[legion1capone]

These headphones are$150 and available on Amazon. First impressions are that the build quality is not great. There are rough parts on the wood cups that didn't get completely sanded. The adjustment mechanism is very cheap and I have it set to it's lowest point and it just fits. So anyone with a smaller head be advised. The stock earpads are rediculously small and once you take them off good luck getting them back in the factory slot. The drivers literally sit on my ear. I ended up throwing my zmf Ori suede pads on them. They wrap around the outside of the headphone and are a little loose but it works. The headphones are extremely light and I can wear them for hours without issue. Now all of these negatives aside.... These sound absolutely incredible!! They reach down and play below 20hz and have the treble sparkle like my he400i without the simbilance. The bass is extremely controlled and accurate. The mids are non forward and everything seems to be very even across the board. The treble is not harsh or simbilant. It does lose out when it comes to detail retrieval. I'm still trying to figure out the soundstage and imaging. It's like nothing I've ever heard. The soundstage does not extend past the cups, but what is does in between is excellent. It creates the room of the recording and is so open and NATURAL sounding. It creates depth and height and with master recordings and live performances I've never felt more "there". It's honestly amazing. I haven't played with other amps yet. I've been using them with my Geshelli labs enog2 pro dac and Archel pro amp. Acoustic music, vocals and live recordings sound incredible!! As does well recorded newer edm and pop tracks. On these more modern songs the bass is so controlled and accurate going back to all my other headphones is almost not fair. They sound almost boomy. I think what I may be hearing is how fast the decay is on the drivers compared to others. But I'm not exactly sure of that. Where these really shine is movies. They have everything you need and then some. Before these I haven't found a perfect headphone for movies. These are it! End game open headphones for movies. They work great for fun gaming too. I plan to purchase the hd58x after Christmas and see how those compare. If you have money to spare and want to try something new while knowing about the build quality and need of real pads, give these a try. Just be aware breaking is very real on this headphones and I would say it is absolutely required.

 

[XERO1]

Interesting. Not sure I love the '70’s speaker grill cloth though.

 

[legion1capone]

Interesting. Not sure I love the '70s speakers grill cloth though.

It's funny you say that. I just had my dad listen to them and ironically we both loved the throwback styling lol. FYI these sound very good through the fiio q1 mk2.

 

[legion1capone]

Update: I've been using these for a lot of movies lately. Before I was using the dt990s and they where excellent for games and movies. The tecsuns do not do well with imaging. The tracking left and right on the screen have a very small window where they are between the cups. Very left and right channel. But the way these sound with everything else it's so good! Impact of gunshots and ringing of explosions are some of the best I've heard. These have excellent Dynamics! There is not a lot of detail that jumps out with little things like someone chewing food or small nuances like that. Talking in the shows and movies never stands out, it just sounds natural. If they can improve the imaging of these they have a real winner on their hands. Even with this fault these will still be my go to movie headphones. The only thing the dt990 really have on these is a subwoofer like bass presence and imaging. Imaging on the dt990 is spot on with where and what's happening on screen. I enjoy both for their own reasons.

 

[legion1capone]

Update!!!!

Some fantastic news!

 

[andrewinukm]

The bigger and badder brother of Caogen is in da house!
Just received the Tecsun HP-300 a few days back, and had it run-in a little with some burn-in tracks. This is the 300 ohms version of Caogen and twice the price, meant for recording studios.

Got it for CNY 1200 (about USD170) before shipping during the 11.11 promo in China. It usually goes for about US$215 (CNY 1500)

The original pads are too thin, doesn't jive well with my flared ears. Will pad roll as suggested by legion1.

I've not listened to the Caogen, but the HP-300 is pretty darn good. I'll bring it around and let some friend have a listen and get their feedback. I won't be able to give a good review since this is the only proper headphones I've owned, and usually listen to speakers. Will post some pictures later.