The most overrated and underrated headphone you tried?

[WickedInsignia]

AKG K52

Yet another great example of WhatHiFi's flawless review reliability...

 

[Keened]

Not a huge IEM user but like the 1More quad driver (2+ year owner) because like the price, robust construction, twist into ear fit, mid bass emphasis and mostly because I get all that without worrying about losing or breaking them when traveling or out about. So good value good sound: Underrated

MEASUREMENTS: 1MORE Quad Driver IEM (E1010)

A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.

archimago.blogspot.com

These were my daily drivers for a long time after I upgraded from the 1More triple driver. I rarely found them lacking as a general listening pair and appreciated the general durability since I didn't baby them and they still held up fairly well. The inability to replace the cable however made me look elsewhere when they finally started to give out because at that price point It seems silly to toss the drivers out when the only issue is the cable.

 

[Loathecliff]

Yet another great example of WhatHiFi's flawless review reliability..

There's always one.
I considered merely the typing of the name alone was contamination enough but some ASR members just have to go further.
Thxs for the review reminder WI
"Agile rhythm" ... F*S!!

Being serious for a moment, how many WhatHiFi 'testing' scenarios can there be beyond cash-pic-price-type?

 

[Construct]

Overrated:
- Sony WH-1000XM4 / WH-1000XM3. Too boomy without EQ, narrow soundstage. Frequency response on wired connection is <censored>.

This headphone highlights the chasm between professional audio gear reviewers and the average gear journalist.

Every mainstream review of the WH-1000XM3/4 raves about the sound quality.

Every professional review and opinion is shocked at how bad they are in unpowered mode. They're slightly better in active mode (built-in EQ on) but still not great.

I had a pair in my cart ready to checkout when I was desperate for some full-size noise isolation a while ago, but thankfully I read some reviews at the last minute. They'd probably be okay with my laptop doing proper EQ duties, but still disappointing.

 

[Nango]

Most live music perhaps, loudness would contribute to fidelity. Seems like many studios don't have subs and most engineers are aware their audience is primarily listening on headphones, so I'm not sure about music being meant to be felt.

I have a room corrected dual 12" Genelec subwoofer about a foot and a half from my back. It's great. With excellent headphones, I am still perceiving the bass and primarily miss the soundstage.

Nearfield is great... But I'd take IEM bass over many nearfield monitors bass as it's more extended and even if we're not talking about a sub.

Nearfield is great... But I'd take IEM bass over many nearfield monitors bass as it's more extended and even if we're not talking about a sub.

No IEM will push on your earlobes like headphones do, no lobe moving, no fun.

 

[Yasuo]

Fostex T60RP - about £270 with a huge discount applied (at that time). Aesthetically they look great, but build quality is quite poor and once you try them the deign shows its flaws: the dead band is too stiff to be comfortable, small ear cups is between on & over ear, the wood is very soft and gets damaged so easily (scratches & spots) and it squeaks and cracks at the slightest movement... But the audio is even worse! Needs EQ and "modding" to sound reasonable and loads of power (I could only test with L30). I have returned them after just a few days - like a foul, I did not wait for the burn-in process to complete )

 

[sprellemannen]

At that price, availability of spares and servicing should be part of the deal. If Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic are able to maintain a supply of spares and service even their relatively modest models you would hope high end stuff would too. It's one of those aspects often lost in purchasing decisions.

Sennheiser is great: My favourite brand when it comes to headphones.

 

[kokakolia]

Overrated: Koss Porta Pro. They sound woolly. The highs are like nails on a chalkboard. Mid bass bump obscures the vocals. Comfort is... awful. I hate how the headband acts like a spring. The spring pushes sharp hard plastic drivers into your ears. The thin pads don't do much to cushion the drivers. The cable sucks. The open back drivers leak sound, don't block noise well. I have heard many closed back headphones which sound more open than the Porta Pro. The Porta Pro is overpriced AF at 40€. Reviewers who claim that the Porta Pro is good have never tried anything else under 50€. You can tell that I hate the Porta Pros so much. Somehow I managed to buy 3 pairs over the years.

Underrated: JVC S160 "flats". 15€ and they run circles around the Porta Pro. Comfort is a 5/5. The flats are light, the pads are comfortable. The headband sits a bit loose, but you gain a lot in comfort. I would use the flats over many more expensive, more performative headphones on comfort alone. The S160 sounds just fine. Soundstage is non-existent. You feel like hearing IEMs. Treble is somewhat relaxed. Bass is fairly light. Mids are just there. Yeah, the S160 sound boring. I like boring and I like comfort.

Underrated: NAD Viso HP50. Disclaimer: Comfort sucks. You can improve that somewhat by bending the headband with brute force. Aesthetics suck. Noise isolation is as good as it gets for passive noise cancelling. Sound is 5/5 for a closed back headphone. The HP50 is neutral AF with very realistic timbre. This is something that 99.9999% of headphones don't achieve because they scoop the mids and boost the treble to 11.

Underrated: KEF M100. Sounds like the NAD Viso HP50 but in IEM form. Just shove them in your ears and enjoy the music. Too bad the cable isn't user replaceable. The M100 was overpriced at launch at $275. So the value proposition was low on release and reviews were lukewarm. But I got them on clearence for $80.

 

[600_OHM]

Sennheiser MX-365. Hang-in ear buds. Discontinued. I bought like 5 pairs since I knew this would happen sooner or later.

Foam surround mandatory. Not for comfort, but FR!

Nerd mod: Additional half-cut foam surround over top. Oooh, bass extension straight to collarbone!

Who cares if it looks like I've got a pair of milk-duds in my ears ...

 

[04gto]

Overrated- DROP Ether CX. Not bad, but there was so much hype around these and DCA stuff in general at the time. I expected at least 'very good'. Not just okay. After having tried nearly every DCA headphone, including the Stealth, DCA is just not for me. No real dynamic punch, they all sound blunted to me. Too bad because they are made in my hometown and I love the aesthetics & comfort.

Underrated- Hifiman Arya (all versions). I know it may not seem like these could be underrated considering how much praise they receive. Stay with me here- I have heard (and owned a lot of them) just about every high end open back available and these, to my ears, sound about as good as any of them. I think there are other headphones that sound different or do certain things better, but the possible 'improvements' are very miniscule. To me, these are the best value in audio (not just headphones). They are hard to beat at any price. The only headphones that I think I prefer are the LCD-XC, LCD-5 or HE1000V2.

 

[batcake]

Most overrated Soundwise: ZMF Verite and its Closeback counterpart. I'm just not a fan of their lack of upper mids. Sounds too muffled IMO.

Most underrated Soundwise: Probably the 2020 revision Sundara. I honestly think it sounds very good in its stock form and don't take any issues with its slight 6k hz peak. A bit of eq in the sub-bass and 1k-2k Hz mids and it becomes TOTL IMO.

Most overrated comfort: HD800s. Feels awkward on my head tbh. My right ear seems to touch the back part of the cup which is bothersome. Despite weighing less than a lot of kilobuck+ headphones I feel its weight distribution on my head is not optimal compared to some 400+ gram headphones that use a floaty headband design (a lot of planars/estats).

Most underrated comfort: Sr-007mk2. This seems to be a hit-or-miss headphone in terms of comfort since it lacks swivels, utilizes a stretchy headband rather than the typical slider, and has earpads that spin 360 degrees lol.. Probably more prone to not fitting well on one's head. I've blutac modded one of my sr-007mk2 and I can position it in a way so both ears have a pretty good seal while still feeling comfy.

 

[bequietjk]

I'd say the Beyerdynamic's DT250. It's a very comfy, pretty cheap, robust and quite neutral model that's almost unknown compared to the other Beyers (especially the DT770).

The most organic headphone I've heard. Sound is super raw and incredibly unique in my experience. I miss them. The cable connector mod is paramount and absolutely necessary, too.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Overrated: Koss Porta Pro, HD600, HD 650...well pretty much every Senn except the 560s which I really like!
Also AT M50, 990 pro.

 

[usersky]

Closed, wireless:
Overrated: AKG K371(BT)
Underrated: Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT. Since I have these I only use them, nothing else. I highly recommend trying them. Haven't seen measurements but these are the first headphones I don't feel the slightest itch to EQ. And the comfort... exquisite for the form factor, in fact above all I tried for me personally. Have their bigger sister Hi-X65 also but I prefer the sound of these little gems.

 

[chi2]

AKG K52
[...]
Best comment:- "If you hate music, you'll love these headphones"

Made my day, thanks.

 

[NapoleonDynamite]

All subjective of course.
The underrated ones: Beyer DT 880 (600 ohms), Senny HD650 and Focal Elex. Great tonality and low distortion.
The overrated ones: Grado, Audeze LCD-2/LCD-4. Both have incorrect tonality and clamp your head (at least my big head).

 

[gorman]

Senny HD650

Underrated? I must be living in a parallel dimension. I've always seen them held in high regard.

 

[Mulder]

Sennheiser HD 600 is overrated. It is very good in a "formal" sense so to say, but they are boring.
Focal Listen is the most underrated headphone i know about. I just wiched it was possible to make it sound somewhat clearer in the upper midrange/treble without falling back on digital EQ.

 

[solderdude]

Focal Listen
Would require physical mods to add a bit of clarity.
Treble reduction and driver damping and possibly the baffle porting would need to be modified.
Massive subbass extension.

 

[Mulder]

Focal Listen
Would require physical mods to add a bit of clarity.
Treble reduction and driver damping and possibly the baffle porting would need to be modified.
Massive subbass extension.

Would it be possible to adjust it with a Kameleon filter?