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Post by andy on Oct 9, 2009 15:41:27 GMT
Get two pairs! one for the laptop, one for your mp3 player... there chep enough!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 9, 2009 21:03:13 GMT
Getting the thread back on track. Mikes comments on these cans got me interested and i got a pair to use on my laptop for gaming. The thing is they really are everything people say they are. Truthfully these have one of the best "out of the box" sounds I've ever heard. Or in this case out of the shrink wrap. The bass was a little sloppy and the mids and highs a little recesssed but the overal sound was pretty coherent for a new can and amazing for something this cheap. They are quite comfortable but do get a little warm on the ear in a warm room. I decided to try them out on my Solo/Arcam DV135 combination. I have compared them directly to Allesandro MS1s, Sennheiser HD595s and my AKG K701s. Only the AKGs leave them in the dust and considering they cost me £192 back when the pound was strong that's no mean feat. Compared to the Allesandro MS1s the HD681s are not out of their depth at all. Bass is a little more controlled on the Allesandros and the Mids and Highs are a little clearer and more forward but the HD681s win out on soundstage presenting a more believable image. Remember this is from a can that has only had a few hours bedding in so far! The HD595s are a little better at everything than the HD681s but not so much that you would rush to swap them for the HD 681s if the 595s were suddenly available. Comparing the HD681s to the AKG K701s you suddenly appreciate the leap in quality that the AKGs offer but then you are talking about cans that cost 10 or more times what you can pick up the HD681s for. One place the HD681s excel is in un amped use. These are quite simply the best cans I've got for un amped use. They make my MP3 player and portable CD player sound great presenting a decent soundstage from their built in mediocre amps. Over all these are an amazing headphone for the cash. I get the feeling they won't be plugged into my Laptop all the time. ToaD Just wait until they bed in Toad! Out of the box (or out of the plastic container) they sound good.... 100 hours down the line (fed a diet of loud Radio 2) they sound nothing short of amazing IMO and will easily give your K-701 a good run for their money and, most definitely, beat them hands down in the bass dept. I agree, they are one of the best "unamped" 'phones out there.... a piece of piss to drive, full of energy and life..... I could EASILY live with just these 'phones, they do very little wrong to my ears..... I'll say it again, the headphone bargain of the century IMO. Mike.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2009 16:55:51 GMT
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
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Post by toad on Oct 15, 2009 8:00:37 GMT
I've got a day off so time for a quick update on these bargain cans. My HD681s have now got over 100 hours on them and they really have come on song now. They have now surpassed my partners Allesandro MS1s. I think I may have to buy her a pair of these now... ) They have even surpassed my Sennheiser HD595s. I kid you not! The well respected HD595s sound dull in comparison. Don't get me wrong they are still a smidgen more detailed than the Superlux HD681s with marginally more seperation between the instruments but they are just so boring after listening to these cheap wonders. Mikes comment about giving the K701s a run for their money is not wrong. In fact they have a very K701 like sound. I was gobsmacked by the similarity when I plugged them into my Solo/Arcam rig. Before my Arcam had it's much needed hour of warming up you could almost swap them over and not notice much difference. Things changed once the Arcam warmed up and the K701s pulled ahead offering details and a sound stage that the HD681s just couldn't match. The 701s also had better mids and highs than the HD681s but the bass on the cheap cans was on par but not better than my AKGs (Maybe my 701s have had more burn in than Mikes?) but again I stress the K701s cost 10 times the money and then some! I would say these cans are 90% of the way there in comparion to the AKG K701. Bags of energy, Good detail, excellent soundstage, warm mids, tight punchy bass without being over the top and detailed highs. As Mike says, you could easily live with these as your only headphone. Bargain of the century? no. Bargain of the Millenium more like! ToaD (The other Ian)
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 15, 2009 8:34:56 GMT
Bargain of the century? no. Bargain of the Millenium more like! I agree! Feed these guys high quality recordings (such as Yello "Touch Yello") and you will REALLY hear what they are capable of ... they are similar to the HD-250ll in that they will only reproduce really low bass if it's present on the recording... when you get these bad boys singing the bass goes far deeper than the K-701. I think it's time to look around for some velour pads for the HD-681... they would be the icing on the cake
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
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Post by toad on Oct 15, 2009 9:22:36 GMT
My thoughts exactly re the pads. Thomann have AKG K240 velour pads www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k240270271_velour_ohrpolster.htm but I'll have to wait to next month to get some as I just ordered another pair of HD681s for my portable gear. Don't want to pee the GF off too much
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matt7941
100+
Mmmmmmm... Pork scratchings.....
Say cheese!!!!!
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Post by matt7941 on Oct 26, 2009 21:15:17 GMT
Just a thought for anybody wanting a pair of these who hasn't got one yet. These appear to have disappeared off eBay at £14.99, now think double that. I spoke to the chap who was selling them and he's not going to be able to repeat it. However, these nice people are where I got mine from: www.playrecord.net/music-accessories/headphones/westfield-superlux-hd681-headphones.p1070502.html and aren't too bad at £18.99 plus a bit for delivery (UK only I think). They deliver pretty quickly too. Cheers Matt
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Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 26, 2009 22:09:12 GMT
Just a thought for anybody wanting a pair of these who hasn't got one yet. These appear to have disappeared off eBay at £14.99, now think double that. I spoke to the chap who was selling them and he's not going to be able to repeat it. However, these nice people are where I got mine from: www.playrecord.net/music-accessories/headphones/westfield-superlux-hd681-headphones.p1070502.html and aren't too bad at £18.99 plus a bit for delivery (UK only I think). They deliver pretty quickly too. Cheers Matt Even @ £30 they still have to be classed as one helluva bargain
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Post by jeffc on Nov 4, 2009 12:05:06 GMT
Indeed very accommodating folk and they will deliver outside the UK for the local postage cost + the Book delivery charge. So Downunder for <$50AUS cheers.. jeffc
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Post by derekrumble on Nov 4, 2009 12:59:04 GMT
[/quote] The buggers must be reading this thread!! £19.99 here. www.reverb-store.co.uk/product-detail.asp?prod=5222Ian[/quote] I hope these HD681s are good. I have just ordered a pair from reverb-store.co.uk. I have perfectly good Senny HD480s and Grado SR60s.... but can't resist a bargain. Derek
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
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Post by toad on Nov 4, 2009 19:47:19 GMT
I think you'll like them Derek
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 4, 2009 20:36:39 GMT
I hope these HD681s are good. I have just ordered a pair from reverb-store.co.uk. I have perfectly good Senny HD480s and Grado SR60s.... but can't resist a bargain. The HD-681 should easily outperform the SR-60 and HD-480, I don't think you'll regret your purchase mate
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 21:39:16 GMT
Worth a try at £22.74 including postage, the guy at PlayRecord told me he is selling them very quickly, i wonder why!!!!!!.
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Post by derekrumble on Nov 5, 2009 16:50:30 GMT
Have you seen that you can get three different pairs depending on your listening pleasure? I would guess that the main HD681 would be the preference but if they are all the cheep then we can all afford a collection of headphones with different signatures. I wonder which type I have ordered then? Din't know there was a choice - mybe no choice in UK as havent seen a choice offered. My oder has been dispatched already - could be home waiting for me this evening. Derek
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Post by derekrumble on Nov 5, 2009 17:06:56 GMT
Have you seen that you can get three different pairs depending on your listening pleasure? I would guess that the main HD681 would be the preference but if they are all the cheep then we can all afford a collection of headphones with different signatures. I wonder which type I have ordered then? Din't know there was a choice - mybe no choice in UK as havent seen a choice offered. My oder has been dispatched already - could be home waiting for me this evening. Derek Ah - a bit more readin' and I see that the ones I ordered, with red trim, are 'standard' and have some boosted bass. 'F' model is 'flat' and 'B' is 'balanced'. Balanced seems to be half way between the bass boost of 'standard' and 'flat'. Interesting.... can't wait to hear them. D.
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Post by derekrumble on Nov 6, 2009 12:35:49 GMT
They arrived a couple of hours ago.
If and when you get yours, DONT' LOOK IN A MIRROR while you have them on. The red trim is ghastly; looks like you've bought cheap 'phones from a pound store (well, you HAVE bought cheaply ... but not THAT cheap). Yes, they make your ears a bit sweaty but would buying better pads be appropriate for such an inexpensive pair of headphones? The packaging is really pared to the bone. Cardboard and shrinkwrap is what you get.
And that's the negative stuff done and dusted.
Sound balance is revealing without being too hard; an analytical listening experience I'd say; if recorded vocals have been EQ'd to give them some bite and presence you will hear that EQ as being a bit false. But us HI-FI guys are used to that aren't we? Our systems do that don't they though? I played one of my own vocal recordings made with no EQ and the sound is so smooth - yet properly detailed.
I had to adjust to the 'closed-back' sound (well, semi-closed actually) as I have always been an 'open-backed' sort of guy. Didn't take long. Started to swap back and forth between the HD 681s and my Grado SR60s - totally different presentation so comparisons are pretty useless; I don't have the vocabulary either. So I had to put comparisons to one side and just come at the music to see what happened.
From Arctic Monkeys' 'Mardy Bum' to Renee Fleming singing Handel on SACD... Wow! Bloody WOW! When I listen on my SR60s, which are good 'phones and I love them, the music is laid out before you and you can choose to listen.. or not. The 681s drag you into the performance and MAKE you listen. Muscles twitch in time to the rhythm. Out comes the 'air baton'. You tap air cymbals and pluck air-bass. Anyone like Sting's 'All this time'? A live recording full of atmosphere and emotion; never noticed the tambourine before in the background on 'Roxanne'. And the 681s still cold from the box.
Equipment used.... been listening to my DVDAs, CDs & Philips Streamium via my X-DACv3, also Sony SACD player all in to my X-PreV3 which then goes to the X-CanV3.
I am late going out to do the week's shopping. I will suffer for my pleasure. I don't want to go shopping.
Derek
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toad
Been here a while!
I am the Super Toad, the Original Toad, the Whole Toad and nothing BUT the toad.... don't forget it!
Posts: 1,223
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Post by toad on Nov 6, 2009 19:05:49 GMT
They get better Derek
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 6, 2009 22:00:03 GMT
Give them a good few hundred hours to "relax" the drivers Derek.... they definitely do benefit from a period of bed in to fully come on song.... as you say though, straight out of the box they're pretty good
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Post by jeffc on Nov 7, 2009 1:01:16 GMT
It's easy to hear why Mike, toad and Derek have expressed massive enthusiasm for these phones. Fresh out of their wrapper, mine had some form of distortion in the left channel speaker that was a bit of a worry but otherwise SQ was quite wonderful. Mind the playrecord.net packing job was pretty crappy to say the least and in unpacking them I was amazed to find that they'd survived the 20,000 km trip. However, with playing them overnight for a few days now there is absolutely no hints of distortion and they're outputting simply AWESOME with .wav files played unamped direct from my Trends USB UD10 DAC. Best 50 bucks I've ever spend on audio equipment by a country mile. cheers.. jeffc
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 7, 2009 11:18:52 GMT
Glad you like them Jeff Have you checked the foam to see there's not a bit of hair or something sticking through which would make contact with the driver and cause "grattle"?.... this can sometimes happen and the offending object (usually a hair) causes distortion.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2009 20:01:26 GMT
My HD681`s arrived this morning, how can Headphones sound this good for so little money. Even the build quality is acceptable for £20, and in my opinion for another £20-30 could match AKG 701`s build at £200. Even allowing for low rates of pay, the price difference really takes some justifying. Anyone contemplating upgrading the cushions might like to know that the leather ones on my AKG 280`s fit perfectly and can be purchased from Thomann, along with velour if preferred.
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Post by derekrumble on Nov 13, 2009 15:21:54 GMT
HD681s continue to sound better - how much is 'running in' and how much is me growing accustomed to their character I don't know.
My boss (who used to be with Nytech.. remember their odd-shaped amps?) said he was considering some new phones for use with his lappy while his wife was watching telly. Took the 681s in, plugged then into my laptop and said 'take a listen'. Before putting them on he said 'How much?'. I said that there was a bit of a tale to tell so 'just listen and then I'll tell you. ' I used my current favourite demo track for these phones; Mardy Bum. He listened intently for a bit, took then off and said 'Yep, really good'. I said 'Twenty quid' and I reckon that's another sale in the bag. We should get commission.
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Post by cyteen on Nov 15, 2009 9:10:09 GMT
Luckily the red trim comes off if you run a knife around it, leaving just a little glue that comes off easily enough. That type of plastic doesn't even belong in a christmas cracker. I suppose that in order to avoid copyright infringement you have to show 7 design distinct design differences (that's what I understand from fake sunglasses that clone designer styles). Once removed the look and feel goes up several notches. If I could find aluminium replacements for the red plastic I'd prefer them to the originals. The HD668 comes in plain black not that I've found them for sale. publish.it168.com/2009/0810/20090810000701.shtml
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 15, 2009 13:50:33 GMT
Luckily the red trim comes off if you run a knife around it, leaving just a little glue that comes off easily enough. That type of plastic doesn't even belong in a christmas cracker. I suppose that in order to avoid copyright infringement you have to show 7 design distinct design differences (that's what I understand from fake sunglasses that clone designer styles). Once removed the look and feel goes up several notches. If I could find aluminium replacements for the red plastic I'd prefer them to the originals. The HD668 comes in plain black not that I've found them for sale. publish.it168.com/2009/0810/20090810000701.shtmlThe HD688 sure look nice publish.it168.com/2009/0810/20090810000701.shtmlI agree with you re: the "red ring" and wonder why they actually had to fit such a vulgar thing... there's trim and there's "trim"... that red ring is just plain fugly
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 15, 2009 13:53:16 GMT
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