Welp. It’s 2 A.M., I’m bored, and I have my first day off in 13 days ahead of me so I decided to do what I said I was going to here and pretty sum up my experiences with my various headphones. I’ll be writing this as I go and will be basing my impressions off of 6 songs: Killswitch Engage – This Fire, John Legend – All of Me, Daft Punk – Doin’ it Right, Bach Cello Suite No.1 Prelude – Yo-Yo Ma, Shake It Off – Taylor Swift, and A Dream Within A Dream – The Glitch Mob.

All of these will be ran off my computer through the Magni/Modi stack and I can’t think of any real segue so….yeah. Here we go.

HiFiMAN HE-400i – Ok. Seriously. Fire the guy that made these cable decisions. The connectors are dumb and annoying and who decided a 5ft (if this cable is really 2m, then I’m 7ft tall…I’m not 7ft tall) that terminates in a 3.5mm jack was a good idea for a full-size pair of headphones that will pretty much never be worn outside of the house? Anyways, take the pay from the guy you just fired and give it to whomever is responsible for these pads because I am impressed at the comfort coming from headphones this large. On to the sound (people care about that?). They sound…well…great. So much has already been said about these headphones, but what really strikes me is that (from what I’ve listened to, anyways) they don’t blow me away in any way. I remember the first time I listened to Classical music with my 558’s and being absolutely blown away with how open and….big the music sounded, and then I remember listening to Drum n’ Bass for the first time with my V-Moda XS’s and actually stopping in my tracks because of how powerful the bass was. I haven’t had that experience with the 400i’s…yet. I’m sure this is a case of being more used to better-sounding equipment than I was a year, or even a few months, ago. It’s not that I don’t love them, because I really do, it’s just that I feel like while they do everything great, they have yet to make me stop and just say “wow”.

Sennheiser HD558 – I love these headphones. I love them so much. I love how open they are, I love how neutral they are, I love their soundstage, I even love how they don’t really care about the bass. What I really love about them is that they got me into actually listening to music rather than just having music be something on in the background as I play video games. The HD558’s were my first pair of good headphones, and I know for a fact that I will never get rid of them. To this day they remain the most comfortable piece of audio equipment I’ve placed upon my head and they’re definitely my baseline for judging all future pairs of headphones I buy (and knowing me, that’ll be quite a few pairs). Onto the sound, and I;m gonna get the weakest part out of the way first: the bass. Yeah, I know, the 558’s don’t do Drum n’ Bass or Dubstep any favors, but I’m actually fine with that. It’s not the bass isn’t there, because it is, it just takes a backseat to everything else that’s going on and the 558’s (at least to my ears) seem to do a really good job of separating everything so I can actually hear what’s going on besides the drumline and the wubs. If you haven’t really tried yet, I really encourage you to take a pair of more neutral headphones and really listen to a Drum n’ Bass or Dubstep song and see if there’s anything there you hadn’t really noticed before. How does it fare with other music? Well, and again I can’t lie, these aren’t really what I would describe as “fun” headphones. Listening to Shake it Off was enjoyable, but it didn’t do anything to fill me with a giddy excitement that made me want to dance around my room or anything. Likewise with This Fire, you can hear and appreciate every part of the song, but there’s no sense that the headphones are trying to start a moshpit or anything. But then we come to All of Me and Cello Suite Prelude, and the 558’s really shine. It seems like this is what the 558’s were made for: you put on a nice piece of music, you settle into a comfortable chair, and you just listen. Because of how light and comfortable these headphones, I still find myself getting lost in the music in a way that nothing else I’ve tried has been able to replicate.

AKG K545 – I don’t like these. I won’t even try and hide it. It’s almost the same situation I have with the 400i’s, except where they do everything really well but haven’t blown me away, these do everything…okay, but just feel restricted. Maybe I’m just not a fan of the sound of closed headphones, but it honestly just feels like they’re trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades but end up leaving me wanting more of…well…everything. Listening to All of Me I don’t get that wonderful, almost floating sensation in the beginning as I got with the 558 and 400i. Listening to Doin’ it Right and A Dream Within A Dream almost left me feeling empty because I know how those songs could sound, but the K545’s just don’t deliver. It’s not that they’re bad headphones; they’re quite comfortable, and the sound is good but I guess I just want more sound than these deliver. I know this wasn’t quite as detailed as the first two, but to be honest I pretty much never wear these so my experiences are quite limited.

Takstar HI2050 – I am so incredibly sad right now. Plugging these in to test them again, I find that they’re broken and there’s no sound coming from the left side at all. Even more strange because the build quality on these feels incredibly solid, the cord shows no sign of damage, and when I hung them up last they worked fine. Oh well, guess I’ll have to go off memory for these. I was blown away when I first put these on, initially by the comfort and then by the sound itself. I remember feeling like they sounded way better than anything that looks like a knock-off of Beyerdynamic’s should sound. I really wish these worked and I could say more about them, but I honestly just don’t remember enough to feel comfortable saying anything one way or another.

KOSS PortaPro Classic – Got these a few days back off of the Amazon Lightning Deal for $20 thinking that there was no way they could live up the hype surrounding them, I was wrong. There is power behind these little guys, and I cannot for the life of me figure out where it’s coming from. Playing This Fire for the first time, I was a little shocked at how that opening riff sounded. I was expecting a hollow, tinny attempt to play it but I got so much more. John Legend’s voice sounds fantastic in All of Me, and Shake it Off sounded more fun than any of my headphones I’ve talked about so far. But then I play some Glitch Mob, and I’m reminded that as amazing as these are for the price, there’s a reason they can do those things so well. The bass is pretty watered down and seems to blend into the rest of the song. It’s not like the song is painful to listen to, or that I can’t enjoy it, it’s just that you realize that no headphone is perfect and that you have to cut corners somewhere. Also Cello Suite No. 1 left me feeling a bit lost because of how small it sounded through these. But again, I got them for $20 and they’re normally $40 and for that price they’re fantastic…if you can stand the headband. The thing adjusts itself if you even think about it too hard and I’m already starting to get annoyed that I have to spend 2 minutes fiddling with the fit before I can enjoy a 3-minute song.

V-Moda XS – In the immortal words of Meghan Trainor “You know I’m all about that bass, ’bout that bass, no treble.”. Wait, no. That’s not quite right. The XS does an absolutely fantastic job with bass-heavy songs, I gained a new appreciation for Pendulum thanks to these cans, but they don’t seem to sacrifice too much of the high end to make that happen. I’ll admit that the guitar in This Fire doesn’t sound as sharp as it could, and that vocals don’t have quite the same pop that I know they have the potential to. That being said, it’s not that they sound bad, just that I know they can sound better. Though if I ever do get mad at these headphones for not being as detailed or as sharp as some others, I can just toss on some Drum n’ Bass and all is forgiven. A Dream Within A Dream sounds amazing through these. Every punch of the bass is felt, without it completely taking over the song, and even though these are closed-back, on-ear headphones they a remarkable job of making music feel big. Also how are these as comfortable as they are? The ear-pads are tiny, the headband is thinner than my pinky, and they always seem to put up a fight when I want to put them on. Yet as soon as I do, they almost disappear. V-Moda definitely are on to something with their whole “Mind The Gap” thing. The fact that more of my head than just the top is supporting the headphones definitely seems to be helping the comfort,

So that does it for my actual headphones, the rest are all IEM’s and honestly I won’t be saying as much since I don’t listen to them as much and I can’t find as many distinguishing characteristics with them so except some shorter descriptions.

TTPOD-T1E – Man. It’s tough to go from listening to music on headphones straight to IEM’s. I’m sure it might be different if I invested in a more expensive pair, but everything just feels so much…less. While I’m listening to songs and re-establishing a feel for these, I’m gonna talk about one thing that bugged the crap out of me with these: the design. When I first opened them up and took them out, I thought it was pretty obvious which one was for which ear based on the design (there’s no markings on the housings), However after a couple songs something felt wrong, so I plugged them into my computer, tested them, and sure enough I had them in the wrong ears. I get that they’re designed to be worn around the back of the ear and then down, but still. I can’t help but imagine at least a few people wearing these the wrong way. If you’re going to design IEM’s to be worn like that, at least include ear guides or mark the housings. Sound-wise, there’s not much to say about these other than they’re a decent set of IEM’s for the price, but of you have a more expensive pair you’re not missing anything by not getting them. Bass didn’t blow me away, vocals didn’t have the power behind them that I was hoping for, and highs were there but that was about it.

Brainwavz Delta – I got these for free by ordering the Brainwavz AP001 headphone amplifier. I threw the AP001 away and kept these. That amp is rubbish. A huge crackle every time I plug in my headphones (might be because it’s supposed to shut itself off when nothing is connected and that’s the amp waking up? I don’t know) and an absolutely inexcusable amount of noise when plugged into my phone (HTC One M8). The Delta’s aren’t too bad, honestly, I’m actually liking them a bit better than the T1E’s. This is helped in no small part by the fact that they’re quite comfortable and it was quite easy to get a solid fit. My only issue is it seemed like there was some quiet static when I plugged them into my Magni that wasn’t there when I plugged them into my phone. That aside, they do a fairly good job of keeping me entertained with sound. The bass isn’t going to knock your socks off, but This Fire was a good listen and they made Shake it Off pretty fun to listen to. Can’t really say too much more about them since they just came in the mail today after I forgot I had even ordered them…

Monoprice 8320 – These are $11 on Amazon right now and for that price, they really can’t be beat. However if you’ve listened to just about anything else, you understand why they’re $11. It might be because it’s 4 A.M., but I feel like a broken record repeating how some of these don’t sound bad but they’re just lacking a little bit of everything. One thing I notice is that they sound hollow. I almost feel like there’s a bunch of empty space between where my ears and where the sound is coming from. This is especially noticeable in Shake it Off, but not so much with This Fire. I went back and tried a few other pairs switching between those two songs, but couldn’t get the same result so I don’t think it’s the song. Listening to All of Me and Yo-Yo Ma, I felt no sense of movement like I usually do with those pieces. Also the more powerful parts of All of Me sounded terrible, like these just couldn’t handle the music. I do like them, however: they fit well, are built quite solid, and the cable is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen. If you need something cheap to wear while working out or whatever, you can’t go wrong with the 8320’s.

Ostry KC06A – Mmmmmmm. I take back everything I said about IEM’s not being able to deliver like full headphones. The first song I played with these was Habits by Tove Lo and I must have listened to that song about 50 times over the next couple days just because I love so much how the opening sounds through these. The sense of space I get, combined with how that bass hits just makes me smile like an idiot every time I hear it. So yeah, bass pops quite nicely on these, and vocals sound pretty great as well. Those problems I was talking about with the 8320’s earlier? No signs of those here. My one problem is that highs seem to blend in a little bit and aren’t as sharp as they could be. Other than that, these are absolutely fantastic IEM’s and I really couldn’t be happier with them.

Whew. What started as a post on /r/headphones (check that place out if you’re at all interested in learning more about headphones. People who aren’t idiots aka people other than me are on there and will you tell you many interesting and smart things about audio equipment) has since turned into me creating a blog and 2 and a hlaf hours later we have my first post on it. Here’s a link to the original post I made on reddit and please feel free to either leave a comment there or here telling me what you thought. Were my opinions wrong? Is my writing terrible? Am I the greatest idiot to ever put on a pair of headphones? Please tell me what you thought.