Please bear with me as this is my first foray into reviewing headphones.
Let me start by saying I am just getting into good headphones at work - as there is a very loud and vocally assaulting woman that works near me. I have a decent home theater at home (Polk R70's and PSW505 subs for music). So hopefully I am a decent judge of sound?
My listening leans toward rock (such as Dave Matthews Band, Tragically Hip, U2 as examples), but I do listen to a variety of classic rock, acoustic, a little rap/hip hop as well. I do most of my listening from my Android phone using 320k coded mp3s.
I like the Ref One's. I listened to these against a few other headphones (the $300 Beats, Bose, and Polks) and was surprised to find that these sounded the best of what I tested. Since I had a gift card to the store for most of the purchase price...why not? After a month of listening, here are my thoughts:
1) Sound 8/10 - The bass on these is punchy, forward and solid. They hit clean and hit low. They even blew away the $300 Beats in that aspect, something I was very surprised at. The mids and treble are ok, but not as bright as I would have liked them to be.
2) Stage 7/10 - Surprisingly spacious sound - i really feel like i am immersed in my music. I like that feeling, especially out of a more portable headphone
3) Comfort - 8/10 - for on ear phones these are nice...but i think that all depends on your ears. They seem to fit to mine pretty well. Ive gone 3-4 hours with these and felt no discomfort. The leather band on top is a nice touch
4) Noise Isolation 7/10 - a little bit of leakage from these when I turn them up
5) Portability 9/10 - love the hard case and airplane adapter. the cord being a bit tangle-prone prevented a 10/10 here.
Overall, for someone who leans toward the bass side of things, these are a decent headphone. The high signal to noise ratio (110db) makes them ideal for use with a portable device and no amp.
I feel at $150 they are a tad overpriced, $120 would have made me happier. $100 would have me telling people to go out and buy them.
