Posted by Aenn Seidhe Priest
The new forum is up, and it’s been a much better ride so far than the glitchy and spambot-vulnerable PHPBB 2 that was driving the previous forum install.
Of course, everyone’s invited to join - the new forums are a delight in comparison, Simple Machines Forum engine has many more features than the old PHPBB, and there’re several avatar galleries waiting to be used.
Some of the old links still point to the old forum posts, the forum review links have been updated, also the old musume threads were looked for; the old musume posts have been updated with new forum links. The two threads have wallpapers and original headphone musume drawings.
Thread #1 - 1024*768 drawings, great as wallpaper (or slideshow wallpapers, for those blessed with a modern Unix OS).
Thread #2 - a mixture of manga (and a few European) drawings of all sizes.
Finally, some of the images on the frontpage and in blog posts had their img tag coordinates set to negative (like -30 and -40 width and height). This might be a Wordpress graphic editor glitch. It affects Opera, not Mozilla browsers it seems. Mozilla browsers discard negative coordinates automatically, whereas Opera displays affected images as squeezed image bars.
Well, currently I have the Goldring DR50
headphones on, listening to Phil Collins (long story). To be honest, the Goldring DR50 headphones are £30. In the U.S. the Goldrings cost even more via the exchange rate. Well it’s only right, you guys get Grado headphones for pennies!
The thing is, I don’t have any headphones to do a direct comparison. I have a few at the £20 mark, and another lot at £40, but none at £30. A full review will be coming up soon. Actually it’s made me appreciate the Creative HQ1700 headphones, just that little bit more. The Creative headphoness aren’t perfect, but neither are the Goldrings.
The build quality is good, very good in fact, but the sound is a not as weighty as I’d like. However most of you regulars will know I’m a basshead. To be honest The Goldring DR50 aren’t bad, not perfect, but i’ll give a full update soon.
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There have been some important updates to the Fake Bose Triport situation. Its not as plain and simple as first thought. Click here for more details.
For all you UK earphone enthusiasts, now is the chance to grab yourself a deal on the popular Shure SE110 earphones. But Please hurry, because from past experience deals like this on Shure earphones NEVER last!
Another price drop for the Jays earphone range.
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Posted by Aenn Seidhe Priest
The forum has been migrated to a Simple Machines install. The new URL for the forum is http://www.headphonedeals.org/smf - any old bookmarks are obviously invalid.
Before I got my Sennheiser PX30 (what I consider to be my first ‘real’ headphones) I used to buy Technics. When I say used to buy, I do mean more than once. The cables kept on snagging. So at regular intervals, I’d have to buy another pair. I’m glad to say: these days the Technics cables are very sturdy.
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Posted by Aenn Seidhe Priest
Diaphragm: 16 mm., mylar
Nominal impedance: 32-ohm
Nominal power input: 2 mW
Maximum power input: 5 mW
Nominal sensitivity @ 1 KHz: 113 dB/1 mW
Frequency range: 20-20000 Hz
Enclosure type: semi-open earbuds
The X50 are OVC’s more expensive, higher-quality earbuds. OVC was the Chinese OEM for many Western companies (Koss, Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Audio-Technica, Plantronics, Yamaha, V-Moda, etc. etc.); there’s an English website for OVC, http://www.ocvaco.com/, with a bit more background on just what OVC is.
Long story short, X50 are close to Yuin PK3 in price and performance. About 75% of the performance at 75% the price. Not as exciting or magical as the PK3, but with a larger soundstage and a bit more power to the sound (this is probably as powerful and “solid” as earbuds can get).
The full review…
Posted by Aenn Seidhe Priest
…are a set of headphones sent in for reviewing by Fang Bian of Head-Direct.
The review is out there, but the HC1000 are interesting as a design, just by themselves.
Tiny mini-headphones, the diaphragms are 30-mm., which is a smart design choice: small enough to be easily driven and have good dynamics, but still large enough to have the foam pads provide decent low-end. Dynamics and high sensitivity (113 dB/mW) give the HC1000 a good part of the depth, dimension of sound that’s usually reserved to either canalphones or full-size headphones matched with a good amplifier.
Which is the most interesting bit, as the HC1000 sound is not typical of their class and price (in the West, anyway). There’s a certain “technical” character to the sound that spoils it somewhat, and they lack low midrange response (there’s a dip in the 250-400 range or so, maybe a bit wider), but otherwise everything’s clear and it has dimension, depth, flow. Which is unlike certain hyped-up German maker’s tiny headphones. OVC HC1000 have a Chinese character: detailed, clean midrange, open highs, and exciting super-treble with a bit lean, unobtrusive low end.
So in summary, clarity and depth, musicality, dimension previously reserved either to high-end earbuds (with associated pains) or canalphones (with associated pains and mess) or full-size headphones/amps (~$300 price ranges) in small portable headphones. Even the stated sensitivity - 113 dB/mw - is earbud sensitivity, not typical headphone sensitivity. Tonal balance is also similar to earbuds or canalphones, yet without the ear-canal chirpiness and unnatural soundstage of earphones. The “technical”, a tad “stiff” character to the sound in the low end can interfere with music sometimes, and they tend to “shout” too much like any very sensitive headphones (or earphones), but other than that, the very notion that a cheap player can create a hi-fi-like sound with cheap headphones can be a novelty in the West. Which is likely why Sony created a portable player way back then (Walkman tape player), not a Western company.
Grab these quick!
For those of us suffering from rising petrol prices, government taxes and spiraling house prices, but no mortgage companies actually handing out any mortgages (I’ve been hit by that one) Then there is a huge consolation in knowing that the Super.fi 4’s are now available for under £50 ($100)…shipped.
Click this link and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
