Doctor Fuse
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2015
- Posts
- 5
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The 12 year old in the house has decided to go to bed at 10pm, instead of after midnight, and so I've had to use headphones for my late-night listening now. Apparently 12-year-old hearing is supersonic bionic, as he can hear the sound bleeding from my beloved Grado SR-80is FROM UPSTAIRS! I begrudgingly looked in the local used classifieds, and found an interesting item - SoundMagic HD150 closed-back headphones. I checked them out, gave them a listen, and was immediately impressed by the wide open, airy but detailed sound, with excellent bass. And they do not bleed [much. They have a pin hole vent which lets a bit of sound out. The tween hasn't complained though]. I paid $90, which to me is an exorbitant sum usually preserved for purchasing British loudspeakers or 70s turntables with wow & flutter figures of <0.04%. After almost a week of listening, I am very satisfied with this purchase. The extended frequency range means there is more high hiss on vinyl than my Grados, but that is what tone controls are for, right? Bass is very good, visceral almost. So much better than the Grados, which tend to distort when the bass drum comes in on my favourite 24/96 FLAC of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Nezet-Seguin/Philadelphia, DG). The SoundMagics take it in stride. I was a bit concerned about a totally Chinese product (there are reviews online about the frame connectors breaking, which renders them useless and concerns me a bit), both for longevity and customer support, but perhaps I have my concerns misplaced: the same week I got the phones, my used, Made-In-The-USA PS Audio Digital Link III DAC arrived....and has an audible hiss in the right channel. Turns out there is a faulty op-amp at the unbalanced output, even though the unit is plugged as having "all discrete components". Argghh. Will someone PLEEEAASE make America make great products again? Jus' kiddin'...