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Crossfade II Wireless. Crossfade M-100. I'm not sure if some of the open back models manage this or not, but it is something to consider. For comparison, I've tried the JVC HARX700 recently, and they. Superlux HD-668 B+AKG K-240/270/271 Velour Pads.
Posted byMiniDSP:O2, Speaka:K5 > Utopia / SRH1540 / Talos / et al
7 years agoHello /r/headphones! This is the second in the series of in-depth headphone reviews.
Update 4/2015:
I'd drop the XB500s because they are discontinued and substitute in the JVC HA-S400B as a basshead substitute. They're sadly not a perfect match as the S400Bs are on-ear, rather than over-ear, but they can relatively easily be made over-ear with new pads.
Besides that, most of the information is still relevant. Measurements exist for the HD681 Evo, thanks to Solderdude, and measurements exist for certain Takstar headphones. The TH-02 and HA-S400B measurements are available on Changstar.
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Cost: $35
Pros: Bassier version of the KSC75, but with less treble. Comfortable. Lifetime warranty in the US. Retro look. Portable and good for working out. Good sound staging. Cons: Bass can be muddy. Treble can be not shiny enough. Fragile. Headband can be pinchy. Retro look. Almost no sound isolation and high leakage.
Voltage to 110dB SPL: 0.47V at 60 ohm impedance (using the measurements from InnerFidelity)
Links of Note:
Explanation
This is another headphone based on the famous Koss 60-ohm driver that is found in the KSC75, Sportapro, and the Portapro. Much like the KSC75, the Portapro has been considered one of the better value headphones for quite some time, but I haven’t seen it suggested as much lately. Regardless, a headphone has to be doing something right to last for over 25 years and still be considered competitive.
Measurements
First off, let’s compare against the KSC75. These measurements look legitimate and we can verify them against the InnerFidelity measurements. The basics of the story? Treble is receded almost pretty 3-5 dB or so from the KSC75, a headphone considered bright. This treble recession shows up in the reviews as the lack of sparkle in shimmer in the Portapro. Furthermore, the bass is bumped up, anywhere from 2dB to a whopping 5dB at 20hz. The housing can’t perform miracles, though, and the Portapros are still rolling off the sub-bass frequencies. We do not have a waterfall CSD plot for the Portapro, but my speculation is that it would look similar to the KSC75. In the InnerFidelity measurements, we can see that one driver still has a divot at 5khz – this implies that they still have the treble spike at 5khz. That said, in the HeadRoom measurements, the divot is significantly less than the KSC75 one. This MIGHT imply that the ringing is not as much at 5khz.
The InnerFidelity measurements also show high distortion into the bass frequencies – this is indicative of the somewhat muddy bass response. It’s difficult for cheap open driver headphones to not roll-off the bass and get increasing distortion into the bass frequencies.
Sonic Reviews
Unlike the Alessandro-Grado tonality of the KSC75, the Portapro has a much more bass heavy and treble light presentation. At stock, this can be appealing for people that avoid the treble heavy headphones. They’re nice and solid headphones for rock and pop due to the bass curve. The mid-bass is emphasized enough to leak a bit into the mids, however, which gives it the slightly muddy sound. Overall, though, it’s also that mid-bass hump combined with the recessed treble that results in these headphones being a nice unfatiguing laidback headphone.
Other Notes
Most of the mods that exist for the KSC75 are also done for the PortaPros. You still see Kramer mods (which might be nice to bring out more of the treble), quarter mods, pad replacements, recabling, etc, etc.
Will these benefit from an amplifier? It's possible. Buy the headphones first and see if they are driven to a nice volume before going out to buy an amplifier.
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Cost: $35
Pros: Old school, barebones AKG style. Surprisingly neutral through most of the frequencies. Decent bass extension (rolls off after 40hz). Pretty comfortable. Good soundstage due to semi-open design.
Cons: Sound leakage b/c semi-open design. Very bright treble. Build feels a little cheapish. Design stolen from AKG. Not portable.
Voltage to 110dB SPL: 1.10V at 34 ohm impedance (using the measurements from InnerFidelity)
Links of Note:
Explanation
Superlux is a Taiwanese company that is very good at stealing things from other headphone companies. They have a Sony MDR-V6 clone, they have a Audio-Technica wings on some of their headphones, they have the AKG style on these headphones . . . That said, Superlux has always brought some of the highest caliber sound quality for the price. The HD681 is the cheapest well-known Superlux headphone and it sounds very similar to the slightly more expensive HD668B. Just because it is the least expensive Superlux of the well-known bunch doesn’t stop it from being a fine headphone.
Measurements
The Inner Fidelity measurements show a headphone that is surprisingly neutral. The highs are bright, yes, but the mid-range and bass is just flat. Just about everything here is just solid for the price bracket. When it comes to the measurements, there’s really not much else to say about the Superlux HD681 besides “look at how flat the frequency response is.”
Sonic Reviews
There is a reason why the Superlux HD681 has gotten 5 stars on every single Head-Fi review. They are, of all of the full-sized headphones, my personal pick for highest value. Superlux represents a big step up from the Incipios, the HTF600s, and the 8323s and really define their own bracket.
The bass is relatively tight and solid and you can definitely tell that it extends pretty deep. It was nice and quick, able to keep up with songs with faster bass, but were also capable of rumbling well. They don’t have the raw bass quantity of the Panasonic HTF600s, but the tightness and overall quality of the bass is nicer.
The mids are slightly forward and nice. The highs pick at the mids a bit, because the treble is definitely emphasized on these headphones, but they are nice and crisp. The highs are very bright and were too bright for me. It’s certainly shiny, but also a bit sibilant and piercing. I agree with Tyll – if you can equalize out the treble, these are a brilliant sounding headphone that punch beyond its price.
Other Notes
As far as I know, the HD681 is not a commonly modded headphone, but I did attach a link in the links section to a pretty hardcore mod. The design of the HD681 is so close to the AKG K240 that the velour pads from the K240 will actually fit the HD681.
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Cost: $50
Pros: More bass than the HD681. Removable cable. Slightly more bassy than neutral. Nice soundstage.
Cons: Can warm up your ears and get hot. High clamping force. Low isolation. Emphasized treble. Feels cheap. Unfit for portable use.
Voltage to 110dB SPL: 1.81V at 65 ohm (from InnerFidelity numbers)
Links of Note:
Explanation
This is probably the most well-known Superlux headphone. Since it was discovered, the HD668B has been a suggestion for this price bracket. It has a surprisingly warm tonality with its mid-bass hump. This gives it a bit more of a full sound compared to the less expensive Superlux HD681. It’s one of the only budget headphones to have a removable cable, which is certainly one of its nicest features.
Measurements
[Here is a link to the InnerFidelity measurements of the HD668B.] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SuperluxHD668B.pdf)
Looking purely at the frequency response, you can see that these are more bassy than the HD681 but are very similar. They have the same linear type of mid-range with a small hump at 2khz while having really emphasized treble response.
On a technical level, these are slightly worse than the HD681 measurements. You may notice the increased amount of jitter in the frequency response and the large amount of ringing in the square wave. This implies to me that there is a sketchy, really wavy type of waterfall CSD that would be generated from these results.
Another thing to note is the SHARP jump at 5khz that doesn’t exist in the HD681. This implies to me that there is likely a large ringing in the driver at this point that would show up in a waterfall CSD. Luckily, 5khz ringing isn’t the worst, but that is a very sharp jump which reminds me of the DT1350’s sharp jump at 7khz. You can see how that translated into a waterfall CSD for the DT1350 here (measurements from Purrin at Changstar).
Personally speaking, I think the HD681 is a safer buy in terms of sound quality, but the HD668B has gotten rave reviews despite warning signs.
Sonic Reviews
The HD668B is very similar to the HD681, except generally bassier and more full sounding. They share the same strengths, the same weaknesses, but they have slightly different sound signatures and the HD668B has a removable cable. I personally consider those to be the two biggest differences between the HD681 and the HD668B.
Other Notes
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