[trellus]

Got my pair today -- quick impressions, out of my Mac Mini to Roland UA-M10 DAC to Samson QH4 4-channel amp (makes it very easy to A/B), with bass ports fully closed, playing Daft Punk's "The Game of Love" from Random Access Memories:

• Comfort -- just great!
• Pro 82 has a very clean, detailed sound, just sounds "right" immediately to my ears, bass is tight and fast, hear no bleed into miss
• Highs are definitely noticeable, not fatiguing to my ears, though, sound is balanced overall to my ears
• But then comparing to Shure SRH940, I find that the vocals sound slightly less in front on the Pro 82 than they do on the SRH940, and the sound of the snare sounds a little thinner and less "real" in timbre to my ears than on the SRH940. As a reference, I listened also on my Sennheiser HD 600, which I tend to trust most of my headphones when it comes to timbre of acoustic instruments, and the Shure's sounded closer to the HD 600 than the Pro 82.

Overall, though, just with a little bit of listening, I am rather impressed with the Pro 82 -- it has a very clean, detailed sound that reminds me actually a lot of the SRH940, and it's only A/B'ing that the differences emerge.

Because I have too many headphones, frankly, I've found that it is easy to adjust to most of my headphones and the "good ones" all sound right to me after I "tune my brain in" to the right "headphone preset" that my brain has stored for that headphone, but this is easier for some headphones than others, though -- for example, when I pull out my Putin-crafted (j/k!) Russian woodies, the Fischer FA-011 semi-open, it takes my brain a bit to adjust because it first hears the sound as muffled and too thick, dark, bassy.

I can tell with the Pro 82, if I've come from listening to bassier headphones (say, RBH HP2 or aforementioned Fischer FA-011), I might first find the Pro 82 a little thin, but because there's so much right to my ears with it, I quickly adjust and it sounds very "right" and enjoyable.

Also, I did briefly listen to the Pro 82 on a tiny FiiO K1 DAC/amp from my MacBook at work, and that sounded great, really, same for the Schiit Fulla original, little DAC/amp, and also from my FiiO X1 DAP.

 

[bunkbail]

Amps: Oppo HA-1, Beyerdynamic A2, Caying HA-1A MK2. I own none of these, used them to audition some of the 45 headphones I mentioned earlier.
DACs: Oppo HA-2 (own 2 of these), Oppo HA-2SE, NFB.11-32, GO V2, GO 1000, maybe a couple more in the 300$-400$ range, never went above 500$ for a DAC yet.

IDEA+O2 are perfect for Pro 82 - but it doesn't mean that it's a perfection combination for other headphones.
O2 is still my amp of choice for most headphones, including TH900MK2.
But Idea is not a great fit for TH900MK2 - last thing the already warm TH900MK2 needs, is the extra warmth provided by Idea.
Oppo HA-2 and HA-2SE do a much better job with the Fostex.

I just ordered both iDEA and O2. I might do some Pro 82 setups comparisons with my main setup and Mojo.

 

[BenF]

Just received my Pro82 from aliexpress - MH Recording Music Store, fast shipping, nice package.
I also own the PRO80, I use them since 4years, so I really look forward to the PRO82.

At first glance they seem more quality made, very lightweight, and really comfortable to wear.

The sound is also great but it needs to be burned in of course.

I think adding The bass switch was not so important, switching to +1 makes the bass a little muddy and unnecessary.
For me the highs seem to be more harsh on the Pro82, the mids are OK for me.

Welcome to the club!

Treble on Pro 82 shouldn't be harsher than Pro 80 - either the problem is in your chain, or maybe Pro 82 is uncovering problems in the recording itself.
You should try it with several high quality recordings to identify the source of the issue.
Did you try comparing Pro 82 and Pro 80 with the Taylor Swift clip in the first post?
For me, the difference was huge.

Also, how old are your pads? Are they as old as the headphone - 4 years?
As pads age, the sound can change dramatically, try new Pro 80 pads, and the difference in treble will become obvious.

Repeating my usual recommendation - Idea+O2 and tuning foams will get you where you need to be.

Added your impressions to post #3.

 

[BenF]

@BenF: If I recall properly, you advised on the use of the tuning foams based on listenings direct from the HA-2.
Now with this IDEA+O2 combo, do you still use those foam disks?

98% of the time I listen to Pro 82 stock, as the Idea+O2 already improves the mids enough for me (and has other benefits).
Sometimes I put the thin foams in, when the song really benefits from the mid-forward presentation.

 

[saddleup]

@oldmate Do reviews from "more well known reviewers" actually matter at this point? Aren't we talking about a $80 headphone here? The fact that they are being compared to headphones that costs 3 or 4 or more times what they cost says it all. I would hazard a guess that if someone has enough interest in headphones to participate in this forum they fully understand that $80 is but a drop in the bucket. I'm about the order a set. The worst that could happen is I get a nice headphone worth $80. After reading this thread so far I suspect that I'll be getting a $80 headphone that compares favorably with headphones that cost much more. Either way it seems like a win.

@BenF, thanks for the heads up

 

[ahmadfaizadnan]

Was not on head-fi for a day and there's quite a discussion going on here.

A little bit about my MAIN setup; It is meant to be revolved around HD800. No coloration. Neutral with a smooth top end to tone down the sibilant from any headphone, especially HD800. To my surprise, it has a great synergy to every headphone/IEM that I tried. Some might think it is overkill for $80 headphone; I would say yes but not for Pro 82. I've tried the Pro 82 with my other amps, Xbass a-100 ($219) and Magni 3 ($99); I found that I am missing the little details and separation. The bass is not as punchier, the highs however smooth and pleasing for all three amps but losing details with the two that I mentioned earlier. This verifies that Pro 82 does scale well with better setup although the differences might be too small to notice. As @Ben F said earlier, synergy is the most important aspect in every setup, SMSL Idea + O2 might do the trick and It doesn't need to be a $4300 setup to get the best out of the Pro 82.

Well-known reviewers like Tyll also noticed that there are cheaper options out there that punches way above its price. Nowadays, some headphones might even reach up to $4000-6000 mark and it might get more expensive in the years to come. Not saying that they are not good, but we doesn't need to spend that much to get a great sounding headphone. In the end, it's about enjoying the music. That's what the Pro 82 does so far

 

[BenF]

Another challenger comes in!

 

[trellus]

Another challenger comes in!

Looking forward to your impressions on that Topping DAC/amp, as that looks like something I'd consider, whereas I'm very cool to the SMSL Idea.

 

[maheeinfy]

Is Aliexpress the best place to get these? I see OP has mention of some discounts for head-fiers; is that still valid?

 

[BenF]

Is Aliexpress the best place to get these? I see OP has mention of some discounts for head-fiers; is that still valid?

Yes, the 5$ head-fi discount is still valid at the TakstarAudio store.

 

[heavyharmonies]

Well, after another solid day of listening and A/B with my Fostex Mahoganys... I've just ordered another two Pro 82 from Takstar so I can have one at home, one at the office, a third set to keep in the car, and one as a backup. At $75 shipped including hard case, these are just too stupidly cheap not to. They're virtually disposable at that cost... the headphone equivalent of champagne taste on a Coors budget. And I've decided to put the Fostex Mahogany on eBay to defray the costs.

I'll never be able to afford the $1500 or $2000 headphones that some people refer to, but I've listened to enough $400-$1,000 headphones to be perfectly content with the Pro 82 as my endgame for the foreseeable future. So there's no reason for me to keep the Fostex.

I'm keeping my Koss ESP-950 though, since they're just unusual enough to not give up.

I've jumped on some of the hype trains before, but unlike the others, this one has actually held up to the promise... at least for me.

 

[oldmate]

Deleted as just-hifi is apparently a mirror of Head.Fi.

 

[trellus]

Yeah, and it appears to be all hype originating from our mate BenF. Whilst looking for some unbiased reviews and comparisons I stumbled across these comments on another audio site from BenF.

"Pro 82s are also miles ahead in clarity department of any planars I have - HE400, HE400S, iSine 20 - all of these are in storage."

"With Pro 82, you are listening to your chain, not your headphone - since it doesn't color the sound in any way."

"I am a not so proud owner of two 1000$ IEMs - AKG 3003 and FI-BA-SS. Just like the 1400$ L700, they get zero listening time."

"Modded Pro 82 sounds very similar to Fostex TH-900MK2 with TH-600 pads, even after burning TH-900 for 150 hours."

And the piece de resistance;

"I've paid a heavy price trying to force myself into some headphones just because others raved about them - don't repeat my mistakes."

Been around way too long to fall for this rubbish and unfortunately it happens way to often on audio forums. Hype.

There have been several other who have compared the Pro 82 to headphones costing 3 to 4 times as much -- after all, that's not difficult given that the Pro 82 is roughly $80 so that's $240 - $320, it's not just @BenF, but certainly, no one need trust anyone but himself or anything but his own ears.

 

[heavyharmonies]

BenF appears to be a gung ho fan of these headphones. Nothing wrong with that. If you read through this entire thread, you'll see there are plenty of people (not just Benf) that find these headphones to punch well above their weight class, myself included.

If these headphones were $300+, you'd likely see nowhere near the coverage about them, being a Chinese no-name brand... but at $75 they really are an insane bargain and worthy of discussion. Not to speak for BenF, but I can understand the motivation of "more people need to know about these and how great a value they are".

Just my 2 cents...

 

[oldmate]

Alright...Against my better judgement I shall order a pair and see for myself how they stack up against my M50X's and MDR1A's. I'll bet pounds to pence they come nowhere near my Focal Classics. And I guess if I'm left disappointed it has something to do with my "chain".

I hope the hype is real because if it's not and is just hype and confirmation bias I'm going to be pissed at you lot and if they are the hidden gem I shall eat humble pie and PayPal enough funds to BenF to buy a 6 pack of his choice of beer.

And when you put up your Fostex cans on eBay be sure to post a link.