Just got mine, initial impressions are good. Wood is nicely finished but feels kinda.. plasticky. The actual plastic feels a bit flimsy but the arm extension mechanism feels solid with nice, clear stages. Cable is soft and doesn't transmit any noise from friction, seems good enough quality. Shame it isn't removable, but for the price, that might be asking too much. Very comfortable but I don't think I could wear them while doing anything remotely active, they aren't very secure on my noggin.
As for the sound... Not bad. I was expecting more oomph in the low end - base is clear but understated, certainly not for baseheads. Pleasantly impressed that you can pump it up in EQ with next to no distortion - they still won't rattle your teeth but they are capable of quite pleasant and precise, if not overly powerful lows (haven't had a chance to try them with an amp, just my phone, but they are low impedance, phone should be able to push them. High quality FLAC files and a good DAC).
Very good separation between lows and mids, with the latter being clear and pretty vibrant and fun. I'd say probably their best feature. Highs are ok, reasonably clear (maybe a tiny bit sibilant if you push in EQ). They do tend to cut the lingering sound of a string a bit short, though... they can't seem to reproduce that much very fine detail.
Overall the sound feels well balanced, nothing stands out as wrong with them but nothing stands out as particularly good, either. Soundstage is quite narrow and instrument separation isn't amazing.. but again, certainly not bad either. Fun to listen to, responsive to EQ and could probably go well with pretty much any kind of music.. they didn't blow my socks off but you could do a whole lot worse for the money.
Compared to a pair of HiFiMan HE-350, they are not nearly as clear nor can they match their wide, airy soundstage and impressive separation. As you'd expect, E-MUs do win in the base race. They feel much more versatile though, as the HE-350s lean very heavily towards the high end and probably won't appeal to as many people. While I do like me some good base, I'd pick the HE-350s over the E-MUs for the huge difference in clarity, separation and soundstage. Of course, the HE-350s are also a bit more expensive and target a different usage scenario - big, open design headphones aren't all that great on the go.
As for the sound... Not bad. I was expecting more oomph in the low end - base is clear but understated, certainly not for baseheads. Pleasantly impressed that you can pump it up in EQ with next to no distortion - they still won't rattle your teeth but they are capable of quite pleasant and precise, if not overly powerful lows (haven't had a chance to try them with an amp, just my phone, but they are low impedance, phone should be able to push them. High quality FLAC files and a good DAC).
Very good separation between lows and mids, with the latter being clear and pretty vibrant and fun. I'd say probably their best feature. Highs are ok, reasonably clear (maybe a tiny bit sibilant if you push in EQ). They do tend to cut the lingering sound of a string a bit short, though... they can't seem to reproduce that much very fine detail.
Overall the sound feels well balanced, nothing stands out as wrong with them but nothing stands out as particularly good, either. Soundstage is quite narrow and instrument separation isn't amazing.. but again, certainly not bad either. Fun to listen to, responsive to EQ and could probably go well with pretty much any kind of music.. they didn't blow my socks off but you could do a whole lot worse for the money.
Compared to a pair of HiFiMan HE-350, they are not nearly as clear nor can they match their wide, airy soundstage and impressive separation. As you'd expect, E-MUs do win in the base race. They feel much more versatile though, as the HE-350s lean very heavily towards the high end and probably won't appeal to as many people. While I do like me some good base, I'd pick the HE-350s over the E-MUs for the huge difference in clarity, separation and soundstage. Of course, the HE-350s are also a bit more expensive and target a different usage scenario - big, open design headphones aren't all that great on the go.