DC Peiff—November 26, 2015
First of all, if you notice, these are nearly the exact same headphones as the Kingston Hyper X Cloud headset (minus the mic of course) which is the same as the Qpad QH-90. If you catch the Tek Syndicate video about making your own gaming headset, they mention this in that video. This is GREAT because these are based off Beyerdynamic technology and even look very similar to the 770 pros. Then WHY go for these instead of Hyper X cloud with the detachable mic? Because they are open back! The soundstage is significantly better here which creates a very clean sound. LAST Thing to consider - These sound significantly better when run through, even a very cheap headphone amp, many of which cost $30-$60 on Amazon OR a higher end motherboard audio OR a dedicated sound card. I played these through my own system and was initially disappointed. I like a wide variety of music from Alternative to Film score, Dubstep, Rock, Hip Hop etc. When listening to bassy tracks these really were quite good. But with guitar they just lost that crisp twang of the guitar strings. I listened to Hotel California by the Eagles and it was very apparent. HOWEVER, I took these to my friends house who has a very high end motherboard with great onboard sound and they were almost like a new pair of headphones. The bass sounded a tad cleaner and less muddy. The mids were MUCH more crisp, the guitar strings came back to life, and the highs were pretty much unchanged (which was good for this price). PROS: - Exact same as Hyper X Cloud at half the cost - Open sound stage - Great build quality - Price TO Performance ratio - Really good audio quality for this price and AMAZING audio quality when run through amp or good sound card - Based off "industry standard" technology that is tried and true - Very sharp clean look - Velour ear pads which are very comfortable CONS (so few for this price, lets be real THEY'RE $50! ): - Should really be amped to make them shine - Somewhat unknown headphone manufacturer - No detachable cable or fancy carrying case - Meh packaging that it came in CONCLUSION: I highly doubt you'll be disappointed with your investment. They feel rock solid and built to last, they have the potential to sound amazing. You're not taking a huge gamble in only spending $50 so what have you got to lose? Read more
Akari—December 31, 2015
Bass is lacking, and it feels like the soundstage and overall range of sound is limited to be honest, but that might be because I have a much better pair of headphones and I'm used to those for music. Overall, this headset is best for a budget gaming headset for VOIP and Skype, or games themselves. Build quality is really exceptional for this price point, 10/10 there. Wouldn't recommend this to any bassheads for sure, but this pair of cans is pretty great for treble-heavy tracks, or songs with lots of vocals. Read more
SSD—June 5, 2015
These headphones are fairly well reviewed (here and elsewhere) and overall the good marks they get are well deserved. So, I'll only add here a few observations based on my experience with them for the past six months or so. The particular pair of headphones on which this review is based is in fact the third one I ordered. The first pair had a defective speaker and the second had an extremely harsh (very nearly scratchy sound signature which several days of use did not seem able to cure). I returned those and ordered this (third) pair and perseverance did pay off in the end. Build quality: very good - the cups are made of plastic and aluminum with aluminum mesh, the forks and head-band are also metal. The head-band is covered by a rubber sheath. The design is heavily inspired by the Beyerdynamic DT premium headphones line, though the ear-cups are not round but elliptic (a-la Sennheiser or Shure). Ear-pads are made of some type of velour material (but not as soft as what yo'd find on the brands I just mentioned). The cable is about 6ft and ends with a gold plated 1/8in jack. A 1/4in jack is provided but it is not of the screw-on type (so, mechanically, the large jack is only supported by the small 1/8in shank of the small jack - not the best of designs). Comfort: These headphones are fairly light and comfortable but the cups are smaller than (for instance) those on Sennheiser HD598 and as such they are not as comfortable. One issue with these Takstar headphones is that they combine the Beyerdynamics symmetrical fork design with elliptical ear-cups, which results in the ear-cups not being angled back to match the natural orientation of the ears. This is unlike the Sennheiser or Shure headphones which use asymmetrical forks with elliptical cans. Thus, while being worn, one tends to push the head-band toward the top of the head (to have the ears fit in those elliptical cups better) and that may result in a tight fit for some (and may feel as if the head-band does not have sufficient adjustment). To conclude: not as comfortable as HD598, DT990-Pro or ATH-A900 but comfort is much better than my other budget headphone, the Superlux HD681 (with the stock ear-pads). On to sound quality: Computer/audio gear used during my listening tests: MacBook-Pro w/ Mac OS X 10.6.8 XMOS USB 2.0 Audio Reference Design Asynchronous DAC (44.1-192kHz/24bit), HiFiMeDIY Sabre USB DAC (32-96kHz/24bit), Denon DP-300F Turntable w/ Audio-Technica AT120E Cartridge Matrix M-Stage Headphone Amp, FiiO E12-Mont Blanc Headphone Amp Takstar HI2050 (60 ohm/93dB/mW) Beyerdynamic DT990-Pro Open Headphones (250 ohm, 96dB/mW) Audio-Technica ATH-A900 closed-back headphones (40 ohm, 101dB/mW), Superlux HD-681 semi-open headphones (32 ohm, 98dB/mW), and Sennheiser HD-598 open headphones (50 ohm, 100dB/mW). Playback software: Audacity, iTunes, VLC Source quality: standard CD 44.1kHz/16bit, and native HD 88.2-96kHz/24bit Audio cables: 3.5mm to RCA (3ft), and RCA-to-RCA (3ft), AUVIO and Monoprice brands Mobile Devices: iPod Shuffle 1-st gen, Alcatel Evolve-2 phone The Sound: Good dynamics, staging and imaging and fair detail. Relatively flat frequency spectrum with some bass emphasis and with bright highs. By comparison, the HI-2050 sound is (for most part) somewhere between the DT990-Pro and the Sennheiser HD598 but with more uniformly bright highs than those. The bass is sufficient for my taste but does not have the impact of the DT990-Pro or that of the Superlux HD681. However, the bass is louder than on the HD598 and nearly as articulated. The HI-2050 is slightly better (more coherent) than the Superlux HD681 in the mids and is nearly as bright at the top. These headphones do lose some points in terms of clarity (compared to any of my other headphones) due to a certain ringing tendency (edginess) in the highs. Initially I thought it was sibilant but after many hours of use I'd say it is just ringing during fast transitions (probably due to insufficient damping). The HI-2050 seem to have been designed primarily to brighten poorly recorded media (mp3 and the like) which is also high frequency deficient (due to compression, etc.) but with a high quality source the sound (depending on what it is) may come across as harsh and eventually become fatiguing. By comparison, the sound of the closed back Audio-Technica ATH-A900 may also come across as harsh at times, but there the highs texture can be better described as grainy rather than edgy/undamped and the clarity (detail definition) is superior. To summarize, as of this writing I have about 150-200 hrs on the HI2050 and for sound quality I'd break things out like this: Bass Extension: 6/10 Bass Impact: 6.5/10 Bass Texture: 6.5/10 (solid) Mids Quality: 7/10 Highs Extension: 8/10 Highs Quality: 6/10 (vivid with some harshness/ringing - edgy) Highs Texture: 6/10 (soft overall - as in smooth or not grainy but with the note above) Detail/Transparency: 6/10 (clear, some detail smear due to ringing) Dynamics: 8/10 (natural) Soundstage: 7.5/10 Imaging: 7/10 Other: Isolation: 3/10 (open design) Comfort: 7/10 Design/Aesthetics: 4/10 (Beyerdynamics look-alike) Build quality: 8/10 Portability: 5/10 (fairly large size) Improvement w/ Amplification: 6/10 (Note: Better with an amp but works with portable devices!) Value: (8/10) To conclude: the HI-2050 is a decent all-around performer with good build quality, good comfort and pretty good sound overall. In my case I use it for movies, webcasts, radio and occasionally for music. Works well enough with mobile devices but is better amped. It is not a "giant killer" but for the money, it's definitely a good buy - recommended. Read more
