Superlux HD 681 Dynamic SemiOpen Headphones Black By Red Ape BDZ Mall

Premium Quality Sound Professional Headphones for Professional Application

The HD681 headphones feature a semi-open design intended for use in professional monitoring applications. These headphones feature premium quality audio components. The HD681 professional headphones are an excellent choice for a wide range of audio listening tasks, including recording studio monitors, headphones for MP3 players or video games, computer/digital audio or any pro audio application.

Extreme Sound - Extreme Comfort

The self-adjusting headband provides the listener with a great fit and these durable headphones can even be twisted for use in single ear monitoring. The HD681 professional headphones are lightweight and enable long sessions without experiencing ear fatigue.

Design

The headphones are surprisingly well-built for the small amount of money paid, with a sturdy plastic frame and vinyl earcups that encircle your ears comfortably. The only issue is that these headphones can only be described as "terrifyingly ugly." They look like a sewing machine accident. Too many red knobs and strange mechanical gears. These are the steampunk soundtrack to an afternoon of stitching together a sweater. Full Gallery Further reinforcing the "Dear God, stay at home!" aesthetic is the long 8-foot cable, which should snake across most living rooms to your stereo.While you probably won't need it, the headphones also include a vinyl bag for transporting them -- presumably from room to room.View Full GalleryBut what are these headphones for? The faint lettering on the bottom gives a clue: "Professional Monitor." These are for critical listening applications and so have a forward presentation that is designed to pick out details or flaws in music. However, note that the headphones are semi-open and so may cause sound leakage issues in a home monitoring/recording situation.If sound quality and appearances matter to you then you might be interested in this pair's just-announced relative, the HD681 EVO headphones. Unlike the vanilla HD681 model, the EVOs look like a professional piece of equipment and supposedly have a flatter response. Like the HD681s they are semi-open, though.Sarah Tew/CNETPerformance

The Superlux HD681 headphones may look like they cost $30, but they certainly don't sound like it. These are truly "monitor" headphones in that they are designed to expose details in the music, and hence can be ruthless with poorly recorded music. There is a definite boost in the upper-mids that adds a breathiness to vocals and accentuates high-frequency instruments like cymbals. While this can make music sound more exciting, the downside is this can make some music too bright and even uncomfortable to listen to."My Number" by British band Foals sounded overly compressed and splashy despite this actually being quite a punchy recording. In comparison, the Grado SR60i headphones sounded more natural, with less emphasis on the mushy hi-hat cymbals.

Likewise midrange is tight and to the point. Compared with the similarly priced JVC HA-RX700headphones, the Superlux HD681s are a revelation: the JVCs are distant-sounding and made the snare drum of Future of the Left's "Plague of Onces" seem like it was coming out of a cardboard tube. The Superluxes are able to convey the -- frankly insane -- song in a much more natural and enticing way.Despite the hyped upper register, the headphones are balanced elsewhere with a controlled bass response that isn't hyped like some of the other sub-$100 headphones out there. If you like anything with deep bass, dubstep for example, then these headphones will keep the music from closing in upon itself.Conclusion

At $30 there isn't much to compare to the Superlux HD681: these are open-sounding, detailed headphones that are much more balanced than the equivalent JVC HA-RX700s. The issue is that they are not very dynamic and the treble can overwhelm the rest of the spectrum. If you spend a little more you can get a simply great set of headphones in the Sony MDR-V6 Studio Monitor Series, but they are much less comfortable.Are the HD681 headphones a hi-fi bargain? Not quite, and their capacity for modification sounds like bloody-mindedness on behalf of the owner rather than a real benefit. They sound great for the money if you only have RM100 -- they could be a "gateway drug" into the world of hi-fi.
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