nate
valued member
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Post by nate on Nov 30, 2017 20:44:42 GMT
Despite a lack of critical reviews, I went out on a limb and purchased the new Edifier H880 headphones. Marketing copy here:
While it's short on significant details, the 40mm "advanced composite diaphragm made of polymer-metal" caught my attention, combined with the design appearing to be an original one, and that their H850 headphone has a good reputation, I decided to take a chance. It just arrived a couple of days ago, and while I'm not blown away by the materials (more plastic than I'd like at this price point), build is solid and comfortable on my head. Pads easy go all the way around my ears, so getting a good fit is very easy (unlike, say, the NAD Viso HP50 on my XL head). Sound-wise, they seem really good, especially the sub-bass. I have a lot more listening to do, but it's passed with flying colors through all my typical test tracks.
Quick background about me: I like a mostly neutral sound, but I don't like sub-bass roll-off. It doesn't matter to me how good a headphone (or a speaker setup) is across the rest of the spectrum, the sub-bass is as important a part of the spectrum to me as any other part and it needs to be there and be as accurate as possible (most headphones seem to have both sub-bass roll-off and distortion in the sub-100Hz range). On-ear/over-ear headphones I currently enjoy are the Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro (with solid not velour pads), Philips Fidelio L2, Hifiman HE400i (with solid not 'Focus' pads), and Elecom EHP-R/OH2000. I also think the Onkyo H900M and ES-HF300 are both pretty good.
If anything I think the Edifier H880 might have slightly elevated sub-bass, but not by too much. To me it's like a more refined Elecom OH2000. The Elecom has a 43mm liquid crystal polymer film diaphragm (so slightly larger driver in a much smaller cup). LCP film has been used by Sony for a number of years in their headphones (MDR-Z7, MDR-7520, etc.) Elecom's press release on their use of LCP film:
Not sure how related LCP film is to the "polymer-metal" driver in the Edifier H880. I've never seen any professional measurements or detailed reviews of the Elecom OH2000 or Edifier H880, and I'm curious if objective data can back up my very positive perceptions. If anyone has the equipment to do some tests and the inclination to check these headphones out, I'd love to know what other people find!
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solderdude
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measureutternutter
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Post by solderdude on Nov 30, 2017 21:25:49 GMT
I can measure the headphones but only when you are within Europe. Otherwise shipping back and forth can become very expensive.
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nate
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Post by nate on Nov 30, 2017 21:40:52 GMT
I can measure the headphones but only when you are within Europe. Otherwise shipping back and forth can become very expensive. Yes I had read that you are based in Europe. Edifier has pretty good European distribution I think (not sure about Elecom, from what I understand most of their stuff is sold primarily in the domestic Japanese market). Hopefully someone else in Europe will buy the Edifier H880 and send them to you for testing!
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Dec 1, 2017 6:49:17 GMT
The Edifier is a cheaper version of the PJB850.
It was designed by a bass player called Phil Jones and some musicians have used them as ‘pit’ headphones. They’re ok, but more geared towards monitoring bass lines I think which they seem to do quite well. The mids seemed sucked out a little to me and they could be quite steely up top.
The Edifier and PJB are very close in sound sig but the Edifier is built with less tolerances than the PJB according to Jones. However, that might just be him trying to get people to buy them from his own company rather than Edifier.
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nate
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Post by nate on Dec 1, 2017 15:41:59 GMT
The Edifier is a cheaper version of the PJB850. It was designed by a bass player called Phil Jones and some musicians have used them as ‘pit’ headphones. They’re ok, but more geared towards monitoring bass lines I think which they seem to do quite well. The mids seemed sucked out a little to me and they could be quite steely up top. The Edifier and PJB are very close in sound sig but the Edifier is built with less tolerances than the PJB according to Jones. However, that might just be him trying to get people to buy them from his own company rather than Edifier. I am familiar with Phil Jones and his design work on the PJB850/Edifier H850. What I'm talking about is the brand new H880, of which there is very little info other than what Edifier has put out. I took a chance and bought the H880 out of curiosity ($149 MSRP, $119 via Edifier in the US now, a bit less from Edifier through AliExpress shipped from China). The H880 is a different headphone than the H850, and while I haven't heard the H850, I personally rank the Edifier H880 as my favorite closed headphone (I prefer it over the NAD Viso HP50 primarily because the HP50 has a finicky fit on my XL head, and I prefer it over the Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 because the MSR7 has a subdued sub-bass relative to the rest of the frequency range... and I prefer both of those over dozens of other closed headphones I've owned). I can't imagine the H850 is in the same class as the H880.
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Rabbit
Administrator
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Post by Rabbit on Dec 1, 2017 18:29:39 GMT
Sorry, one number difference. Read it as 850 not 880. Because it’s brand new I wasn’t aware of it.
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Post by lobalwarming on Dec 2, 2017 22:35:52 GMT
The 880 sounds intriguing...so I visited the Edifier link Nate posted. Sadly, it seems I don't qualify to purchase such a uniquely targeted model as they state: I'm neither a millennial or part of community that enjoys the latest trends since I live in a rural coastal village that probably needs another decade or so to accept it's the 21st century already - a community that only gets exited about the latest chainsaw technology anyhow. Although, in another section of syrupy marketing drivel they state: I might be able to purchase using the 'general user' exemption. However, in this era of Big Data and consumer tracking minutia, their concern with my 'holistic experience' is very concerning. The phones could be very good, but the tone of their copy is creepy: Again, I live in a rural coastal village, 'fun under currents' here can kill you while drowning in a sea of enjoyable music and frigid salt water. Maybe if everyone at DIYaudioheaven buys a pair, Edifier can afford to hire copywriters that can actually describe a product a clear informative manner.
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nate
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Post by nate on Dec 4, 2017 4:31:54 GMT
Yeah that copy is pretty bad. I just checked, they're a Chinese company, but one of the largest speaker makers in China. Apparently since 2011 they've owned STAX (the Japanese company that introduced the first electrostatic headphones back in 1959). You'd think they'd be able to hire better copywriters.
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