Phiaton MS 400 Premium Headphones

About me: Newbie audiophile at best, I've been rocking a set of Senn HD280s in silver for probably 7 years. I have never had an issue with build quality or sound quality, and have loved them since I got them. At the time, they were a good bang for the buck, and I still think that they sound great (at least my pair does!). I run sound from a MacBook Pro, and iPod Touch (gen1), and iPad (gen1) or my LG P999 through any number of players.
 
About the headphones: I was looking for something over the ear and closed that had good sound but were a bit more street stylish to wear out and about if I didn't feel like having my Klipsch Image x10s stuck down my ears. I did some reading on the Phiatons (on here and Headphonia) and they seemed like something that might fit the bill.
 
The phones do look great, but they are MUCH smaller than I expected them to be, and even for my 'normal' sized ears were either partially supra-aural, or circumaural if i fidgeted a bit and got my ears pushed inside. Once they were in this position, the top tips of my ears were seated against the driver cover. They are not particularly uncomfortable in either of these positions as the cushions are soft, but they are not exactly what I was looking for. Anyway, after a few minutes I stopped being perturbed by this, and you probably will too if you think that the rest of this paragraph has sounded a bit too whiny.
 
The sound, however, is something that I have not been so easily able to dismiss. It should be noted that these have only about 15 hours of burn-in time, but I have not noticed a ton of improvement in their incredibly claustrophobic sound stage and muffled... everything. I am still surprised at the positive reviews that these cans have gotten, and perhaps more burn-in will improve things by impression is that they are muffled and lack detail across the spectrum. With no EQ on, I find that details that I can hear clearly on my 280s are simply not present in the MS 400s. I think that everything from the Low-Mids to the Mid-Lows are overemphasized and sloppy, without any high-range details to help define the texture of drums, bass, or vocals.
 
I am going to give these a bit more time to break in, but unless there is a dramatic improvement in sound, I can't see these being worth the price no matter how cool they look. Perhaps you could use the shell for some other drivers (I'd love to throw my 280's in here and keep my new M50s for home use) but for $200 I think that project is a rather moot point. I will probably be sending them back and just take the loss in cost of postage as punishment for buying with my eyes and not my ears.

Alrighty..... so I already own a pair of M50's, and as you may already know they are obnoxiously large and, well just obnoxious. I started looking for a pair of more portable headphones to replace my m50's on the go, and I was looking for a fun bassy sounding headphone. Well I got exactly that. The bass could be a little better at the extremely low bass, and it doesn't sound that airy. Also, it feels just right in your hands, it might feel fragile at times but it is actually very well built. Another thing, is that they aren't quite circumaural, they're more like supraural at one half and circumaural on the other. Still, it is insanely comfortable thanks to the faux pads, that are just so SQUISHY, I love it. 

Couple things, I am an amateur audiophile at best and this is my first review so bear with me. My listening rig was my Sansa Fuze v2 Rockboxed [unamped] (I have a PA2v2 on the way so maybe I will edit this later on). Most of my files are all V0/320 MP3 and FLAC and include a lot of live recordings.
 
I bought these from Amazon Warehouse Deals in "like new" condition for $165. I am convinced these were never on a pair of ears before reaching me - or someone tried em out for 20 minutes and decided it wasn't for them. Seems like I lucked out on this one.
 
***PLEASE NOTE: The MS400 are right on the fence for being supra-aural or circumaural - for me they are circumaural and my ears fit inside the cups. This affects the majority of my review to some degree.
 
LOOKS: I think most will agree these are a modern, sexy set of cans. I have the all black version - the red just isn't me, too flashy for my tastes. The carbon fiber is just so unique ; very nice looking.
 
CONSTRUCTION: Meh, they feel a bit plasticky but I have a feeling they may be more sturdy than they let on. There is some resistance in the swivel and sometimes it feels like I am gonna break them if the cups are flipped but they seem alright. The cable is very skinny and some may not like it but I prefer it - I bought these with portability in mind. There are no microphonics before the split in the Y cable however you do get some noise above it (it's not bothersome, my RE0 drive me nuts even with a shirt clip - these are nothing). In the same breath, an angled jack would have been better - oh well, it's a low profile straight jack anyways.

COMFORT: So far I find these extremely comfortable. As I said, they are circumaural for me ( I have rather small ears) but I think for most they might be supraural. Besides the fact that they seem to get a little warm on the ears they are really comfy; for me they are the perfect size, weight and clamping force.
 
ISOLATION: Pretty good - on par with my SRH840 and maybe a little behind my RE0.

SOUND QUALITY: As I said, my ears fit inside of the cups so I probably have a different listening experience with the driver closer to my ear. Out of the box I was disappointed. The bass was boomy and drowning out the highs and mids - something I was afraid of (note: I am not a bass head - I enjoy controlled, defined, punchy bass). I just couldn't get into them, vocals were veiled - guitars were lack luster, bass was mushy etc.....After a couple days of listening at work (~8 hrs) and telling myself I must like a more forward sound (on the other hand my SR80i can be way too fatiguing for me at times), I brought them home for some pink noise burn in. I was just not enjoying them. I have been letting them burn in with pink noise for maybe 30 hrs and they have definitely changed (I don't care what burn-in skeptics say!). The bass has tightened up and is not as boomy - however, let it be known these are still a very bass heavy set of cans. Either as a result or independent transformations, the highs and mids are now much more prominent and detailed.
Listening to a very nice recording of a Jerry Garcia Band show (1978-03-10) outside this evening I was enjoying every minute of it. The bass was thumping, the drums were tight, Jerry's vocals were crisp and his guitar was singing ... really great PRaT. Even the female backing vocals and organ had opened up. I will say that everything feels a little recessed and in the back ground, possibly as a result of the bass being so prominent - I won't say "veiled" but you know what I mean... I can hear everything down to the softest cymbal hit to a quiet tambourine, however, they definitely don't have that shimmer of a Grado.
Sound stage is still a weird concept for me and hard to describe. They feel confined compared to the Shure SRH840 - which still feel like a closed can but a much larger space.
 
Would I recommend them? Yes, definitely. These are a great portable set of headphones - unfortunately I have not listened to the HD25-1 II, Beyers, or any other portables for that matter but I am definitely happy enough with them so far to not go trying those out . That may change but I think they are growing on me. If these really are the anti-Grado as some say, then I honestly think I prefer the Grado end of the spectrum but the sibilance and shrill highs really bother me sometimes... I could listen to the Phiatons all day long - no fatigue here. They may be bassy but they are smooth!

I will edit this after I listen with an amp/ try the Armaegis cotton mod.