When we last left our hairless headphone hero, he was listening to Oppo PM-3 planar magnetic, closed back headphones through a Schiit stack consisting of a Modi DAC feeding a Magni 3+ amplifier. Since he is working from home, he no longer has to worry about disturbing others or noise isolation. It was time! Time to take his quest for audio nirvana to the next level: open back headphones.
Why open back? Well most audiophile headphones seem to be open back and reportedly for good reasons. For one, the drivers are not dampened by the air pressure created between the driver and the back of the ear cups. Also they do not have to dampen the unwanted harmonics that are created there. They also tend to breathe better, preventing your ears from getting as hot. There is a loss of overall bass response, but that can be mitigated by using a quality driver and careful tuning.
Last, but maybe most important to me, they have a more “open” sound. I know that sounds gimmicky, but I can now verify it is true. There’s really no better way to describe that aspect of the sound. Part of it is a wider soundstage, but that is not all that is going on here.
The open back headphones I decided to try first are the Massdrop X Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee.
Drop (formerly Massdrop) is a company that started out selling items as discounted group buys. Basically they negotiate with a well known manufacturer for a discount if they buy a certain amount of a product as one large direct purchase. Then they get at least that many people to pre-order it by a set date. Once that date occurs, if there are enough pre-orders, the group buy is made, then several weeks go by while the manufacturer fills and delivers the order, at which time Drop distributes the product to the pledges.
Headphones have always been one their most popular product categories for these group buys aka Drops. They have progressed to Drops of exclusive versions of established headphones, then maintaining stock of some of those exclusives, and just this year to developing their own headphones, the Drop + THX Panda, which happens to be based on my now discontinued Oppo PM-3.
Back to the open back headphones I recently purchased. You may recognize Sennheiser from the Momentum I bought before the PM-3 or just that they have been making highly regarded hi-fi headphones since the 1950’s. They know a thing or two. If you want the full scoop on these headphones check out the link above, but for me it mostly came down to many reviewers considering them an extreme bargain. They are a close cousin of the extremely popular Sennheiser 600 series (600, 650, 660S).
Comparing the sound to my PM-3, I am surprised. Happily I hear the openness I mentioned above but since they use dynamic drivers instead of planar magnetic, I expected to lose some detail and clarity. I have not noticed any such loss. The bass is a little subdued, but I understand what reviewers mean when they use the term “slam” now. Drums have more punch, especially the kick drum. Since I am into drums this is very appealing to me. Also the bass is cleaner, not as boomy. I can really crank up the volume without feeling like they start to punish my ears. Of course this means I have to be a bit careful as there is no “warning” if I turn it up too loud.
These are very impressive headphones for the price! I have little experience to draw from yet, but I can still confidently recommend them to anyone wanting relatively cheap headphones with audiophile level sound. They are also a great way to get to know some of the differences headphones have that do not show up on a frequency response curve: soundstage, punch, detail, clarity, etc.
There are still a few things I’m looking to improve on. I expected open back headphones to allow my ears to stay cooler than closed back. I’m not noticing any improvement but other open back headphone designs might breathe better. Also the comfort level, while better than my PM-3, is still not where I feel I can wear these for hours at a time. I had to stretch out the head band just like I did on my PM-3. It helped a lot, but they still clamp a bit hard on me after half an hour or so. Also the padding is one area I suspect Drop saved some money. I’d love to find something that looks better on my desk too. Yes, looks matter to me. I’m unapologetic about that since it’s a serious consideration, yet has little to do with the performance, of most other stuff like automobiles. All of these things will definitely require a higher price tag if the sound quality is maintained.
Of course, I wouldn’t mind some improvements in sound either. 😬
