I've purchased a few drop headphones, Dan Clark Aeon open X, Meze 99 Noir, Sennheiser 6XX and Hifiman 4XX. The Aeon open X being my favorite but for the value i'd say there are my favorite. These being on sale for $80 makes them very attractive although far from perfect.
The sound is very open for a closed back and detail is there but the biggest flaw for me is the headband. By default is a very loose fit which effects the bass. Watching Zeos Pantera on Youtube I saw him bend the band to get the fit better which fixed all the issues I had. Better clamp force and the bass is much better now. Not going to shake your head but balanced.
I am using with a Schiit Modius, SMSL SH-9 and I'm using Hart Audio Balanced cable. Sound is very open for a closed back and find it between a normal planar like the Aeon Open X and a normal closed back like the Mese Noir. All genres I listened to were great and no harsh highs which I find myself sensitive to.
These are not super power hungry headphones. The SMS: SH-9 puts out a lot of power when using balanced. My Aeon Open X need to be 50-60 out of 99 for best sound but these are comparable loudness at 20-25 and insanely loud at 35. These are not planars which make sense they would be far more efficient but they do have an openness very similar to a planar.
Summary, if you get these for 80, bend the headband for the needed clamping force I think it would be hard to find a better value.
I'd say these are a great sounding pair of cans, but the fit is not the best. The fit is loose, and that could affect the sound, so take some time and find the perfect fit for you. I would say these are very analytical, and inclined towards the bright side, so for people looking for bass, these aren't for them.
I really tried to like these, but the clamp is way off IMO. They would not stay on my head and I constantly had to adjust them. I am a big fan of sound quality, but fit is always first for me. I don't expect stellar build at this price. I have owned $800 headphones that I sold for fit.
I gotta be honest, I scored these headphones for free during Drop's 2023 Spring Cleaning event. I'm always happy to score free stuff, and even happier when I received these and gave them a whirl. Would recommend, especially now that they're on sale.
Terrible, awful headband and build. Great sounding headphone.
This is my fourth headphone I have purchased from Drop and the first made by any company based in China. The build on this headphone is sorely lacking. The metal parts are for adjustment are seemingly all friction based which is not a very good long term thing as the friction lube in the pad height adjustment will eventually wear out. This isn't even the worst part though because the headband offers almost no clamping on my head when compared to every other headphone I have purchased. I am going to try to replace the headband like others have mentioned in Q&A on this product. The redeeming part is that the headphone sounds phenomenal but I just have no idea how the build fails so hard. It almost feels like the manufacturer had to know they were producing a product with these flaws in hopes you maybe would be strung along to buy something more expensive, chasing the beautiful sounds the drivers can make.
This has become a go-to recommendation for me. There's nothing it does super well, or that really stands out, but there's nothing I found it to be notably bad at. Build quality could be better, though.