[BenF]

Comparison with CAL!

I don't get it.
I really don't get it.
Why is CAL! so popular?
It's even on Tyll's "Wall of Fame" - for "Over-Ear Sealed" (!?). How can it possibly be "Over-Ear"? The pads are very small, how can Tyll file them under "Over-Ear"?
He has a large head with man-sized ears - these pads are definitely not built to surround an adult man's ears.

Comfort is definitely an issue, but isolation is an even bigger one - according to Tyll's measurements, there is no isolation whatsoever under 1kHz.
CAL! can't even handle A/C noise in the office.
Small pads will do that to you...

As you can see, the entire CAL! pad is only slightly larger than Takstar Pro 82 pad's opening
Difference in material quality is obvious too.

HM5 pads are even larger, and much thicker than Pro 82


Headband padding is very thin and narrow, doesn't cover much of it

Pro 82 on the left, CAL! on the right.

Sound:
CAL! has an L-shaped FR, but it sounds U/V-shaped, not dark at all.
It doesn't really excel at any range of FR, but the sound is very well balanced all over the FR, and this creates an illusion of a very good headphone.
This illusion disappears very quickly when you start A/B-ing them with better headphones.

Here is a comparison with Takstar Pro 82:

Bass - Pro 82 is extended down to 15Hz, CAL! stops at 20Hz, and has a lot less energy there than Pro 82 at 15Hz.
Quality of CAL!'s bass is mediocre at best - its pads don't seal.
Pro 82's much larger pads play a big role in its amazing bass quality - it has a much greater impact and better decay.

Mids - CAL! has a slightly warm veil. It's not as thick as HD600's, but it's there.
Pro 82 removes this veil, and adds A LOT of detail.

Treble - CAL! has a very polite treble. It doesn't go very far, but it's still not "dark" - it's just missing some detail and energy.
Pro 82 adds the missing parts, while not getting "hot".

Overall CAL! sounds quite small and congested.
I can't help but think that using larger pads from a better material could improve CAL!'s SQ, but this comparison is stock.

CAL! doesn't scale up well - it doesn't sound any better through Oppo HA-2 than through a Rockboxed Sansa Clip+

Current price of CAL! on Amazon is 62$, and it has spent most of the past 6 months between 60$ and 70$, even though last December it was under 45$.

Takstar Pro 82 is currently 67$ on Aliexpress - only a 5$ difference.
And this difference disappears when you add the sales tax.

I bought CAL! last year for 50$, and still I'm disappointed from its value proposition.
At 62$, it's moving in the wrong direction - It belongs in the 30$-40$ area.

P.S. This turned out to be a full review of CAL!, maybe I'll post it as such too

 

[BenF]

Still waiting for my next selary to pull the trigger on the Pro 82's. Been a real hard month though. Hopefully I will get my aliexpress order within 4 weeks this time. Going with the cheapest way possible. Good old bubble wrap style.

The cheapest seller on Aliexpress (67$) currently offers ePacket shipping to many countries - either for free, or at 1$.
ePacket usually delivers within 2-3 weeks, instead of 4-6 weeks for China Post.
You don't have to overpay to get fast shipping anymore
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gen...or-Computer-recording-K-song/32811589590.html

EDIT: The discount has expired (price is 72.5$ now), but the seller will probably lower the price again in a few hours. He keeps lowering the price to 67$ as a "sale", but "sales" are time-limited and need to be renewed.

EDIT #2: Price is even lower than before - 66.29$. Don't forget the extra 1% discount when ordering on the Aliexpress app!

 

[Tweeters]

I'd like a comparison to the iSK HD9999 if possible, thanks for the impressions you've already posted

 

[BenF]

I'd like a comparison to the iSK HD9999 if possible, thanks for the impressions you've already posted

Vote #4 for ISK HD9999 Pro - counted

 

[oleggator]

Thanks for good review! I have a question, will pro 82 work well with my asus xonar dgx? I mean amount of volume and bass.

 

[BenF]

Thanks for good review! I have a question, will pro 82 work well with my asus xonar dgx? I mean amount of volume and bass.

Xonar DG does get Sennheiser HD600 loud (97dB, 300 Ohm), so it should have no problem driving Pro 82 (96dB, 32 Ohm).
You won't get the best results (because of high output impedance), but you should still get most of it.
Once you'll get Pro 82 and hear it - start saving for a better Amp/DAC.

 

[Peicille]

Comparison with CAL!

I don't get it.
I really don't get it.
Why is CAL! so popular?
It's even on Tyll's "Wall of Fame" - for "Over-Ear Sealed" (!?). How can it possibly be "Over-Ear"? The pads are very small, how can Tyll file them under "Over-Ear"?
He has a large head with man-sized ears - these pads are definitely not built to surround an adult man's ears.

Comfort is definitely an issue, but isolation is an even bigger one - according to Tyll's measurements, there is no isolation whatsoever under 1kHz.
CAL! can't even handle A/C noise in the office.
Small pads will do that to you...

As you can see, the entire CAL! pad is only slightly larger than Takstar Pro 82 pad's opening
Difference in material quality is obvious too.


HM5 pads are even larger, and much thicker than Pro 82


Headband padding is very thin and narrow, doesn't cover much of it

Pro 82 on the left, CAL! on the right.

Sound:
CAL! has an L-shaped FR, but it sounds U/V-shaped, not dark at all.
It doesn't really excel at any range of FR, but the sound is very well balanced all over the FR, and this creates an illusion of a very good headphone.
This illusion disappears very quickly when you start A/B-ing them with better headphones.

Here is a comparison with Takstar Pro 82:

Bass - Pro 82 is extended down to 15Hz, CAL! stops at 20Hz, and has a lot less energy there than Pro 82 at 15Hz.
Quality of CAL!'s bass is mediocre at best - its pads don't seal.
Pro 82's much larger pads play a big role in its amazing bass quality - it has a much greater impact and better decay.

Mids - CAL! has a slightly warm veil. It's not as thick as HD600's, but it's there.
Pro 82 removes this veil, and adds A LOT of detail.

Treble - CAL! has a very polite treble. It doesn't go very far, but it's still not "dark" - it's just missing some detail and energy.
Pro 82 adds the missing parts, while not getting "hot".

Overall CAL! sounds quite small and congested.
I can't help but think that using larger pads from a better material could improve CAL!'s SQ, but this comparison is stock.

CAL! doesn't scale up well - it doesn't sound any better through Oppo HA-2 than through a Rockboxed Sansa Clip+

Current price of CAL! on Amazon is 62$, and it has spent most of the past 6 months between 60$ and 70$, even though last December it was under 45$.


Takstar Pro 82 is currently 67$ on Aliexpress - only a 5$ difference.
And this difference disappears when you add the sales tax.

I bought CAL! last year for 50$, and still I'm disappointed from its value proposition.
At 62$, it's moving in the wrong direction - It belongs in the 30$-40$ area.

P.S. This turned out to be a full review of CAL!, maybe I'll post it as such too

That was pretty much what I thought of the CAL!'s ... Which is why I returned them last month. They sounded like a good all arounder and I'd still recommend them to people who don't like to analyze music but for myself, I need something with better clarity and detail. The word to describe their sound would be "natural" with a warm tilt. Though, the mids were pretty good when I compared them to my Carbo Basso IEM's.

I'm hoping the PRO 82's will deliver in that aspect. Mine should be here early next week. On paper, I'm assuming the sound signature to be somewhere between the M50X and the V-Moda M100.

 

[BenF]

... I need something with better clarity and detail. ...

I can promise that you will get exactly what you want!

... On paper, I'm assuming the sound signature to be somewhere between the M50X and the V-Moda M100.

Probably closer to M50X, M100 is very V-shaped (judging by FR)

... Mine should be here early next week.

Did you order them locally?

 

[peskypesky]

I don't get it.
I really don't get it.
Why is CAL! so popular?

Hmmm, well, i can say that I loved the sound and fit of my CAL's....until they broke. Which took less than a year.

I had the original design, which were prone to breaking like this:

I myself am very interested in the Takstar Pro 82's. I'm extremely happy with my Superlux HD681 EVO's at home.....but am always interested in another budget-priced headphone with possibly better sound.

 

[BenF]

Hmmm, well, i can say that I loved the sound and fit of my CAL's....until they broke. Which took less than a year.

I had the original design, which were prone to breaking like this:
...
I myself am very interested in the Takstar Pro 82's. I'm extremely happy with my Superlux HD681 EVO's at home.....but am always interested in another budget-priced headphone with possibly better sound.

My CAL! looks exactly like your broken one. What was the design change, and when did it happen?
Why did they make a "portable" headphone that isn't durable and doesn't isolate - it makes no sense...

Can't comment on Superlux HD681 EVO (never heard them), but they have very good reputation for a 40$-50$ pair.
Please post a comparison if/when you'll get Pro 82.

 

[peskypesky]

My CAL! looks exactly like your broken one. What was the design change, and when did it happen?
Why did they make a "portable" headphone that isn't durable and doesn't isolate - it makes no sense...

Can't comment on Superlux HD681 EVO (never heard them), but they have very good reputation for a 40$-50$ pair.
Please post a comparison if/when you'll get Pro 82.

I was mistaken. They came out with a CAL 2, which I thought was a replacement of the CAL. But they're still making the CAL....

 

[RedHarlow]

Pulled the trigger on the Pro 82's. Ordered from the Xiao mi World Store. Hopefully It will be faster with the e paket delivery option. I just need to find a small black 2,5mm to 3,5mm adapter so I can use my vmoda boom pro.

 

[BenF]

Pulled the trigger on the Pro 82's. Ordered from the Xiao mi World Store. Hopefully It will be faster with the e paket delivery option. I just need to find a small black 2,5mm to 3,5mm adapter so I can use my vmoda boom pro.

Welcome to the club! Did you get it with the case?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3pc...le-Jack-Stereo-TRS-connector/32620836720.html

 

[Denzea]

I used to love Takstar Pro 80. In fact, I bought two of them (still have both).
I have even recommended them to some of my friends (who ended up being very happy with them).

However, Pro 80s were too U/V-shaped for me, and it took forever to burn them in to get rid of the extra hot treble.
I've moved on to better cans, but kept my eye on the inevitable replacement.

The replacement was teased for months, and as soon I saw one for sale, I jumped on it immediately.
This may be the first one to get out of China, but it's definitely not the last one...

Meet the Pro 82:

It comes in the famous Takstar case.


I chose the black ones over the silver ones - no regrets here!
Gorgeous headphones, plain and simple.


It comes with a soft case, 3.5mm/6.5mm adapter and a 2.2m cable (2.5mm inside the cup, 3.5mm on the other end).
Takstar continues the tradition of providing cables that are too long.
Luckily, there is no shortage of cheap shorter replacement cables, that should fit just fine:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ven...io-Cable-Gold-Plated-1m-Blue/32484944726.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ven...dio-Cable-Gold-Plated-1m-Blue/1979650668.html








Now let's get to it!

Comfort:
Comfort is greatly improved compared to Pro 80.
The pads are larger, thicker and made of better materials. They are fully "over ear" for me, when Pro 80 was a definite "on-ear". If the NVX XPT100 with the ComfortMax pads is 10 out of 10 comfort-wise, and Pro 80 is 6.5 at best - Pro 82 is an 8 at least.
Pressure on the head is acceptably delicate, yet the headphone sits securely.


Above you can see a ComfortMax pad sandwiched inside Pro 82.
As you can see, it is slightly larger, and quite a lot thicker.
Judging from my experience with Pro 80 (and others), putting much thicker pads instead of originals will
likely have a negative effect on the sound, but I may experiment later with other pads of similar thickness.

Isolation/Leakage:
There is very little leakage outside, if AC is on in the room - no one can hear what I'm listening to from 2 feet away.
Isolation from outside noise - these are perfect for a noisy office, but not for bus/train/plain.
Another reason not to replace pads - I'm quite sure other pads will result in worse leakage/isolation.

Bass
It's fantastic! Great impact with a full body, followed by a perfect decay.
Such bass is hard to find in headphones at any price, impossible at this price point.

However, to attract "bassheads", Pro 82 has a new feature - bass boost.
You can boost the bass 3dB or 6dB, and (according to Takstar) it shouldn't affect FR over 300Hz:


Well, this graph is absolutely incorrect. Using 6dB boost totally ruins the sound, and while 3dB
doesn't have as much of a negative effect, it's still unpleasant. Not only does the bass becomes flubby,
but the tonality of everything changes too, Pro 82 sounds hollow and honky. Strongly advise to stay away from this feature.

So is this not the headphone for bassheads? Not necessarily. Take a look at the graph above -
the bass is already boosted 5dB over the mids. So this is definitely a bass-heavy headphone.
It will still attract audiophiles, because it doesn't bleed into mids, and the quality of bass is up to the highest standards.

Going back to the graph above, don't expect the bass to be linear down to 20Hz - there is a drop-off below 80Hz.
The headphone is specced down to 10Hz - I could still hear quite a lot at 15Hz - so a healthy subbass is present.


Here you can see the bass ports closed (no bass boost)


Here can see the bass ports fully open - a 6dB boost.

Mids:
The mids are somewhat recessed - this is a U-shaped headphone, but not as much as Pro 80.
The timbre of voices is nearly perfect. If only they would step forward a bit!
I think it's because of the recessed mids that I find myself listening at slightly higher than usual volume - at lower
volume Pro 82 doesn't sound as impressive.

Treble:
This is the most surprising part.
Pro 80 had a very hot treble, which took several months of heavy usage to tame.
Still, it could be too hot sometimes, and sibilance would raise its ugly head occasionally too.
Pro 82's treble is as detailed and brilliant as Pro 80s, but it doesn't get too hot, and it avoids sibilance like a ninja.
Here is a great track to test sibilance:

Even before Taylor Swift starts singing, Brad Paisley (the host) sounds like a love child of Duffy Duck and Silvester on most headphones.
Not on Pro 82! All the detail is still there (this is not a dark headphone), but sibilance is totally gone!

Gaming:
I am not a gamer, but I can promise you this:
a) With Pro 82's bass quantity and quality, explosions will be EPIC!
b) With Pro 82's clarity, you will have no problem hearing your teammates/enemies
c) Pro 82 has a larger soundstage than Pro 80, but keep in mind - this is a music-oriented headphone, so it may not be the best in directional cues
d) You can use a BoomPro cable (if you have one already) with a 3.5/2.5mm TRS adapter,
or you can buy this 2.5mm/3.5mm cable with a microphone:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Upg...ack-Cable-Mic-For-Bose-Quiet/32810246600.html
Also, you can just buy a proper USB microphone.
You'll get better audio too.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MK-...ting-Singing-Skype-Recording/32735518891.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/201...unt-Holder-Clip-with-Locking/32773172782.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB...dio-Braodcasting-KTV-Karaoke/32767347400.html

Driveability:
It's 32Ohm and 96dB - fairly easy to drive.

Conclusion:
This is a huge improvement over Pro 80 - all over the frequency range.
Comfort and isolation are improved as well.

All of the impressions are OOTB through Oppo-HA2 .
I'll put it to burn-in, but I honestly can't see it improving much over what I'm hearing.

Once it's burned in, I'll compare it to some of the other closed/semi-open headphones I have - you can vote (up to 3 votes per user) which headphones you want to compare with Pro 82.
I will do at least 5 comparisons - so every vote counts!
The poll (on top of the page) is limited to 10 items, so I had to make some choices for you
I also have these:
Takstar TS-670
Edifier H850
ATH-ESW9A
Bosshifi 6/7
ISK HD9999
If there will be enough demand, I'll consider them too.

Also coming: impressions of tubes/SS, different DACs/Amps.

Where to buy:
Current prices are about 70$ without the case and 80$ with the case.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...g-K-song-game-stereo-headset/32808454492.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...or-Computer-recording-K-song/32811235476.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gen...or-Computer-recording-K-song/32811589590.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/132190489954

Couple hints for purchasing at Aliexpress:
1) Purchase from a seller that offers ePacket. Usually the free shipping options (China Post, Singapore Post and Aliexpress Standard Shipping) take 3-6 weeks to deliver worldwide.
ePacket usually takes 2-4 weeks.
2) Purchasing using Aliexpress mobile app gives an extra 1% discount.
Sometimes, there are additional mobile-only discounts.

Nice review! May you please compare it to ISK HD9999 (bass, mids, treble, soundstage/imaging) ? Many thanks!

 

[BenF]

Comparison with Bosshifi B8

Bosshifi B8 sounds as good as it looks, and it's quite a looker:

The pair in the picture is a year old, and was used a lot - yet it shows very few signs of usage.

Comfort:

B8's headband is much wider and thicker than Pro 82's.
Same goes for HM5.

B8's pads are as long as Pro 82's, slightly narrower, yet thicker.

HM5 pad is slightly larger and quite thicker.


If NVX XPT100 with ComfortMax pads is 10 out of 10 for comfort, then B8 is 9 and Pro 82 is 11.
Pro 82's pads are made of a better material, but B8's pads are thicker to compensate for that.
For long-term listening, Pro 82 wins big, it can disappear on your head.
Both are Over-Ear.

Sound:

Bosshifi B8 can sound perfectly neutral or slightly warm, depending on what you are comparing it with.
Compared to HD600, Momentum 2.0, B&O H6 v1 and H7, ATH-ESW9A, B8 sounds neutral with great clarity.
Compared with Pro 82 and Stax L300, B8 sounds slightly warm with a very thin veil.
B8 is about as warm as Stax L700.

B8 sounds warmer OOTB, becomes a little more neutral after burn-in.

Bass:
B8's bass isn't as tight as Pro 82's, but it has longer decay.
You can tune B8's bass by blocking the bass ports on top of the pads.
The effect is very small, and doesn't affect other frequencies.
This is very different from Pro 82, where tuning bass pretty much ruins the sound all over the FR.

The effect is so small, that I can't even describe what exactly it is for sure.
Maybe scotch tape doesn't have the best sound blocking characteristics, other materials might have larger effect.
The default tuning (all 3 bass ports open) sounds great, I always use it like that.

Mids:
Best part of B8, perfect for vocals, especially female ones.
Tonality is near-perfect.
More euphonic and slightly veiled compared to Pro 82.
That veil is only present when comparing to truly transparent headphones - Pro 82, Stax L300 and 009. There is no veil when comparing with 99% of headphones, including Stax L700 and 007.

Treble:
Polite, yet detailed and extended.
B8's treble has less energy, but nothing is missing.

Sensitivity:
B8 is very easy to drive - 106dB, 16Ohm
Pro 82 requires a lot more power - 96dB, 32Ohm

Soundstage:
B8 has a very good, wide soundstage, that always presents a believable picture.

Overall, B8 is perfect for long sessions of relaxed listening.
Very musical, don't think it will do too well with games.
It scales up with better equipment, and sounds best from transparent SS components - doesn't need the tubes' coloration.
Oppo HA-2 and NFB-11.32 (coax in, variable out) sound great.

B8 and Pro 82 do not compete, they complete each other.
B8 is neutral/warmish, Pro 82 V1 is slightly U-shaped, Pro 82 V2 sounds as neutral as a headphone can be without becoming boring.
If something doesn't sound best on one of them, just try the other one.
If you'll have both, you may not need another closed headphone for a very long time

B8 comes with only 2 accessories: 1.2m 3.5mm/3.5mm cable and a 3.5mm/6.5mm adapter.
The cable is great, I use it for many other headphones.