Well, the bad news is the lovely O2 went home today but the good news is that the same friend bought me a present ......
He had bought a batch of 10 Denon 1100's (don't ask :
and he GAVE me one since I've had such a nasty day!!
So I went down to the hospital to see my Mum, armed with a Kindle, Ipod/Neco and the Denons. (Most of the day, Mum was out of it)
So I took the headphone out in the hospital and plugged in.
Over the day, my impressions have changed and I'm not sure how much is my imagination and how much could be to do with the headphone itself.
First impression on head, was that they are dreadful. I felt that the bass was bloated, one note fatness. Overwhelmed the rest, although I felt that the treble was shimmery and not peaky. (Which was a surprise tbh) I felt the mids weren't present at all.
At that point, I was listening to a music 'podcast' which is crappy quality but the music was brilliant!!
I changed to a ripped album. Still bloated, but less so. Listened for another while and then a break to see Mum.
Came back while she had another kip and I listened to 'Concerto for Orchestra'. My impression was different.
I played around with the cup positioning and found that it is really critical. For me, dead centre was right.
Bass was still too robust but it was actually playing notes rather than buzzing like a drone down there. Double basses came to life and I could plainly hear their line. The missing mids were still less than what I felt was ideal but because of the quality of the mids, something started to show in the dynamics.
When the rock band played, it virtually knocked me out of the room, but quiet passages on the woodwind virtually disappeared. I wonder whether that's because the mids are lower? The dynamic range of this headphone is extraordinary. I'm not kidding, one minute it's blowing your head off and the next, you are holding your breath to hear the quiet passages. It's one of the most dynamic listens I've heard on a headphone. I still think it's something to do with the balance of the mids with the rest of the spectrum.
The sound remains heavy at the bottom, thinner in the middle and pretty sweet up top. I like violin sound on them.
Next was the 'placing of the sounds. I started to hear further back into the sound and hearing really obvious things like the rock band is not in the same room as the orchestra. The guitar player has noise problems on his amp when he uses effects. The conductor was moving a bit too much at one point and I could hear it. Detail of positioning seems quite precise.
More worryingly the headphone feels as though it has changed in sound over a few hours. I have only had this once before and that was within half an hour - and it was dramatic.
In this case, it's done a few hours and I kind of feel that it's becoming slightly more even. However, could be me and my mood!!
I know that they are not neutral. However in spite of the bass problem, it has some really good things about it as well.
This is one of those headphones (like the Fanny Wangs) that I know I shouldn't like, but there is something about them that is really entertaining in their massively dynamic presentation.
Since they're now mine (!!!!) I think I'll do a comparison review with the Creative Aurvana and D2000. The Aurvana has the same drivers, I think but a very different sound and of course, I'll listen for what I think could be a family resemblance in sound with the D2000.
I feel that the Aurvana is a good one perhaps for a little bit of dampening and some tweaking, but this one, with the same driver is also a candidate imo. If that bass either tames itself or can be dampened down, this could be a really lovely headphone; especially as they retail for around £60.