I looked high and low for good set of closed back headphones, as my current job almost dictates the use of exclusively closed cans. Also I needed something for my bedroom recording to keep pace with all sources I have at hand without ever needing amplification. DT-250 came right in - first I was contemplating DT-770, but having read mixed feelings about the treble intensity and since Premium range was discontinued, they were the next logical choice. Being vintage AKG fan, I could have aimed towards K550 or K271 but those had drawbacks I was reluctant...

I thought about getting DFs as a present after passing driver's exams. Read those very few reviews online, which were generally a mixed back of helpfulness. Then I took the bullet and said, yes why not since I found a pretty good deal on ebay.de. I put them on and my jaw fell. The sound was so right, accurate and spot on, something I haven't experienced with any headphones before (K702, DT880, DT770, K701, K240 MK2). As the time passed, I sold most of my other HP as DFs superseeded them all.    The build is very similar to today's K240 Studios and...

The following review considers Clip+ with one of the latest Rockbox builds. Any features mentioned therein are from Rockbox frontend, not Sansa.   Clip+ won my annual price for the most influential product of 2016 in price/value ratio. Granted, it was released in 2009, but finally I got it last year, and it was instant winner, topping even the most awesome buy of AKG K240DF.   At first I needed something to replace the aging SX480 CD player, which still does work, but I'm not that avid "CD burner" nowadays. Fiio DAPs are just too heavy and large...

With somewhat high expectations I auditioned a pair of original HD800 today for about 90 minutes (enough with correct test methodology). Just when the first track started, an idea came to mind that those sound close to modded AKG K702. Supposedly though, some headfiers refer to HD800 as being in "different league" and thus incomparable to headphones costing magnitude lower. Actually it was a very close call. I divided the listening test into 3 parts - listening without reference, headphone and source comparison.   In the "just listening" part...

Edit: From the start I found the 112dB/mW claimed sensitivity not entirely true, and today I made an comparison. Monk Plus is far from the claimed sensitivity, reaching no more than 100dB/mW at 64Ohm impedance. The way I did the test was using headphones with known and correct sensitivity and impedance and match them to Monks in terms of volume. DT-250 were used for that purpose. At 1kHz, 5.7dB had to be retracted from Monks to achieve same volume level. As DT-250 are 250Ohm at 100dB/mW @ 1kHz, this post-calculation leads to the same sensitivity...

I was looking for something to fill in the gap between K240DF and K240 Monitor. Severely disappointed by alleged "successor", K701, I postponed purchase of K601 for many months, until I finally gave in. And boy I was wrong. In short K601 are the real successor of K701. Backwards as usual, AKG, but they did it. There's literally nothing in the sound that could be improved upon...not to my ears at least. That however doesn't mean it's good for every usage.   Sound-wise, it's as flat as it can get. Non-saturated bass, balanced trebles and mids...

I don't usually do hands-on reviews, but in this case I'm quite certain. I got my pair of HD414 for a bargain price, still in EX/VG condition, only a bit dirty on the inside. What originally caught my attention was 2000 Ohm impedance. I was like...really?!? Apparently someone caught up to the idea of high voltage/low current, which was perfect for me. At 2kOhm and 102dB/mW this looks like the perfect set of cans to be driven from virtually anything, even line outs! Unfortunately while this looks great on paper, the light-speed fast transients that...

I was quite disappointed with my DT880. I thought they'd make for excellent christmas present, but I was really wrong. First thing I noticed is very pronounced treble. While it might be OK for listening, e.g. after burn-in and "you'll get used to it", that was not why I got the headphones! I bought them for music production and that treble peak would push me towards equalization the wrong way, which is simply unacceptable for reference headphones. Reference means something that is uniquely and objectively transparent, from which can one "reference"...

I owned two PA2V2 and while it's good value amp, it had far too many flaws to my liking. Gary however provided excellent customer support throughout the whole time.   Ended up with O2 and I'm happy so far.