect sibillance around consonation more, but, on occasion, I'm picking some up in drawn out vocalization. I think this might be due to poor recording. Honestly, these headphones don't like poor recordings very much. Led Zeppelin II is one album of note that is pretty poorly presented here. My Sennheisers, because they're slower, deal with poor recordings much better. Female vocals (<3 Norah Jones) sound FANTASTIC if only the tiniest sibillant at times but certainly not overly so. Sibillance is not really an issue for me and this is coming from a Sennheiser listener . Baritone vocals are amazing. John Hammond sounds like he's in the room.
 
Highs Wow. Sparkle and shimmer. Very natural, if only a bit hotter than neutral. Fast, but not excessively so. Now, when I first got these phones the highs were VERY sibillant and VERY hot. This has subsided very significantly in the time I've burned them in. I think that the detail here is very fun and agressive while not sounding angry or too sizzly. I feel the only time highs sound splashy is when there is a bad recording. I hate splash... 
 
Staging One word, considering the closed nature of this headphone: Remarkable. I don't find any fake, huge staging here but there is sufficient room for the music to breathe. I honestly feel that the space we are working in here competes nicely with my HD558. Stereo imaging is quite wide for a closed headphone. I head good things about the soundstage but I was a bit surprised by what I found. It's very realistic. The Sennheisers tend to have a bit more 'vertical space' while these tend to stretch more horizontally. I honestly think the HP100 has a more natural staging. Listening to big orchestral numbers sounds more realistic here than the HD558. Yeah.... Like I said, I was very surprised.
 
Value(TL;DR) I bought this pair like new with not a lot of listening time on them for $150. Due to my stock comfort issues with the headphones I ended up pouring another $50 into them. I tend to spend 6 hours on average with my headphones on but often extend into 8 hours or more. Even after spending the extra money on the headphones I do not believe that I could not have better spent the money on audio equipment.
 
Pros: Great soundstage for being closed, mostly neutral with warm coloration but bright highs. Great all-rounder that seems to be designed to handle multiple genres equally well. Fantastic texture.
Cons: Initial comfort, required significant investment to be wearable for more than an hour at a time.
 
 
Tracks used:
Green Day - American Idiot (HDTracks Remaster)
Norah Jones - Ruler of my Heart
Skrillex feat. Sirah - Kyoto
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine
Howard Shore - Khazad-Dum (Complete Recordings)
Captain Panic! - Vast
John Hammond - Get Behind the Mule
AC/DC - Thunderstruck
The Flashbulb - The Great Pumpkin Tapes;  Tomorrow Untrodden
Norihiko Hibino - Snake Eater (feat. Cynthia Harrell) (Metal Gear Solid 3 Theme)
Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain; Fire Above, Ice Below
Toadies - Possum Kingdom
Storm Corrosion - Drag Ropes
The Evpatoria Report - Taijin Kyofusho
Jakob - Safety in Numbers
Led Zeppelin - Ramble On
Daft Punk - Giorgio by Moroder; Touch
Nils-Erik Sparf and Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble -The Four Seasons, Op. 8 - Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, RV 315, "Summer": III. Presto: Tempo impetuoso d'Estate
 
EDIT: Just wanted to point out that I am not a fan of the cable and getting in touch with Soundmagic to order a HP200 cable has proven more difficult than I'ld like.

 

[rajeevrn]

 
Bass As I noted in the comfort section there was a huge problem with the bass stock due to the drivers conducting directly to my ear. This effectively provided a 6dB boost to 40-70hz and 2-3dB from 70 to 130. Not a good sound. Very fatiguing. (Alright I'm sure you're tired of hearing about my issues that have been fixed by the mods.) Now that I've modified the headphones the bass is very close to neutral if ever so slightly warm. The bass is very realistic. The kick drums have significant power to them and bass guitars are very well textured and smooth. Bass quantity and quality feel great hear. I feel that the bass extension is also VERY well done. I can hear very very low notes through the full bodied bass. Detail here is superb. Bass gets top notch marks from me. Very well balanced. Not overpowering or anemic. Very natural reverb. Bass is definitely there when it is needed. I about had a hissy fit listening to Captain Panic!'s Monolith album. 
 
 

 
Are you saying that before you modified the headphones they were bassy on most tracks you tried them on? I have been using them for quite some time and still to notice it.

 

[nScott89]

   
Are you saying that before you modified the headphones they were bassy on most tracks you tried them on? I have been using them for quite some time and still to notice it.

Yes. Very much so. This is probably because the drivers were pretty firmly pressed up against my outer ear. Not just barely touching the edges but enough to have an element of of bone conduction. After getting the drivers off my ears the bass is very much balanced and neutral sounding. The contact was causing my anti helix and tragus severe discomfort and pain.
 

As I was saying, after fixing the comfort issues the bass became pretty neutral. There when you need it, not when you don't. Even still sometimes the bass surprises me. When I turn on a really bass heavy track like Captain Panic - Mutagenesis I still am pretty blown away by just how 'there' they are. They get very loud very quickly. Never overpowering. I was pretty surprised to go back through the reviews and hear people say these wouldn't satisfy bass heads. I can listen to dubstep and downtempo stuff with zero desire for more bass. I'm not a huge bass head, but I do enjoy some heavy bass at times but only when it's natural to be there. I feel these cans do that very, very nicely. 
 
TL;DR: Mostly neutral but some tracks the bass is surprisingly loud (Only when designed to be). Mass and mid-bass COULD be louder but I don't find myself looking for more volume. Great presence and detail. Sub-bass VERY nice but not insane.
 
Edit: I can see what you guys are saying about the midbass volume levels. I can see them being a LITTLE bit recessed, but they are certainly better than the HD558 I've been using for so long. I just contacted AT about getting W1000K replacement pads since those pads seem to be very well reviewed here in conjunction with the headphones. $15 shipped. Sub-bass is great but bass could be a little bit recessed.

 

[Za Warudo]

I just contacted AT about getting W1000K replacement pads since those pads seem to be very well reviewed here in conjunction with the headphones. $15 shipped. Sub-bass is great but bass could be a little bit recessed.

 Where can you find the W1000x pads for $15?
 
 
I'm considering buying the new memory foam HM5 pads (after my attempt at buying NVX angled pads was met with the most unresponsive costumer service ever), anyone tried them with the HP100/150?