[gazzington]

Mine arrived today in their lovely flight case. Just been listening to random flac files. All I can say is these punch way above their price point. Comfort is pretty good. They are nice and light. I'll keep listening

 

[SomeoneSomewhere]

SO how do the Takstar Pro 82 compare to the iSK HF-2010?

 

[Markolav]

Mine arrived today in their lovely flight case. Just been listening to random flac files. All I can say is these punch way above their price point. Comfort is pretty good. They are nice and light. I'll keep listening

But they probably cant beat or match your HD 800 S?

 

[gazzington]

But they probably cant beat or match your HD 800 S?

Well that's tricky. For a start hd650s are my favourite headphones. I prefer those to hd800s but these are in a completely different price category. I've only listened to them for an hour. They are very good

 

[Markolav]

Well that's tricky. For a start hd650s are my favourite headphones. I prefer those to hd800s but these are in a completely different price category. I've only listened to them for an hour. They are very good

I was just referring to the discussions on the previous page how Pro 82 is supposed to rival endgame-headphones if you happened to read them, tell us your further impressions once you have get properly into them.

 

[gazzington]

The more I use these the more I like them. It's taken me a few days to get used to their sound signature. True bargain

 

[BenF]

Just got my pair of Pro 82's today. I've been using the Samson SR850 daily for the past 7 years and the wire broke in an awkward place that I didn't think was worth fixing. RIP. I'm no sound expert and my experience is limited to some ****ty gaming headsets and the SR850 being the most "audiophile" headphone I've listened to, so take my layman opinion as you will.

After all the hype these got, my initial feeling was disappointment. Maybe I was expecting to hear more of a significant "improvement" between Pro 82s vs SR850, but there really wasn't. I would argue that SR850 is overall a better sounding headphone. The extra £15 for the pro82s is probably for the fancy box and slightly better materials. Maybe I'm just finding out that I like mids in my music even though I listen to mostly EDM. Yes, Pro 82 has bass but I'd say the SR850 is generally a more enjoyable headphone to listen to for me, especially when you eq some more bass on it, it just has a much richer sound. I also find the Pro 82 to sound a little hollow, like you put your ear into a box, maybe this is just what closed headphones are supposed to sound like.

Overall the pro 82 feels like it's missing something. It's like instead of music I'm hearing noise that resembles music but it lacks separation and sounds bland? Also feels like there is a giant pit where music used to be and now it sounds empty with noise on either end of the spectrum. Maybe it is the lack of mids and what people called "recessed mids" that I'm experiencing. I don't have enough experience or vocabulary to describe it adequately. I tried to EQ some more mids but it doesn't make any difference to the overall sound.

Comfort out of the box is decent but the pleather pads feel hot and sweaty as soon as you put them on. Overall the self adjusting headband, velour pads, clamping force(tighter than pro82), weight are better on SR850 imo. I maybe should've gone with the SHP9500 instead, or another SR850 until I can upgrade from the <$100 tier.

Judging by the fact that you didn't mention your chain, I'm guessing you used Pro 82 with the wrong equipment.
Most cheap headphones work best with cheap smartphones/players, their weaknesses are exposed by better equipment.
Pro 82 is a TOTL headphone at mass-product prices, in fact priced much lower than most mass-product headphones (e.g. M50).

If you want Pro 82 to sound good, you must use DACs/Amps that have synergy with it.
See Comparison of DACs/Amps
There are some excellent, yet inexpensive options.

Even the haters from the diyah boards admitted to the fact that Pro 82 let's you hear your chain, not itself:

After that the hate train at that board pretty much stopped.

There is no guarantee that you will like Pro 82 after buying a synergy combo, but it's your only chance.
Of course, there are other factors - type of music, quality of recordings, your unique hearing etc.
If you are not willing to take the risk, sell/gift Pro 82 - you are not going to start liking any more than you do now.

SHP9500 is a great choice, I love mine.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Judging by the fact that you didn't mention your chain, I'm guessing you used Pro 82 with the wrong equipment.
Most cheap headphones work best with cheap smartphones/players, their weaknesses are exposed by better equipment.
Pro 82 is a TOTL headphone at mass-product prices, in fact priced much lower than most mass-product headphones (e.g. M50).

If you want Pro 82 to sound good, you must use DACs/Amps that have synergy with it.
See Comparison of DACs/Amps
There are some excellent, yet inexpensive options.

Even the haters from the diyah boards admitted to the fact that Pro 82 let's you hear your chain, not itself:


After that the hate train at that board pretty much stopped.

There is no guarantee that you will like Pro 82 after buying a synergy combo, but it's your only chance.
Of course, there are other factors - type of music, quality of recordings, your unique hearing etc.
If you are not willing to take the risk, sell/gift Pro 82 - you are not going to start liking any more than you do now.

SHP9500 is a great choice, I love mine.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhh..........

i wont say TOTL. when somebody say TOTL, means their is a proper research, charts and other factor backing it up. I think TAKSTAR made it to sound just better by listening and measuring the frequency.

i got the regular normal headphone 3kHz to 6kHz ringing on decay and the good part is that takstar took the initiative to dip it from start on v1 and refine that in v2(They were smart, as mostly all headphone maker suffer from this problem and cheaper and loser headphone maker dont create dip, like very cheap skullcandy grind). This create a laid back sound, but they took the decay(ringing) in their advantage and made a internal flat plastic back without weird audio technica designing inside and outside, which sorta reflect at a proper 5ms time from the side port, creating those bell like highs you get from very good speaker. So it is a pseudo 3kHz rise

it sorta follow Olive & Welti and Harman response curve average with 4dB more bass boost from 91Hz, but the 3kHz peak is actually late in timing and then slowly drop, but unlike the conventional curve, it extends more into high like planar.

but now comes the real bad part. It reminds me of Focal headphones weird experience, but its mistake or inefficiency in ringing and decay department make those overpowered separation pleasant. Focal just separates everything, like notching up the scale of microscope. but this weird late decay is what makes it bad too. Normal listeners wont be effected, neither audiophiles. Only effected people are studio guys like me. But i think these will pair for any studio guy but till the small scale to medium scale of studio of production. The decay takes valuable information which is also a thing that you need something more resolving with these.


ESS powered DAC and something like O2, JDS ATOM, AGDR CMOY

they become sharper than Focal on imaging but decay balances it out, making the image a little hazy and more bendable

So, these sort of tuning needs clarity synergy SS amps and DACS

overall it is a natural headphone which pleases everyone and can compare to TOTL.

plus TOTL are always centered to a specifc area of forte, like HD800 was imaging king, STAX SR009 is natural sound king, Focal is separation, resoultion king etc.

hmmmmmmm


takstar just do all

jack of all, master of none.........but this jack is smart and knows what to do and how to do

 

[gazzington]

To be honest there's not many totl headphones out there and they are all silly expensive. This one is a bargain but it has to be paired with good equipment. Paired it with cheap player. Rubbush. Paired with ak se100 wonderful

 

[Markolav]

Sad to say but @CrimsonV0id s impressions are pretty much in line with me. My AE-5 might not be anything too high-end but its still holding its own against much more expensive "real" dac/amps in measurements so its probably not complete garbage either. It drives even my 470 ohm R70X effortlessly and sound difference between it and Takstar is so noticeable that i find it hard to believe that Pro 82 would "scale up" with better amp. I also tested Pro 82 on a Dragonfly Black which was borrowed from a buddy of mine, i didnt notice any real difference. Same thing with my laptop, desktop motherboards integrated chip, phone etc. So i highly doubt that better dac/amp would change my opinion about them (or Crimsonvoids).

I bought recently Creative Aurvana Live because i was interested to hear how they compare against Pro 82. Many people say that Pro 82 beats CAL in sound quality but that is not really what im hearing, to me CAL sounds better overall and outperforms Pro 82 in many areas where it struggles but still i cant hear that big of a difference between them that it would justify outright bash either one. Aurvanas midrange (or sound overall) doesnt sound nearly as grainy and has more natural feeling on it (also not as honky or hollow) and treble is free from metallic artificial/forced tone. Bass is really about a personal preference but CALs bass is produced in a more tasteful way imo. CAL just feels more relaxed and effortless in its presentation and is quite logical step up or two from Takstars. Only real edge i would give to Takstars is soundstage which seems to reach a tad further but its very minor and CAL has more airy and open feeling on it.

Of course this is all imo and you are more than free to disagree.

 

[BenF]

...i wont say TOTL. when somebody say TOTL, means their is a proper research, charts and other factor backing it up. I think TAKSTAR made it to sound just better by listening and measuring the frequency.

You have just described tuning a headphone - the most important part of making a new headphone

...It reminds me of Focal headphones weird experience, but its mistake or inefficiency in ringing and decay department make those overpowered
separation pleasant. Focal just separates everything, like notching up the scale of microscope. but this weird late decay is what makes it bad too.
...
ESS powered DAC and something like O2, JDS ATOM, AGDR CMOY
they become sharper than Focal on imaging but decay balances it out, making the image a little hazy and more bendable

What you have described is similar to how Pro 82 can sound with HA-2 and O2 - too technical, focused on details. Can be very impressive at first, but tiring in the long run.
It sounds nothing like it with SMSL Idea and O2 - very natural sounding, focused on the music.
Both HA-2 and Idea are Sabre-based, but results are very different.
Not all Sabre-based designs sound the same, have you tried HDV820? It's Sabre-based, but sound more like a AK44xx "Velvet Sound" DAC.

overall it is a natural headphone which pleases everyone and can compare to TOTL.
plus TOTL are always centered to a specifc area of forte, like HD800 was imaging king, STAX SR009 is natural sound king, Focal is separation, resoultion king etc.

takstar just do all
jack of all, master of none.........but this jack is smart and knows what to do and how to do

Compared to other TOTL closed headphones - TH900 Mk2, MDR-Z1R and HD820 - Pro 82 beats ALL of them in transparency and natural timbre. All 3 of these have a warm veil to different degrees.
As for Stax 009 being the natural sound king, it's not that much better than Pro 82 - take it from someone who owns both.
When you have Pro 82 on a good synergy combo, you truly learn how unforgiving the law of diminishing returns is. It forces you to focus on finding the next great music, instead of next great headphone.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

You have just described tuning a headphone - the most important part of making a new headphone


What you have described is similar to how Pro 82 can sound with HA-2 and O2 - too technical, focused on details. Can be very impressive at first, but tiring in the long run.
It sounds nothing like it with SMSL Idea and O2 - very natural sounding, focused on the music.
Both HA-2 and Idea are Sabre-based, but results are very different.
Not all Sabre-based designs sound the same, have you tried HDV820? It's Sabre-based, but sound more like a AK44xx "Velvet Sound" DAC.


Compared to other TOTL closed headphones - TH900 Mk2, MDR-Z1R and HD820 - Pro 82 beats ALL of them in transparency and natural timbre. All 3 of these have a warm veil to different degrees.
As for Stax 009 being the natural sound king, it's not that much better than Pro 82 - take it from someone who owns both.
When you have Pro 82 on a good synergy combo, you truly learn how unforgiving the law of diminishing returns is. It forces you to focus on finding the next great music, instead of next great headphone.

i know that DAC design do matter, but Sabre mostly tends toward jitter correction making them detailed even when they are designed to sound lush and natural.

i agree with you, and i did mention synergy...

i use AGDR CMOY and SMSL idea

and they rock

 

[BenF]

i know that DAC design do matter, but Sabre mostly tends toward jitter correction making them detailed even when they are designed to sound lush and natural.

i agree with you, and i did mention synergy...

i use AGDR CMOY and SMSL idea

and they rock

Do you prefer Idea+CMOY over Idea+O2?

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Do you prefer Idea+CMOY over Idea+O2?

IDEA + AGDR CMOY

AGDR CMOY is very different from normal Cheapo CMOY with virtual ground. this was made up on the basics of O2 but the aim was to be cheaper and more portable with huge battery life and some better THD and Floor.

the only prob with this amp is 75mA vs 125mA of O2.

but the 75mA is more than enough to drive Audeze LCD4 at unbearable level at full volume

if you want the specsheet and wanna diy this amp...

i can share the documents


pm me

 

[gazzington]

IDEA + AGDR CMOY

AGDR CMOY is very different from normal Cheapo CMOY with virtual ground. this was made up on the basics of O2 but the aim was to be cheaper and more portable with huge battery life and some better THD and Floor.

the only prob with this amp is 75mA vs 125mA of O2.

but the 75mA is more than enough to drive Audeze LCD4 at unbearable level at full volume

if you want the specsheet and wanna diy this amp...

i can share the documents


pm me

Hi, can you show a picture of your set up as it sounds really interesting