Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
oldsntnick
3
Sep 19, 2016
I'm certain I'm not an audiophile. But... that being said, I'm really disappointed! Based on the frequency chart, I'm so surprised at how tinny these feel. They feel like they are completely out of balance from a sound point of view. Just thinking about volume control - on a volume range from 1 to 10, I think these sound pretty good at say a 3-4 - which is ordinary volume. But when your favorite song comes on, you should be able to go to a 6 or 7 in the dial - but at that level these are not tolerable. So much tin and what appears to be capping of the highs - it's just awful. Am I wrong here or should I be able to turn it up and still enjoy it? Keep in mind, I do not have a headphone amplifier - just through my Macbook and iPad. Still - that should be suitable to create a captivating user experience. At least one would think. Thoughts??
Edit: I realized people may want to know a bit about the packaging, etc.
Came in a very nice box. Plastic molded internal to safely hold your new headphones. As described earlier, heavyweight audio cable, 2.5 to the ears, 3.5 headphone jack. No microphone. Comes with a standard adapter for your stereo. All gold tipped. Appears to be very high quality.
N0gai
40
Sep 19, 2016
oldsntnickOn higher volume levels an amp DEFINITLY makes a difference. And also give it some time to burn in.
They might really suffer from your iPad/Mac's output quality, so consider trying them on an other device, it might change everything for good.
But thanks for your (a tad scary) impressions.
PS:Noone with a good Dac/Amp got them yet?
PurpleLemonade
31
Sep 19, 2016
oldsntnickNot sure about newer devices, by when I used Apple phones I found their built in amplifiers sucked.
oldsntnick
3
Sep 19, 2016
PurpleLemonadeThe only problem I have with the potential "weak" amplifiers in mobile devices would eliminate the use-case of using these outside the home. I guess I will have to reset expectations.
PurpleLemonade
31
Sep 19, 2016
oldsntnickI personally wouldn't recommend using open back headphones outside the home anyways.
EniGmA1987
607
Sep 19, 2016
N0gaiI will get mine on Wednesday and ill post my impressions. I have a Pulse Infinity and an NFB1-AMP.
Armstrong01
45
Sep 19, 2016
oldsntnickThe tin you're calling it is probably the treble being too high out of the box. The Z Review says they require breaking in, the highs should calm down a bit to a reasonable level once you run them for some time. Just leave them playing for a few hours. If still not satisfied after that, see the Z Review for pads upgrades recommendations. He said with the Brainwavz angled pads the treble goes away just a little bit more.
lo_tse
18
Sep 20, 2016
oldsntnickIf at 3-4, it sounded pretty good but really bad at 6-7, that seemed to me your "amp" was maxed out and you are hearing a lot of distortion. What you described happen quite often with car stereo => tried to crank up the stereo that comes with the car and the sound is really awful. Typically people blame the speakers. However, if you change theo amp /head unit to something more powerful => the sound is fine even at loud level. Its the amp.
oldsntnick
3
Sep 20, 2016
lo_tseYea - I hear what you are saying. I'm actually pretty solid in my understanding of how sound waves work and I have seen that many times with car stereos (maybe the cheap one vs. a higher end) so I don't think that's the case here. Just imagine having a pair of earbuds or other mass marketing brand earphones - at 6 or 7 they typically sound great through either the Macbook or iPad - not the same here on my first go around with the HE-350. In this case the only thing that changed was the speakers - so I think it's a combination of mobile devices and computers being less powered vs. a home stereo or amplified signal, as well as the fact they need to be broken in. Thank you for the suggestion, I appreciate it.
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile