This is my first post in the Head-fi, though I was visiting this forum frequently for last two years. I thought on giving my opinion on this headphone. This is my first headphone. Previously own IEMs are Shure E2g->Sony Ericsson MH1->Zero Audio Carbo Tenore->TTPod T1E->KZ EDSE/ED8/GR. I am final year college undergraduate, so money wasn't the easiest to earn. I wanted a headphone for studies as iems that I own were less practical for prolong use(Tenore was comfy, but it developed channel imbalance after three months or so).
So I was searching for headphone under $50 with shipping(to Sri Lanka where I live). My requirements were comfort, above average isolation, durability, relatively flat response. In addition I was interested in listening to soundstages and out of head experience. I first considered about Superlux headphones, but I couldn't find any closed back one within my budget. Next thought about Somic headphones, but I couldn't find enough reviews to convince myself to buy. Because whatever that I am gonna buy, I have to use for a year till I passed out. In addition, I couldn't find any local stores to try it before hand. Then thought of buying Takstar Pro 80, still it is impossible to find below $50.
Then I came across the S400 thread. It seems to have extremely nice price and reviews. But comfort know to be an issue. Solution was to buy Ws55 earpads($34 in ebay), but they are extremely expensive, so total exceed my budget. Then I thought of S500, again comfort is an issue. Again solution would cost($23 HM5 earpads). In the end I pulled the plug with S680, despite recent negative opinions, trusting huge number of positive impressions filled with the thread.
Out of the box, as so many other peoples, I was extremely disappointed. I thought this Carbon Nanotube hype is indeed a hoax. Bass veiled rest of the spectrum(My reference is ZH Carbo Tenore). I tried the eq settings provided few post above. It cleared up a little bit. But still no where near clear, as I expected. So I was disappointed, as the last straw I decided to follow OP's instructions. So I let it burnin for 48 hours straight with given track.
Well, well, now it is as clear as I imagine it gonna sound. It reminds me more of my tenore(one earpiece is dead ATM). Nice sparkle treble. Vocals are really nice(Not in tenore level). Surpising thing is now I feel like it lacks little bit of bass(oppose to overwhelm in OOTB). Soundstages were marvelous. Comfort is good, not great as it began to hurt the ears after around 5 to 6 hour straight used. That's because my ears were little bit larger, hence they are partly on ear for me.
The main reason I wrote this is because, vocal in some songs were lacks something, while other vocals shines even better than tenore. My guess is that certain frequencies in the mids were recessed. Increasing around 2dB in 900Hz (My eq has only 60,260,900,4k,10k bands) improves, but it makes vocal little bit artificial.
So can anyone help me to find the adjust to remove artificial feeling from the audio?
(My source is Moto G with Fauxsound modification)
