Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
 new sensation July 24, 2010
Ulysses (Santa Fe, NM United States)
Suppose there were a device that could enhance your sense of taste. You're familiar with the taste of bacon -- this bacon is good, that bacon is (of course) also good but not as good as the other bacon. Okay, but now you have the capacity to separate the sensations of saltiness, oil, meaty, smokey, etc, in fine detail. You can focus on them individually: Wow, I can detect a note of fennel in there. Fennel? How does fennel interact with smokiness? In fact, what does bacon as a whole really taste like?
That's analogous to the challenge these headphones have brought to me. Giving me the ability to isolate each little element of music is at first distracting to the point that it's hard to hear the music as a whole. Folks speak of the huge "soundstage" of these phones, and I guess this is what they mean. The discrete components of the music all originate from different points in space, and you can direct your attention at them, as though "looking" at different parts of the music. I've found that, ironically, I have to resist this temptation, when I want to try to hear the music as a whole. And I do find that I can hear it in wonderful detail. Sure, like everyone says, you will hear things in the music you never heard before. That's not some vague gesture, you really will hear specific things in the music that you never heard before.
Okay, but maybe this is par for the course with any reasonably decent headphones. What about the quality of the sound in general? Is the base lacking? In fact, no, it's not. Like "Left Side Drive", from the Trans Canada Highway album by Boards of Canada, which has this deep, very low frequency component that is a vital part of the shimmering lonely place that that song evokes -- it's there in all its glory. Too much treble? Well, a snare drum can come out a little over-represented. Some have described the sound of these phones as "clinical". I guess I can imagine what they mean. But even something as earthy as Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones feels like it retains its earthiness. I mean, if you wanted it to be muddied into a single swampy gumbo of sound, maybe you shouldn't have put on some really nice headphones?
As far as comfort is concerned, these are slightly on the loose side, for me, but not floppy. Very comfortable. Y'all must have big heads, if these seem tight to you. Clearly, I've got very compact and efficient brains.
Looking forward someday to trying another set of quality phones, for comparison.
fine July 20, 2010
Edward Englerth
Fine Headphones, from a fine company. If I had it to do all over again, I would.
AKG K702 vs. Sennheiser HD650 July 17, 2010
Trip Like I Do (USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The much-discussed "veil" of the HD650 is immediately discernable, influencing what sounds like the upper midranges of human voice frequencies. The AKG K702 has a very fast rate of rendition, and this can be heard in the difference in older rock CDs which sound voice-muddled on the HD650. For example, Boz Scaggs singing "Georgia" has a murky sound on the HD650, while the K702 presents a clearer and more realistic voice with more precision in the upper range. With some more poorly rendered rock tracks, the ones that have seen a lot of digital preprocessing, the K702 produces painful sibilance. This isn't the fault of the headphones, because the phones essentially exhibit those musical media that have been overprocessed. On acoustic recordings where there hasn't been much post-processing, the sound is very natural and transparent. The K702 needs a lot of amplification. Using Music Fidelity X-CAN V3 as amplifier, the K702 was at mid-level loudness with the amplifier at 1/2 output, whereas, with the HD650, which already has a reputation for high impedance, the loudness was beyond the level of comfortable listening -- so the K702 seems to need about twice as much amplification power than the HD650. At high volume output, the K702 distorts significantly in the bass range, while the HD650 sounds more expansive. I used Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 to see if I could match the midrange level of the HD650 to the K702. Using the "Soft Rock" equalization, the veil of the HD650 is gone. I know hardcore audiophiles never equalize, but I personally don't feel like spending another 10,000 dollars to get rid of a segmental problem with spectrum output. Once equalized to rid the veil, HD650 has deeper, more expansive and more musical sound production than the K702, and the bass is unmatched. In conclusion, the K702 needs powerful amplification for best results. It also tends to have drastic bass distortion at high volume output. For mid-level volume, it has a faster, tighter and more accurate sound than HD650. When the HD650 is equalized properly, it sounds better than the K702 at any volume level.
 Great headphones June 29, 2010
NorthSide
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
These headphones are the best that I've owned. Sound is clear and accurate, comfort is long lasting, and construction is solid.
Expect...and dicover...perfection June 11, 2010
Antonio (Guaynabo PR)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
That is what you read when you unfold the flaps on the box...perfect craftmanship, perfect fit. Even impressive while silent. These teutons know elegance and finish.
Burn-in? Shlurning! Would you wait to meet your kid after his first steps? This are professional instruments made by REAL experts. Don't pay too much attention to deluded tweakos who claim hearing things that exist only in la la land. Hi-end manufacturers do not contradict these guys because they are free advertisement. Just play a PERFECT RECORDING you know and love, raise the volume in very small increments untill bass is just noticeable and pay attention to detail...after about three minutes ramp up very carefully again...you will hear everything better than before even at an unbelievably low volume...by the middle of the record, delighted at every step, the illusion of pressece will surpass what most speakers can deliver perfectly positioned in a perfect room. You should be amazed at the clarity and impact you get at very reasonable and safe sound pressure levels in less than an hour if, and only if, you have taken excellent care of your sense of hearing and have just above average quality gear, outrageously expensive a generation ago, cheap today for people like you, who do their homework before significant purchases.
Consider a good (snobs say "entry level")headphone amplifier if you want a noticeable improvement from a really cheap or tired reciever, better left to graze on TV land. Some preamps and integrateds have perfectly capable hedphone output with volume control. There seems to be an inminent surge in disc players with this most welcome feature, the iPod kids are musically graduating to mom & pop's classics on CD and even vynil. Wait and see. For now, get this cans, an insane bargain.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
|
