Mixcder V4.2
This is my second review. I was part of the review tour. Mixcder was very kind to let me retain the headphones and very friendly and responsive to emails.
Background
I'm a lifelong musician, live and studio sound engineer, always with heavy duty earplugs. Often the only one in my band wearing them, but then, I've retained my unusually sensitive hearing because of it. I've tried too many headphones and in ears to list. I'll refer to what I've tried where it's relevant in the review, to keep it simple. I've got some I'm happy with now, but I'm never tired of trying new things, so that brought me to these.
What I Look For
I prefer warmer headphones, full lower mids, flat mids, reduced high mids. More than a moderate mid bass bump bothers me, and sub bass rarely extends low enough in most quality cans I'll try. I'll say "quality" since there are plenty that are explosive down there, but often at the expense of everything else. Some have said you can't have all frequencies well represented, but enough come close to this, so I know this can be done.
Common Issues
Fit has had me reject 80% of what I've tried. I much prefer over-ear. It's hard enough to get over-ear to go over everyone's ears (Senn. Momentum 1 for example, Momentum 2 isn't much better). My ears fairly flat and proportional to being 6'5". My head is also, with Triple X hat size (few of those fit either). Most companies could fit larger heads, with an inch more band extension, but only some seem to take that into consideration.
Design and Comfort
These arrived well packaged and designed given how inexpensive they are at retail. Definitely built better than most under $50 USD cans. No case and it is not expected. They fold flat and you can find plenty of nice inexpensive hard cases for fold flat headphones. I won't post pictures, there are a ton of other pictures already posted in the reviews for this.
They don't extend far enough. I tried bending the headband at the center but it didn't help. A half an inch to an inch more extension on each side is all that would be needed. The extra cost for a bit more metal to slide out is negligible and many companies are penny wise and pound foolish to save money in cutting costs for important ergonomics.
If you can't get them fully down to your ears comfortably, you can't wear them and there has never been a mod that has been done that can work around it. The pads are a little too small and shallow, though soft. They have that fake smell too. Bose QC35 also fold flat and are portable, yet have ear cups that are deep enough and fully surround large ears.
The Bose also extend plenty far to easily reach my ears and are very light, and sturdy. I wish more would emulate their design. The angled drivers in these tell me there may be an effort to do that. Also, I prefer the cable entry to be on the left side, not the right as they are with the Mixcder headphones. This brings me to another macro evaluation.
I can't expect these to sound as good as Bose given their are a fraction of the price. The same amount of plastic, and 10-20 cents more metal for a longer headband reach, and a dollar more for better, larger, deeper ear pads could launch these into a higher territory of value. The better ear depth of the Bose doesn't make them any less portable.
Thin ear pads for portability is pure nonsense. It's cutting corners in an important area. It's not the material you're using, it's using just a bit more (which would add little to the cost of manufacture) and how you use it. It seems like these companies have small, flat eared midgets with tiny heads testing their headphones.
Sound Quality and Ideas
The sound with the wire is far better than wireless. The wireless range and connection is fast and works fine. No complaints there. The wired sound has perhaps the best midrange and bass for a moderate bass head who is not fond of the scooped V shape and prefers flat with extra bass and a bit less treble. The treble has issues here.
Wired bass is great, reaches low, moderate mid bass bump, bleeds just a bit up into the low mids but I don't mind that if it's just a little. The mids are solid without any ringing issues (like the Sony MDR-Z7 can have). Due to the very close proximity to the ear, that may be why. Literally called "proximity effect" in audio engineer speak.
That builds up the lower and middle mids nicely. Also being so close, there is no extra reflective space for sound to resonate from, and also there is less of a space to the ear itself for some sound deflection between that and the driver and the likely comb filtering and resonance that could result. It's possible to work around this though.
The Bose QC35 does this with DSP / EQ obviously. When NR is off it has that EQ off and they sound horrible in terms of ringy reflective sound (boxiness). It is rather stupid of Bose since their latest Sound True generation is nearly the same in build and drivers compared to the QC35. It has no EQ or DSP and if run flat, there is no boxiness.
Back to the Mixcder. Wired sound is good up to the treble, which is weird. I'll detail that more. It gets worse with BT and mainly in the bass that blows up to a ridiculous mid bass bump. It's so bad it's not useable. The idea of big bass bumps for "walking around outside" is also wrong, unless the headphones are bass light to begin with.
The weirdness of the treble is in both wired and wireless. Both are dark and dull, especially wireless. The actual detail level is worse, beyond just mere brightness. They still manage to have what appears to be at least one if not two narrow peaks just under 10 kHz that aren't always noticed, but when they are it's brutal. Dull yet peaky.
How They Make This Better
There you have it. Arguably among the best midrange quality of any cans at any price in wired mode. The bass quality and quantity there is also great. It suffers also from lack of soundstage due to proximity to the drivers, but that said, even in that way, the space is surprisingly good for cans without much space to let it develop that are also closed.
Put out a version with a $10-$20 higher price tag. $30 to include a cheap hard case for fold flat cans if you so desire. The core $10-$20 is to cover $5 in new and extra and better material and $5 in labor putting it in there. You still get a big return on your investment and put these in another category of quality that will rival cans that cost a lot more than that.
Longer reaching sliders for tall heads. Longer, wider, deeper ear cups. Getting wireless to at least sound similar (even if not as good) as wired. One should expect the same general sound, not to have remarkable mids and bass turn into a massive mid bass bump rendering them unusable. It will take some more research and trial and error to get it.
I'm glad they are listening. With all due respect to Meze, a competitor with great products including headphones that I tested, their newer headphones, from the reviews I've read of them, are nearly the same as the older line it was meant to be an alternative to in size, they suffer the same fate that these and many cans will suffer with needlessly.
Their ear cups were a bit too small, they made them a bit bigger but the headband design didn't change which was again too small. Bose gets it, trying on their latest generation of cans (go to Best Buy if you haven't, they're on display there) you feel like they really paid attention to comfort and being able to fit various heads and ears. It can be done.
This is my second review. I was part of the review tour. Mixcder was very kind to let me retain the headphones and very friendly and responsive to emails.
Background
I'm a lifelong musician, live and studio sound engineer, always with heavy duty earplugs. Often the only one in my band wearing them, but then, I've retained my unusually sensitive hearing because of it. I've tried too many headphones and in ears to list. I'll refer to what I've tried where it's relevant in the review, to keep it simple. I've got some I'm happy with now, but I'm never tired of trying new things, so that brought me to these.
What I Look For
I prefer warmer headphones, full lower mids, flat mids, reduced high mids. More than a moderate mid bass bump bothers me, and sub bass rarely extends low enough in most quality cans I'll try. I'll say "quality" since there are plenty that are explosive down there, but often at the expense of everything else. Some have said you can't have all frequencies well represented, but enough come close to this, so I know this can be done.
Common Issues
Fit has had me reject 80% of what I've tried. I much prefer over-ear. It's hard enough to get over-ear to go over everyone's ears (Senn. Momentum 1 for example, Momentum 2 isn't much better). My ears fairly flat and proportional to being 6'5". My head is also, with Triple X hat size (few of those fit either). Most companies could fit larger heads, with an inch more band extension, but only some seem to take that into consideration.
Design and Comfort
These arrived well packaged and designed given how inexpensive they are at retail. Definitely built better than most under $50 USD cans. No case and it is not expected. They fold flat and you can find plenty of nice inexpensive hard cases for fold flat headphones. I won't post pictures, there are a ton of other pictures already posted in the reviews for this.
They don't extend far enough. I tried bending the headband at the center but it didn't help. A half an inch to an inch more extension on each side is all that would be needed. The extra cost for a bit more metal to slide out is negligible and many companies are penny wise and pound foolish to save money in cutting costs for important ergonomics.
If you can't get them fully down to your ears comfortably, you can't wear them and there has never been a mod that has been done that can work around it. The pads are a little too small and shallow, though soft. They have that fake smell too. Bose QC35 also fold flat and are portable, yet have ear cups that are deep enough and fully surround large ears.
The Bose also extend plenty far to easily reach my ears and are very light, and sturdy. I wish more would emulate their design. The angled drivers in these tell me there may be an effort to do that. Also, I prefer the cable entry to be on the left side, not the right as they are with the Mixcder headphones. This brings me to another macro evaluation.
I can't expect these to sound as good as Bose given their are a fraction of the price. The same amount of plastic, and 10-20 cents more metal for a longer headband reach, and a dollar more for better, larger, deeper ear pads could launch these into a higher territory of value. The better ear depth of the Bose doesn't make them any less portable.
Thin ear pads for portability is pure nonsense. It's cutting corners in an important area. It's not the material you're using, it's using just a bit more (which would add little to the cost of manufacture) and how you use it. It seems like these companies have small, flat eared midgets with tiny heads testing their headphones.
Sound Quality and Ideas
The sound with the wire is far better than wireless. The wireless range and connection is fast and works fine. No complaints there. The wired sound has perhaps the best midrange and bass for a moderate bass head who is not fond of the scooped V shape and prefers flat with extra bass and a bit less treble. The treble has issues here.
Wired bass is great, reaches low, moderate mid bass bump, bleeds just a bit up into the low mids but I don't mind that if it's just a little. The mids are solid without any ringing issues (like the Sony MDR-Z7 can have). Due to the very close proximity to the ear, that may be why. Literally called "proximity effect" in audio engineer speak.
That builds up the lower and middle mids nicely. Also being so close, there is no extra reflective space for sound to resonate from, and also there is less of a space to the ear itself for some sound deflection between that and the driver and the likely comb filtering and resonance that could result. It's possible to work around this though.
The Bose QC35 does this with DSP / EQ obviously. When NR is off it has that EQ off and they sound horrible in terms of ringy reflective sound (boxiness). It is rather stupid of Bose since their latest Sound True generation is nearly the same in build and drivers compared to the QC35. It has no EQ or DSP and if run flat, there is no boxiness.
Back to the Mixcder. Wired sound is good up to the treble, which is weird. I'll detail that more. It gets worse with BT and mainly in the bass that blows up to a ridiculous mid bass bump. It's so bad it's not useable. The idea of big bass bumps for "walking around outside" is also wrong, unless the headphones are bass light to begin with.
The weirdness of the treble is in both wired and wireless. Both are dark and dull, especially wireless. The actual detail level is worse, beyond just mere brightness. They still manage to have what appears to be at least one if not two narrow peaks just under 10 kHz that aren't always noticed, but when they are it's brutal. Dull yet peaky.
How They Make This Better
There you have it. Arguably among the best midrange quality of any cans at any price in wired mode. The bass quality and quantity there is also great. It suffers also from lack of soundstage due to proximity to the drivers, but that said, even in that way, the space is surprisingly good for cans without much space to let it develop that are also closed.
Put out a version with a $10-$20 higher price tag. $30 to include a cheap hard case for fold flat cans if you so desire. The core $10-$20 is to cover $5 in new and extra and better material and $5 in labor putting it in there. You still get a big return on your investment and put these in another category of quality that will rival cans that cost a lot more than that.
Longer reaching sliders for tall heads. Longer, wider, deeper ear cups. Getting wireless to at least sound similar (even if not as good) as wired. One should expect the same general sound, not to have remarkable mids and bass turn into a massive mid bass bump rendering them unusable. It will take some more research and trial and error to get it.
I'm glad they are listening. With all due respect to Meze, a competitor with great products including headphones that I tested, their newer headphones, from the reviews I've read of them, are nearly the same as the older line it was meant to be an alternative to in size, they suffer the same fate that these and many cans will suffer with needlessly.
Their ear cups were a bit too small, they made them a bit bigger but the headband design didn't change which was again too small. Bose gets it, trying on their latest generation of cans (go to Best Buy if you haven't, they're on display there) you feel like they really paid attention to comfort and being able to fit various heads and ears. It can be done.