Music Genres:Classical, Electronic, Hip-hop, Jazz, Metal, Pop, R&B, Rock, World
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Mixed bag...
Pros:
Biodynamic drivers = incredible detail and bass for the price.
Take EQ extremely well.
Just look at them, they're gorgeous.
Cons:
Very strange stock sound signature, seems to be "M" shaped, similar to DT 990. Not unlistenable.
Comfort is terrible, they do not swivel easily.
Pads spin very freely.
Between stiff adjustment and pad free spin, sound is affected - if the cups are not seated just perfectly, it comes across as an audio imbalance.
Build quality is cheap.
These appear to be clones of the Creative Aurvana Live, which is much cheaper, haven't tested that out though. But if the wood cups entice you, totally worth it for the extra $$$.
I got these for travel. Was enjoying the signature of my HE-R9's for the extra bass and decided to try out biocellulose drivers for the same reason. Upon first listen, right out of the box with no burn in, they sound exciting, smooth and bassy. Just what I was looking for. The treble is not fatiguing and the bass is tight and fully represented. For the price they are very impressive. I certainly don't expect a reference class can for a hundred bucks, but I also did not expect them to be this good either! If you want high class bass on a budget these are definitely worth a look. They are a bit delicate feeling, but the lightness really adds to the over-all comfort, which is top knotch. They fit the bill for me. Im very happy.
After letting them break for 15 hours I gave them a listen. I really like the lightweight. The pads completely covered my ears very comfortably. I feed music thru a tube headphone amp. The sound was very articulate.
The look of the wood cups gives the phones upscale aesthetic.
This headphone is made flimsy. The headband and pieces that attach to the earcups are very thin. My son used it for a couple of weeks before it got broke. He left it on the kitchen table and my younger daughter knocked it on the floor once. She did not throw it, it just fell from the table one time. The ear piece broke off from the headband. The ear piece is held onto the headband by a small cheap piece of metal that allows it to pivot. It is so thin and so brittle that it might as well be plastic. Once broken there was no way I could glue to back. Very cheap. It does not matter how it sounds if it breaks this easily. Don't waste your money.
LoneWolfPsychoThanks for leaving a review. We're sorry to hear the headphones had an accidental fall. Due to the headphone's weight, we can see how it is a little bit more fragile than other headphones.
I'm not much of an audiophile but these sound decent to me, not as good as some others I have but they sound good enough and the isolation is pretty good. I really like the way they look, and they're pretty compact for putting in my laptop bag on the go. Definitely worth the price.
Decent headphones for the price but I was hoping for more.
Biggest complaint with these headphones is the cable. The bass is a bit bloated and they fit rather small for my head. Overall sound is great for the on sale price and definitely worth the risk on my first pair of wood headphones. Having plenty of fun listening to my favorite tracks.
Take anywhere Closed backs that deliver nice Bass and a fair amount of Treble.
I bought these to pair with my Hiby R3 Saber player so I have the option of having headphones without needing to have IEM's stuck into my ears.
Will these work with a Phone?: Yes, They will. You will probably need to pump the volume to about 80% to get a satisfying level of noise out of them.
Their sound signature: I will admit I have been surprised by them so far, they deliver a decent amount of Bass Thump for their size without making my music a muddy mess, or, making the frame of the Headphones vibrate. Treble is present enough for the E-MU's to deliver some soundstage, but limited to what I like. In terms of music, I loved using the E-MU's for Rap, Pop, Dance, Some Electronic music is fine, but can descend into mud if there is too much happening in the song. Metal is Okay-ish, if the singer screams it didn't sound great but if they Growl they sounded fine for my ears.
Fit and comfort: My ears sit fairly close to my head so I don't have any comfort issues. they are nice and light, but, the pads start to get warm after an hour of wearing them. The cable is rubberised, so when it rubs on your clothes it transfers the sound to your ears, but it's not noticeable when you have music playing.
Final Thoughts: They serve their purpose of being the "I don't want to put IEM's in my ear when I go down the street" Headphones. They have a pleasant enough sound signature that I don't hate them, though I suspect that getting pads and the cable noise will be future gripes which is reason for the four stars.
HMMMMMMMMMM, how do I put it. I rarely give bad review and 3 star feels too harsh, but I also don't feel like these deserve 4 stars so probably 3.5 star LOL.
Let me preface a bit, I'm a Denon/Fostex fan boy. Let's get that out of the way LOL. I've owned or demoed the following headphones:
D2000 D5000 D5200 D9200 TH-X00 Mahogany TH-X00 Purpleheart TH-X00 Ebony TH600 TH900 E-Mu Teak (also bought Rosewood and Bamboo cup separately) T50RP MK3 Mr Speakers Mad Dog
My friend keep telling me like "you need to try the CAL or E-Mu Walnut". So I finally gave in and gave those a try.
Off the bat they don't sound too bad but mid bass is a bit bloated. And frequency is a bit uneven. Soundstage a little bit small but it's expected for such a compact headphone. But at the same time it doesn't make me want to keep listen to it, it just sounded "okay" for lack of better word.
I then sold it to my friend who has previously owned CAL and he was like "wait what.....?????, CAL sounded great but this sounded poopoo". Upon closer inspection he realized the wood cups are not screwed all the way in and when there is gap it will emphasize bass and make mid bass bloated. He has since fixed it and it's better.
But another deal breaker for me was that the earcup is just TOO SMALL. And I'm not even someone to be picky about earcup size, I've used Bose SoundTrue / V-Mod M100 / Sony MDR-1AM2 without problems. Even B&O H6 I thought was ok. So definitely earcup too small.
To further make matters worse is that Hifiman R7DX is on sale now for $99 and I'd actually recommend that instead. I actually sounds better than my D5200 which cost wayyyyyyy more.
So to sum it up, bad QC, small earcup, and R7DX is MUCH BETTER value. Oh but if you do get R7DX make sure you burn it in for a few days, off the bat it sounded meh lol.
LOL funny how I'm recommending Hifiman over E-Mu over QC issue, oh the irony (Hifiman not known for good QC).
Or if you really really want I would probably say buy CAL over this. My friend says CAL had bigger earpad (somehow).
Thanks!
lol damn then you pretty much already have end game headphone. But yeah I'd imagine for open back probably matter less but I think most ZMF headphone still have a lot of wood coverage despite having an open grill. So it probably more or less still contribute to the sound.
Though as for me maybe because I'm too lazy to switch headphone so I'm still looking for that 1 headphone for all purpose. Something along the line of Grado energy and forwardness and Fostex bottomless bass. Not sure if something like that actually exists but hopefully I'll find one one day.
HydeThank you! Ya they stand out in my collection and were a big celebratory piece for me to add as well. True on the open back. I hear you on not wanting tons of sets either I only have 3-4 (I trade with buddies sometimes) in the deck right now and don't see the purpose of having more, even as a recording and mixing musician. Grados have a good rep and have ushered many budding audiophiles into the hobby so not worth sleeping on as a brand. Good luck in your search!
- Biodynamic drivers = incredible detail and bass for the price.
- Take EQ extremely well.
- Just look at them, they're gorgeous.
Cons:- Very strange stock sound signature, seems to be "M" shaped, similar to DT 990. Not unlistenable.
- Comfort is terrible, they do not swivel easily.
- Pads spin very freely.
- Between stiff adjustment and pad free spin, sound is affected - if the cups are not seated just perfectly, it comes across as an audio imbalance.
- Build quality is cheap.
These appear to be clones of the Creative Aurvana Live, which is much cheaper, haven't tested that out though. But if the wood cups entice you, totally worth it for the extra $$$.