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Wow, just wow. TLDR right up front, these are fantastic headphones for the price. If you have any hesitation to buy them whatsoever, let me tell you that you won't be disappointed. Bass is a bit lower than some people would like, but hey they're open backs!
My pair arrived in their retail box, which was kind of surprising as the box wasn't even sealed. Thankfully the headphones were undamaged and they appear to be brand new, although I honestly wouldn't care if they were used since they look fine.
Included I was surprised to find a 1/4 inch (the big audio connector for amps and such) to 3.5mm adapter pre-installed on the unit. I was actually kind of worried that I accidentally purchased the wrong variant of these headphones, since the adapter looked like it was part of the cable. Thankfully my initial assumption was incorrect, and the adapter unscrewed revealing a 3.5 mm plug, although I must say the quality of this adapter is what fooled me. It's super nice and fits on the cable seamlessly!
The fabric the removable ear pads are made out of is kind of strange, it's almost like a felt material but it doesn't have the same shininess to it. Nevertheless it is very comfortable for the price, and in general comfort of these headphones is quite good. The self-adjusting headband and whatnot is a straight-up clone of the AKG K240s, which certainly isn't a bad thing in this case. Samson have done a fantastic job replicating the design of the K240s while also managing to keep costs low. The non-removable cable is a bit of a downside, but the included cable is very high quality and quite long. Seriously I've never seen gold-plated connectors that look and feel this good. As an Australian drummer once said "they're are symphony of plastic, but AvE has taught me that not all plastics are created equal". That statement is definitely true here, as the plastic that Samson has used for the SR850s is definitely on the higher quality side. The headband is fake leather and the supports that house the audio cable for the other driver are made of metal (maybe aluminum?).
Now, onto sound quality. Honestly when I had seen and heard all of the great reviews on these headphones I was expecting them to be quite amazing. Maybe it's not as dramatic as I expected, but these are my first pair of legitimately good budget headphones. The "sound stage" or 3D feel of the sound is definitely there, and while playing video games with gunfire or engines you can definitely feel the openness of the semi open back design. I particularly enjoy running around in Skyrim SE with them.
I will say the bass isn't crazy heavy, but looking at the frequency response graph for these headphones they're actually somewhat more bassy than more of the higher end true open back headphones. This is fine for me though, I do like base but I understand the concessions that had to be made for these headphones to have such good soundstage. That's always been the trade-off for open backs, less bass and also way less noise isolation. And on that note, yeah they definitely don't block anywhere near as much noise as a set of earmuffs would, but I actually like that since I need to be able to hear things while I'm using my computer or listening to music on my iPod. As always with audio, it's very subjective and you may find that these are the best headphones ever for you, or you may hate them because they're not crazy bassy like most everything else made nowadays. (Looking at you Beats and Raycons!) I can't really find any other descriptive words to describe the mids or highs, because I'm really just a novice when it comes to audio. Maybe just... they're great!
As far as durability goes I've only had them for a few days so I can't say much as to how I think they'll stand up over the long term. I will say that the non-removable cable is definitely once again a downside as far as durability goes, but if you're really invested in keeping your SR850s alive and you're handy with a soldering iron I see no reason why you couldn't add an aux connector connector. The headband and metal supports seem quite sturdy given the price, and I expect these to last for years to come. By then I'll likely have something better, but honestly if you're just into them for the looks, for content creators or streamers they look really cool and professional. I think if these things ever have some sort of catastrophic failure I'll either buy a new pair or attempt to fix these myself, as the design seems fairly simple.
The ear cups are removable and seem to be fairly modular. I'm sure there are several replacements on various websites, and if you're handy with sewing scissors and a needle and thread you could probably even make your own if you were so inclined. I think some gel ear pads would be super cool to try with these, although I don't know if these headphones have enough of a cult following for some manufacturer to take on that challenge.
Maybe if I'm feeling brave enough one day I will take apart the ear cup and speaker assembly to see how repairable they are from the inside, but for now I'm just happy to have a very good sounding set of headphones for my PC and iPod.
9/10, definitely five stars but a non-removable cable is probably the only downside. You'll know these aren't crazy bassy if you're in the market for open backs so that's not a downside in my opinion.
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Ships in product packaging This item has been tested to certify it can ship safely in its original box or bag to avoid unnecessary packaging. Since 2015, we have reduced the weight of outbound packaging per shipment by 41% on average, that’s over 2 million tons of packaging material.
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It’s fair
The headset do have a low quality feel , mainly plastic and light weight slim but strong headband. They don’t seem they will break any time , good build and look despite feel. Sound quality is not balance to my like, it seem they can distort with strong lows and high frequency at the same time , on its default mids & highs mite be to over power and don’t sound right when convine with the bass, but with EQ you can set it to: higher lows and below flat normal mids to eliminates the distortion and the bass can sounds much stronger, surprisingly the sound remains rich compare to other head sets when applying this EQ settings, the monopoly sounds sounds bright and bass becomes strong well balance with clear vocals remain, you can still spot the unconventional EQ settings levels at mids but EQ is the only way they will sound just right for me. Cable is find, touching the top head band produces a strong touch sound. Over all they can adapt and are good , cup ears do hold on place well and feel comfortable..
Top reviews from the United States
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Top reviews from other countries
Eberton Souza
Um ótimo fone de entrada
Reviewed in Brazil on May 26, 2024Style: Studio ReferenceVerified Purchase
Aadil Ahmad
Sound quality is very nice
Reviewed in Saudi Arabia on September 11, 2024Style: Studio ReferenceVerified Purchase
Alex
Great sound, but rubber connection torn + copper exposed after 6 months of careful use
Reviewed in Belgium on September 8, 2023Style: Studio ReferenceVerified Purchase
Alex
Reviewed in Belgium on September 8, 2023
+ Comfortable, lightweight
- Not durable. Connection to headphone worn through after 6 months, copper exposed. Expect headphones to fail soon.
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Marcel
Zit perfect
Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 25, 2023Style: Studio ReferenceVerified Purchase
Ake Thonberg
Mycket bra hörlurar
Reviewed in Sweden on August 24, 2022Style: Studio ReferenceVerified Purchase
