[BenF]

I´ve tried out my Takstar Pro 82 a bit now. I´ll probably post a longer amateurish review later, but my initial impressions are that they are very comfortable. The isolation is decent, I like the tonality. The bass is pretty good, not for bassheads or EDM-lovers but I like it and find it quite detailed and fast. Very clear, detailed sound, the strength of this headphone, outside how comfortable they are. I think the treble are a bit too pronounced for me, I´ve played around a little bit with the EQ but didn´t find that I managed to solve it in a good enough way, so far. If I can´t tame the treble a bit more I´ll probably sell them and buy something a bit more balanced and a bit warmer and less analytical. I do get why lots of people love them though, the comfort, detail and clarity is truly great. I also like the tonality.

Early conclusion: Right now I can´t stand the treble so I either manage to tame it or I will sell them fast.

Sounds like you got yourself a v1.

You have 3 options:
1) Tune the v1 with the foam disks: Tuning Pro 82 with easy mods
2) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks, sell v1 and buy the genuine v2 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html
3) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks AND raise the bass to bass head level, buy a genuine GM200 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33012705103.html

Keep in mind that while any smartphone will get Pro 82/GM200 loud enough, they won't drive it properly, especially the bass. High quality bass requires a lot of current, and smartphones can't push current, only voltage.
That's why on smartphones Pro 82 will sound treble-happy.
So BTR3K is still needed to get the full potential from Pro 82/GM200: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000849710696.html
Bass will get even better with the balanced cables: Using Pro 82 with a balanced cable

If you'll buy Pro 82/GM200 with BTR3K, you can use the 8$ coupon in the first post.
Combined with the ongoing discounts during the sale, it's a pretty sweet deal.

 

[northernsound]

Sounds like you got yourself a v1.

You have 3 options:
1) Tune the v1 with the foam disks: Tuning Pro 82 with easy mods
2) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks, sell v1 and buy the genuine v2 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html
3) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks AND raise the bass to bass head level, buy a genuine GM200 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33012705103.html

Keep in mind that while any smartphone will get Pro 82/GM200 loud enough, they won't drive it properly, especially the bass. High quality bass requires a lot of current, and smartphones can't push current, only voltage.
That's why on smartphones Pro 82 will sound treble-happy.
So BTR3K is still needed to get the full potential from Pro 82/GM200: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000849710696.html
Bass will get even better with the balanced cables: Using Pro 82 with a balanced cable

If you'll buy Pro 82/GM200 with BTR3K, you can use the 8$ coupon in the first post.
Combined with the ongoing discounts during the sale, it's a pretty sweet deal.

Thank you for your reply. I´ll answer more later when I have more time. I bought them there so it is the second generation. I know more people than me find it to have too pronounced treble too, check out "Oluv´s gadgets" review and comparison for an example of that. I´ll check all your very valuable input later and reply, I´m very grateful for all the information.

 

[Escudos999]

Sounds like you got yourself a v1.

You have 3 options:
1) Tune the v1 with the foam disks: Tuning Pro 82 with easy mods
2) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks, sell v1 and buy the genuine v2 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html
3) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks AND raise the bass to bass head level, buy a genuine GM200 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33012705103.html

Keep in mind that while any smartphone will get Pro 82/GM200 loud enough, they won't drive it properly, especially the bass. High quality bass requires a lot of current, and smartphones can't push current, only voltage.
That's why on smartphones Pro 82 will sound treble-happy.
So BTR3K is still needed to get the full potential from Pro 82/GM200: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000849710696.html
Bass will get even better with the balanced cables: Using Pro 82 with a balanced cable

If you'll buy Pro 82/GM200 with BTR3K, you can use the 8$ coupon in the first post.
Combined with the ongoing discounts during the sale, it's a pretty sweet deal.

Takstar ProStore at AliExpress also sells 'new version' (v2 with 1.6m cable) and they are a little cheaper. Marked as new version so I take them to be genuine 'new version'?

 

[northernsound]

Sounds like you got yourself a v1.

You have 3 options:
1) Tune the v1 with the foam disks: Tuning Pro 82 with easy mods
2) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks, sell v1 and buy the genuine v2 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html
3) If you want to get rid of the treble peaks AND raise the bass to bass head level, buy a genuine GM200 here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33012705103.html

Keep in mind that while any smartphone will get Pro 82/GM200 loud enough, they won't drive it properly, especially the bass. High quality bass requires a lot of current, and smartphones can't push current, only voltage.
That's why on smartphones Pro 82 will sound treble-happy.
So BTR3K is still needed to get the full potential from Pro 82/GM200: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000849710696.html
Bass will get even better with the balanced cables: Using Pro 82 with a balanced cable

If you'll buy Pro 82/GM200 with BTR3K, you can use the 8$ coupon in the first post.
Combined with the ongoing discounts during the sale, it's a pretty sweet deal.

I'm leaning towards trying the Btr3k as you suggested. I will have to read more about balanced cables, I thought they were something that only decreases noice, I didn't know they more directly affect the bass performance. Great info as always Ben, very appreciated.

 

[BenF]

Takstar ProStore at AliExpress also sells 'new version' (v2 with 1.6m cable) and they are a little cheaper. Marked as new version so I take them to be genuine 'new version'?

That price looks suspicious. New shipments of the v2 are supposed to go about 4$ up in price compared to previous v2 price - producing v2 is more expensive than v1 (maybe that's why Takstar seems to have resumed production of v1?).
Better go for the sure thing.

Those of you that were thinking about buying v2 - better buy one now, utilizing the sale discounts and the coupons in the first post, before they go up in price.

 

[BenF]

I'm leaning towards trying the Btr3k as you suggested. I will have to read more about balanced cables, I thought they were something that only decreases noice, I didn't know they more directly affect the bass performance. Great info as always Ben, very appreciated.

It's nice to be appreciated

BTR3K will surely help, but you should probably buy the foam disks as well, seeing how you are sensitive to treble more than the average music lover. We all have different hearing, and we should use this fact to adjust the headphones to match our preferences.

 

[OscarPaz]

I'm leaning towards trying the Btr3k as you suggested. I will have to read more about balanced cables, I thought they were something that only decreases noice, I didn't know they more directly affect the bass performance. Great info as always Ben, very appreciated.

I have a Pro 82 v1 for sure (purchased in 2017 from first batch) and recently got the BTR3K and the balanced cable. This combo is fantastic, but I don’t think it helps with bass in particular, rather with separation, soundstage and micro-detail. It has been a real upgrade for me in that department over some other DAC/amps at my disposal. I love it since I value precision and detail, but others may think differently.

I’ve never experienced a better bass from Pro 82 v1 other than connected to the Mojo: very rich, textured and “creamy”, addictive…

Still, regardless of source, this Pro 82 of mine leans towards a trebly character. Takes a bit for the brain to adjust to it (give it some time), but when it does, it really pays off with surprisingly great clarity, very revealing.

 

[northernsound]

I have a Pro 82 v1 for sure (purchased in 2017 from first batch) and recently got the BTR3K and the balanced cable. This combo is fantastic, but I don’t think it helps with bass in particular, rather with separation, soundstage and micro-detail. It has been a real upgrade for me in that department over some other DAC/amps at my disposal. I love it since I value precision and detail, but others may think differently.

I’ve never experienced a better bass from Pro 82 v1 other than connected to the Mojo: very rich, textured and “creamy”, addictive…

Still, regardless of source, this Pro 82 of mine leans towards a trebly character. Takes a bit for the brain to adjust to it (give it some time), but when it does, it really pays off with surprisingly great clarity, very revealing.

Thank you for the reply. Interesting input about the bass and so on. I really understand what you're saying about the clarity. I've been reading and watching some stuff about the treble on the Takstar Pro 82 (and of course kept listening to music and talks with it) and I just don't think I will be happy with it, even after adding a good dac.

Things like this comparison between V1 and V2 kind of makes me hesitant to think that the BTR3K will change it enough for ME personally, looking at the graphs, from him and from audio heaven, I just don't think it's for me. I know I could be wrong but that's my current evaluation of all the reviews, inputs, graphs and so on I've seen. Must be awesome for less treble sensitive people though, truly great clarity and comfort.

 

[BenF]

Thank you for the reply. Interesting input about the bass and so on. I really understand what you're saying about the clarity. I've been reading and watching some stuff about the treble on the Takstar Pro 82 (and of course kept listening to music and talks with it) and I just don't think I will be happy with it, even after adding a good dac.

Things like this comparison between V1 and V2 kind of makes me hesitant to think that the BTR3K will change it enough for ME personally, looking at the graphs, from him and from audio heaven, I just don't think it's for me. I know I could be wrong but that's my current evaluation of all the reviews, inputs, graphs and so on I've seen. Must be awesome for less treble sensitive people though, truly great clarity and comfort.

I was sure that I have already debunked Oluv's review in the past, but I can't find it, so here we go (again??).

At 0:41 he says "...that I measured with my own ears".
Does he mean "ears" or "E.A.R.S" (which he owns)? He does point to his ears when he says this, so it raised a red flag for me.

Let's look at his "v1 vs v2" measurements from 3:57 (brown is "v1", blue is "v2"):

Some notes -
1) Almost flat from 200hz to ~3.5kHz,
2) The 5kHz peak is 10db ("v1") and 7dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
3) The 7kHz peak is 12db ("v1") and 10dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
4) The 9kHz peak is 12db ("v1") and 11dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
5) Oluv's "V1" and "V2" measure almost the same, except for 1-3dB difference in the peaks.

Now let's look at my measurements of "v1 vs v2", taken with my E.A.R.S, not my ears:

Some notes -
1) Almost flat from 200hz to ~2.5kHz,
2) The 5kHz peak is 1-2db ("v1") and 10dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
3) The 7kHz peak is 2db ("v1") above and 4dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
4) The 9kHz peak is 6db ("v1") above and 2dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
5) Proper v1 and v2 have significant difference in the peaks - 6 to 8dBs.

Oluv's "v2" measures the 5kHz peak 17dB, 7kHz peak 14dB and 9kHz peak 13dB above my measurements (compared to 1kHz level).
That's just crazy.

It would be convenient to assume that Oluv has simply ended up with two "v0.9" directly from Takstar's garbage bin, instead of v1 and v2, but there are no Pro 82 drivers that are flat all the way to ~3.5kHz.
His "Takstar PRO 82 - sound demo" video at 3:44 has the solution to this enigma: "This is my perceived response, how I hear Takstar Pro 82":

Does this look familiar? The "measurements" in the video you have included, are not measurements at all - he used his ears, not his E.A.R.S.
And boy, did his ears get it wrong... Considering that 6dB is equivalent to 100% increase in volume, his hearing seems to have lost 70-80% sensitivity in the lower regions compared to treble.
There is a reason why 90% of his reviews are Bluetooth speakers/headphones...

If you want reliable opinions on how Pro 82 sounds, check out the comparisons in the second post (you can skip mine) and impressions in the 3rd post. I don't trust reviewers, I trust music lovers.

As for BTR3K, it won't solve the treble issue alone - it will just make it sound less treble-y by driving a deeper, "fatter" bass.
That's why I keep mentioned the foams. The combination of foams and BTR3K should solve this problem completely and give you many happy eargasms

 

[northernsound]

I was sure that I have already debunked Oluv's review in the past, but I can't find it, so here we go (again??).

At 0:41 he says "...that I measured with my own ears".
Does he mean "ears" or "E.A.R.S" (which he owns)? He does point to his ears when he says this, so it raised a red flag for me.

Let's look at his "v1 vs v2" measurements from 3:57 (brown is "v1", blue is "v2"):

Some notes -
1) Almost flat from 200hz to ~3.5kHz,
2) The 5kHz peak is 10db ("v1") and 7dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
3) The 7kHz peak is 12db ("v1") and 10dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
4) The 9kHz peak is 12db ("v1") and 11dB (v2) above the 1kHz level
5) Oluv's "V1" and "V2" measure almost the same, except for 1-3dB difference in the peaks.

Now let's look at my measurements of "v1 vs v2", taken with my E.A.R.S, not my ears:

Some notes -
1) Almost flat from 200hz to ~2.5kHz,
2) The 5kHz peak is 1-2db ("v1") and 10dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
3) The 7kHz peak is 2db ("v1") above and 4dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
4) The 9kHz peak is 6db ("v1") above and 2dB (v2) below the 1kHz level
5) Proper v1 and v2 have significant difference in the peaks - 6 to 8dBs.

Oluv's "v2" measures the 5kHz peak 17dB, 7kHz peak 14dB and 9kHz peak 13dB above my measurements (compared to 1kHz level).
That's just crazy.

It would be convenient to assume that Oluv has simply ended up with two "v0.9" directly from Takstar's garbage bin, instead of v1 and v2, but there are no Pro 82 drivers that are flat all the way to ~3.5kHz.
His "Takstar PRO 82 - sound demo" video at 3:44 has the solution to this enigma: "This is my perceived response, how I hear Takstar Pro 82":


Does this look familiar? The "measurements" in the video you have included, are not measurements at all - he used his ears, not his E.A.R.S.
And boy, did his ears get it wrong... Considering that 6dB is equivalent to 100% increase in volume, his hearing seems to have lost 70-80% sensitivity in the lower regions compared to treble.
There is a reason why 90% of his reviews are Bluetooth speakers/headphones...

If you want reliable opinions on how Pro 82 sounds, check out the comparisons in the second post (you can skip mine) and impressions in the 3rd post. I don't trust reviewers, I trust music lovers.

As for BTR3K, it won't solve the treble issue alone - it will just make it sound less treble-y by driving a deeper, "fatter" bass.
That's why I keep mentioned the foams. The combination of foams and BTR3K should solve this problem completely and give you many happy eargasms

Thank you for your reply. Just a bit of added info about his audio-reviews, he does other headphone-reviews and so on that only his patreons gets. I was under the impression that he records the frequenzy response with this:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/ears-headphone-jig

Just so I understand this correctly, are you saying that your impression is that he listens to them with his physical ears and that he then manually writes in the frequenzy response in a graph instead of using that equipment? Or am I getting this all wrong? I know Oluv's gadgets is well regarded by other headphone reviewers, and if it's true that he just makes up his graphs I'm very surprised. He sais "this is measured" after that too, and that he would mean his own listening experience instead of actual measurements sounds, as I said, very surprising to me. I mean, in his review of the original Takstar Pro 82 the headphones even sit on the equipment if I´m not mistaking, but then again he sais that it's his perceived response when it's recorded over that equipment. I feel a bit confused. It just sounds so insane to me that he would change the graph, or do an own graph based on his own "impressions" instead of the actual measurements, I have a hard time accepting it! Thank you again for the tip about the foams (and the dac).

 

[Haplo]

I´ve tried out my Takstar Pro 82 a bit now. I´ll probably post a longer amateurish review later, but my initial impressions are that they are very comfortable. The isolation is decent, I like the tonality. The bass is pretty good, not for bassheads or EDM-lovers but I like it and find it quite detailed and fast. Very clear, detailed sound, the strength of this headphone, outside how comfortable they are. I think that the treble is a bit too pronounced for me, I´ve played around a little bit with the EQ but didn´t find that I managed to solve it in a good enough way, so far. If I can´t tame the treble a bit more I´ll probably sell them and buy something a bit more balanced and a bit warmer and less analytical. I do get why lots of people love them though, the comfort, detail and clarity is truly great. I also like the tonality.

Early conclusion: Right now I can´t stand the treble so I either manage to tame it or I will sell them fast.

Did you get the V2?

Edit: NVM. Didn't see the posts above.

 

[BenF]

Thank you for your reply. Just a bit of added info about his audio-reviews, he does other headphone-reviews and so on that only his patreons gets. I was under the impression that he records the frequency response with this:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/ears-headphone-jig

Most people have the same impression

Just so I understand this correctly, are you saying that your impression is that he listens to them with his physical ears and that he then manually writes in the frequency response in a graph instead of using that equipment?

You are correct!

I know Oluv's gadgets is well regarded by other headphone reviewers, and if it's true that he just makes up his graphs I'm very surprised.

Surprising for sure, I don't know anybody else who does that.

He sais "this is measured" after that too, and that he would mean his own listening experience instead of actual measurements sounds, as I said, very surprising to me.

When he says that he measured with his ears, people assume he means his E.A.R.S measuring jig.
So he can always say he was telling the truth the whole time.

Takstar Pro 82 the headphones even sit on the equipment if I´m not mistaking, but then again he sais that it's his perceived response when it's recorded over that equipment. I feel a bit confused. It just sounds so insane to me that he would change the graph, or do an own graph based on his own "impressions" instead of the actual measurements, I have a hard time accepting it!

That's the maddening part - he does own the measuring rig, but he only uses it for sound demos!

Thank you again for the tip about the foams (and the dac).

You are welcome!

 

[gargani]

Tried it yesterday for about an hour, it was fine, (only one notch difference mind you, dominate ear neutral, opposite side, one click). Didn't cause a major audible imbalance, our brains are amazing at adjusting. Try it...

A minor change in channel balance for bass tones won't be audible to most people.
If the imbalance is too great then it will become audible.
This is referring to bass frequencies specifically.

 

[DemolitionMan]

Has anyone done a comparo: Pro 82 v2 to Beyerdynamic DT 1770 or DT 177X GO?

 

[BenF]

Has anyone done a comparo: Pro 82 v2 to Beyerdynamic DT 1770 or DT 177X GO?

No, but you can find in the second post comparisons with other headphones, including some Beyerdynamics:

Comparison with Fostex TH-900, Fostex TH-X00 Purpleheart, Sennheiser 800/6xx, Beyerdynamic T90 (by Ahmadfaizadnan)
Comparison with Sony MDR900MA, Phillips X2, Monoprice M1060, Denon D7000, Beyerdynamic T1 (by J Mirra)
Comparison with Sony MDR-1A and Beyerdynamic DT-1350 (by Myrra)