[Quaint]

Finally got kannons today. Been listening to them for past hour. I share sentiments with users who have brought up the point about kannons sound quality not being particularly impressive when the taction button is off. I'm a novice when it comes to headphones. The only other pair I own is Bowers and Wilkins' P7. Kannons just don't match up to even P7. They sound more like one of several jogging headphones I own that I use for listening podcasts and not music because they don't do music any justice.

However. I have been floored by Kannons with taction on. This is unlike anything I have ever heard. I am rediscovering the beauty of all songs in my library in ways that I didn't think was ever possible. This past hour has been an emotional experience, to be quite frank. I cannot wait to rewatch some of my favorite movies with Kannons. It's as if a whole new auditory experience has been opened up to me. Game changer in headphone market.

I want Kannons to be a mega success so that Jim and his team have the luxury of creating $1500 headphones that feature top tier audio quality with taction technology. Marvelous stuff.

Good job Jim!

 

[humzebra]

I ordered 9 26 16, any idea where I might be or how to find out?

 

[Monsterzero]

I spent some time listening to my new Kannons today and promised a quick review,so here goes.

I am a rock & metalhead first and foremost.I am not a basshead,but like many folks here Ive been chasing that Unicorn,the one pair that combines skull slamming bass with audiophile grade mids and highs.

My system: Laptop>>Schiit Eitr>>Audio GD R2R-11

Files tested 16/44.1-24/192:
Heartbreaker-Rolling Stones
Hypnotized-Fleetwood Mac
One of These Nights-Eagles
Whole Lotta Love-Led Zep
Limelight-Rush
Smokestack Lightning-Howlin' Wolf
Its Bad You Know-R.L. Burnside
Summer Rain-Johnny Rivers
These Eyes-Guess Who
Lil Ghetto Boy-Dr.Dre
Aquamarine-Ajja & Cosmosis
Klein Aber Doctor-Atmos
Save The Cheerleader,Save The World-Beat Bizarre
Heaven & Hell-Black Sabbath
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath-Black Sabbath
Pulse of the Dead-Parasite Inc.
Princess of the Dawn-Accept
Bad Card-Bob Marley
Smoke On the Water-Dread Zeppelin
Love The One Youre With-Psychedelic Souls

So I came into these a bit different than most I think,a non-basshead looking for a reference quality headphone with great slam and the Kannons def deliver the slam.I put them through the paces of a few different genres and found them to be quite good for EDM,psybient,reggae.With the controller locked in at the midway point(5) I was able to feel the rumble of bass guitars and slam of drums and studio sliders like never before.Unfortunately theres more to music than bass(for me)

Where the Kannons disappointed was in the mids and highs.The upper mids at times seemed shouty,while the highs werent very well extended.
The imaging is average at best,with a narrow stage and very little separation.On my particular unit vocals didnt come at me from dead center,rather they seemed to be off center and to the right a bit.Whether that is the case with all units or just on my personal pair,I do not know. I also found that on some faster music(melodic death metal) the tactile transducer lingered too long,throwing some songs slightly off tempo.

As I said previously i enjoy trance,psybient,reggae with The Kannons.Further,on older,bass-lite recordings like Howlin Wolf's classic "Smokestack Lightning" with the transducer set just right it added a bit of texture and thump to an otherwise bass lite track.

If youre a basshead you need to buy these....today! If you are an owner of the SZ2000 you can put those in the closet and forget em,the Kannons crush the 2000s,with comparable if not superior bass and mids and highs that the 2000s simply cannot touch,regardless of how much EQing youre doing.

For gaming these headphones are fun! Gun shots in Destiny sounded felt like friggin' Howitzers!My skull was pummeled as I laid waste to aliens,with a thick "thud-thud-thud" against my dome with every pull of the trigger...and thats with bass just halfway up! For detail whoring however these arent so great as the narrow sound stage and average imaging make these not the best for competitive FPSs.

I can confirm that these work very well with the Astro MixAmp Pro.

In closing these are fun headphones for bass centric music and quite fun and immersive for films,single person and casual FPS gaming.If however youre looking for reference or audiophile quality headphones for non-bass heavy music these might disappoint.

I would love to hear this technology in an open backed headphone like HD800 or AKG K712,something with a massive soundstage,detailed mids and highs and mix-in the tactile transducers...now THAT would be awesome.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I really had a hard time comparing mine to anything I have home... they are just too different.
For example, with the Taction turned off, the Kannons ARE NOT CANNONS! They also cannot hold a candle to anything I have at home at the moment (i.e. Ultrasone Signature DJs, Sony MDR-Z1R, etc.)? Why? They are too sterile basically. Bass extension is affected (as explained by the Taction guys on another thread) and it's basically rolled-off and it's mostly a mid-centric sound, not too detailed either. With the Taction button on, the bass comes to life (even though it still feels like the mid-bass has something missing as I noted somewhere else) and it's a more enjoyable sound signature. Texture and definition (i.e. clarity) is not comparable to the Sig DJs/MDR whether the Taction is on/off and from what I remember of the D2000/D5000/TH-xxx it doesn't come near those either. The drivers used are just not, I don't want to say "high-end enough", but they are not comparable (of course, do note, PRICE is not comparable either ).

So this headphone is, IMO, purely for face-shaking-bass-lovers, but not a be-all-end-all pair (which the TH-xxx/D7x00 can be, depends on what you are looking for).

Now, this response kind of sounds negative, but I actually LIKE my Kannons. Even though they are not as clear, nor produce a "better" sound than what I have, they provide a different kind of experience, one that is (and feels) pleasant to me! And also note, from the headphones you mentioned, NONE of them are really closed-backs and if you work or use them in a cubicle environment, people around you will be able to listen to your music (Had a D2000, modded D5000 and TH-xxx ... and leakage is kind of annoying ).

Thanks.

I have pretty similar feel, these aren't some "detail monster" or so to speak and have pretty poor resolution and mediocre imaging and soundstaging for a closed headphone if speaking audiophile jargon but they are pretty forgiving though and there's no hints of sibilance to speak of. Against top contenders in their price range they will clearly slightly fall behind in terms of sound quality, accuracy, detail. BUT they are so different and have something very different to offer due the tactile response which makes them very engaging to listen to (finally average joe will experience that "feel the bass" out of box in a well executed package without having to resort to bass boosting/EQ abuse etc). I just wish for me it was more of a linear tactile feedback throughout the whole bass range as noted earlier but that's not going to be a big issue for most music out there.

I do feel detail-accuracy wise they improve a lot from a little EQing like I posted earlier, in particular does a lot in terms for female vocal accuracy that gets very natural sounding and even with the EQ settings with a slight highs boost it's never causing any sibilance issues, it's right there south of that where for example modern day EDM mastered crispy female vocals are almost there giving sibilance issues but not quite which it should be in terms of highs balance to feel at the right level from my experience.

 

[Vonsid]

I ordered 9 26 16, any idea where I might be or how to find out?

Maybe try to contact Taction on their facebook page. I ordered the 9/10 myself and also still waiting for them. Seems the Kickstarter backers all received their pair so they should take care of the web orders soon.

 

[Benz-Fi]

Got my Kannons today and...holycrap!$% This is different and after years of listening to various gear, different is actually a lot of fun. - I won't go into sound quality or source comparisons but I will say that as audioheads we sometimes claim to enjoy unique and this is just that. The sensation reminds me of my old Panasonic Shockwave discman/headphone combo that I had as kid in the 90s, which could be why I am having so much fun listening to the Kannons. I read some of the impressions in this thread and one thing I can definitely agree on is that you have to try them to get it, the feeling may be harder to describe than one may think.

 

[ReaperZzZ]

If youre a basshead you need to buy these....today! If you are an owner of the SZ2000 you can put those in the closet and forget em,the Kannons crush the 2000s,with comparable if not superior bass and mids and highs that the 2000s simply cannot touch,regardless of how much EQing youre doing.

They're really that good ? I've read in a few places they don't hit as hard below 30hz where the SZ2000 can excel here. Do you own the SZ2000's as well? My pair are looking a bit worn and instead of repairing, perhaps i'll spend the money and look at these Kannons instead ..Thanks!

 

[Monsterzero]

They're really that good ? I've read in a few places they don't hit as hard below 30hz where the SZ2000 can excel here. Do you own the SZ2000's as well? My pair are looking a bit worn and instead of repairing, perhaps i'll spend the money and look at these Kannons instead ..Thanks!

I used to own the SZ2000s but didnt have a pair handy to do a direct a/b.As to which is superior @30Hz might be a question better answered in the basshead thread.

I just posted a video review of the Taction Kannon on my YouTube channel.....FWIW I hated the SZ2000,so take my thoughts with a few grains of salt.

 

[flashmp3]

They're really that good ? I've read in a few places they don't hit as hard below 30hz where the SZ2000 can excel here. Do you own the SZ2000's as well? My pair are looking a bit worn and instead of repairing, perhaps i'll spend the money and look at these Kannons instead ..Thanks!

I'm one of those claiming that. You can trust me. I'm a fan of subbass and hip-hop trap music. When you listen to songs of artists like Future, Migos, Travis Scott etc...it's all about subbass. The Kannons are good but can't do what SZ2000 can do under 30hz. With the JVC's you feel and also hear ! On the kannons thoses frequencies will be felt but not heard much. I was pretty disappointed. I tried to eq multiple time. I could get it closer in terms of bass to the SZ2000 but never achieve their bass. I had put a lot of hope on the Kannons. I was also disappointed by the fact it's not very sensitive. Something like 93db (vs more than 106db for SZ2000) which make it require a powerful amp to be able to get decent volume after having equalized

 

[davixx500]

I’m #382 and just got my shipping notification! Thinking they’ll be for at least 2 weeks in customs tho unfortunately since I’m from Germany

 

[Vonsid]

I’m #382 and just got my shipping notification! Thinking they’ll be for at least 2 weeks in customs tho unfortunately since I’m from Germany

So you're out of the Kickstarter right, web order ? I'm order 405, should be pretty fast now.

 

[davixx500]

So you're out of the Kickstarter right, web order ? I'm order 405, should be pretty fast now.

I ordered on the taction kannon website last August got them for 380$ still

 

[Vonsid]

Ok thanks that's it, i ordered in September.

 

[Wizayus]

Does anyone know how long the Kannons take to be fully charged via USB, also are there any indications once the unit is fully charged?

 

[TactionJohn]

Does anyone know how long the Kannons take to be fully charged via USB, also are there any indications once the unit is fully charged?

Depending on how much residual charge remains prior to plugging in, and whether the Kannons are plugged into our charger or another device like a PC, it can take several hours to fully charge them. In normal operation the charging LED glows red while charging, and turns off when the batteries are fully charged.

If you have additional concerns, feel free to reach out to us at info (at) tactiontechnology dot com, or to me directly, john (at) same.