I agree with Gene, these are great phones that perform well above their price point. I was fortunate to get them for $139, but that is not the reason I like them so much.
I will say that from the first time I tried them to now (about 100+ hours of break-in later), they have changed in their tonal signature. At first, they were very noticeably a phenomenal bass-reproducing set of headphone. Perhaps some of the most capable, extended, and realistic bass reproduction I've heard in any set of headphones. What they initially lacked though was a matching treble presence. It seemed to be rolled-off at about 2.5-3 kHz and above. For example, chimes, and delicate triangle were barely audible deep in the mix, compared to my reference headphones and loudspeakers on tracks where they were much more present in the mix. Over the break-in, the upper mid and higher registers have improved almost daily. So if your initial impression is these are very dark 'phones, don't conclude that it will always be that way. But in general, they so have a warmer balance than other more neutral headphones.
They have a different overall tonal palette to my Focal Elear. These give a huskier, drier character to most vocalists and to the midrange a certain body and thickness. They sound balanced in the overall frequency - not like they have any augmented or boosted characteristics in any given bandwidth. They are vastly better than the Sennheiser veiled and low-mid humped HD650's. I know a lot of people consider the HD650's a reference standard, but they sound artificial to my ear, I would even call them "colored" in their treatment of just about any song played through them. I got fatigued with them after a month and ditched them.
However, the HP-2 are definitely an acquired taste. They reward you with a sumptuous and revealing low-end presence. The soundstage is a bit compressed on some recordings, but if you have access to good binaural material like Dr. Chesky, it is very respectable in location, depth and pinpoint imaging. What you do give up a little with the HP-2 is an equally balanced upper and high-end register. I'm not saying it's lacking but compared to how effortlessly the bass can reveal even the most complex harmonics and overtones of say Marcus Miller's or Victor Wooten's bass guitars, the mid and high-end provide accurate, and realistic reproduction too. It just has less dramatic impact to your sense, which ain't all bad or you might get fatigue from the assault. I guess I mean the bass just sucks you in and is so attention drawing because it does it so well, that the mid and upper "almost" seem like a let down. I can't really describe it except to say, the bass is far superior to just so many headphones. The mid and upper are every bit as accurate as an HD800, Focal Elear or Audeze LCD-4
What would I change? The earpads are a bit too small. I wish the cups and inner hole was larger because the clamping pressure sometimes get my upper eartips a bit uncomfortable after several hours of wearing them. And while I like the High Rez cord, it transmits microphonics, yeah. That means if you rub against or tap the cable, you hear it in phones. So the shielding si insufficient. And I wish it was about 1 meter longer. Make the other cable 1.2m for mobile smartphone use. But a High Rez cord, for home listening, needs a little more length like 2 meters. These are minor gripes, especially at this price point. These are way more comfortable than the HD650's which clamped my head to the point of jaw and ear pain. They're very light. They are sometimes a little creaky. The swiveling joint on the phone assembly can impart some movement noise as it adjusts angles on your head. I wish the connector at the headphone end was angled either 45 or 90 degrees to keep the cable connector from hitting my collar and making noise. Again, minor nits.
Soundwise, if I were to change anything it would be the 7-13 kHz region. I think the beryllium diaphragm advantage (eliminating cone breakup at high frequency bandwidth) is not being taken full advantage of here. Those instruments that live in that territory: the triangle, bell, bell chime and other delicate high-register instruments seem to be harder to discern in the overall music, and not as naturally and effortlessly reproduced.
