SoundMAGIC HP-1000
Hi guys - I'm really goin' out on a limb for this one, but I believe in honesty in this hobby so here it goes:
So the nice folks at SoundMAGIC sent me a final production HP-1000 hoping for a positive review. Here is my highest praise: "the headband was much improved". And the sound? Well after putting it through the paces on multiple amps (tube and SS) over several days, using well mastered tracks I'm familiar with and with successions of A/B'ing with other well known closed-backs from the likes of Sennheiser and even their oldest HP-100 model (albeit mine slightly better than stock having a custom internal mod), my general takeaway is that these fail on every sonic aspect, sounding perhaps like a cross between a low model of (bright) Ultrasone and perhaps a mid-tier model of Beats brand, with a poor chosen driver and huge amounts of audible distortion that varies both on R / L channels and at different frequencies. The driver this Chinese company chose for this unit totally lacks the ability to convey complexity or layering of recordings of any genre so you cannot hear some sounds that are present on other headphones, and it's sad that the 'breakthrough' internal concoctions they made up for this headphone do nothing but totally limit / ruin the soundstage and dynamics until everything sounds basically flat - AND "adding their own soundtrack". So along with the above, you now get distortion that varies from R / L depending on frequency likely caused by the way their new tech vibrates / rattles at differing frequencies. Next, the timbre is a wee bit off, not reproducing most notes correctly. Also there is a sort of 'phase' effect which is to me very unwelcome, as if a several millisecond delay was added to one of the channels (or this could be an unintended effect of their jacked up internal concoctions), causing what may sound like a larger soundstage to an untrained ear, but to me it just sounds extremely artificial. Finally it uses a proprietary connector and a cable with the original being far too short for any normal usage and the extension being almost way too long.
Unable to write a positive review I sent it back to them and they measured it showing a fairly flat FR graph, but here's to hoping they can figure out how to measure for various types of distortion, as well as hopefully take my detailed steps I had sent for a better future headphone release (better driver, damping methods, earpad, etc.). They tried to 'censor' my impressions, but again I prefer transparency in this community for the betterment of both the designer and the consumer. There have been a few other reviews on this on both Amazon and here on H.F., but it is my (opinion) that either these reviewers either lack a proper point of reference (to what a good closed-back sounds like), they held back in their review, they were a musician who, like many actually also lack a proper point of reference for proper gear, or, like the one legit looking review it matches closer to mine, though I got the feeling even they too were holding back on their take of these.
In closing, this being the HP-100 / 151 thread please take the above for what it's worth and keep on topic. PLEASE do NOT reply on this thread about the topic of the above mentioned headphone model. Although not so active, I don't want to derail this thread and I also do hold good respect for SoundMAGIC as a company, that I see has good potential for a better headphone model.