John Parks
Audioholic Samurai
Did I mention I liked these headphones? I found these used and in excellent condition on Ebay for $26. I think I am set for the next 15 years or so...
"Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans"
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
Those look good and comfy, JP. What's the model number?
John Parks
Audioholic Samurai
They are the Incase Sonic - no specific model number that I am aware of, though they may have an SKU# on the box (I'll se if I can dig it up). There are no pairs currently on Ebay, but I have an alert set up just in case a pair comes online. I'd like to get a rare white pair to complete my set!
davidscott
Audioholic Spartan
Currently Grado SR60i are the main listening phones on my system. Also have AKG K240s (unfortunately not the sextet which I owned in the 80's). And Panasonic RP - HT121s for my PC.
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
Awei q7i are back. These are fantastic highs, mids decent and lows. Cheap and discontinued I think, although the sellers price is a bit high still a great bargain: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/263415266138
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
Those Grados 60's are great for Rock. I had to sell mine because of comfort issue. Loved them though.
davidscott
Audioholic Spartan
The Grados do indeed rock and are not uncomfortable to me but I don't listen for long periods. Most comfortable phones I ever had were my Sennheiser HD 420s from the early - mid 80s.
Johnny2Bad
Audioholic Chief
I made a post in the "what new stuff have you bought" thread and someone suggested I cross-post here. Adding to the can collection (AKG K142, AKG K172, Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5 Pro IEMs) will be a new pair of NAD VISO HP50 [Red] closed-back 'phones. Check out the thread for photos, and here is a cut-and-paste review:
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/what-new-stuff-have-you-bought-if-you-care-to-share-thead.86935/post-1262670
" ...
** Mini-Review **
...
I haven't had much time to listen but so far some impressions are already becoming clearer. They can play loud ... more than I would want to listen at just from the output of my MacBook Pro's headphone socket. They also don't get congested when you turn up the wick.
They are ruthlessly revealing of recording quality ... you can hear exactly what the engineer is doing on a song. The very bottom octaves are a little pronounced but not objectionably so. Vocals sound very natural with no hint of chestiness. That is a bit of a surprise because at first I though female vocals were a little tilted downward, but on further listening I find that's not the case; it's that "revealing" thing again, where you can hear it if the proximity effect was utilized in the recording, and it's absent if it's not there. Good so far.
Male vocals are even better. I don't think I've heard Michael Stipe (REM) sound properly before. There are nuances in his voice that are lost in lesser phones. You can easily hear each distinct vocal in choruses and harmonies. Words are enunciated extremely well ... I've already been able to "correct" lyrics where I had always thought the singer said something else. Moving right along ...
Instruments have the correct timbre and tone, whether it's acoustic guitar, Fender Rhodes, various organs, sax, horns ... well the list goes on.
Drums are punchy and things like pick bite comes through on electric guitars. You can easily follow bass notes even on songs that don't have much bass in the mix, like early Beatles tracks. Kick drums remind me of high-volume Klipsch La Scalas where if you stood a few feet from the bass horn your pant leg would flap with every kick drum beat. Of course that's not happening with 'phones, but the sound is there, and that's not a common thing with cans or speakers.
They do image, there is a soundstage that is shallow and seems to hover a bit above the ears, but of course anything panned hard right or left comes out as such. Drums seem to be back in the mix but not by much. I suppose it's asking a lot for stereo mixes to sound natural image-wise with headphones, but we try.
There is something in the tonal balance that is off a bit. They are not sensitive to placement, at least on my skull and the head shake test is a full pass with me at least. They are light on the ears and after about three hours of listening they are still comfortable. If you push on the earcaps the bottom end gets more pronounced so they aren't clamping as hard as they could, but I think that's a good thing, or at least potentially a double-edged sword.
But back to the balance, these have plenty of sparkle when it's in the mix but I wouldn't describe the highs as "sweet" the way some loudspeakers can pull it off ... say, some KEFs. It's a bit dryer than that, although maybe more accurate that way. But the very top end, I dunno around 10K or so and up, seems to be missing, or recessed maybe (I'll have to do more listening). Because they do the bottom so well it seems more pronounced than ideal. A lot of people prefer that tonal balance but I keep wishing I had my old Lab Reference Series Lux 5L15 so I could hit the Linear Equalizer by a db or so.*
Maybe they will sound a bit more natural after a few hours of exercise. Most transducers do. I might leave them playing overnight while I grab some zzz's and see if I feel the same way tomorrow.
It's early yet to come to any final conclusions. But at least so far I like them. I only have limited music on my laptop's SSD (it's 512GB but that isn't enough for my music collection, even if there was nothing else on there, and there is lots on there) so the choice of songs isn't as varied as I would like. Will hook up the external drive and see what some of my usual reference tracks say to me later.
MacBook Pro 10,1 15" Retina, Early 2013; 2.7 GHz Quad i7; 512 SSD; 16GB RAM > OSX 10.9x > Audirvana Plus v2.6.8 Hog Mode; on Battery Power [FLAC 16/44 > 24/96] > NAD VISO HP50
* Luxman often implemented what they referred to as the Linear Equalizer in preamps. It adjusted the balance from top to bottom in 0.5dB increments up to maybe +/- 2dB. So all to the right the bass would be +1dB and the treble would be -1dB; all to the left and the opposite "tilt" would be employed. QUAD did something similar in their 44 preamp although the range of adjustment was coarser and greater at the same time. It's a great feature as it swings linearly (that is, in a straight line on a graph) around 800 or 1KHz. depending on the unit in question.
..."
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/what-new-stuff-have-you-bought-if-you-care-to-share-thead.86935/post-1262670
" ...
** Mini-Review **
...
I haven't had much time to listen but so far some impressions are already becoming clearer. They can play loud ... more than I would want to listen at just from the output of my MacBook Pro's headphone socket. They also don't get congested when you turn up the wick.
They are ruthlessly revealing of recording quality ... you can hear exactly what the engineer is doing on a song. The very bottom octaves are a little pronounced but not objectionably so. Vocals sound very natural with no hint of chestiness. That is a bit of a surprise because at first I though female vocals were a little tilted downward, but on further listening I find that's not the case; it's that "revealing" thing again, where you can hear it if the proximity effect was utilized in the recording, and it's absent if it's not there. Good so far.
Male vocals are even better. I don't think I've heard Michael Stipe (REM) sound properly before. There are nuances in his voice that are lost in lesser phones. You can easily hear each distinct vocal in choruses and harmonies. Words are enunciated extremely well ... I've already been able to "correct" lyrics where I had always thought the singer said something else. Moving right along ...
Instruments have the correct timbre and tone, whether it's acoustic guitar, Fender Rhodes, various organs, sax, horns ... well the list goes on.
Drums are punchy and things like pick bite comes through on electric guitars. You can easily follow bass notes even on songs that don't have much bass in the mix, like early Beatles tracks. Kick drums remind me of high-volume Klipsch La Scalas where if you stood a few feet from the bass horn your pant leg would flap with every kick drum beat. Of course that's not happening with 'phones, but the sound is there, and that's not a common thing with cans or speakers.
They do image, there is a soundstage that is shallow and seems to hover a bit above the ears, but of course anything panned hard right or left comes out as such. Drums seem to be back in the mix but not by much. I suppose it's asking a lot for stereo mixes to sound natural image-wise with headphones, but we try.
There is something in the tonal balance that is off a bit. They are not sensitive to placement, at least on my skull and the head shake test is a full pass with me at least. They are light on the ears and after about three hours of listening they are still comfortable. If you push on the earcaps the bottom end gets more pronounced so they aren't clamping as hard as they could, but I think that's a good thing, or at least potentially a double-edged sword.
But back to the balance, these have plenty of sparkle when it's in the mix but I wouldn't describe the highs as "sweet" the way some loudspeakers can pull it off ... say, some KEFs. It's a bit dryer than that, although maybe more accurate that way. But the very top end, I dunno around 10K or so and up, seems to be missing, or recessed maybe (I'll have to do more listening). Because they do the bottom so well it seems more pronounced than ideal. A lot of people prefer that tonal balance but I keep wishing I had my old Lab Reference Series Lux 5L15 so I could hit the Linear Equalizer by a db or so.*
Maybe they will sound a bit more natural after a few hours of exercise. Most transducers do. I might leave them playing overnight while I grab some zzz's and see if I feel the same way tomorrow.
It's early yet to come to any final conclusions. But at least so far I like them. I only have limited music on my laptop's SSD (it's 512GB but that isn't enough for my music collection, even if there was nothing else on there, and there is lots on there) so the choice of songs isn't as varied as I would like. Will hook up the external drive and see what some of my usual reference tracks say to me later.
MacBook Pro 10,1 15" Retina, Early 2013; 2.7 GHz Quad i7; 512 SSD; 16GB RAM > OSX 10.9x > Audirvana Plus v2.6.8 Hog Mode; on Battery Power [FLAC 16/44 > 24/96] > NAD VISO HP50
* Luxman often implemented what they referred to as the Linear Equalizer in preamps. It adjusted the balance from top to bottom in 0.5dB increments up to maybe +/- 2dB. So all to the right the bass would be +1dB and the treble would be -1dB; all to the left and the opposite "tilt" would be employed. QUAD did something similar in their 44 preamp although the range of adjustment was coarser and greater at the same time. It's a great feature as it swings linearly (that is, in a straight line on a graph) around 800 or 1KHz. depending on the unit in question.
..."
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
OK folks been awhile since I posted. Here are my just ok to best TWS. Enjoy.
X18S
4.2 BT Rolled off treble. Bass is good. Connecting is fine. No volume control and Battery about 3.5 hrs. For 13 bucks(ebay) I can't complain.
Syllable S101
5.0 BT Rolled off treble. There is no sparkly highs. No better SQ difference on my aptx Cayin N3, Bass is good, vol control, Massive Battery 7-8hrs and Connecting is fine. On my android phone only the left side works youtube, Netflix, etc. On my android box both sides L/R work. Yes weird. I had such high hopes. For $30(ebay/Aliexpress) bucks I can complain and will. Maybe I got a bad batch although I doubt it.
Hoopshop W1
5.0 BT Graphene drivers, Sparkly highs, great tight bass, vol control and about 4hr battery and connection is good. $30 on ebay or Amazon. Biggest case of all I own.
Funcl W1
5.0 BT Sparkly highs, great tight bass, about 4hr battery, No vol control and connection is good. $25($49 on amazon) Indiegogo sale.
Alterola IE600
5.0 BT Sparkly highs, great tight bass, about 4hr battery, vol control and connection is good. Smallest case of all I own. $30 sale on amazon.
Anbes 359
5.0 The King of Budget TWS IMHO. Soundstage is large, fantastic sparkly highs, Great tight thumping bass, about 5hr battery, vol control and connection is great. Beautiful spaceship case. USB-C? Yes. Perfect for Music and Movies. If I were to compare these SQ wise I'd say the Sivga 007 headphones. For the price $30($45 normal price amazon/ebay) when on sale. I don't think they will EVER be dethroned.
A couple of cases to protect from scratches. Because of the shiny black coating on the Funcl and Alterola cases. The others are Matte and should be just fine.
The whole entire gang.
All are dynamic drivers, except the Hoopshop which is Graphene. All have good to decent call quality in a quiet setting. I Will edit with any new TWS. W(p)hew. Happy listening my AF friends and arch enemies.
X18S
4.2 BT Rolled off treble. Bass is good. Connecting is fine. No volume control and Battery about 3.5 hrs. For 13 bucks(ebay) I can't complain.
Syllable S101
5.0 BT Rolled off treble. There is no sparkly highs. No better SQ difference on my aptx Cayin N3, Bass is good, vol control, Massive Battery 7-8hrs and Connecting is fine. On my android phone only the left side works youtube, Netflix, etc. On my android box both sides L/R work. Yes weird. I had such high hopes. For $30(ebay/Aliexpress) bucks I can complain and will. Maybe I got a bad batch although I doubt it.
Hoopshop W1
5.0 BT Graphene drivers, Sparkly highs, great tight bass, vol control and about 4hr battery and connection is good. $30 on ebay or Amazon. Biggest case of all I own.
Funcl W1
5.0 BT Sparkly highs, great tight bass, about 4hr battery, No vol control and connection is good. $25($49 on amazon) Indiegogo sale.
Alterola IE600
5.0 BT Sparkly highs, great tight bass, about 4hr battery, vol control and connection is good. Smallest case of all I own. $30 sale on amazon.
Anbes 359
5.0 The King of Budget TWS IMHO. Soundstage is large, fantastic sparkly highs, Great tight thumping bass, about 5hr battery, vol control and connection is great. Beautiful spaceship case. USB-C? Yes. Perfect for Music and Movies. If I were to compare these SQ wise I'd say the Sivga 007 headphones. For the price $30($45 normal price amazon/ebay) when on sale. I don't think they will EVER be dethroned.
A couple of cases to protect from scratches. Because of the shiny black coating on the Funcl and Alterola cases. The others are Matte and should be just fine.
The whole entire gang.
All are dynamic drivers, except the Hoopshop which is Graphene. All have good to decent call quality in a quiet setting. I Will edit with any new TWS. W(p)hew. Happy listening my AF friends and arch enemies.
Last edited:
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
I wanted to show you the Alterola IE600 with and without tips. I think it's my only TWS or Earbuds period that have these type of insertions. I think these only came with one pair in the box. The comfort is quite good. I just twist them in to get a good seal. Anyway here are a couple of pics. I'm sure there are alot of these types, but my first. The SQ is top notch. You can check my overview one post back.
MR.MAGOO
Audioholic Field Marshall
Sennheiser HD 660 S, Bowers & Wilkins P7, Audio-Technica ATH-M50, TASCAM TH-07, Sennheiser MM-400-X, JBL E55BT. Can't get the captions to line up with photos.
Attachments
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
HI Mr Magoo how about an overview on them. I'm also curious about your thoughts on the Tascam. I gave mine away. Wait mine were the 02 and yours are the 07. Whoops. Still interested in your thoughts.
Last edited:
KEW
Audioholic Overlord
Hey AL2,
Thanks for the recommendation for the Anbes TWS earbuds!
They are great - very good sound for earbuds (IME headphones outperform earbuds - maybe that is not a rule, but it has been my experience)!
They seal well in my ears and have great bass! I tried jumping around and bumping my head with the butt of my palm to try and knock them out (or loose) and they never even started to work loose. I think I could use these on my dirt bike without any concern! (but it is reassuring that I am only gambling with $30 if they were to fall into a creek or something!)
Given the cordless function, sound quality, and how well they fit & stay in my ears they are winners!
I initially had some concerns about battery life and the function of the power level indicator (which reads on the phone/tablet). In typical guy fashion, I did not read the manual or look closely at these before use. I just put them on the charger, then threw them in my ears after they had a full charge! Had I been in a better lit room or read the manual, I would have noticed a very important thing!
The Charging Case is a power bank as well! Cool!!!
Accordingly, when I thought the buds were fully charged, it was actually the case that had the full charge! Not only that, but there are little pieces of plastic film over the earbud connectors so they would not charge. The same type of film that is put over easily scratched or "fingerprint magnet" surfaces. These are tiny and there is no "pull tab" sticking out to catch my attention (by feel or sight under medium light). So I had not charged the buds at all!
So, in conclusion, these are great earbuds, not up to Sennheiser headphone standards for sound quality, but very good for buds and everything else about them is perfect! Headphones usually end up being a problem for me because they get so hot. These will actually get used on a nearly daily basis!
It sucks that Amazon had already sold out of these by the time they arrived. Hopefully more are coming!?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M8LWN2G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit: Oh, I forgot! I have used them for phone and they are pretty damn good!
My big concern was with the microphone at your ear, how good could they be? I called my girlfriend and she said they were perfectly clear. I was inside so had walls to reflect the sound back at the microphone, so I stepped outside. She said it wasn't as good - she could still hear me fine but background noise had increased (automatic volume control?)! So that makes them totally acceptable for my phone use!
It is a true shame that these are no longer available (as linked above),I want to get another pair!
However, I am trying out another pair that AL2 suggested might be identical (they sure look it - the Amazon photo looks slightly different, but if you look at the photos posted in the customer reviews, they are identical)! I hope they are the same or equivalent!
These are the new ones I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1GXXFN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the recommendation for the Anbes TWS earbuds!
They are great - very good sound for earbuds (IME headphones outperform earbuds - maybe that is not a rule, but it has been my experience)!
They seal well in my ears and have great bass! I tried jumping around and bumping my head with the butt of my palm to try and knock them out (or loose) and they never even started to work loose. I think I could use these on my dirt bike without any concern! (but it is reassuring that I am only gambling with $30 if they were to fall into a creek or something!)
Given the cordless function, sound quality, and how well they fit & stay in my ears they are winners!
I initially had some concerns about battery life and the function of the power level indicator (which reads on the phone/tablet). In typical guy fashion, I did not read the manual or look closely at these before use. I just put them on the charger, then threw them in my ears after they had a full charge! Had I been in a better lit room or read the manual, I would have noticed a very important thing!
The Charging Case is a power bank as well! Cool!!!
Accordingly, when I thought the buds were fully charged, it was actually the case that had the full charge! Not only that, but there are little pieces of plastic film over the earbud connectors so they would not charge. The same type of film that is put over easily scratched or "fingerprint magnet" surfaces. These are tiny and there is no "pull tab" sticking out to catch my attention (by feel or sight under medium light). So I had not charged the buds at all!
So, in conclusion, these are great earbuds, not up to Sennheiser headphone standards for sound quality, but very good for buds and everything else about them is perfect! Headphones usually end up being a problem for me because they get so hot. These will actually get used on a nearly daily basis!
It sucks that Amazon had already sold out of these by the time they arrived. Hopefully more are coming!?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M8LWN2G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit: Oh, I forgot! I have used them for phone and they are pretty damn good!
My big concern was with the microphone at your ear, how good could they be? I called my girlfriend and she said they were perfectly clear. I was inside so had walls to reflect the sound back at the microphone, so I stepped outside. She said it wasn't as good - she could still hear me fine but background noise had increased (automatic volume control?)! So that makes them totally acceptable for my phone use!
It is a true shame that these are no longer available (as linked above),I want to get another pair!
However, I am trying out another pair that AL2 suggested might be identical (they sure look it - the Amazon photo looks slightly different, but if you look at the photos posted in the customer reviews, they are identical)! I hope they are the same or equivalent!
These are the new ones I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1GXXFN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Last edited:
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
Great review KEW. I've read where people liked the Anbes more than the Sennheiser $300 wireless Earbuds, so that tells you something. I mean for $30 bucks you can't go wrong. They'd make great gifts as well. Looking forward to your thoughts on the Kissral Earbuds. I also wanted to add that try to keep them half volume of the headsets themselves, so you can conserve the battery and just use your phone volume if you want them a bit higher. I get about 5hrs with volume at half and about 4hrs full volume. Hope this helps.
MR.MAGOO
Audioholic Field Marshall
Today I compared my 'free' TASCAM TH-07 to my 'free' Sennheiser HD 660 S; the HD 660 S wins hands down.
The equipment: Marantz CD5004 player with headphone jack. TASCAM CD A580 with headphone jack. (plugged phones directly into each player)
The recording: CD 24 bit Rudy Van Gelder 1998 remaster of Sonny Clark's 1958 analog recording of "Cool Struttin" (tested phones with 3 minutes of track 'Cool Struttin' )
The results: TH-07 sounded harsh in the sax solos on either player with either phones. The HD 660 S was more comfortable to wear and just sounded better on the Marantz player.
MR.MAGOO
Audioholic Field Marshall
The next day I compared the Bowers & Wilkins P7 (now discontinued) to the Sennheiser HD660S using same criteria; Both sounded great, the HD660S was still more comfortable with the velour ear cups. The B&W's have a 4 ft. cord, while the Senns a more generous 9 ft cord.
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
How about some pics with everything hooked up? We all love pics.
afterlife2
Audioholic Warlord
Hey Kurt Any updates on the Kissral SQ Vs Anbes 359?Hey AL2,
Thanks for the recommendation for the Anbes TWS earbuds!
They are great - very good sound for earbuds (IME headphones outperform earbuds - maybe that is not a rule, but it has been my experience)!
They seal well in my ears and have great bass! I tried jumping around and bumping my head with the butt of my palm to try and knock them out (or loose) and they never even started to work loose. I think I could use these on my dirt bike without any concern! (but it is reassuring that I am only gambling with $30 if they were to fall into a creek or something!)
Given the cordless function, sound quality, and how well they fit & stay in my ears they are winners!
I initially had some concerns about battery life and the function of the power level indicator (which reads on the phone/tablet). In typical guy fashion, I did not read the manual or look closely at these before use. I just put them on the charger, then threw them in my ears after they had a full charge! Had I been in a better lit room or read the manual, I would have noticed a very important thing!
The Charging Case is a power bank as well! Cool!!!
Accordingly, when I thought the buds were fully charged, it was actually the case that had the full charge! Not only that, but there are little pieces of plastic film over the earbud connectors so they would not charge. The same type of film that is put over easily scratched or "fingerprint magnet" surfaces. These are tiny and there is no "pull tab" sticking out to catch my attention (by feel or sight under medium light). So I had not charged the buds at all!
So, in conclusion, these are great earbuds, not up to Sennheiser headphone standards for sound quality, but very good for buds and everything else about them is perfect! Headphones usually end up being a problem for me because they get so hot. These will actually get used on a nearly daily basis!
It sucks that Amazon had already sold out of these by the time they arrived. Hopefully more are coming!?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M8LWN2G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit: Oh, I forgot! I have used them for phone and they are pretty damn good!
My big concern was with the microphone at your ear, how good could they be? I called my girlfriend and she said they were perfectly clear. I was inside so had walls to reflect the sound back at the microphone, so I stepped outside. She said it wasn't as good - she could still hear me fine but background noise had increased (automatic volume control?)! So that makes them totally acceptable for my phone use!
It is a true shame that these are no longer available (as linked above),I want to get another pair!
However, I am trying out another pair that AL2 suggested might be identical (they sure look it - the Amazon photo looks slightly different, but if you look at the photos posted in the customer reviews, they are identical)! I hope they are the same or equivalent!
These are the new ones I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1GXXFN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
MR.MAGOO
Audioholic Field Marshall
Joe B
Audioholic Chief
MR.MAGGO,
Great CD there. Cool Struttin' is a fabulous hard bop recording.
Great CD there. Cool Struttin' is a fabulous hard bop recording.
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