Takstar Pro 82/GM200 Review, impressions and discussion thread

[J Mirra]

I think it is the older version from the buyer I got mine from. Probably Tomtop would be the newer one.

TBH, the older version sounds ok to me.

Mine just arrived from another seller, (Melli .. something)

My beady eyes are wide with surprise!! What a package.

First impressions are really good. Better than I thought it would be if I’m honest. I started getting one out of curiosity after seeing Jello’s HF posts that he deleted and the other posts here. So I just ordered to see what they were exactly like for myself which IMO is the best thing to do really.

So, off the bat ....

Wonderful case. Overstated at this price level. How do they do it for So little money?
Not keen on ‘Takstar’ printed on the cups. I’d prefer it to be smaller.
Build is better than I expected from what I had read here.
Comfort is Sony mdr1a level. Beautiful.
Sound is really good. Personally, I find it just a bit light in the bass on setting 1, although there’s less upper bass bleed than on the other two settings. Setting 2 is great with music. It has a bloom but is nice but I’m not sure about spoken word in this setting. Setting 3 is pleasant for perhaps mobile use, but the bleed from the upper bass is worse. Might be good for hefty rock, but awful for voice and inner clarity.

So on first listen, I really like them and I think perhaps a better option perhaps than the Sony mdr1a given the ridiculously low price.

I can’t believe that these are being sold at £46 delivered. Worth buying for sure.

Someone said that this buyer should be reported because he was reselling on but I’ve had no problems at all. In fact, I was purposely looking for any signs of a fake, but this is fine. I think the main advantage of buying from him is the fact that they arrived a week after ordering which is quicker than normal from China to say the least. Never mind a slow boat to China, I think normally it’s slower the other way around!!

This is a lovely headphone. I can’t get over the value for money.

They break in after around 5-10h and start to sound even better.

I have the silver ed.

I prefer a tiny bass boost EQ from my PC than the headphone, sub with no bloom.

 

[trellus]

Wonderful case. Overstated at this price level. How do they do it for So little money?
Not keen on ‘Takstar’ printed on the cups. I’d prefer it to be smaller.
Build is better than I expected from what I had read here.
Comfort is Sony mdr1a level. Beautiful.

+1 on all the above ... case is ridiculous, in a good way, for the price. Contrast that with more expensive headphones where you get either nothing or a cheap bag.

Sound is really good. Personally, I find it just a bit light in the bass on setting 1, although there’s less upper bass bleed than on the other two settings. Setting 2 is great with music. It has a bloom but is nice but I’m not sure about spoken word in this setting. Setting 3 is pleasant for perhaps mobile use, but the bleed from the upper bass is worse. Might be good for hefty rock, but awful for voice and inner clarity.

This is a lovely headphone. I can’t get over the value for money.

Def agree on the bass at all three levels -- I usually find setting 1 to be too bass light for my tastes, and use setting 2 almost always. Setting 3 I rarely use as the bleed becomes too noticeable although I suppose for certain songs it might be "fun" that way.

 

[iancraig10]

They break in after around 5-10h and start to sound even better.

I have the silver ed.

I prefer a tiny bass boost EQ from my PC than the headphone, sub with no bloom.

Yes, I did the same. Using an Ifi portable amp and put the bass boost in and left the headphone alone. For portable use though, those boosts on the headphone will probably be very useful.

I put a Senn Momentum lead into it because it’s shorter and I can control the player from it when out and about.

I did a quick swap and comparison with Sony MDR1a and the AT MSR7 and tbh honest, I think the Takstar is better finally. The Sony is comparatively bloated in the bass and the MSR7 is comparatively steely in the treble, so it sits comfortably between the two of them.

It’s a surprising headphone and I’m still thinking that there was a mistake made at £46 for this package. Even if it is the older version with the slightly longer lead, it sounds great to me. It’s not until you go to your other headphones that you realise how well these do actually.

 

[BenF]

Does this applies to takstar 80 to,and if it work does it have to be cotton or i can use also toilet paper roll?.You said smth that would make takstar 80 sound similar to 82 with a mod,but cant find it help would be apreciated,unless it was this one with coton.

I'll try to post later instructions for making Pro 81

 

[IFPMaximus34]

Does this applies to takstar 80 to,and if it work does it have to be cotton or i can use also toilet paper roll?.You said smth that would make takstar 80 sound similar to 82 with a mod,but cant find it help would be apreciated,unless it was this one with coton.

thanks cant wait.Ignore this message,mistaked quoting,meant benf quote.

 

[BenF]

In the last few days I had spent some time with LG V30 and Pro 82.
The Quad DAC sounds very clean (but not clinical), you can clearly hear the difference when you turn it on/off.
However, V30 lacks the power needed to drive Pro 82 properly - with Pro 82 it often doesn't reach the desired volume and especially lacks bass punch.
This is typical for weak sources - they make bass too polite.

Adding an amp makes a huge difference.
I tried both FIIO E06 and Oppo HA-2 with V30, and in both cases response from the V30 owner was "That's nuts, man!".
Both sounded excellent, but HA-2 has a much cleaner bass boost - so for bassheads it's the obvious choice.
FIIO E06 needs to be put in low gain mode, to avoid clipping.

External amp makes V30 a viable option for Pro 82, but without one - I wouldn't recommend it.

Wish I had my impedance adapters with me - maybe that would trick V30 into high impedance mode.
Did anyone try this with Pro 82 and V30?

Update on V30.
I don't have my impedance adapters, but I tried this neat trick I learned from this XDA thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/help/modes-quad-dac-t3690567/post74267561#post74267561
You take any 3.5mm extension cable and do this:
1) Plug the extension cable into V30
2) Plug the headphones into the extension cable.

Plugging the cable makes V30 think that it's connected to an amplifier - because it sees an infinitely high impedance.
As a result, it switches into the high impedance mode, which drives the voltage up.
Now Pro 82 can get very loud, and the bass punches so much harder.

Didn't have the time to A/B with the amps, but it's so much better now compared to the regular low impedance mode.
Of course, using this trick will drain your battery faster than usual.

 

[BenF]

About making Pro 81 from Pro 80:

It's super simple. You buy the Shure HPAEC840 pads, put them on Pro 80 - they will take you half way to Pro 82 in both sound and comfort.
There are fake HPAEC840 for sale, so here is a trusted seller I bought multiple HPAEC840 from: https://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-Ea...-SHURE-SRH-840-SRH440-Headphones/190702709217
He has cheap international shipping too.
Fake ones aren't as good, I got one pair - it didn't do any favors to Pro 80.

Also available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Shure-HPAEC840-Replacement-Cushions-Headphones/dp/B002Z9JWZS/
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...PAEC840_HPAEC840_Replacement_Earcup_Pads.html
https://www.adorama.com/shhpaec840.html

 

[BenF]

So silver Pro 82 seems to be gone completely for now - even TakstarAudio ran out of stock.
The only two stores that still accept orders of silver Pro 82 are "MH Recording Music Store" and "Original Brands Market" - stores that were previously caught fake-shipping Pro 82.

 

[Saus@ge]

Which color?
Black or Silver?

 

[BenF]

If you have participated in the lottery, here is the video of the draw:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQzMzg5NjE5Mg==.html
They bought a special lottery box for this

 

[iancraig10]

http://diyah.boards.net/thread/1627/takstar-pro-82?page=8&scrollTo=30132

 

[BenF]

Takstar factory is out of both colors now. No ETA for new batch (if ever...).
You know what that means...

 

[Kossfan]

Takstar factory is out of both colors now. No ETA for new batch (if ever...).
You know what that means...

Oh my GOD!!! They're now collectible! Off to put one of mine on eBay for $350...

 

[iancraig10]

 

[meetoo1]

OK, I'll sell mine for $10,000! Any takers?!?