Dsnuts
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2011
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Hello to one n all that read this. I think this is a discovery worth sharing with the community.
My curiosity on these as I am a big fan of other Panasonics...Nothing written. No review nothing on these. As far as I know I think I am the very first person to hear these. These are the Panasonic RP-HTF600-S Step Monitor.
This headphone is unique in that it offers so much for so little. Beyond the cost on these. They have a sound that is unique among monitor style phones in that they use off set 50 mm Drivers that delivers a very acceptable clean sound.. The bass I found is not lacking. It is a complete package and throw in some off set drivers to give you the mids up front and center. This is one headphone sound that can benefit from the v shape eq curve..
Overnight burn in and more testing and these are impressing me more and more every day as I hear them.
At first listen I was surprised that all the elements of a good sounding can was evident in the sound signature with a wider sound stage than your standard closed type monitors...The sound was off at first.. The mids was right in my ear. A bit harsh which took me by surprise. I don't think I have heard anything with the mids this right onto my ears.. Something unexpected..The monitoring purposes will benefit from the mid forward sounds of the HTF600. I started to do head to head comparisons to the Shure SRH440, Sony XZ700, AT M50.. And surprising to me that these sounded more similar of all headphones.. My Ultrasone HFi-780..I think more so how the sounds were emitted on the head more so than actually sounding alike. These have a much more aggressive sound signature.
The offset drivers give a sense of wider stage. So I kept on listening to these and to my surprise they clear up nicely with some eQ. The bass is complete and some might find the bass a bit shy for being a closed. But a bit less bass impact from the AT M50s. More tight and less boomy. Complete in lows they have sub bass and deep extension while maintaining clarity of the entire sound signature..The highs have a similar behind the ear effect as the Ultrasones..Much like the Ultrasones The sounds come from right behind your head to surround you in the sounds., and unique in this case the offset drivers adds more mid section to your ears. These sound more like a semi open can than a closed one. Check out them sneaky sound vents.
The bass level would explain this. I make it sound like the bass is weaker on these but not the case at all. It has full punch and power when the track calls for it. More so than the XZ700s and even the Shure SRH440s. So much so on some that you can feel the drivers vibrate onto your ears which is admittedly a lot of fun to hear/feel. .Once you accept the sound signature. They are actually are very nice in every way. With nothing lacking in sounds. Ya don't look at what I payed for these.!
To me it is awesome to find more unique sounding ones, than similar to sounding ones. Add to that it is a clean good looking headphone. There are just too many wins on this one not to talk about.. These are easily worth way more.. In person they are way nicer than the pictures would indicate. I kinda feel like a thief.. I definitely stole something here. I keep on looking around.. The ear cups are the exact same shape size as the AT M50.The pleather cups are soft with minor clamp so very comfy...It has a thin plastic band but you can tell the materials will withstand normal use.. Agressive use I can't say.
Any of you guys want to try a different sound these are warming up to me in a hurry. Some might find the mids to be aggressive but if you like forward mids these raise the bar on this.. Pop music with vocals and hiphop, Jazz, blues, rock, trance dub it all sounds good to me on these.. I also like that the 50mm drivers on bass delivers the full punch..EQed for more and you can get them proper bass hits...
The only true complaint is. The cups both swing full outward for monitor purposes. This part is too loose. The cups lay flat when hung on a peg.. They throw in some nice tech in these yet forgot a basic one which is keeping it held in one place until you need to move one cup or the other. Beyond this little annoyance the sound is a nice change of pace from many me too headphones.. Drives well on portables.. I have found from this set that I enjoy this signature as much as my Ultrasones.. It is because they sound unique that I am showing this to the community... You want your vocals to be in your ear while highs and lows throw down with a big stage to fill your ears with music. These are awesome.!
Something different and outside the norm while wallet friendly, many will over look these... I have $150 phones that fail to have the qualities of this unique headphone. Let alone what i payed.. The awesome train has hit these phones. I don't know what to think about these other than I am enjoying the heck out of em... Sometimes you find gems when you are looking for them. These are it. Well one of couple. Some more to come later.. In the mean time. The Panasonic RP-HTF600s clearly warrant a discovery imo.. Properly named phones. They do step on many much more expensive phones for real...
Bonus.. These are shockingly great.! The bass gets bigger on the impact and smoother altogether. The command and control on bass heavy tunes are on a level that I was not expecting on these. These are not just good headphones guys these are astounding. These are now broken in I believe. SO I am gonna extend the burn in recommend on these a bit more to a solid 50hours. I should not be this surprised by these but somehow I am.
The Bass has got a command on these that I find very great..It surprised me the most I think... The sounds are just a bit fuller now with over all sound now more cleaner, mids more smoother, Bass. The dynamics on the Bass alone is worth the purchase...The sub woofer in the head is accurate to how these would sound, warm smooth full bass sounds on these.. Mix this with the highs and mids that just got more cleaner and smoother at the same time..
MalVeauXs Review..
http://www.head-fi.org/products/panasonic-rp-htf600-s-step-monitor/reviews/5665
ReplyQuote Multi
- MalVeauX
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- offline
- 2,082 Posts. Joined 4/2011
Heya,
So... here's something interesting. I mentioned it before, and so did someone else. So I got out the HD650's to actually just A-B them. Now, I'll just warn a few of you now, hold onto your pants, remain calm, this is merely my opinion and not anything more. If you can handle comparing the HD650 to a $50 headphone setup (HTF600 + Velour Pads), in a clam manner, then by all means continue below. Otherwise, I suggest clicking away immediately at risk of elevating blood pressure or the uncontrollable need to quote war. Hah, I kid, I kid...
Panasonic RP-HTF600 vs. Sennheiser HD650
So I compared these two, just like in my review, simply because it's a sound signature that I thought was similar. But after re-comparing them with the pad update, that changed quite a bit. Even before, they were only kind of similar, but still not that similar. And I figured out what made them so not similar, it was the treble. The HTF600 simply has brighter treble. It's a more sparkly headphone compared to the HD650, but hey, what headphone isn't? Right? The HD650 is just dark. That term really does describe it because even when I crank the volume up on the HD650 on my Lyr, it's still a very subdued sleeping giant which is always confusing to me (and one of the reasons it's not a headphone that I prefer really, I like energy, the HD650 lacks it for me). The HD650 is more refined, for sure. But guess what, they're both comfortable, pretty much equally. The Panasonic actually clamped less hard than the HD650 (odd, but true). The bass was pretty similar. The HD650 isn't actually that bassy, it's just bassy for a Sennheiser. But even then, it's still not all that bassy because it doesn't have a massive reverb. It just hits the note, is accurate, and then it rolls off and it's done. It doesn't punch you that hard, and it doesn't reverb. So depending on what kind of bass you're after, even though they're similar, the Panasonic just reverbs more and slaps you around a bit more. It will give you the impression of more quantity. That doesn't mean it's higher quality though, the HD650 likely has better quality, more controlled, but when I listened back and forth, regardless of what I know should be true, I ended up enjoying the RP-HTF600 for bass and for it's more sparkly (by comparison) and musical presentation. The HD650 is actually an incredibly boring headphone (for me) to listen to. It's not bright at all, it sounds like it's all being played through a tissue paper to soften it in all regards. So it becomes a very smooth listen, but I feel the energy is lost and it's just not as fun (again, for me). So funny enough, I'd rather listen to the HTF600 with velour pads than the HD650. I just ran them through my slew of musics that I generally test. And it just held true on each track. Makes no sense. Now, to put a balance on this massively charged statement, I prefer my HE-500 over both these headphones, as it absolutely smashes the Panasonics in sound, and eats the HD650's lunch. So it's not that I'm just being a fanboy for the Panasonic. But I am saying, I enjoy the energy and sound of the Panasonic over the HD650 which sounds sleepy to me and really doesn't have the same bassy reverb that I crave from a "bassy" headphone. Plus, again, I like to have some musical mids & highs, brigtness, and energy. Simply my preference. But hey, free information for you, right? Right.
Oh, and I just tested versus some Vmoda Crossfade LP's that I got for cheap. I'm not even going to get into it, but man, the Crossfades are a joke of a headphone for the cost when referring to sound quality. It's one of the only times I've ever held a headphone and listened to it, and said, "All the price went into the packaging and construction of the headphone, they left a few pennies for the sound and... it definitely sounds like pennies." In other words, the Panasonic eats the lunch of the Crossfade's sound quality and abilities with sound. The construction of the Crossfade is absoulutely great and solid (love the metal, the cords that are detachable, volume controls, sheathed cables, nice padding, chrome metal backing, etc, they're nice heavy solid metal headphones with a nice carry case and stuff). But the construction is the only thing it has going for it. They sound unimpressive to say the least, especially when I compare the cost and look at value from that ratio. They are low value in my book due to that.
Now, let's see if I get cabbages thrown at me...
Very best,
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I had to add this as I find this more than intriguing..Thanks goes to MalVeauX for his insight.
Added new unboxing video from Souji.. Thanks for this great little vid!
Thanks to the tireless efforts of one RPGWizard. Resident Basshead and fellow headfier's.. First mod will be called the RPGmod. Pages 27-29, MalveauX's version page 47
- RPGWiZaRD
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- offline
- 2,060 Posts. Joined 1/2010
Quote:
oyster said:
Can you please tell if the modding impacts overall clarity ?
It impacts it in a GOOD way, you get more forward midrange, especially I thought female vocals sounded just tiny bit too distant/recessed for my liking without the mod (I prefer very forward/"in-your-face" midrange) so the mids get clearer. The bass gets tiny bit more impact/strength but at the same time more controlled, less midrange bleed and slightly less reverb to it (so it sounds a little snappier/punchier). The highs remain about the same as without mod. It's all about how much you leave the openings uncovered after having removed the inside foam, leave all holes uncovered actually results in worse clarity than stock due to very veiled highs and way too much reverb while completely covering all holes will result in a more "lifeless"/analytical sound, brighter than stock and less bass as well as smaller soundstage. I got the best result like this when leaving bottom hole + 1.5 ~ 2 mm of one of those sideholes open like in the pic below. Electrical tape on the inside would probably work/look best. I just used blutak on the outside so I could easily test whether how much I should leave uncovered for best result.
(click pic to see fullsize)
I will personally try this mod on my 3rd HTF600.. Let the modding begin..!!
