Archive for March 9th, 2012
The Best consumer level headphones
The Sol Republic Tracks : Sound isn’t secondary, they design their headphones to be brighter and more colorful, a warmer headphone with emphasized bass that kicks and rumbles in an ear pleasing way, but not excessively so. Unfortunately, the mids lack that in-your-face clarity, creating a hollow sound, and distortion will occur if you turn the volume up too high. A slick design and a nearly indestructable headband. $100
These headphones employ an open air design. They intentionally leak sound. This does not make them good for listening in an enclosed space full of strangers or in the office. But if you’re ok with that, the lesser amounts of distortion these headphones produce is significant. they’re light, comfortable, and well-built and the sound is fantastic.
You can almost feel the breath of a singer whoosh past you as vocals pan from one side of your head to another on Classic Recordings. With contemporary pop, hip-hop and electronic, many songs lose personality. And that’s kind of by design: Grado aims for a sound design that emphasizes accurate sound reproduction of vocals and instruments above all. But we now live in a different musical era, Music is bassy. Music is synthesized and sampled. Music is digital. At what point do we stop championing the headphones which can’t properly convey the current music of the masses? $100
The Sennheiser HD280 cans are the king of the budget earphone mountain. They’re not the cheapest, or the smallest, or the best looking, but they strike the best balance between clarity and resolution and the ability to handle multiple genres of music old and new.
You still get those minor sounds in the background of track mixes, but you don’t sacrifice the vibrancy that makes new music sound great. Bass is responsive, but not loose. Vocals have texture that dance and move through the soundstage. Everything sounds full and present. The 280s are able to create a soundstage where different elements exist in their own defined areas, but still give your ears something to work with when the bass kicks in. The big, over-ear design may not be ideal for commuting, but the HD280s are light enough that it’s not a burden to use these on the go. And while they carry a $150 MSRP, you’ll be hard pressed to find them for more than $100 anywhere on the Web. $150
via Gizmodo.
