SuperluxHD669 Headphones

Pros: Isolation, cables, replaceable pads, clear/detailed sound across full frequency spectrumCons: Clamping power, default pads result in sweaty head, some EQ necessary to fully bring sound to full potentialSummary:I've had these for about a week now, and I have to say I like them more each day.At first I was rather worried about purchasing them, because other reviews were saying that the bass was slightly subdued and the mids/highs were more prominent; I personally prefer a warmer sound, so it was a bit of a gamble buying them. However, I'm so glad I did - although at first I did feel the bass was a bit quiet, I installed Equaliser APO [...] and after experimenting first with editing the text file, then finding a GUI (linked in the same thread), I boosted the bass to where I wanted it, lowered the treble slightly and it sounds lovely (to me) now. On my phone I use Google Music, which has a basic equaliser itself, so I did the same thing there and it's all fine and dandy.For the price, I could not have asked for more.Now to build a bit on my pros/cons:Pros -Isolation. These headphones are fabulous at cancelling out the outside world, and leak very little sound. -Cables. The fact that I have a shorter 1m portable cable and a longer 3m one is great. Really useful when I'm home to have the longer one, but having a shorter one stops tangles and confusion when out and about. Although the male jack on the actual headphones is very unusual, Superlux also provide a little clip to hook the headphones to the cable, which although simple makes all the difference - often removable cable headphones can get yanked out very easily. -Replaceable pads. As you can see in my cons, the default pads were not my favourite. However, they're easily removable and transfer with any pads for a variety of AKG/Superlux headphones which are available pretty cheap on eBay. Alternatively, there is always a sock mod. -Clear/detailed sound. Using these headphones I noticed various things about tracks I had not before. Even with my bass bumped up a bit the clarity has remained in the higher frequencies, giving a clear sound picture.Cons: -Clamping power. When I first put on these headphones, I was suprised by the strength of the clamp. Being rather light, I didn't think they would clamp so hard. I had to leave them stretched over a set of books overnight to stretch them out a bit. I'm sure they'll wear in a little, but I found it a bit uncomfortable at first, though they are improving as time goes on. -Default pads. The default pads are pleather, and because of their fully isolating nature I've found my ears get a little warm and begin to sweat under the pads. I'm sure a sock mod would sort this. -Some EQ needed. As I said in my summary, I had to boost the lower frequencies using EQ slightly to get the sound I wanted. I do not feel that these headphones are lacking in bass, but the higher frequencies are certainly louder. I have tried bumping the bass way up as an experiment, and I can say that they could handle as much bass as I could give them - well, but they needed a bit of adjustment to get the bass at the same level as the mids/highs.Overall I'm completely happy with this purchase, and would suggest these to others.

Great value for the price.As many have stated, they have great detail and separation indeed. A big plus point for the wide soundstage that's unusual for most closed headphones. For me this was the most pleasing quality of the cans, finally I don't feel that the musicians are inside my head but they are actually on the stage in front of me.There are plenty of negative qualities though: very plasticky build but for the price we cannot complain really. Reasonably sturdy and rugged.Ergonomy: clamping power makes your eyes pop, so bend the metal bands a bit before wearing it. Easy fix, so not a real problem. Lots of people were complaining about the earpads, for me it wasn't a problem at all, they are thick enough to leave enough space for my ears. Another issue is that the plastic earpads stick to the skin and the airtight seal causes ear fatigue over time, I need to take them off after an hour or so.Because of the cheap plastic build noise separation is not that great, just putting on the cans I can still hear and understand people talking to me and the music is audible to them too. Not very bad but... well, medium bad... :)Microphony is quite annoying too (the wire touching anything - your clothes, desk etc - creates audible noise) and with this issue you cannot do much. Because of the rather poor noise isolation and microphony I would not recommend these headphones for on-the-go or in public transport, but in an office environment where you sit still it's okay (on reasonable volume)Thin internal wiring and crappy cables, but in general usable. The 3.5mm to 6.25 adaptor is click-in and of reasonably good quality, does not wobble at all. Nice extra to have two cables with different length.Burn in helps with the harsh mids and highs but these are still "bright" headphones. Bass is precise and tight, no "kicking empty barrel" effect, but lacks the power at least for my taste (compared to my main cans - Beyerdynamic DT 150). In general frequency response is not fully neutral but still good. If you like the sound signature of AKG monitors then these headphones are quite similar in these terms.As they are 56 ohms my crappy motherboard amp is struggling to drive them properly, it's noticeably quieter than a random 16 Ohms headphones so consider using it with a better soundcard or external amp.Build: 4Ergonomy: 3 (ear fatigue after 1-2hrs)Sound Quality: 5- (Soundstage 5, Frequency response 4, Detail 5+, Separation 5-)Overall very happy with the purchase, a decent product especially at this pricepoint.

I worked in the production field professionally for twenty years and I suppose I took for granted the high quality of the equipment the engineers and studios provided. But when I started getting into home recording I realised my old domestic phones didn't give me the detail for the kind of recording and post production listening I wanted. Now yes if I was loaded I'd have spent thousands on the highest spec, however these are excellent quality phones. Lovely build and they do seem to 'break in'. Though I haven't had the opportunity to compare with anything other than twentyish year old Sennheiser 414 HD ( still great after all these years and the appeal was the open design) I seem to get a broader and more detailed range, largely uncoloured by any particular emphasis. You can drive these much higher than ordinary domestic phones and the results are really convincing, you'll damage your hearing before they start to distort. Great value! Five for build, value and technical quality.

I purchased these headphones after having read excellent reviews from a variety of sources. Sadly I have to say I am somewhat disappointed. I tested these headphone with a variety of sources, formats and genres. I will say that they do manage to outperform the basic cans, but that is just about it. On pretty much every piece of music I have listened too there is too much brightness present, and if you are listening to anything with a lot of bass things can start to get pretty overextended/muffled/messy.Personally I would recommend going for some entry level AKGs or Audio Technica Headphones, 10 pounds more, for a whole lot more definition and Aural pleasure.Pros: Good build Quality, PriceCons: Too bright, Messy low end.