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A bunch of review retrospectives

In an effort to get you guys the awesome headphone reviews you salivate for, we’ve let the Headphone ReviewBot collect dust lately. Allow us to remedy this by quickly summing up our last four reviews. If you like reading, we recommend you read the full reviews. If you hate reading, then you will love this blog post.

Sennheiser MX W1 Review Retrospective

Sennheiser’s MX W1s are an interesting look at some technology that might, in the future, be affordable. At the moment, though, it isn’t. The MX W1s have audio quality that’s about what we’d expect from a good set of wireless in-ears: not good by any stretch, but not horrible either. We suppose the MX W1s will be attractive to some, if only for the novelty factor, but we really, really recommend waiting for the price to drop. At $500, we cannot recommend buying these.

Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 review retrospective

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, so our apologies to those who follow our sadly neglected RSS feed.

We just got our review up of the ATH-ANC7s. Our verdict? They aren’t anything special, but they’re priced very generously. They don’t have great sound quality and their active noise cancellation isn’t quite good, but they cost $100. Have you seen what active-cancellers generally cost? At this price, the ATH-ANC7s are a good pair of entry-level active-cancelling headphones. You should check these out if you want a pair of headphones to wear on the go, but hate sticking headphones into your ears.

Monster Turbine Headphones First Impressions Review

At the Monster press event today, they were giving away some freebies of their new $150 headphones, the Turbines. There was a very limited amount, so they were only giving them out to a a select few, super important, ultra handsome journalists. Needless to say, they gave every single one to HeadphoneInfo.com. Our super-strict ethics policy mandates we can’t actually keep them, but we will be borrowing them long enough to get them into our lab. What follows is a really precursory review of the Monster Turbines, complete with our utterly subjective opinion of how they sound.

Sennheiser MM50 iP review retrospective

It’s always easier to write reviews about headphones with hilariously glaring issues than those without them. Unfortunately for us, the MM50 iP headphones are really pretty good. They have great audio quality with ridiculously low distortion levels, are comfortable, come with a microphone, and only cost $100.

We only have three complaints, two of which aren’t very important. First of all, the MM50 iPs don’t isolate as well as other in-ear headphones. They still scored above the Bost QuietComfort 2 and 3, and well above the average result for our site, but there are in-ear headphones out there that can do a better job. Secondly — and this is partially responsible for the previous issue — the MM50 iPs don’t come with many sleeve options. Had there been a triple-flange sleeve available, we’re sure they would’ve isolated much better.

The one main issue has to do with durability. The plug sticks out and the MM50 iPs don’t have a great cord guard. We can see the cable bending sharply at the plug, getting pulled and just generally accruing wear and tear quickly. If you’re keeping your media player in your pocket, try to keep the plug facing upwards.

All this being said, the bad sides don’t even come close to marring how good the MM50 iPs are; they scored more in their audio performance section then most of the other headphones we’ve reviewed. They’re currently #1 on our rankings, with a healthy margin between them and second place. The MM50 iP headphones are well worth their $100 tag.

Monster Beats review retrospective

We just finished our review of the Monster Beats. The audio quality wasn’t great, but we did hear a lot of detail. The active noise cancellation was terrible: it was weak, created noticeable noise, and is mandatory for hearing playback, so when you run out of batteries you lose your music privileges.

The Beats are versatile, but not very. The poor isolation, lack of leakage control, and overall size mean they’re not the most portable headphones. You can remove the cord, however, so if you have a longer audio cable you can hook up to your home theater setup. We think the Beats are a good option if you were considering the Bose QuietComfort series, but either way we still think you can get a better value.

Creative Aurvana X-Fi headphones review retrospective

The Creative Aurvana X-Fi headphones review is up. Our verdict: the X-Fix are on par with the Bose QuietComfort series. The good news: better noise cancellation than either the QC 2 or 3, an on/off switch for the cancellation, and the novel ability to function without battery power. The bad news: they’re not particularly comfortable.

Ultrasone HFI-2200 headphones review retrospective

We’ve just finished sending the Ultrasone HFI-2200 through our rigorous testing process (here’s a link to the review). Our verdict? Not bad for a mainstream audience, but too expensive for the audio quality it provides. The audio quality was either average or sub par — the one exception was a good tracking score — but we thought the playback sounded overly boomy. The headphones also weren’t particularly comfortable. The HFI-2200s do come with an obscenely long cord, which is just shy of 15 feet, so hooking them up to your home theater setup won’t be difficult.

Overall, not the worst set of headphones we’ve reviewed, but at $300, we can’t say they’re a good value.

Sony MDR-NC500D review retrospective

The Sony MDR-NC500D headphones made us a bit sad. We thought they would’ve been a great set of mid-range, noise-cancelling headphones. They don’t have amazing noise cancelling or audio quality, but they weren’t abysmal either. They were very comfortable, came with a ton of extras, and there was even a fun little feature where you could choose your own noise-cancellation frequency curve. All in all, these headphones would be a good buy for a mainstream listener for $200-$300.

Unfortunately, these headphones cost $400. That’s more than the Bose QuietComfort 2 & 3, which are probably the NC500D’s biggest competition. At this price, the NC500D is more expensive than the already over-priced at $300 for the QC2 and $350 for the QC3. To make matters worse, the NC500D also features worse audio quality than both the QC2 and QC3, although not by any great stretch. We’re guessing Sony was trying to market the NC500D as a premium product, and was using the high price to insinuate the NC500D outclasses the QuietComfort headphones. Unfortunately, the price just makes the headphones a bad deal, which is unfortunate because they’re not bad headphones. If you want to pick these up, try to look for a really good sale.

V-MODA Vibe Duo review retrospective

We just finished our review of the Vibe Duo, and were a bit surprised. Anyone who’s visited the V-MODA site can immediately tell they have a more fashion-forward approach to their product than most companies. In the electronics world, this typically indicates disaster. In this case, however, it simply indicated above average, which is far more benign. Audio quality? Not the best. There were low levels of distortion present throughout. These headphones also didn’t isolate well, spewing out more sound waves than any other in-ear we’ve tested thus far. Though you won’t deafen those next to you on a bus, don’t use these at a library or museum unless you want to broadcast "Barbie Girl" to everyone around you. The Duo had good frequency response, however, and ludicrous bass response. If you like bass-heavy songs, but find your current in-ears have a flat lower end, then you should definitely check out the Vibe Duo. Otherwise, the Duo did well enough for most in-ear users, what with their iPods and overly-compressed music.

The Vibe Duo somewhat made up for its poor audio in usability. These were very comfortable in-ear-canal headphones. While we never forgot we were wearing them, we were also able to get through a six-hour listening session without major complaints. They also stayed in well, even when we took them for a jog.

Do we think the Vibe Duo is a better deal than the Denon AH-C351? No, but the AH-C351 is an unusually good deal. At $99.99, the Vibe Duo is still adequately priced for its audience. Therefore, if you’re looking for a pretty pair of headphones for use with your iPod (or another media player that can’t play lossless file formats), you should consider the Vibe Duo as an option.

Denon AH-C351 review retrospective

We just finished our review of the Denon AH-C351 headphones, and we have the following to say: these headphones are great for their intended market. This market I’m referring to are people who are sick of crappy packed-in headphones, but don’t necessarily want to go out and spend a ton of money on headphones. That means audiophiles or anyone serious about their music probably won’t think very much of these, since they really don’t offer the best audio quality. Of course, at $50, you really don’t expect the best audio quality either.

We like open and shut cases, and the AH-C351s definitely fall into that category. If you’ve read this very brief synopsis and seem interested, then they’re a good buy. If you’re looking for home theater cans, then you should probably look elsewhere.

Pioneer SE-A1000 review retrospective

We just published our review of the Pioneer SE-A1000 headphones. What did we find? Well, they look crazy, for starters. The band is broken down into two curved, plastic dowels that provide support for the thin strip of fabric that rests gently upon your head. It will look as though the headphones are cautiously hovering above and around your head.

This shouldn’t be an issue, though, since these headphones really shouldn’t be leaving your TV room. They’re intended for home theater use, which is great, because they’re annoying in other settings. They come with a cord that’s just about 20 feet long, so unless you live in the McDuck mansion the A1000s can stretch from your couch to your sound system. These headphones are also good for movies since fit rather loosely, which lets them be comfortable for long stretches of time. Conversely, loose is terrible if you plan on being active. It’s hard to take these headphones on a walk when you have to pocket 20 feet of cord. A final nail in the coffin of portability are these headphones’ lack of isolation and leakage control; they performed worse than some open-backed headphones in terms of blocking out external sounds or keeping its playback to itself.

Overall, these headphones aren’t bad at $200, but there are some better options out there, especially if you don’t mind losing the crazy aesthetic these things give you.

Apple iPod In-ear Headphones review retrospective

We’ve just finished our review of the Apple M9394G/C headphones, otherwise known as the Apple iPod In-ear Headphones. Our final thoughts? Well, in terms of usability and portability, they only have one flaw. Unfortunately, it’s a fairly annoying one: the headphones tend to slide around or pop out of place if you’re moving. They’re so keen to shift around because they fit inside your ear, but outside of your ear canal. The movement is especially annoying, since in-ear headphones are meant to be mobile. Of course, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re more interested in how they tested in audio quality.

For the sake of space and suspense, we’ve hidden our conclusions after the jump.