KVR Audio

AstralExistence · Post by **AstralExistence** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 8:19 pm

so, i just bought a pair of jbl lsr 305s they haven't come to my house yet but i bought them without even listening to them that's how highly recommended they came on gearslutz/sweetwater. this is off topic though the point im making is ive had my hd201s since last december but just bought a headphone adapter for my focusrite scarlet 2i2 so yesterday i turned them on and was like wtf! these are incredible. they are very non fatiguing, and to my ears sound extremely flat for what i paid. i actually bought a pair of dt770 pros that i returned the next day due to how incredibly fatiguing and bassy sounding they were. for somebody on an extreme budget, i would so recommended these.

got them for 22 dollars at guitar center last xmas. i did use these with my mp3 player and loved them but this is the first time i listened to them for the use of monitoring. i must seriously wonder, if this is the kind of quality seinhesier puts into 20 dollar headphones then what do there more expensive headphones sound like and what do there very high quality headphone sound like!

anyway, id give them a listen at your local music store. you may find you really love them. for me, seinheiser hd201s are far less fatiguing then any other headphone ive tried including mdr7506 and akg k240 or dt770 pros. for me, seinheiser are the headphone company i will stick with whatever new headphones i buy but i realize this is just my own opinion and others may disagree or even think im a moron for my review comparing headphones that are at extreme ends of the price spectrum.

lastly, and this is i know a bit weird to say i prefer the sound of the hd201s even more then my krk rokit 6 g2s (which seem to be total bass over hyped garbage) due to how non fatiguing they are to my ears 'flat' and will be using these as my monitoring solution till my lsr 305s arrive.

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:18 pm

I have a pair of these. They are great.

They do lack bass however, and if you make music on them, when you play it back later, the bass is through the roof over-compensated. It sounds fine at the time - you just crank it up a bit more - and this can give the impression that the bass response is good. But it is NOT!

Otherwise a truly phenomenal pair of headphones. Comfortable, nice to listen to. For the money, hard to beat.

Except for maybe the Koss UR-20 which costs 2 quid more. The Koss is a fully closed back design and very loud due to its 32Ohm impedance. The bass truly kicks on these. Very comfortable too. You just can not buy a better pair of cans for less than 20 quid.

If you make a track on the HD-201s and have bass in it, later when you listen back, it is too much. Just be aware of this. The bass on the Koss UR-20s is much more balanced - what you hear is what you get.

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:24 pm

If you like the HD-201s then try the HD-202s:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-Clos ... ser+hd+202

A little bit more expensive - a tenner more - and not very well made - a little fragile if truth be told, but the sound is exceptional - a level up again from the 201s.

The sound is fantastic from these - bass - treble - balanced mids. For the price. Remember they are less than 30 bucks. They are comfortable too, if not a little plasticky.

Amazing pair of cans. You can really hear music with these.

~btw, the reason some people say they are a bit bass heavy is because of the design - they fit tight to the head - take any pair of headphones and press it tight to your head and it will accentuate the bass frequencies. At least you can hear the bass with these and not overcompensate for it. When you listen back to your mix, it will be in balance. But yes they are cheap plastic. Having said that, I still have mine after 2 years. Just look after them.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:28 pm

Ha, these things haunt me.

I got a free pair with my Blofeld.
Put them aside and unopened for a few years until I was moving house.
Found them and gave to my girlfriend only to have a listen at that point and was impressed.
So impressed I bought another pair.

They're not unequivocally great but for the money they are. They're my thrash around on holiday 'phones.

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:32 pm

Mushy Mushy wrote:Ha, these things haunt me.

I got a free pair with my Blofeld.
Put them aside and unopened for a few years until I was moving house.
Found them and gave to my girlfriend only to have a listen at that point and was impressed.
So impressed I bought another pair.

They're not unequivocally great but for the money they are. They're my thrash around on holiday 'phones.

I assume you are talking about the HD-201 cans?

And I am also assuming you have not done any mixes involving any serious amount of bass as in Drum and Bass or whatever. They are great for listening to TV on (well you know). Very lightweight and comfortable.

Also they are not as loud as the Koss UR-20 cans or the Presonus HD-7 which are both 32Ohms iirc. Very loud cans. The HD-201s are not as much. But that is ok. I'm on my third pair.

AstralExistence · Post by **AstralExistence** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 10:46 pm

codec_spurt wrote: I assume you are talking about the HD-201 cans?
And I am also assuming you have not done any mixes involving any serious amount of bass as in Drum and Bass or whatever. They are great for listening to TV on (well you know). Very lightweight and comfortable.

i don't write bass heavy music though. does that explain why i like them so much? that is, i hate too much bass as it hurts my ears. so does that mean that the music i do would translate better since i write non bassy music? i do like these headphones a lot though i will definitely upgrade to more pricy seins soon

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:05 pm

AstralExistence wrote:
codec_spurt wrote: I assume you are talking about the HD-201 cans?
And I am also assuming you have not done any mixes involving any serious amount of bass as in Drum and Bass or whatever. They are great for listening to TV on (well you know). Very lightweight and comfortable.
i don't write bass heavy music though. does that explain why i like them so much? that is, i hate too much bass as it hurts my ears. so does that mean that the music i do would translate better since i write non bassy music? i do like these headphones a lot though i will definitely upgrade to more pricy seins soon

No, you are fine. If it sounds good. It is good!

But the bass thing does not work like that. Basically, these cans can sound very good on the bass end, but it has to be hyped a bit. If you made bass heavy music like Drum and Bass or Hip Hop like what I do (;-)) then you would just find that when you play back the music in the morning on your speakers/monitors, it would be through the roof and you would have to go back and do it all again.

The HD-202s have a much more realistic bass response.

Really, I am not a snob, and would never criticise anyone for enjoying anything. In fact, there will be a thread or two sprouting up over at the headphone forums, just to laugh at us for thinking we could possibly get anything like a proportional representation of frequencies on these cheap pieces of shit.

There is a bloke that posts on KVR that is a 3D Guru, he has many pairs of thousand dollar plus headphones. He did some excellent patches for Synth1. He is actually revered as a god on the 3D forums. He is very humble. I think he is Asian. Anyway, he might chip in at some point. My brain is half dead. He thinks nothing of spending a couple of grand on a pair of cans. He's got a few. He runs an excellent blog and uses his g/f as a model. Please help me out here.

Anyway.

If the bass discrepancy was a problem, you would have noted it by now. The 201s are a great pair of cans, for the money.

Jeesus, what is that blokes name?

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:24 pm

f**king Luna f**king Tique.

Lunatique. That's him.

Synth1 banks:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3230221

Blog:
http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality ... e/home.htm

Check out his studio:
http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality ... studio.htm

One of his headphone reviews:
http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality ... ess/?p=994

Anyway, I think what I am trying to say here is, we have more in common than not, in regard to cheap cans.

Maybe Lunatique would care to enlighten us? I'm sure he doesn't spend a couple of grand on a pair of cans for nothing. Plus he loves to teach. Robert?

codec_spurt · Post by **codec_spurt** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:29 pm

My other headphones. From left to right: Pioneer SE-DJ5000, Sennheiser HD650, Audio-Technica ATH-M50, Westone 3 (now replaced with the Westone 4), Equation RP-21, Sennheiser HD555, and Denon AH-D950.

What does he mean? 'His other headphones'? The man is a Lunatique!

http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality ... studio.htm

seinhesier hd201s are very high quality for the price.