[BenF]

Hmmmm, if I got the white box version (which I think is the older and cheaper sounding version), should I return it?

Who is selling the black box version right now? If you know, can you provide me with a link?

Why would you want to return them?

...On another note, the headphones sound good and are VERY comfortable to wear. I definitely would NOT describe these headphones as "warm" sounding... but very neutral. The mids seem much higher than my Oppo PM-1 or my Sony MDR-1As.

Every store on Aliexpress is selling the black boxes now. See details in the first post about Head-Fi discount and CNY lottery.

 

[iancraig10]

Some might find this interesting with regards to fakes as well as the real thing ....

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/takstar-pro-82/

 

[Silthrax]

That review from that guy makes the headset sound bad for the price range, while most of the reviewers actualy reviewed the old version of the headset (wich I refuse to call fake) and all of them were more then happy/satisfied with that version. Also the version Zeos reviewd is the old one and he didnt call them crap/bad.

I think there is just too much negative hype surrounding this, about something that should be IMO not a big deal. The only diffrence is probably the change in manufacturing proces from the old to the new batch.

 

[meetoo1]

I don't know guys & gals... maybe I'm just being a big baby here. To me, the 82s just lack any life in the sound. They just sound very "clinical" to me. Maybe that's how it's suppose to sound... I don't know. Or, maybe I'm just to used to my Oppo PM-1s and Sony MDR-1As. The 82s just seem to lack any bass and highs seem to high for me (and a bit fatiguing). I definitely wouldn't call these headphones "warm" sounding. However, the 82s are very comfortable and nicely built for the price. I want to like them, but they just seem to lack any "umph" (or life) in the sound. Should I return them and buy the black box version? I bought these on Amazon in the US through Duoda Digital. I thought they would be sending me the newer black box version... but I got the older (white box) version instead. Is there really that much of a difference in the sound between the white and black box version? I put the toilet paper in the earcups (like someone suggested), but I didn't notice much of difference in the sound quality.

 

[trellus]

I don't know guys & gals... maybe I'm just being a big baby here. To me, the 82s just lack any life in the sound. They just sound very "clinical" to me. Maybe that's how it's suppose to sound... I don't know. Or, maybe I'm just to used to my Oppo PM-1s and Sony MDR-1As. The 82s just seem to lack any bass and highs seem to high for me (and a bit fatiguing). I definitely wouldn't call these headphones "warm" sounding. However, the 82s are very comfortable and nicely built for the price. I want to like them, but they just seem to lack any "umph" (or life) in the sound. Should I return them and buy the black box version? I bought these on Amazon in the US through Duoda Digital. I thought they would be sending me the newer black box version... but I got the older (white box) version instead. Is there really that much of a difference in the sound between the white and black box version? I put the toilet paper in the earcups (like someone suggested), but I didn't notice much of difference in the sound quality.

I find them on the clinical side myself, but I believe they are marketed as studio monitors / for professional use, not as consumer cans, so I think that’s probably the right kind of sound for the intended usage.

I don’t enjoy them as much as my Shure SRH940, but I think they’re extraordinarily comfortable and clean sounding.

 

[meetoo1]

Yes, they are very "clean" sounding. Maybe that is my problem with them. And maybe the sound will get "better" with time (yes, I know... that's very subjective)... or maybe I will just get used to their sound. They do have a very crisp and clean sound to them. And the build quality is excellent for their price. And very comfortable to wear. But would I be happier with the sound quality of the black box version... and would I even notice a difference? What should I do? I'd love to hear from someone who has both versions.

 

[steviiee]

So, like I just received my 2nd pair and it has the same imbalanced problem I had on my first one. Is this normal??

I even went to go get my ears checked just incase it was me that was the problem lol

 

[BenF]

I don't know guys & gals... maybe I'm just being a big baby here. To me, the 82s just lack any life in the sound. They just sound very "clinical" to me. Maybe that's how it's suppose to sound... I don't know. Or, maybe I'm just to used to my Oppo PM-1s and Sony MDR-1As. The 82s just seem to lack any bass and highs seem to high for me (and a bit fatiguing). I definitely wouldn't call these headphones "warm" sounding. However, the 82s are very comfortable and nicely built for the price. I want to like them, but they just seem to lack any "umph" (or life) in the sound. Should I return them and buy the black box version? I bought these on Amazon in the US through Duoda Digital. I thought they would be sending me the newer black box version... but I got the older (white box) version instead. Is there really that much of a difference in the sound between the white and black box version? I put the toilet paper in the earcups (like someone suggested), but I didn't notice much of difference in the sound quality.

Both "black box" and "white box" sound the same. The differences in sound are variations in production - between any 2 headphones they can be pretty big or non-existing, depending on whether or not they were made on the same shift, using the materials that came from the same supplier, temperature/humidity during production/storage, who did QA that day, etc.

If they sound lifeless to you - try different amp/DAC combinations. If you want more oomph - try an DAC/amp with high output impedance, such as Sabaj DA3/SMSL IQ, GO1000 (the 47ohm port).
If that doesn't help - time to move on.

 

[maheeinfy]

So, like I just received my 2nd pair and it has the same imbalanced problem I had on my first one. Is this normal??

I even went to go get my ears checked just incase it was me that was the problem lol

For me the center image is shifted slightly left which tells me left driver is louder than the right
I will test my other pair to see if they also have this imbalance
But i am still satisfied with the comfort and build for the price, and sound is good enough. I like the cable too.

 

[steviiee]

For me the center image is shifted slightly left which tells me left driver is louder than the right
I will test my other pair to see if they also have this imbalance
But i am still satisfied with the comfort and build for the price, and sound is good enough. I like the cable too.

Is your other pair like that also?

Anyone else like this?

 

[OscarPaz]

The article in question wasn't even sure if one was fake or just part of an older production run. The Pro 82 did leave the market for quite a while so changes could have been made. There definitely are two different versions out there however. Aside from sound and possibly the cable it comes with the only real way to tell the difference is to take the driver out and look at the back of it. My guess is the "fake" is actually just the original version and the reason for the gap in availability was Takstar making revisions.

Sound signature is apparently the same aside from more controlled (and less) bass on the newer ones. The most obvious difference in looks between the two headphones is magnet size. A simple mod would be adding a magnet as talked about in this thread. Chinese new year has unfortunately delayed my magnets so I haven't tested this personally but the idea makes sense to me.

Also companies do make changes to the manufacturing of their headphones all the time especially if it's a long running headphone. I agree it would have been nice if Takstar denoted this change in some way in regards to the model name. It's not good to leave your customers confused.

@Random54 is totally right. I had a conversation with Headphoniaks (HPK) and the first batch of Pro 82 in white cardboard boxes and with 2.2m cable length is absolutely genuine. HPK were the ones to buy most (if not all) of this first production batch. On the occasion, a representative of the store even traveled personally to China down to the factory of Guangdong Takstar Electronic Co., Ltd., to check that everything was OK.

Also, as mentioned before, copycats of the Pro 82 make no sense because of its already tight quality-to-price ratio (including that awesome case and so on); it is definitely not profitable for anybody to produce fakes for only a marginal benefit!, while they can choose to copy other better-known, more fashionable (and expensive) brands.

Takstar, being mainly an ODM, may have silently changed the driver in the Pro 82. They might have tried to stick to a defined "Pro 82 sound" using other parts available in the factory, or simply "redefined" the Pro 82, who knows. But in any case, I believe that the Pro 82 (or any other Takstar headphones) are not a priority for this company. HPK highlights that this is demonstrated by the long development times between models, and the fact that some others, such as the ML 750 or the HI 2500, have never been released.

A bit confusing but it's the way it is. Not only Takstar makes revisions to their products, all manufacturers do. If the changes are substantial, I would have preferred that they used a new model name of course.

 

[iancraig10]

That review from that guy makes the headset sound bad for the price range, while most of the reviewers actualy reviewed the old version of the headset (wich I refuse to call fake) and all of them were more then happy/satisfied with that version. Also the version Zeos reviewd is the old one and he didnt call them crap/bad.

I think there is just too much negative hype surrounding this, about something that should be IMO not a big deal. The only diffrence is probably the change in manufacturing proces from the old to the new batch.

Solderdude is pretty neutral with his views. He measures very accurately and takes these things very seriously, but he also tinges his reviews with subjective views as well. The FR is probably very accurate as is the difference between left and right earcups that he saw. Those are things that need to be looked out for.

He also says that the silver one is not necessarily a fake, just a different version.

He sees it very much as a headphone for monitoring rather than listening pleasure, which is possibly what it is actually designed for. I use a Sony MDR7506 to monitor because it does that job really well, but it's not really great for just music listening, unless you like that clinical, almost surgery linked type of sound.

I think Zeos is entertaining to be honest. It's not exactly informative, but more his own personal view so could be misleading for people that don't share his tastes in sound.

 

[Humblepie]

Decided to order the black ones this time just to see if there difference is based on color. They have have two different production areas producing the colors separately and no exactly the same which is why we have variance going on. Or just could be a rework thing based upon some date where they change production of the units completely.

 

[nraymond]

Decided to order the black ones this time just to see if there difference is based on color. They have have two different production areas producing the colors separately and no exactly the same which is why we have variance going on. Or just could be a rework thing based upon some date where they change production of the units completely.

Production variations for a product are true for every industry. While it would be nice if they were communicated to consumers, companies are in no particular obligation to do so. I appreciate when people dig into production variations and document them.

Japanese camera and lens makers used to make all their gear in Japan, but most have moved production to Thailand, Vietnam, and in some cases China. Audio Technica used to make their headphones in Japan, but have moved production to other places. AKG used to make their headphones in Austria and Germany, but now they're made in China, their headquarters in Austria was shut down last year, and they are just a division of the South Korean giant Samsung now.

What I think most people don't understand about brands and products though and why some products cost more than others is that it isn't just about the design, materials, location of production, or even performance. A big part of cost is (or should be) about quality assurance and how consistent products are - or at least how responsive a manufacturer is to inconsistencies in a product when reported by a consumer. Modern products can have a lot of variation. Here is a really good example:

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/10/notes-on-lens-and-camera-variation/

"We know from experience that if we mount multiple copies of a given lens on one camera, each one is a bit different. One lens may front focus a bit, another back focus. One may seem a bit sharper close up, another is a bit sharper at infinity. But most are perfectly acceptable (meaning the variation between different copies is a lot smaller than the variation you’re likely to detect in a print). I can tell you that, but showing you is more effective."​

Note that all that data comes from Canon L prime lenses. One of the reasons lenses like a Zeiss Otus cost more is quality assurance and reduced lens-to-lens variation (along with everything else unique about their products). By that same token, that is part of what makes (or should make) an expensive headphone expensive - better matching of internal parts when there are pairs/multiples, better materials, better tolerances, more consistent performance coming off the bench all the way to the consumers' hands. When there are changes to places of manufacture, the knowledge and experience of what made the product great in one place is transferred to the new place so it doesn't have to start the quality assurance learning process all over again to make a great product.

The reality is that if a product is high performance but inexpensive, any consumer is likely rolling the dice. Good quality assurance and a consistent quality product will always cost time and money. When I read a review of any product, if the person reviewing it is reviewing just one copy of that product, then all I can take away from that review is what that one particular copy of a product is like (with enough reviews from enough reliable sources, I can correlate sufficient information to start to be able to feel like I can reliably infer more general performance). When a reviewer is provided a review copy of a product from a manufacturer, I factor that in because that inherently makes the review less reliable as something that can represent the average experience because that review copy could very well be cherry picked by the manufacturer (basically that reviewer could be experiencing a higher level of quality assurance in what they receive vs. the average consumer).

So, with all things, consume them with an appropriately sized grain of salt.

 

[meetoo1]

I've noticed that the headband extensions are very loose on my Pro 82s. I hardly have to pull on them at all and they extend very easily (maybe even too easily). If I hold the headphones from the top of the headband, the extensions will extend. This seems way to loose. Is anyone else's earcup extensions loose like this too? Or do I just have a poorly constructed pair. I can't seem to figure out a way to tighten the extension grips. Any ideas?