This is a Review of SoundMagic on-ear portable headphones. Due to a lack of original manufacture webpage update, here is a link to P21 on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/SoundMAGIC-P21-Foldable-On-Ear-Headphones/dp/B00MAO92P8/ - though my review unit was in white color, only black/red, red, and green available for sale now.
Another big surprise from SoundMagic! I have been a big fan of their E10 in-ear headphones and recently became a huge fan of their over-ear HP150 model, both of which have a great sound quality and represent a fantastic value in terms of price/performance ratio. I honestly wasn't expecting much from P21 since my previous experience with on-ear models was not so great with either too much bass and v-shaped sound or not as good isolation where lack of seal affected the bass. As a matter of fact, once I put these on out of the box the bass was a bit overwhelming, but I'm so happy I didn't jump into any conclusion until about 10hrs after burn in. Let's see what I found.
This SoundMagic model arrived in a very small box which right away suggested about portability of these headphones. The box itself has a clean design with a picture of headphones and a very accurate description of their sound and other details. I always find SoundMagic to be honest and accurate in their descriptions without any marketing hype. Around the box you will find a typical listing of specific parameters, accessories where you get only a case, a picture of the folding design, and the usual story behind SoundMagic as a company. Inside of the box you will find a soft carrying case with a pleather on the outside and soft felt material on the inside. The only comment about the case is regarding white headphones and earcups folded out where after awhile I noticed a slight shade on earpads. Not a show stopper since even with a normal use white earpads will get soiled. Just something to keep in mind since P21 comes in 4 different colors, though white always makes a bold statement!
The headphones itself are very lightweight, a little over 100g, and take very little space once folded inside of headband with earcups rotated 90 degrees. The construction is all plastic with what seems like a metal reinforced band inside of the headband. It's visible when you adjust headphones and see numeric step marking on the metal band inside. Even with all plastic construction, the build and the joints felt solid. The headband padding inside was covered in pleather, and the same quality soft pleather was used on earpads. Earpads were soft and very comfortable, creating a perfect seal with you ear. I was actually very impressed with it's noise isolation, thanks to a combination of decent clamping force from headband and earpads seal. Both of the earcups have a separate wire where SoundMagic decided to use a flat tangle-free cord, perfect for storage. The 3.5mm connector was gold plated and L-shaped.
Now, about the sound. As I mentioned before, right out of the box a bass was a bit exaggerated, but everything settled down quickly after a short burn in. Then, you are treated to a nicely balanced sound with a slightly enhanced bass and just a bit recessed mids, sounding smooth and melodic. As a matter of fact, P21 kind of reminded me of M50 with a scaled down bass and more soundstage depth and a bit less width. Starting with lows, it had a nice sub-bass extension to add a texture without too much of extra quantity, and a little bump in mid-bass with a nice fast punch, all that under a tight control without spilling into lower mids. Upper mids are clear, detailed, and very smooth with a perfect balance of being bright enough without any harsh peaks or being thin. Vocals sounded natural, and the same with timbre of other instruments. Treble was smooth as well, detailed, and crisp. Soundstage was spacious with above the average staging. Though it was easy to drive P21 from any source, I did notice it required a little bit more power. Also, I didn't notice any cable noise.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with these new P21 model from SoundMagic. I have tested a number of on-ear headphones in the past, such as P3, XS, T51, and Atlas, and in every case was more impressed with looks than with a sound being either too commercially v-shaped with exaggerated bass or lacking in sound isolation due to smaller earpads. Here, you have the best of both worlds with a portable lightweight design and a great balanced sound with enough details and extra bass punch. If you consider their cost which is a fraction of other on-ear headphones, then we are talking about one amazing value you definitely have to check out!
Here are the pictures.
