Status Audio Headphones?

I would be glad sending them to you @Hands, but the problem is that I'm in EU. However if you see something that I can do, do not hesitate mentioning it. I was thinking sending them to @sorrodje after the listening session.

 

@Hands that sounds wiser. I am goign to receive them next week, I guess I may provide a short review 1-2 weeks after. I take the time to "live" with a new headphones, you know just seeing how good we can live together, if it doesn't piss on the toilet sit, things like that...

 

Some stuff about me if you want to know my tastes, setup and so on, if you don’t care, just jump to the next section :
So here we go. It started sometime ago now and I wanted to provided a review but something which contains a little more content than those famous « I just got it, it’s new, it’s awesome » review. Therefore I waited to live with these headphones, yes THESE, we are going to see in the next part why I refer to several headphones. So we are speaking about a three weeks testing, here is the setup :

· DAC : Fostex HPA4

· Amplifier : Lake People G109

· Source : miscellaneous (youtube, CD, FLAC files, my poor ASUS smartphone which is playing FLAC though)

· Music played : Metal (big fan of Meshuggah here), Pop (big fan of Katy Perry here), some electro

So everything started with this thread because I am a hardcore cheap headphones tester. Like, the guy who is currently writing this text won’t hesitate recommending our Superlux’s friends HD681 or mister Kosta Porta Pro. I start being a little bit crispy when we speak about the ATH M50 (because ya know, it is priceeeeey) but I won’t blame it because it helped me a lot settle some good basics.

I got to mention before going through, mister HD650 is always on the table to compare and I don’t spit on LCD2 or the Utopia/Elear at all, I tried them, I find them tasty whereas MrSpeakers are too much on the bassy side to me. My idea so far is that you should be able to find budget headphones which bring you to another horizon and I think I found one of them with Status Audio.

Side note before starting :
Due to a mistake of Amazon I received first the CB1 instead of the OB1. But I really wanted to try their open-back version. However, you know, the box of the CB1 was there, I looked at it, I tried to judged whether I should go for it or not and then it didn’t took me long before grabbing a pair of scissors and opening the box. I ordered the OB1 few days after because I decided to compare the CB1 and OB1. This review presents consequently both headphones.

Packaging, comfort, design, material stuff and blablabla :
Packaging material and stuff : minimal, that’s one of the thing that Status Audio claims, they have a minimal packaging such that you pay more for headphones than anything else. I’m okay with that. Some people don’t warn you, the packaging of my AKG550 was also rather “minimal” which I didn’t expected for such headphones. You get a pair of adapters, some nice cables; the 3.5mm jack’s connector is rather solid to my eyes.

The OB1 has no detachable cables : that sucks

The CB1 has detachable cables : well the opposite of what I wrote in the sentence before. We can debate about what it should be but please, in PM.

Comfort : I find both headphones comfy. They don’t bring the same thing due to their type (open-back has less isolation for instance) but I got to say that pads are really good. You get pleather for the CB1 and the same pads as the HD650 unmodded. Size adjustment and clamping force are okay for me, just nothing special, they do the job for my head, I’m really happy about it.

Note : I find the sealing of the CB1 rather good and due to the bass’s loss when it is not correctly sealed, you notice quickly that you need to readjust a bit. If you don’t move while listening, I hardly see how you can mess on that point.

Design : Well they are not extraordinary, but dude, for this price, don’t ask more. They are comfy, they look a bit bulky (see pictures) but still the color choice make them nice (NOICE)! Nothing much to say about it.

So now let’s get into it : the sound :
Alright, I start with the CB1 because I received it first :
For me it sounds like a U-V shape headphones but very well done. And still, we could argue on that point because mids are also rather good. I find lows detailed and a little bit too high (I’ll try to equalize them later) but they are surprisingly good to me. When they come into the game you get the whole thing and the extension is pretty good for me. You won’t get the tightness of a planar but, man, it’s not bad at all either. Lows have also this sort of “independent” behavior which is not bad to me but sometimes it makes me feel some discontinuities in the music.

Mids are a bit recessed to my ears (warning, I am really sensitive on that point so don’t pay too much attention if you are not as sensitive as me). Like, I didn’t hear the best voice ever with these, but they are way not bad.

Trebles are very good to me, I got details that I wanted. I hear my cymbals how I want them to be, the complement on the voice is nicely done, no really, trebles are good to me.

That is rather succinct but now we go on with the OB1 :
So here we lost bass details, they are muddier and a bit of this blanket’s cover sounds too. A part of upper mids or trebles is missing, I cannot really tell which one honestly, I need to focus more on that point.

But buddy, what do we gain in all of that ? Well you have open-back headphones so you won in spatialization and this little bit of comfort that brings almost all open-back headphones. My feeling is that voices sound a little bit more present also because lows are slightly recessed. Lows are, although muddier, a little bit more coherent with the music.

In the end :
Well, I prefer way more the CB1 although I really wanted to try the OB1 and expected it to sounds better. But in the end I do prefer mister closed-back good frequency response, namely the CB1.

Note : I will add that the OB1 has a good modding potential I think.

OB1 :






CB1 :

 

Okay so I wanted to go back a little bit on the CB1. I actually really like the mid/treble representation of these headphones. They are enjoyable although a little bit recessed compared to the lows. Lows are still a bit weird to me. They are high, for sure, I would say a bump a few dBs but to be honest I am having a hard time catching exactly where is in the frequency plot. If you don't mind a funky low response these headphones are serious contender.

 

I'd like to bump a bit this thread because I gave another try to the CB1 and this buddy is a serious guy. In between I discovered these two threads and I think the CB1 could have a place in here :
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...tar-cheap-headphone-comparo-extravaganza.179/
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/sbafs-super-cheapo-headphone-comparison.1713/