Besides the AKG K371, there are headphones costing less than $100 that come close to the Harman Target like this one.
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Well, curiosity killed the cat, or at least burned a $60 hole in my pocket.
I picked up a pair of these JBL Tune 710 BTs at Microcenter today. They are on sale at Microcenter for $60 instead of the list price of $80. They come in white, black, or a sharp-looking dark blue. I could not resist the sharp-looking dark blue. Seemed like a can’t miss proposition.
TL : DR — These inconspicuously designed and very inexpensive phones seem to have exceptionally good, even reference-quality, sound in active mode, with okay to moderately good comfort, good isolation, excellent battery life, and light-weight, durable construction. They would appear to be a wonderful bargain and could be a fun and fascinating data-point in one’s search for high-fidelity headphones.
Pairing with my Iphone was excellent. Comfort is moderately good for me but not Bose QC 35 II or Senn HD 580 or Beyer level comfort. Comfort is definitely the weak point for these phones. They fit a little tight and ideally the pads would be a little softer. Long-term listening could be problematic due to less than stellar comfort.
I am no golden ears or expert but I would have to say that for me tonality and fidelity these JBL Tune 710 BTs seem marvelous, better than any other headphone I own. All I could ever ask for. Confirmation bias? Maybe!! To me deep bass seems awesome but not overdone, highs are noticeably feathery and well-balanced, and mids seem clear but not out of proportion.
Isolation is pretty darn good for something with no active noise reduction. They do give up some ground in terms of comfort, noise reduction, or the open-air experience, to some other phones, depending on what you are looking for. I’m sure there are some Bluetooth artifacts involved during wireless use but I don’t think I’m sensitive enough to them to worry about it.
Thanks yet again ASR, and to Dr. Olive.
Exactly what superlatives are appropriate or whether these are just a flash in the pan I will leave to others more expert or opinionated than I am.
P.S. They come with a headphone cable for wired use and a USB charging cable. They are lightweight and seem very sturdy. When used with the headphone cable instead of wirelessly the electronics don’t seem to engage but sound is still surprisingly enjoyable for me, though pretty certainly not nearly as good as when used wirelessly. I assume that in wireless mode some really excellent EQ is applied. I‘ll leave it to someone else to figure out exactly what is going on with that.