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A Serious Listen: Astell & Kearn: AK T1p headphones
These Astel & Kern AK T1p ($1199) cans are among the most beautiful, striking designs around; an artsy, pristine piece. Beautiful brushed metal, luxurious comfortable pads, lightweight, produced by a partnership between A&K and beyerdynamic. This is a worthy sight on anyone's head. Smaller in diameter than my reference Audeze LCD-X, but still circumaural. Each A&K phone is hand-made, individually serialized: I'm reviewing #335. It comes with balanced and…

Editors Note: About six months ago, Jon Iverson (Stereophile's DAC reviewer and web monkey extraordinaire) was in need of evaluating headphones for his home studio. I accumulated a box of what I thought were the best $200-$500 sealed headphones and sent them off. The box at that time did not contain the Oppo PM3. Jon's comments were similar to Bob's that follow here, though his pick of the litter was the NAD VISO HP50. One wonders what his response would have been if the PM3 was in the box?

I felt Jon's experience was…

Audio Technica ATHM50x
The first headphone I picked out of Tyll's box is an Audio Technica ATH M50x. Black in color, compact but still circumaural, it looks more like a utility headphone for a recording studio or carry round than something an audiophile would be attracted to. But good things come in small packages, and besides, I own three pairs of Sony MDR-V5/6 headphones which fold up like these and have served me well over the years.

The flat cord is annoyingly short.... about a yard long. I did find a lot of too-short cords in this bunch, as if the manufacturer is trying…

AKG K550 Reference Headphones
With the name "reference" I expect a lot! These are definitely more luxurious than my AKG 140s which I've had for years, and retail for $150 now. I once used the 140s as reference headphones in the studio but I haven't listened to mine for years because of their weaknesses, scooped out in the bottom and low mids and quite insensitive, with I think a 600 ohm impedance. We shall see how these 550 "reference" phones fare.

Lightweight, large circumaural pads, much more comfortable earpad than the AT cans, I give the pads a B rating. They come with a…

NAD VISO HP50
What's with the short cords? This one is about 30 inches... ouch. Probably good for your mobile phone and that's about it. These phones have a style to them and a rectangular pad that doesn't fit around my round ears but rather on top of them, so there is not a good seal or comfort. They just don't sit very well on my ears. What's with that? Maybe Spock will love them in the year 2205. I have to give the comfort a C minus grade. Ultimately you look at these and say, "stylish but cheap looking: I have better taste." OK, I love NAD electronics so let's give these cans a…

Focal Spirit Professional
Boy, headphone makers are having a ball: Everyone is trying to make them stylish and special. They are a bit rattly off the head but don't make any rattling noise on my head. Ear pads are a bit stiff, I give them a C grade.

Listening note: Body Blues, Daddy's Cash from the Body Blues album. BK 2496 master. This is an exciting, high energy jazz group with horns and a swinging vocalist in the classic rock/blues genre.

These are about 3-4 dB more sensitive than the Audeze. Colored...High frequency boost above 8 kHz. Bass is thin. Boxey, not…

AudioTechnica ATH-MSR7
Approximately 1 meter long straight cord terminating in 1/8" right angle TRS. Mini TRS also at the body end. The phones swivel very easily about 90 degrees. I wish it were a bit stiffer as it gives the impression of flimsiness. The earpad is moderately comfortable, a C+ to B- rating. But not great for extreme longterm listening, as this rating would indicate.

Listening note: The Fillmore, Daddy's Cash, BK master 2496.

Sensitivity is perhaps a dB more than the Audeze, but likely because of a fairly strong presence boost above 1.5 kHz. Bass is…

Shure SRH1540
About a meter and half long cord terminating in a 1/8" TRS with the Sennheiser/Sony/AKG type screw adapter but missing the 1/4" adapter. Tyll, look in your parts drawer. I like these screw adapters because effectively they create a captive 1/4" plug. Don't forget to use Stabilant 22 on all contacts to enhance reliability.

Cables are in a "Y" configuration with one coming off each ear. It's hard to know which ear is which channel due to a difficult-to-read black-on-black label embossed on the can. But you can always stick a bit of masking tape on one ear to know…

Bowers and Wilkins P7
The name is a great pedigree, but why make a(nother) small rectangular pad that feels uncomfortable on the ears? What is the point of this??? The captive cord is about a yard long coming off the left ear terminating in a 1/8" TRS attached to my 1/4" adapter. As I said, we need a comfortable cord length, at least a meter and half to handle a phone deep in the pocket or stretching to the home amplifier socket. Please, manufacturers!

Listening note: Fee Da Da Dee. Guggenheim Grotto from the album Happy The Man. BK master, 2496. This is a very entertaining…

Sennheiser Momentum
Captive cord, about 1 meter long, terminating in 1/8" four-circuit TRS from the left ear. I assume the four circuit plug is for mobile phone control, but I can't find the switch, must be there somewhere. It works into a TRS 1/4" adapter so no worries. Circumaural pads are not very soft, about a B- grade for longterm comfort. Let's see what grade these Sennheisers are going to earn.

Listening note: Lonely Heart of Mine. Leah Larson, my master, 2496, from her beautiful bluegrass album Long Journey. Very well recorded acoustic bluegrass album made by the…