Introduction
Those who watched my posts over at cash-cow-fi are aware that I buy and trade a lot of vintage headphones. This started as a very bad combination of little money and a lot of curiosity, and eventually became pretty much the only thing I do in this hobby. I've come into contact with a lot of older flagships and TOTL equipment over the past few years, and time and time again I've found that a lot of them are quite capable, some even to the point of being able to stand alongside modern equipment in my opinion.
In this thread, I'll be taking down my thoughts and observations about the vintage headphones I own and/or have owned over the years. Now, there are a lot of vintage headphones out there, and I could waste everyone's time by reviewing every single average-joe shitphone I find, "bluh bluh these are so fucking terrible" and etc, but I'm pretty sure no one wants that. In lieu of this, I will be limiting what headphones get put in here by using the following parameters:
Any flagship and/or top-of-the-line models
-OR-
Any headphone that (imo) provides an enjoyable listening experience
-OR-
Headphones that were, or are, very popular amongst the audiophile community
Headphone models will be separated by tiers(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/BL_F/resc/tiers.png) denoting overall competence. Aspects such as appearance, comfort, build, and etc will be kept out of the organization process as much as possible; the focus here is sound.
For now, here are some mini-reviews. Later, I'll expand these with specific observations and comparisons to other gear as well as measurements courtesy of Tyll and Marv.
++++IMPORTANT NOTE++++
I use numerous different sources, but currently use an Objective2/ODAC combo unit as my reference. I am aware that the predominant opinion of this little guyheheheis relatively lukewarm here, but it should at least be neutral and clean enough to keep the rankings relatively accurate. Plus, 99% of these headphones don't need a metric fuckton of power to sound their best.
Without further ado:
Tier 1: The Best
--Sansui SS-100--
Description: Sansui's best headphone. First in production in 1975, it is a Fostex OEM'd planar-magnetic headphone, and was exorbitantly expensive for it's time period (16,000 JPY, ~$133.50 USD in 1975, almost $600 USD in today's money). The frame is mostly machined metal with a massive white mesh on the back of the earcups and a special yoke that prevents the frame from transferring resonances between the two drivers. This. This headphone. This is the one.
Driver: As aforementioned, this is a large planar driver OEM'd from Fostex. It combines parts from Fostex's T30 (magnets and diaphragm substrate) and T50 (voice coil trace) but has slightly different specifications. 70mm transducer (60mm active diaphragm area), 6 microns of mylar/polyester with an aluminum(?) trace. 75 ohms nominal, 94dB/mW SPL, 250mW rated input (max input 600mW). The frame of the driver had to be whittled down a lot to make it fit into the headphone; it's very tight squeeze into these flat cups.
Porn Pictures:
General impressions:
- Amazing
- Lush, yet clear; relaxed, yet not dull
- Full bodied and immersive
- Extremely smooth across the board
- Depending on earpad condition, these range from being bass light to neutral below 2kHz
- Upper mids and treble are relaxed in a very similar manner as the Sennheiser HD650
- These are clear/detailed in the same way as the HD600/650 as well, but are considerably cleaner and more refined sounding (according to aural memory)
- Tons of air and extremely spacious
- These are intimate in presentation but not compressed or squashed/restricted sounding; sense of depth and placement are both phenomenal
- Timbral/tone quality is very realistic and accurate and has that "ortho magic" which so many audiophiles love
- Extremely lively and engaging
- Not perfect by any means, the stock earpads are almost always flattened due to poor aging and provide no bass
- What bass you do get is usually a bit too thick/warm
- Low volume listening recommended as the distortion freaks out at extreme volumes; at 90dB, the distortion is on par with modern hi-fi headphones
- Upper midrange/lower treble (2-5kHz) decay is not particularly fast; they tend to sound slightly smeared in this area
- A couple small (2-5dB max) peaks at 3 and 8kHz; audible but not particularly offensive
- The way these present the far left/right channels in correlation to the center may not be completely accurate (the 'planar soundstage' that Maxvla sometimes talks about)
- These struggle with dark recordings or music without a lot of treble content
- Hands down the most gorgeous headphones I've ever seen; there are a lot of subtleties to the design that make it all come together in the most amazing way possible; so many different visual textures and an overarcing curvature to the design that just screams class
- Build quality is very good; lots of metal and very tight tolerances as well as a very well cushioned headband and nice (p)leather
- That being said I have seen better build before; the headband sliders and yoke rotation joints could use some work (maybe some dry lubricant)
- Comfort is much better than expected, but still has issues
- As aforementioned the earpads are very thin, allowing you to feel the hard earcups pressing on your ears over time; they also retain heat like hell and make your ears sweat
- Other than that they feel much lighter on the head than you'd expect (given all the metal) and the headband is very well cushioned
- Fit is ass; they slide around a lot and the pads unseal at the bottom due to the headband's shape (though the unsealing actually helps with the aforementioned earpad heat)
- Cable is absolute trash for some reason?? The Sansui SS-35 (from the same time period) uses a visually similar, but far higher quality cable despite being the cheaper headphone
- This is actually a recurring problem with the 70's flagships; the Fostex T50/NAD RP18, Pioneer SE-700, KOSS 4AAA, Sony DR-Z7, and now these all have really poor cables
- Extremely rare and difficult to get ahold of (it took me over 3 years to get a pair)
- Prices on eBay are exorbitant
Modifications:
These headphones respond extremely well to mods. Here's what I did to mine:
(later, gonna be late for work LOL)
--Sony DR-Z7--
Description: Sony's first true "audiophile" headphone, from 1978. Before these, all they had to offer were huge paper cone monstrosities. They needed a headphone to go along with their TOTL home theatre system, so they shrank a midrange cone from their best speakers and crammed it in a headphone. I used to absolutely adore these. They're still quite enjoyable for me, but like most things, they're not perfect, and they most certainly are NOT neutral.
Driver: 53mm dynamic with a massive 110-ohm voice coil (over 2.5cm in diameter) and a completely non-resonant driver frame made of SBMC (Sony Bulk Moulding Compound). The magnet is an enormous copper-toned proprietary alloy and is very dense and heavy; THIS is where this headphone's weight comes from. The diaphragm is a modified midrange cone from the highly regarded SS-G7 loudspeakers, with a palladium-coated membrane and a dimpled center dome to improve rigidity.
Pictures:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/1.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/1.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/2.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/2.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/3.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/3.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/4.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/4.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/5.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/5.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/6.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/6.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/7.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/7.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/8.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/8.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/9.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/9.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/10.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/10.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/11.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/11.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/12.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/12.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/13.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/13.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/z6z7.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/DR-Z/big/z6z7.jpg)
General Impressions:
- These are nice
- The entire outer cup assembly is machined aluminum and they are very heavy for their size
- Upper-class look and feel; Sony was proud of these
- Very smooth and flat up to 1kHz, with an upper midrange hump of considerable magnitude centered at ~2kHz
- I love the midrange on these; fullness without warmth and ridiculously smooth
- Bass is very tight and linear; no bloom or fart, though a little bit smeared
- These fuckers are ridiculously engaging and fun to listen to
- Lacking in transparency but still very detailed and no noticeable peaks or resonances
- Erratic "plasticy" upper midrange/lower treble,
almost definitely caused by modal breakup where the palladium driver flexes (nope, distortion is clean...); sounds slightly "strained" - While definitely audible, this doesn't sound harsh at all and isn't nearly as bad as most Ultrasones (which use titanium coatings) or even the AKG K/Q701
- Very 'intimate' in presentation
- Soundstage isn't the best; kind of compressed/confused sounding
- Separation is good but nothing particularly amazing
- Do not listen to anyone who says they're fast, because they're not
- They are only slightly above average in transients, and are slow when compared to the likes of the HD800, Q701, etc
- The reason they sound fast is a combination of extremely good decay (CSD, not speed), great isolation, low distortion, and upper midrange bite/emphasis
- The slow transients cause them to mask over low level information slightly; these are relatively "forgiving" of bad source material
- They are high impedance so this might improve with higher voltage swing/slew rates (some people like them more with tubes?)
- Treble is recessed but doesn't roll off; they don't sound dark
- These things are not neutral at all and a lot of people find them unbearably bright and bassless
- As aforementioned, these isolate extremely well
- No sound leakage whatsoever (not even at earsplitting levels, despite technically being "vented" and not closed)
- Uncomfortable for long sessions but otherwise above average for on-ears
- Extremely rare, unfortunately
Measurements:
InnerFidelity Measurements (Courtesy of Tyll Hertsens): http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyDRZ7.pdf
Personal Interpretation:
- dat frequency response
- fuck
- If only that upper midrange hump wasn't quite so huge...
- The bass distortion renders itself as warmth, but not thickness; these don't sound AS bright as the FR suggests
- Extremely low distortion in the upper regions
- Square waves are about what I was expecting
- 300Hz is like a slightly shittier Ety ER-4
- Look closely at the 30Hz (sorry for the cluttered image):
- (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/BL_F/resc/z7_30hz.png)
- The driver excurses a LOT, then stops on a dime
- This is why they sound fast without having actual fast transients
- This is a very rare trait that even most high end headphones lack
- Note that "rare" does not necessarily mean "accurate" or "good"; I personally like it but I'm more tolerant of certain colorations than most
Note: I hate it when it takes me forever to think of obvious things, but I just realized something while looking at the Z7's manual. The picture in it shows much deeper, more supple earpads than my pair has.My pair was indeed NOS, but with those giant heavy magnets pressing down on the earpads inside the case for over 30 years straight... these pads can't POSSIBLY be anything like what they were supposed to be in the 70s. The likelihood that this has not negatively impacted the sound, particularly the soundstaging, is slim to none. Additionally, the fabric earpads were exclusive to the North American version of the DR-Z7; European countries got the pleathers that are on the DR-Z6 and DR-Z5. It is of course impossible to know what a truly new Z7 sounded like in 1978 without having heard it yourself, but perhaps suitable replacements exist today.
--Pioneer Monitor 10-II--
Description: Pioneer's flagship monitor from 1983. Successor to the original Monitor 10, from 1972, which is regarded by some as one of the best and most underrated headphones on the planet. Rapidly discontinued due to durability problems. Never left Japan and thus are very scarce on the US and even the EU market.
Driver: 50mm dynamic, with neodynmium magnets (neo magnets in the early 80s, holy shit) and a 22-ohm, 1.5cm diameter voice coil. The diaphragm is free-edge and made of 38 micron (read: thick) mylar. Has a foam suspension that holds the diaphragm in place and allows it to be very responsive without having to flex at all. These are basically tiny fullrange speakers.
Pictures:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/1.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/1.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/2.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/2.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/3.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/3.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/4.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/4.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/5.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/5.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/6.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/6.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/9.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/9.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/10.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/10.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/11.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/11.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/12.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/12.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/15.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/15.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/16.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34404748/noDel/10-II/16.jpg)
General Impressions:
- Sounds very dull and maybe even veiled/dark at first listen
- Keep listening; these are good
- Very smooth and flat overall, with a very gentle downwards slant
- It's not perfectly neutral but the coloration is very minor and they still have content at all frequencies
- Articulate, refined, extended treble
- The best bass I have ever heard, bar none; very flat and clean
- Rock-bottom extension without distortion or bloom; 15Hz on sinegen is a literal massage and 10Hz is audible
- Ridiculous power handling and very high sensitivity
- Absolutely no audible distortion/etch of any kind (this is partly why they sound dull at first listen)
- Wonderfully detailed, extremely natural and "real" timbre
- Perhaps not quite as fast as some gear??? (might be the coloration making them sound slower)
- Astoundingly good separation and layering
- These are "special"; something about them is extremely inviting and pleasing and I've never heard anything like it before
- Soundstage depth might be off; sounds a little compressed up front sometimes?
- Mids sound "off" and "wonky" on occasion; possibly some linearity problems or cup resonation bullshit
- You can hear a loud "ping" noise on sinegen if you do a really quick sweep; this makes me much more supsicious of resonances
- I sometimes hear it with music as well
- Very comfortable and stable on the head
- Seals and isolates relatively well, but kind of leaky
- Not glasses-friendly at all
- Build quality is very questionable; lots of plastic where there should be metal (though they still feel a bit nicer than most modern gear)
- Most of the headphone is held together with glue, including the drivers
- This can cause the driver magnets to become detached from the capsule if the headphones are thrown around or dropped excessively
- If you find one I recommend opening them up immediately after receiving them and putting extra support glue on the back of the magnet (gel superglue works well)
- Foam frontwave damping disintegrates and will get into the baffle plate unless removed, causing channel imbalances
- Condensation from the sweat caused by the seal is visible on the diaphragm after a long session; airing them out is recommended
- Sometimes unacceptably "wet" and dark sounding; I suspect an upper midrange dip (this would be the other part of them sounding dull)
- Once unobtainium, but lately a lot of NOS pairs have been showing up; a warehouse full of them may have been found
Measurements:
InnerFidelity Measurements (Courtesy of Tyll Hertsens):
Sample 1 (beat up, poor earpads, repaired after magnet issue occurred): http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PioneerMonitor10II.pdf
Sample 2 (brand new in box): http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PioneerMonitor10IIBinbox.pdf
Personal Interpretation:
- Holy shit, that bass
- Holy fucking shit that bass distortion
- Well that explains that at least
- IR is fucking terrible; definitely a lot of resonation bullshit going on
- The measured FR is a LOT rougher than I was expecting; this actually explains a lot of what I've been hearing
- Kind of dark overall but the bass isn't anywhere near as overwhelming as the FR implies (due to the superlow distortion)
- Hole in the upper midrange as expected
- Good treble extension
- Weird distortion spikes on the NOS pair, otherwise very low overall distortion
- 300Hz on the NOS pair looks very angry, much more tame/normal on the first pair
- 30Hz is great
- I am modding these and will send them back to Tyll when they're done
--Sony MDR-605--
Description: The highly unknown little brother to the once popular MDR-F1. Released around the same time period but received much less critical acclaim. These were very inexpensive headphones compared to the F1: a whopping $59.99 from Sony's website.
Driver: 40mm dynamic. 40 ohm, ~1.2cm diameter voice coil. Neodymium magnets. Very high sensitivity. Large, smooth, superthin dome. Outer ring of driver has small, sparse groves in it. Looks like a smaller MDR-F1 driver in many ways.
Pictures:
General Impressions:
- This is one of those headphones that sounds like shit in stock form but becomes ridiculously competent with a simple modification
- Basically the gist is that they're an irredeemable muddled mess of compression and fart in stock form due to how they're tuned
- There's a set of foam covers as well as two layers of felt over the driver's baffle plate (similarly to the MDR-F1)
- Take all that shit off, and you won't believe you're listening to a $60 headphone
- Bass bloom is completely gone; becomes mildy warm yet tight sounding
- Soundstage becomes enormous and realistic
- Amazing separation and dynamics
- Detail and clarity that's absolutely unheard of in such a cheap headphone
- Relatively flat, a bit bright but has enough bass warmth to offset the upper ranges
- Not particularly grainy or rough
- Bass extension isn't the best
- Awful power handling; these only sound good quiet
- Fit is everything with these; the drivers need to be positioned as far forwards as possible for good sound
- Not particularly stable on the head
- Hair tends to poke through the baffle plate holes and touch the diapgragm, creating a little "buzz" noise
- Moderately comfortable save for a few spots where the plastic can dig into your ears
- A little tizzy and hashy up top but I'm not about to complain at this price point
- Extremely difficult to find
Note: There is at least one other headphone that looks like this one: The MDR-501. The 605 was the most expensive model of this line before the MDR-F1, but they all look very similar, so it's very possible that the two lower end models share drivers. The 501 is darker in color and appears to come with leather pads, while the 605 has fabric pads (though the pads won't affect sound in an implementation like this). There are also two other models, the MDR-501LP and MDR-605LP, which appear to be the same headphones with slightly different pads and driver grilles.
--Pioneer Monitor 10--
Description: Probably one of the most iconic headphones ever made. These were THE studio headphones back in the 1970s. These monsters are huge, heavy, and uncomfortable as hell, but their sound will make you want to keep them on your head long past that "ow" moment.
Driver: 57mm Dynamic, cone-type. One of the first mylar (PET) headphone drivers. Diaphragm is extremely thick and rigid, and is attached to a foam suspension on the frame of the driver; this allows fully pistonic motion, whereas most diaphragms must flex when they excurse. Has a 0.8cm, 25-ohm voice coil and small samarium cobalt magnets.
Pictures:
Not until I find a mint pair. There's a lot of good pictures on google anyways.
General Impressions
- Holy SHIT these things are huge
- Very imposing and intimidating in person; weigh just as much if not more than the LCD-2
- Clamp is strong but not too bad, and surprisingly they conform to your head very nicely (**this is VERY rare for headphones from this era**)
- Seal is really good; these have amazing isolation and don't leak at all
- A little insensitive; an amp is recommended
- Exceptionally flat and smooth sounding
- Detailed but not clinical at all
- Subtleties are there and the separation is very nice
- Bass is pleasingly tight and strong without being emphasized
- Soundstage is SUPER deep and has good width as well
- Why do these sound so nice
- These have the same "special" sound as the 10-II, though they are slightly less refined overall
- At the same time they are also notably more linear and neutral sounding than the 10-II, which is why they go in the top tier
- 1 hour later, nope, these have to come off
- Seriously ow
- The headband really digs into your head; adding padding helps a bit
- Wearing glasses with these? LOL, No.
- Not very rare at all, but finding a pair that isn't beat up to hell can be difficult
Note: There are a lot of varying opinions on this headphone, a lot of people really adore them and a lot of people really don't. I have a couple theories for this. First off, this headphone remained in production for over 10 years, so it is very possible that there are variations between newer pairs and older pairs. Second, the headphone comes with frontwave damping in the form of foam pad inserts, which can fall out and become lost; my particular pair sounds significantly worse without them in. Third, the earpads are known to become flattened and/or become flaky and worn, which is self-explanatory. And of course, there is always the possibility that they just aren't suited to everyone's tastes. On that note, my pair has decent (but flattened) pads and, interestingly, the foam inserts show no sign of decay, much unlike the other Pioneer headphones I've had (10R, 10-II, etc).
Tier 2: Very Good
--Audio-Technica ATH-5/Signet TK22--
Description: Audio-Technica's top dynamic model from the 1980s. Well, sort of. This is a closed version of the ATH-6D, which I've also heard/owned and was the ACTUAL top model. They sound almost identical to my ears; the ATH-6D is more of a "fake" open implementation, as there's a lot of plastic behind the metal mesh. They have the same driver and same frame, with minor color differences. I actually prefer the sound of the ATH-5.
Driver: 45mm dynamic, 1.2cm diameter, 110 ohm voice coil. Somewhat low sensitivity. Entire driver frame is a high quality nylon plastic. Large samarium cobalt magnets with 3 bass ports and a silk screen over the back. Very thin membrane, outer part of driver is dimpled while the center dome is smooth; very flimsy and doesn't flex evenly. This is a pretty dumb design.
Pictures:
General Impressions:
- These were a little underwhelming at first but later surprised me
- Surprisingly very realistic presentation
- Bass is a little loose but not too bad, has good impact
- Upper mids/treble have a mild nasally quality to them, probably a small peak (think Q701)
- Midrange is nice and flat
- Soundstage is extremely nice and well seperated
- Very good detail retrieval and plankton (especially for vintage gear)
- Relatively smooth in the mids and bass, a bit of grain in the treble
- Too dark; bass can be excessive for most things and the upper ranges are shelved(this is the ONLY thing keeping them out of the top tier)
- Arguably better than their newer models
- As one might expect, these are freakishly comfortable
- Featherlight with extremely soft pads that breathe well
- Easy to listen to for an extended period; these would be very good for gaming or other casual listening environments
- Cable is garbage
- Poor power handling (treble becomes shitty at high volumes)
- These feel (and are) breakable, so be careful (the screws strip out very easily for example)
- I would not recommend using these portably despite their small size and great "neckability"; they're very unstable on the head
- Semi-rare but they usually go for little
--Sennheiser HD250 Linear II--
Description: Sennheiser's TOTL closed headphone from the... 90s I think? This pair is the HMD-250-II: It has a mic attached and was intended for use in aviation environments. The headphone portion is identical to the non-headset version.
Driver: 40mm dynamic, 300 ohm voice coil. Not particularly special looking, but looks are often decieving, especially with headphone transducers...
Pictures: As soon as I get them back from Tyll (UPS is being slow)
General Impressions
- I really don't know where to start with these
- This headphone is really, really unique
- Ridiculous soundstage and imaging
- Clarity is through the roof
- Very speedy and snappy
- Razor flat and very smooth from midrange to treble
- Ridiculously powerful bass (though a bit too much emphasis for my tastes)
- Slightly tizzy sounding (think K240 Sextett)
- Passive isolation to rival ANC (I can barely hear myself speak with these on)
- I swear, my aural memory tells me that I'm listening to a closed HD800 with better bass and less treble bullshit
- Note I said "less": there are still one or two small peaks in the upper treble that can be annoying and the bass can sound too thick
- Fit can be a pain in the ass; the pads like to unseal at the bottom if you tighten the headband too much, which is annoying
- The peaks in the treble coupled with this finicky seal can cause these to sound thin if you don't get them on right
- Not quite as "real" sounding as the Monitor 10-II??
- These things are all about performance... and not form
- Do NOT wear these outside if you value your reputation, these things are huge and look downright silly
- Seriously if you have the headset version like I do, people will probably think you're "special"
- They feel very sturdy but if something does happen you might not be able to get parts cuz they're old
- The cable is also like 3 feet long at most so have fun with that
- The fact that this headphone was discontinued in favor of shittier, more expensive models is inexcusable. Shame on you, Sennheiser.
- Extremely rare
Measurements: http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD250II.pdf (Courtesy of Tyll Hertsens at InnerFidelity)
--Sansui SS-35--
Description: Sansui's monitor headphone from 1975. This was their only monitor headphone, and is the only headphone in existence (that I know of) that is "convertible" between circum-aural and supra-aural. They have two pairs of earpads; the inner supra-aural pads are glued to the baffle plate while the outer circum-aural pads are glued to a snap-on plastic earcup extension.
Driver: 50mm dynamic, cone type. 26 ohm, 0.7cm diameter voice coil. Very large samarium cobalt magnet. Driver is dampened and clamped onto the baffle plate by an internal dome-shaped enclosure that is separate from the rest of the earcup. There are thin rubber spacers/dampeners between all of the different pieces of the enclosure; no wonder these isolate so well. This is a very well designed headphone.
Pictures:
General Impressions:
- These are good
- Slight downwards slope from bass to treble
- Smooth and clean with a bit of treble bite
- Separation is great
- Subtleties are there but take a backseat; some might perceive this as more "natural" sounding
- Clarity is fine but they can sound slightly "dull" from the coloration
- Absolutely excellent control across the board
- No noticeable cup resonations (though the typical soundstage width restriction with closed gear is there)
- Bass is very well controlled and flat, hits hard, and goes very deep
- Good soundstage and imaging
- Isolates astonishingly well in supra mode and even better in circum mode
- Rock solid build
- Ridiculously easy to drive, especially for their time period
- Earpads are super soft, but they clamp quite hard and are not light; don't expect all-day comfort with these
- Bass is extremely overpowering and thick in supra mode, but underwhelming in circum mode (circum is the better sounding configuration)
- A bit of upper range roughness/etch/bullshit
- These don't have quite as much treble as the Monitor 10 or 10-II, but don't sound dark
- AWFUL comfort. Like, seriously. Worst part of the headphone by far
- Low max input when compared to the other vintage monitors; starts to distort at high volumes
Tier 3: Good
--BEYER DT48 S--
Description: Eugene Beyer's iconic headphone. This is the late 60s Studio (S) version of the DT48. The drivers are mostly the same but the headband is different and has actual padding. They are also wired for stereo and have different earpads and a silver/gray colorscheme. This is essentially the best variant of the vintage DT48 and is highly sought after. This pair was gifted to me by a fellow matey who goes by the name DeepFunk.
Driver: The first dynamic ever. It's a pleated, reverse-domed aluminum membrane. 40mm overall mounted on a silk suspension. Frame is all solid machine steel; the earcup is the frame. This variant has a 5 ohm voice coil (yeah, holy shit).
Pictures:
- This fucking thing
- These have a way of sounding like complete shit one second and perfect the next
- They are not comparable to modern headphones in any way
- Separation is astoundingly good but the soundstage is not particularly large
- I think the transients are up to par with modern gear
- I can hear the tiniest hissing and clipping with these, and anything that was recorded with a microphone tends to sound extremely directional and lifelike
- Percussion of any kind also sounds amazing
- Tyll's measurements of the DT48 E seem to contradict this impression
- Isolation is absurd
- Their FR is difficult to describe; it's middy, but not really
- They sound very clean and not particularly distorted or grainy
- There's a hiccup in the low end; the midbass is completely absent but theres good subbass that's ~10dB down from the rest of the FR
- The mids are fine
- There's a considerably large hole in the upper midrange followed by some rough (but not harsh) treble
- You absolutely must be capable of ignoring the FR to be able to appreciate or even tolerate these
- Even if you can do this you will be punished by the absolute worst comfort and fit ever conceived
- It takes a solid 5 minutes to get them to seal and the thought of actually using these as a serious long-term listening headphone makes my ears bleed and my neck cramp up
- Build quality is absolutely fantastic; they are entirely machined metal except for the pads and cable
- Problem with that is they are LCD-2 levels of heavy in a fraction of the size
- You could seriously beat someone to death with these fuckers
- I'm having trouble determining if I should be describing these as "good" or "bad"
- That being said I can definitely understand why these have a cult following
- THAT being said these are not worth a fraction of the price they go for
- <THAT> being said I'm having trouble thinking of a modern closed headphone I would prefer over these sound-wise
- I recommend that everyone try this headphone at least once, if only for the technological intrigue, because these sound completely unique from anything else available
- I absolutely do NOT recommend it for any other purpose or reason
--Sterling TE-400--
Description: Rare-ish. The flagship of the nobody-brand Sterling's only headphone line. Released in the early to mid 80's, this was the very first headphone to use titanium-plated drivers. Interestingly, there were two models below this, but all three of them use the same driver, presumably to reduce production costs. As you go up you get a longer cable, bigger pads, and volume controls.
Driver: 45mm cone-ish diaphragm; 40 ohm, ~6mm diameter voice coil. Diaphragm is plated with titanium, as aforementioned. Otherwise identical to most conventional dynamics (at least appearance-wise).
Pictures:
General Impressions:
- If you need good durability, get out right now
- Holy shit these feel like a toy
- The cup/headband joint is practically two lego man hands stuck together and they're made of very cheap feeling plastic
- Upside to this is that they're very light and comfortable (though the pads get hot)
- Huh, these are pretty good
- Relatively natural sounding, moderate bass tilt
- Treble is smooth and goes out pretty far but has a really weird "plasticy" and "metallic" timbre; gets worse with increased volume
- Mids can sound a little hollow, probably due to the excess bass energy and treble weirdness
- Bass is deep enough to please and a little warm, though it's loose and can sound "overcooked" and "hot" sometimes
- Detailed and speedy
- Wonderful little soundstage
- A little too grainy
- From the "digital craze" era of hi-fi, with looks to match
- In line volume controls, lol
- Surprisingly very competent little headphones
- I suspected modding potential but nothing could tame the bass without fucking everything else up
- Goes for DIRT cheap due to the shitty build but are hard to find
--Phillips N6330--
Description: The much rarer OEM version of AKG's K240 Sextett from the mid 70's. These are sonically between the MP and LP version of the Sextett in regards to bass quantity. These are very popular amongst the Head-Fi community.
Driver: 35mm (tiny) dynamic. 600 ohms nominal impedance. 93dB/mW sensitivity; lower than most. Six passive radiators surround the main driver, also 38mm in size (really just the same diaphragm pressed out of a different material). This is supposed to increase bass output and "spaciousness". Personally I have no fucking idea how the exact acoustics of it work but this headphone was really, really advanced for it's time.
Pictures: on phone, which is out of commision for a few days, will upload when possible
General Impressions:
- Decent
- A moderate "V" frequency response curve
- Nice mids
- Great transients
- Surprisingly unoffensive distortion
- Good clarity
- Airy and well separated
- Wonderful 3D soundstage, if a bit small when compared to the K/Q701
- Comfy, though not as much so as the original K240 (which aren't as heavy)
- Very modern in appearance (again unlike the original K240)
- Built extremely well
- Pretty insensitive
- Way too tizzy and splashy up top; sounds "cold"
- Bass is too shallow; rolls off very quickly
- Can sound sucked out and hollow with certain material
- Poor treble extension (but not dark sounding)
- Not nearly as good as I was expecting/hoping
Tier 4: Meh
--Project/ONE Stereo 300--
Description: One of the more common "superflat" headphones of the late 70s/early 80s. OEM'd by several companies; shows up under the names of "Project/ONE Stereo 300", "SONiC Pro 90", "Elega" something, and one other that I forget. These were the most expensive headphones offered by SONiC, and (as far as I know) the only ones from Project/ONE, so I guess technically this counts as a TOTL headphone??
Driver: 2-way something. No clue beyond that. My pair is NOS so I'm not opening it up... yet.
Pictures: tomorrow
General Impressions:
- Much smaller in person than they look in photos
- Good but not great; much nicer than expected
- Nicely detailed, relatively speedy
- Very mild "V" curve (and I mean VERY mild)
- Relatively smooth sounding
- A few minor peaks in the upper midrange
- They even have a bit of plankton to them, wow
- No major ringing
- Too dark
- Bass rolls off and is too warm
- Treble has some nastiness to it, the timbre is off
- If you position these JUST right they have an amazing soundstage
- If you don't the bass farts and they sound cupped and hyper shitty
- Ugly
- Built like shit
- Fit is atrocious and they're uncomfortable as sin
- Frequently listed on eBay for way too much
poo Tier 5: Complete Fucking Shit poo
--Pioneer SE-700--
Description: Pioneer's top Piezoelectric headphone from 1974. This was the age where orthodynamics and possibly electrets were taking the audio industry by storm, and Pioneer wanted to try their own hand at revolutionizing headphone transducer technology. The results... well lets just say there's a reason that there are only three piezoelectric headphones.
Driver: Enormous Kynar diaphragm. Somewhat oblong in shape, but more square than it is round. Much more simple in design than the other two piezos. 70mm wide, 55mm tall. 7 micron thick diaphragm, bilaterally tensioned with foam. The way this is tensioned creates a spot in the center of the driver where the diaphragm is looser than the edges. This is very stupid and experimenting with the tension might make these better.
General Impressions:
- I've had these for quite a while
- These are the flagshit I mean flagship of Pioneer's piezoelectric headphone line
- More bass and deeper bass extension than the other two in stock form... barely
- The timbre on these is extremely bizarre; sounds dark, plasticy, and sterile (all at once)
- Unacceptably warm and sloppy in the bass
- VERY mid-centric (the FR is a literal frown)
- Highly compressed dynamics; very "dead" sounding
- Shitty presentation; lacks air and sounds very artificial
- Soundstage is absolute shit; completely smashed into the skull
- Slow transients, poor detail retrieval
- Of the three piezos, these are the least comfortable (and the other two are uncomfortable as it is)
- Headband has no padding, clamp force is absolutely mighty unless you stretch the headband (and even then it's still uncomfortable as sin)
- Unlike the other piezos, these actually sound worse when you perform the tape mod; a resonance is created and the bass doesn't improve
- Also unlike the others, these are extremely difficult to take apart because the screws are hidden under the metal rings on the cups
- They're fucking superglued on so you have to heat the cups with a blow dryer to loosen the adhesive, and then pry them off by hand
- Doing this is extremely dangerous; if the diapgragm gets too hot the piezo coating "melts" and separates from the substrate, drastically altering its capacitive properties
- If this happens the driver will likely not function at all or only when pressure is applied to the cups
- Keeping ALL of this in mind: The cable on these is highly prone to shorts and will almost definitely need to be replaced at one point
- Seriously, no. Don't even fucking bother with these unless you want a display piece. (And even then I'd say skip it; they're prettier in pictures)
- PIEZO WARNING:
- Be VERY careful of what amp you use with these
- Look for a CURRENT-DRIVEN headamp or a Pioneer JB-21/Robinette Box connected to a speaker amp; do <NOT> use these with a tube amp or any other voltage-driven amp (Asgard, Lyr, etc)
- These can only take 30V before giving up the ghost; high voltage amps won't get them loud enough for normal listening levels before killing them
- You absolutely must put as much current into these as possible to get listenable levels
Note: There is an EP and an LP version of this headphone. Most people are unaware of this. The LP is the most common and is the version I reviewed here. The EP version has more treble and sounds nicer... very much so if memory serves correct. Physical differences are all internal, unfortunately, so finding one is a crapshoot. Additionally, the EP model appears to have a lower max input than the LP due to a flaw with the connection to the Piezoelectric film; this could be why the versions are different in the first place.
Pending:
- Koss Pro/4AAA
- Pioneer SE-6
- Toshiba HR-810 (!!!!!)
Update 1/3/15:- Added Sansui SS-35, Sony MDR-605, Pioneer SE-300, Pioneer SE-500, Pioneer SE-700, Beyer DT48 S, and Philips N6330
Added pictures for Sansui SS-35, Sony MDR-605, Philips N6330, Pioneer SE-300, Pioneer SE-500, Pioneer SE-700, Beyer DT48 S, and Audio-Technica ATH-5/Signet TK22 Will do once my phone is fixed and I can actually access the fucking pictures- Added measurements for Sony DR-Z7, Pioneer Monitor 10-II, and Sennheiser HD250-L-II
- Rearranged ranking and added two new tiers
- Updated most headphone descriptions
- Updated pending reviews
Update 11/15/14:- Added Audio-Technica ATH-5/Signet TK22
- Added Sennheiser HD250 Linear II
- Updated pending reviews
Update 11/2/14:- More grammar changes
- Minor alterations to some mini-reviews
- Added Sterling TE-400
- Updated pending reviews
Update 11/1/14:- A few grammatical alterations
- Added Project/ONE Stereo 300
- Updated pending reviews
Update 10/23/14: - Added a list of pending mini-reviews
Update 10/14/14: - Added pictures for Monitor 10-II
Update 10/11/14: - Added Pioneer Monitor 10
- Added pictures for DR-Z7