Audiophile headphones - $80 to $200
AKG K271 MK II
Starting this category with a crackle and
pop is the K271 MKII – a true blue reference set from the AKG stables. Being
studio monitors they’ve got what you’ve by now come to expect from cans in this
class – long replaceable and superlative comfort. Apart from this there is an
auto-off mechanism which switches off the music as soon as you take them off.
AKG
K271 MK II
We spent a couple of minutes trying to
figure out exactly how this works and jumped from theories of proximity sensors
to finally what turned out to be a small little switch attached to the headband
which does the trick. As for the sound signature, it’s fairly neutral for the
most part but when it comes to bass these cans are pretty shy. The vocals are
right up front coming through fairly crystal clear but the rest of the spectrum
is flat. The result is that the music feels very empty. And now here’s the
kicker – the cheaper K240 MK II performed better than this beefier sibling. How
and why? Find out below.
AKG K240 MKII
AKG
K240 MKII
The K240 comes from the same pedigree that
has crafted the 271, except for a few design changes. For one, the K240 is
semi-open unlike K271 which is fully closed. Plus these are tuned for better
bass reproduction. The semi-open design makes them sound better, not as a
studio monitoring set, but certainly for your day-to-day Audiophile needs
they’re much better. On a side note we sorely missed the Audio Technica M50
particularly when testing these cans. We had it with us for a few months in
2012. Sweet nostalgia
Blaupunkt Comfort
Of
the two Blaupunkt headphones the Comfort CN-112 is the mellower sounding one
The CN-112 is decidedly bass heavy and
perhaps the warmest sounding headphone in the test. The thing with warm sound
signature is that it renders vocals pretty well, so without a flat response
headphone around for comparison they’ll sound perfectly “nice” to the average
listener. Why wouldn’t they? You get nice vocals, the bass isn’t bad, but you
lose out the fineries in the upper spectrum. That sharp crunch on the guitar,
the pinch harmonic wail or even a sibilant high-cymbal. All that is necessary.
Without the ANC on, it seems as though the entire frequency range beyond 100 Hz
is suppressed. Of the two Blaupunkt headphones the Comfort CN-112 is the
mellower sounding one. And mellow usually means less detailed.
Harman Kardon CL
Harman
Kardon CL
The CL moniker on these cans presumably
stands for classic. The sandblasted steel headband, pads that adjust to the
size of your head and pillow ear-pads all give it a nice old school yet
functional look. (Yes we know it’s not really a word, but you get the picture).
The headphone has a particularly sweet sound signature. You’ll especially
relish these if you’re preference in music is guitar driven rock. By and large
supra-aural headphones have a tough time competing with circumaurals in terms
of comfort, but these cans are extremely comfortable even over extended
listening. Bass is accurate and just the right amount over the standard flat
response neutral headphones. This is certainly a headphone worth the asking
price, making it our Best Buy in this category.
The others
The
first one – the JBL J88i is strange for not bringing anything special to the
table considering the illustrious company it is part of
Rounding off this category are two rather
strange headphones. The first one – the JBL J88i is strange for not bringing
anything special to the table considering the illustrious company it is part
of. It looks good but that’s about it. The other one is special in a most
unfortunate way. When we pulled the iDance FDJ 300 out of the box, our
unanimous reaction was “are you serious?!” And the headphone seemed to answer
our question. In the midst of all the seizure causing atrocious colors, it had
plastered on the ear cups this message: F*** ME I’M SERIOUS!” If you’re willing
to look past the toy-like plastic and find yourself ever wanting to own a pair
– maybe for a Halloween, party who knows? – You’d want to know how it performs.
Well it’s about as good as the iBall Jaron 5.
Audiophile headphones - Below $200
iBall
Jaron 5
In this last category we had only four
contenders. Two models from iDance, the AKG K99 and the iBall Jaron 5. The
iDance Hipster 703 was a set that we’d already reviewed last month,
nevertheless it was put through the standard test procedure. The 703 is a
mediocre headphone with a design that few might like. Very few. The other model
from iDance, SeDJ 700, although loud (no pun intended), wasn’t that bad
looking. It still felt like a toy, but it was comfortable. Soft velvety earcups
make you feel like keeping these cans on. Sadly one major flaw became acutely
apparent when we fired up our test tracks – the drivers were badly mismatched.
This almost counts as sacrilege and lost the headphone major points. So
basically it boiled down to a bout between the iBall Jaron 5 and the AKG K99.
The iBall is a comfortable, decently built and not too shabby looking
entry-level headphone. The mids are enhanced but muffled, but overall the sound
isn’t all that bad for a headphone that costs just 3.5k (probably cheaper on
ground). Plus you have a few bonuses such as a long wire with a 6.3 mm adaptor
and a single axis foldable design.
AKG
K99
The other headphone vying to be top dog in
this category is an entry level offering from AKG. The K99 is a Semi-open,
circumaural headphone that looks like it comes from the same mold as the other
two higher end AKGs. It’s not nearly as detailed as them but it gets the job
done. It manages to retain at least some of the famous AKG mids. Performance
wise it’s better than the iBall and so is its price to performance ratio,
earning it the Best Buy award for this category.
