Super crisp highs with quality mids and lows. These weren’t necessarily built like the bass boomers that all the young whippersnappers love these days, but they are surprisingly boomy if you like it like that. They fit well on my large head and are snug around the ears. Plus they’re electrostatic. Not 100% sure what that means, but it sounds cool and fancy. Overall, this pair of headphones really highlights all of the nuance and musicality of “Old Town Road” by Composer/Poet Lil Nas X.
Note: Verisonix holds patents using electrostatic drivers in headphones without a booster amplifier. Mitchell and Johnson, aware of these patents, placed orders with Verisonix for one version (model N501). They didn’t buy all of the quantities offered and now appear to be in the process of ceasing operations. Today’s headphones feature the same electrostatic design, just without the Mitchell and Johnson branding.
Deals like this make me wonder if Meh’s “friend” mrstereohead puts them up for sale on Amazon at whatever price they want and then voila! At 90% off, how can you afford not to buy these??!
I’m actually in for a pair. Electrostatic 'phones tend to start in the mid $300s, and go up from there (up to about $4k…). I have a kid in college who may someday decide he’s ready to have a pair of “grown-up” headphones. It’s a $50 investment today, for a $300+ “value” gift later. And when he inevitably loses or destroys them, I only have to deal with $50 worth of grief, but I get $300+ worth of guilt in return.
I am deeply, deeply suspect of these. They are probably crap, and probably unreliable crap at that. The marketing speak is overwhelmingly strong, and I might get my head electrocuted.
But it’s 50$, and even if only the tweeter is electrostat, I must know if it is garbage.
If I remember, I’ll compare them to the set of planars on my desk.
@aarond12 I absolutely am, because they both make sound. (And the planars were purchased used, as last years model for 120$, so it isn’t as ludicrous as you may be indicating.) MSRP: 400 vs 450, Purchased at: 120 vs 50.
It’s petty but I’m not a huge fan of the lettering on the headband. I like the double headband on the round one but it seems highly impractical. But I also don’t have a use case for these… I just buy every over-ear headset Meh sells…
@caffeine_dude I thought the square ones looked too heavy, but I went with them because I think I’ll hurt myself on the exposed metal headpiece on the round ones. And I do like cool logo on top of the square ones.
Hmm. Welp I just asked meh support to switch my order to the other one but considering how these are selling, that might not happen. I did read an uninspiring review of the round ones that complained about them being only semi-closed, for what it’s worth.
@dcm714 I couldn’t decide either. Got the big ear thing goin on as well. So I didn’t decide and got both. Worse case scenario I hate one style and gift a pair.
@hchavers They are closed back/sealed which one would hope means they block external noise passively. The challenge is to make sealed cans that produce high quality sound. I have some Denon AHD-600 that do a decent job.
Note: Verisonix holds patents using electrostatic drivers in headphones without a booster amplifier. Mitchell and Johnson, aware of these patents, placed orders with Verisonix for one version (model N501). They didn’t buy all of the quantities offered and now appear to be in the process of ceasing operations. Today’s headphones feature the same electrostatic design, just without the Mitchell and Johnson branding.
Well, I have to get one. If nothing else, they’ll look cool hanging on the wall behind my turntable. And they might even be good headphones…
/giphy nominal-classy-lilac
“Frequency Range: 6 - 50,000Hz” Humans can only hear up to 20KHz, and CDs only go that far, so maybe my dog should wear these? What is the source anybody is going to listen to test the upper range?
/giphy respectful-sizable-octopus
@Kyser_Soze That is a common misconception and what led to the unfortunate “standard” for CD-quality actually being quite sucky. Of course that was established about 35 years ago. The truth is that you can pick up information from audio which may have components >20KHz, for example the plucking of a guitar string or the high harmonics in a female vocal. When you have to filter out everything above 20kHz, as CDs do, you lose that essential component which can create a more “real” feeling. Of course now “kids these days” listen to compressed audio on their phones and watch TV on 5" screens, and think it’s great, so what do I know?
@pmarin I’m in my 60s and a few years ago my kids had a sound on their phone that older folks like me couldn’t hear, they’d play it and laugh. All my music I’d listen to using these is ripped from CD to FLAC, but it might not matter for me, still, only $50.
@Kyser_Soze Harmonics. Although I can only hear up to about 17kHz anymore (getting old sucks), that means I can potentially hear harmonics up to 34kHz in music. Of course I would need some really good 96/24 audio sources for that. (Yeah, I have some.)
/giphy pervasive-taut-floor
I already have too many headphones but figure these are worth a try, and if I don’t want to keep them I’ll eventually find someone else that wants them.
If this is the same as the Mitchell and Johnson headphones, this deal is insanely good. I’ve got the MJ2 and thought it was a bargain at $300 when I bought. It’s got two drivers in each earpiece. Low and mids are handled by a dynamic driver. Highs are handled by the “electrostatic” driver, although electret might be more accurate. Unlike true electrostatic cans, it doesn’t require a dedicated electrostatic amp with dedicated high voltage bias charge. It claims to use a series of transformers to generate a bias charge. You don’t get the crazy detail of the big electrostatic cans, but you don’t have the $1K on up price tag either.
I have some electrostatic home speakers that cost me $2K about 30 years ago. I still have them and they work fine, except that several generations of cats have used them as 7-foot-tall scratching posts and one tried to climb them.
The sound was best from exactly one spot in the room, but if you sat there and didn’t move, it was amazing…
This is likely the only time I’ll ever buy pricey headphones. The reviews I read make me hope my poor high-school-punk-band hearing may actually hear some detail for once
@DarthValiant Sorry dude, but $50 for a pair of good quality headphones doesn’t qualify as pricey. You want pricey, check out a pair of Stax or the Sennheiser HD-800s.
@RedOak@swechsler Yup. My headphone budget lies in the “cheap ear buds and $20 closeout AKG’s” range. My personal fidelity is not high enough to enjoy other options for the money. Audiophiles would not be OK with my internal soundscape.
@DarthValiant@RedOak@swechsler I’ve had to throw out “cheap” headphones from meh as they seem to be made from cheap plastic and end up breaking to pieces. I hope these will fare better.
I’m seeing reviews as old as 2016. If “Mitchell and Johnson … didn’t buy all of the quantities offered,” is it because of Brexit or because these ended up being a total gimic? M&J have had SINCE 2016 to buy them up.
@shrike1201 If the credit card on your account expired then your VMP would’ve gone with it. If that’s what happened, contact support and they might be able to restore it for you.
If you canceled your VMP, you are likely out of luck.
@lljk thanks for the tidbit of info. Seems my billing zip code is what changed. Shot an email off to support. Hopefully, this can be rectified, and as a result, I missed out on the squares trying to resolve my VMP issue.
Nothing on Meh has ever piqued my interest to the point of buying. I literally googled a bunch of the details, cause I thought this was surely too good to be true. Super-advanced $400-$500 headphones for $50? If it got five stars at that price, I had to impulse buy a pair. Honestly super excited for them to arrive!
Wow, these are really selling quickly - 642 so far and rising. Everything points to these being a pretty good deal so …
/giphy navigable-splendid-brick
(To me, the Beoplay H6 has a very similar but more refined version of the ATH-M50x’s sound — and is also way more comfortable. I expect I’ll spend more time adjusting to the sound of these, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be tolerable for hours of uninterrupted listening.)
My Audio Technica ATH-M50x have started to wear out after nearly a decade of daily use. I was thinking about buying a new pair but the research I did said this was a decent gamble and possibly a really good deal so I got them. We’ll See.
But but a quarter inch jack wouldn’t plug into my phone if my phone had a jack. How are people going to know about my cool ass headphones if I can’t walk around with them???
@Doodpants@neveraging I think they are 3.5 mm but come with a 3.5 mm to 1/4" adapter.
“1x Aux Cable with 1/4” Adapter Jack"
But I don’t get why the 3.5 mm STEREO plug goes into each ear cup, then merges the 2 sides into the normal stereo plug. Why would it be a 2 channel to each cup, then merge the 4 channels into the 2.
I’m making no sense. Look at the 7th picture, and explain why the 3.5 mm plugs at the headphone side of the Y-cable are stereo, in you please. (You = anyone.)
@JJfezz you plug it into your amp and turn it up to 11 man!
but seriously it is an adapter, so you only use it when connecting to a system with a 1/4 plug, some amp systems have them but just don’t use the adapter and it should connect.
@Trinityscrew “Bright Side” explained by Paul McGowan…
“Listening to a bright system implies an aggressive uneven balance of sound: skewed towards the upper registers at the expense of the mids and lower regions—glaring. And, glare is something to be avoided.”
@fastharrydotcom While wireless is nice, it’s not always a necessity. I’m still rocking a wired keyboard and mouse because they remain stationary on my desk.
Plus hours upon hours of playback doesn’t mean you have to charge or swap headphones due to a battery dying.
@fastharrydotcom You can buy a mini Bluetooth receiver (that’s smaller than the size of your thumb) for less than $10. Plug that into the end of these headphones & they’re now Bluetooth headphones.
@fastharrydotcom Because wired is better in almost every way: quality, price, compatibility, durability, no fiddling with chargers / getting interrupted by batteries dying…
@f00l@fastharrydotcom I set an alarm to remind me to check in at 4 PM to try to get a pair, but in my morning pre-coffee grogginess, I set it for AM. No good deal on headphones for me!
@omiclix Heh. Back in 2000, the company I was working for had their support server crash. As I was working on it, I ran the site from my iBook. We started getting compliments about how much faster the support site was.
About a 100 “Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.” on multiple devices later, and the square style selling out in the meantime, I managed the round version. But do I want the round ones? I don’t know.
I slept on this after seeing the offer at 1 AM. Got caught up in the deal paused/computer server failure hype. Now the “proud” owner of a pair. What is the worse that can happen? Looks like I got in just before the dreaded SOLD OUT - YOUMISSED IT message.
Too many reviews of one side not working to commit to purchasing unfortunately. I wanted to be into it, but my discipline seems to be strong this morning lol. SOLD OUT while I was typing lol, I do hope these work out as a lot of folks purchased them!
Headphone Guru sez: “…there were still flaws with the production. Verisonix has been successful so far in how they implemented the drivers but cons do exist. I found the vocals to be clear but feltt they were on the bright side. Lastly, the fairly bright signature can get fatiguing to the ears after an extended listening session. The extension of the range into the highs produces sharp effects at times and while beneficial when listening to classical music, does increase fatigue on the user. In the end, these issues are present on the majority of headphones in this price range and are not unique to the N501. Overall, the Verisonix N501 is an able-bodied studio headphone that combines the dynamic and electrostatic technologies to deliver an outstanding product. The N501 is solid headphone and has excellent sound. There are many headphones available in this price range but the quality of the materials used and innovative technology should make this a sure buy for the forward thinking audiophile!”
@kyarou@vandemusser Maybe people have different expectations when they pay $400. There were some complaints about headphones that came not working properly but that should be covered under the warranty. But, yeah, there were a lot of unhappy campers.
Note: Verisonix holds patents using electrostatic drivers in headphones without a booster amplifier. Mitchell and Johnson, aware of these patents, placed orders with Verisonix for one version (model N501). They didn’t buy all of the quantities offered and now appear to be in the process of ceasing operations. Today’s headphones feature the same electrostatic design, just without the Mitchell and Johnson branding.
@kyarou@vandemusser That’s the same headphone (Mitchell & Johnson were the supposed purchasers that backed out) But it looks like those reviews are split among models with the MJ2 (same as the square version) being consistently good (or value focused which is blown out by the $50), and the others being, on the whole, bad.
So many alarm bells… more and more the deeper you dig.
Probably worth 50 bucks, though… probably.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’ll be really interested to hear what those of you who bought them think of them. Good luck!
I got the email at 5:36am my time and tried to purchase by 5:45am… and sold out. What a shame as this was the second thing in maybe three months that tickled my fancy
Fwiw - I did an ebay search for sold items and they sell for anywhere from $75 to $150 - several listed for lots more but not sold. (btw I bought a pair - seems like a decent deal to me)
@arfdawg@ilovereality@sammydog01 Yeah, I dithered around a bit last night. I finally decided my 50 bucks would be better spent on a heavy-duty Origami rack.
@therealjrn Middle of the night, I laughed out loud when I saw that order number. I guess because I had coleslaw for supper, or maybe just because i was still half asleep.
Man, got up this morning saw the deal, wanted till 8am, clicked buy exactly at 8 and still didn’t make it. I really wanted nice head phones. I guess I’ll get the next set of silly socks instead.
I’m looking for a pair of Studio headphones that have a “flat” frequency response across the range of hearing of 20-20,000hz. Anyone know if these fit that bill?
“Busy processing other orders” for 3 full minutes, then sold out. Great. Fix your site Meh. I feel like a Slightly Meh Person instead of a Very Meh Person.
@rework Seems like that’s kinda the message they send to VMPers… with a lot of trial and error this morning I got one buy no thanks to VMP, but I wanted square ones and was hoping they saved VMPs some of those… nope. Well… Meh.
Started an order at 1 second past 4PM, and it said processing “lots of orders, try again later” so I kept trying over and over for a few minutes and then sold out. Sucks because I had to have been one of the first to start the order.
Well this has been frustrating. Last night as I was reading the comments the deal was put on pause. I skipped setting an alarm for 5:00 AM PT so I missed the morning sale. This afternoon when I ordered on the dot of 1:00 PM PT I got the selling fast message followed by sold out. Bummer.
Signed on at 3:50 at 4:00 to 4:04 keep saying deal paused, never went to BUY. Then went to SOLD OUT, what’s up? I was signed in and have a VMP account.
Thanks, all you kids, for making me feel ancient.
“Why aren’t they wireless?”
“What, no microphone?”
“Are they bluetooth?”
“Never heard of a 1/4” jack."
Welcome to the end of high fidelity as we know it…
I passed based on the 2.5/5 stars reviews on Amazon for shoddy quality and craftsmanship. I’m okay I didn’t pay $50 for disposable, mid end, headphones.
@ecanada don’t you think review expectations might be different when paying $450 for headphones? no idea if they are crap, got a pair will report back if I keep em.
@thismyusername if I paid $450 for headphones and the finish peeled after 2 months I’d be livid. If I paid $50 and peel finished i’d be displeased. I wouldn’t be happy nor angry. I’d be… Meh.
Based on the quality reviews from Amazon, they are way overpriced at $450.
@ecanada@thismyusername Ah, but there’s the rub. Seems most folks here just clicked over to Amazon for reviews. If I want to research $500 cans, I’m going to want to hear from some audiophiles…
@ecanada@thismyusername Mostly thumbs up, and that’s in the $350 - 500 category. Any complaints were about the trebly (?) highs, but that’s just the nature of the beast. I viewed this as an opportunity to own a technology I would’ve otherwise had to pass on, price-wise.
@ecanada@MrJazz@thismyusername Ordered 1 of each version for the same reason. I got the n501 today, and the highs sound fine to me. Then again, I liked the highs on headphones like k701, HD800, and others that got complaints for piercing highs as well. I can actually see how they tried to sell these for a few hundred bucks for their sound quality. However, the build quality on these would never be passable at more than $100. Probably among the worse fitting/feeling headphones I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned a lot.
@ecanada@hypersonixz@thismyusername Fairly amazed you got them already. Yes, a couple of reviewers mentioned they’d be more comfy if they swiveled. Didn’t see anything about the build quality, though… thank God they were only fifty bucks. Hope mine ship soon!
@ecanada@hypersonixz@MrJazz@thismyusername I have some non-swiveling headphones and I was able to adjust fit by gently twisting the metal below the head strap. It would be a bummer to break them though.
Why do I know that a group of bottom feeders who frequent here will show up on ebay trying to sell a butt-load of these headphones? Seems like that’s the way any decent deal rolls on here. It’s their profession. Half hoping they get burned. Only half mind you.
My order page never got past ‘processing’, but I got 1 of them in the mail today (the N501), and have to say I’m impressed on multiple fronts. The sound quality is better than expected, even without burn in. Meanwhile, the build quality is far worse than expected, even considering $49 price tag.
Had to wiggle the cord in the jack just to get the electrostatic driver in the right side to produce sound. The wood cups look nice, the rest of it looks cheap. Pads are uncomfortable. Headband fits me on the smallest size, when every other headphone I wear I used something towards the mid-larger size.
Not sure how much I’ll be using these due to comfort, but I’m glad i tried them. Maybe the N500 will fit better when I receive them. Either way I’ll probably end up just using my Monoprice m1060 for comfort.
Got them today, the right side volume is like 10% of the left side. No amount of wiggling helped (so far). The left side sounds awesome to my 58 year old ears though. Hopefully Meh has some left and can replace them
@Stumpy91 Meh’s given me a refund, so now I’ll never know how they sound. Maybe I’ll try to take apart the right earpiece and see if there’s a bad solder joint or something
@densa I tried all sorts of combinations, even using an entirely different cable to drive the right earpiece alone, but no luck. They’re using a y-split stereo cable to deliver the same signal to both sides and just picking off the appropriate channel with the interior plug wiring in each cup, so maybe there’s a poor connection in the right side
@blueyed510 This is exactly my issue. Switching the wires between the two doesn’t help. Stereo stuff that has sound panned to the right is there but sound in both ears is lower on the right side.
@Stumpy91 I got the right earpiece apart, there’s a full stereo jack in the earpiece with only the right connector wired to the speaker, so it doesn’t matter how you connect the cable that comes with it, you’ll still get the right channel from the right earpiece.
I measured the resistance through the connector and between the connector and the driver electronics board, and it’s fine, the connection is good.
The measured resistance of the headphones matches the box spec at 32 ohms, and there’s nothing I can see that’s bad, so it’s a fault in the driver or electronics. The soldering on the circuit board is too small for me to work on, so I’m done with repair efforts.
Got mine today also, the N500 (roundish) and they work fine, and although they are very bright sounding (nothing a little equalizing can’t fix) the detail and separation is pretty astounding for a lower priced headphone. I ran them through various tracks of music I know well and actually heard a few new things in the background mix I had missed before.
I found they fit very comfortably - I have a slightly large head (7 5/8 hat size) but the inner tension band helps hold them well but not to tight.
I like that the cord plugs in separately to the earpieces - this means they’ll be useful for connecting directly to mixer outputs.
I was also pleasantly surprised they came as quickly as they did, via UPS no less, and in a proper new box with the tape applied correctly. Way to go, Meh shipping!
@stolicat My N501s shipped yesterday from California so I’m not sure Meh shipping had anything to do with the packaging. I’m sure they appreciate the shout-out anyway.
@Stumpy91 Hmm, you’re right . Even though the label shows it coming from Texas, tracking history shows them shipping out of Ontario, CA, which is down by LA. Well, however that worked, I hope they can do that more often. Better than stuffing things in the white mailers which the delivery people take naps on or those used boxes that look like they were used for soccer practice
Received N500 today. WOW! I used to be happy with my Polk loudspeakers but now they sound distant and flat. I don’t feel it’s the $8.00 bottle of wine selling for $100.00 effect. All I can say is THANK YOU Meh.
The ETA for my headphones (the square one) if tomorrow.
Funny thing, they’ll be replacing (maybe) the blue Monster Headphones I got in a Fuku long ago. Those sound fairly good to my old concert-burned-out ears. My ears are still ringing after that Deep Purple concert.
@daveinwarsh My ears are pretty wracked also from a lifetime of concerts and doing sound work, and I know I’ve lost some high-end perception and I have tinnitis and I was pretty surprised what an noticeable improvement in clarity and detail these provided. If the square ones are the same as the round ones, you’ll like them.
Mine (square) are truly awful. I am a snob, for the record.
Testing notes: Driving a mix of music and test signals from a dedicated DAC and headphone amp. Nothing premium. (JDS OL DAC + O2)
Build quality: Poor to acceptable. Gaps are uneven and different from side to side. These will be easy to bend if careless. Band adjuster is somehow too stiff and too loose - I think it’s that the resistance is the same as the detents, so it never feels like it engages.
Comfort: A bit heavy, but acceptable.
Freq Response: Poor bass extension - almost nothing below 40Hz. Bass and mids are way below the level of the treble.
Channel balance: Laughably bad - a mono signal sweep will sound like it’s moving left and right as the frequency goes up.
Lawnmower: ‘Something’ went wrong in my pair causing a very nasty ‘card in bicycle spokes’ sound, which was the dynamic driver clipping against mechanical limits. Caused my ear to ring on that side. That’s right! Hearing damage is included on the feature list.
The hum: ‘Something’ went wrong in their crossover, also - playing a bass sweep there’s a very strange ringing that gets excited - like a faint 900hz (ish) sound on top of the bass signal. Some sort of crazy IMD?
Music - Classical: Instruments don’t sound like instruments - because of the frequency notch, violin can range from hard to hear to hard to listen to - high harmonics come through VERY well, but the fundamental does not.
Music - Metal/Rock: Lack of bass and mids makes it very unpleasant.
Overall: 2/10 - There are many wonderful headphones at many price points for many purposes. These are just not good.
For my 54$ I would recommend:
The 17$ monoprice closed back headphones, and some more music to listen to.
OR, Monoprice HR-5C, if you must.
I like monoprice for headphones, as they punch way above their weight.
OR, if you like research and due dilligence, there’s amazing stuff to be had used, but that’s it’s own thing.
Good luck all! Hope you all like yours more than I liked mine!
@kizen99 sounds like your pair is defective, I’d send them back for a refund! QC on these seems to be spotty, which is unfortunate. I must have lucked out, fit and finish on mine isn’t too bad, I went with the N500’s. SQ wise - they’re not bad! Honestly, for the price point I’m pretty impressed! I’m used to balanced speakers etc. So the brighter treble doesn’t bother me (though I don’t mind darker ones either… The Meze 99 classics are usually my daily)
I got my N501’s today, one of the speakers is definitely missing something on the bass. I put it through this test , as well as using it as a monitor for my guitar amp. I’m guessing one of the two drivers in that can is broken.
Even in the working can, the bass is just not there for a lot of the range in that youtube demo. I will say, the music in sounds great on them.
It’s frustrating because the other can sounds great. I’m not sure it has as much range as another pair I got off Amazon years back, the JLabs Bombora: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M0FFXDW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1, but it’s clear. There’s a certain crispness to it that I don’t think the Bombora can match, but the bass resonance for the Bombora is one of the best I’ve heard.
Also, the N501’s are immediately extremely comfortable for me. They’re lighter than I’m used to, and somehow even the lack of swivel isn’t a deterrent. They may be the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever used.
If I can get the driver issue fixed, this might become a staple/favorite, just for the comfort and crispness, even if they can’t hit the bass.
@FSSZilla Crap, I put the Bombora back on and put it through the music test, and even though it’s not quite as “sweet”, I think they outperform the N501.
Since I’m apparently going HAM on these, for example, with the Bombosa, on the Stepped Sine Wave check, from the start, I can hear something, even if it’s a rumbly distorted low-frequency mess. 5 steps in, it’s absolutely audible.
With the N501, the left speaker takes 12 steps be any kind of audible, and it’s extremely quiet.
On the right, 6 steps in and it’s audible.
All cans across all headphones refuse to play the last three steps.
@InnocuousFarmer I didn’t “record” it with any kind of measuring device, if that’s what you mean, I just did experiments with my ear. I don’t think that invalidates anything though, if that’s what you’re getting at.
@FSSZilla In the beginning of that first video, left is pitched a lot lower than right – “a lot” as in I noticed on my iPhone and I’m not that critical a listener. I assumed it was the results of a test, not the test itself.
That whitish noise starting at about 4 seconds in.
I’m getting the same thing from the other places in the video.
@FSSZilla I’m having the same problem with my 501’s that you are describing. The left headphone sounds like its less than half the volume of the right headphone, and the left headphone also sounds like it is going through a low-pass-filter (as in the bass and low mids are absent). Does this mean the driver is broken? How would it get fixed?
@aoeu most engineer-types I’ve talked to have suspected a bad solder in the left cup. A friend of mine is willing to take a look at it, though I’m not sure how operable these are. It will depend on the problem, but if it’s just a bad solder, then resoldering would fix it. If it’s the actual driver that’s damaged, you don’t have much recourse.
I grabbed both, but only have the N500 (rounds) so far. I have to agree about the stock low end being to weak. I have a collection of headphones and run them through a an Ultra Curve Pro DEQ so I can create digital EQ profiles for each of them. After setting up a profile I have to say these are pretty crazy. I mean it requires some serious boosting 20-70hz (nearly +15 on 20-40hz) and some cutting in the mid range, but man… these are a great value for the quality of sound produced at the meh price! I didn’t need to touch the mid to high end much as they are clean and crisp.
The clean punch they produce in the 30hz range (when boosted) reminds me of my Sony MDRZ7’s which have a 70mm driver. Obviously not as clean, but man for a little 40mm woofer it is working it’s butt off. That being said… without the EQ profile… yikes these are dry.
tl;dr Running through an EQ to boost the lows and cut the mids these are an amazing value. Without… yikes.
@batlin211
Is their anyway for someone to boost these headphones in the same or similar way you did but without the equipment? Also how much of what you were saying with the mids and lows comes to opinion and pretty much verifiable fact?
@JakobRamey I think it is all opinion. What sounds good to one person may sound like crap to another. I have 15 or so sets of headphones that I play around with. I think the ability of the 40mm woofer in these has a lot of potential since it has the electrostatic setup for the mid-highs unlike most of my headphones that are single speaker doing all the work.
I have a little FiiO A1 portable amp (~$20) so I gave that a try. None of the preset EQ curves sounded great compared to other EQ, but they were not terrible. The first EQ profile seemed to be the most balanced, but was missing the punch.
@batlin211@JakobRamey If you’re listening from your phone or player and have an EQ setting, the “rock” EQ setting is fairly close to the curve @batlin211 created (maybe not quite as much bass boost). It helped even out the 500s I got.
Interesting people are commenting on bass being weak… I immediately thought it was tuned maybe a tad on the bassy side… Though, I got the N500s due to reviews stating the treble was tamer on that model, so it could be a model difference. Soundstage is awesome. I think I may have gotten a good model, there are no obvious defects visual or otherwise.
Women’s vocals are excellent (Mitski’s Your Best American Girl really plays nicely with these headphones).
I have a decent amount of experience with HiFi and headphones dac/amps. I’m no snob by any means, but I’m fairly discerning. I’m pleased with the purchase. I’d say they probably sound and feel like $100-$125 headphones. But there’s so much competition these days, paying much more than that would feel foolish - the Meze 99 classics go on sale for $160 from time to time on Drop and I’d say those beat these out by a mile on build quality, and on sound too (though I haven’t listened to these too much yet, maybe as they get some hours on them they’ll get nicer)
Is there a ‘break-in’ period for these headphones, like my speakers need?
My Klipsch speakers definitely sounded better after a good 50hrs music through them.
@daveinwarsh that topic is sure to bring a wide variety of opinions, but I would assume they’d benefit from burn in… I’ve never owned a speaker or headphone that didn’t benefit from use when they were new.
I got the round ones. I was immediately impressed with the audio compared with my ATH-M50s. I was able to hear details I hadn’t before in songs I had played hundreds of times.
That said, I had to hold very still, because the sheet-metal headband and earcup attachment love to make noises whenever I bob my head or clench my jaw, and the cable transmits vibrations straight to the earcups.
Overall, I like them, and they look great. I am glad I went for them. I certainly needed something to replace my M50s with the flaking cracked leather on the headband (I got replacement earcups because the same thing was happening there)
Got the N501’s today. I literally broke them on the first time trying to put them on my head. The left earcup snapped off from the headband when trying to take them off to make a slight adjustment.
I tried listening but couldn’t feel like I was getting the full effect. They were very weak in the bass department, albeit I am playing from my phone. However, an equalizer did nothing to help.
@daveinwarsh lol, the contact point between the cup and the band is so minuscule. Only 2 crazy small fillet weld at 1/8" long (and of questionable quality) is all that’s holding these together. A word to those unfortunate to have bought these… These should not be expected to hold up well for very long at all
I would not even know how to get these to hold up even with duct tape!
@zxinfinity that sucks. Could you try to silver solder it back on? I think that requires a lot of heat though. Or try some JB Weld. That stuff it’s supposed to hold better than a metal weld according to some people.
As far as bass goes, I’ve read that electrostatics are harder to drive than standard cone speakers. Even though these hybrids claim to be easy to drive, your phone might not have enough power for them. You might need an amp for them.
Wow. Very pleasantly surprised with the N500 I got.
Seems to have a small “defect” on the left cup where the leather bulges out of the metal a bit, but if I hadn’t been looking for it I wouldn’t have noticed.
I’m not a “snob”, but I appreciate my music. Chicago sounds GREAT in these, just off my smartphone driving them.
I didn’t notice any sound transference as some have mentioned.
Maybe my N500 (Round) is broken, but it sounds incredibly flat with a lot of bass. Maybe both electrostat drivers are broken in each cup? The mids are pretty meh, and the highs sound like they’re coming out of Dollar Tree earbuds. Although the bass seems a little strong I suppose it’s not terrible.
Highs tested with Permutate by Haywyre and Red by Ben Khan. Pretty Awful.
Mids tested with White Noise by Kojaque.
Bass tested with Limit to your Love by James Blake.
I got the round ones yesterday. Overall I’m quite happy with them and they will replace some ATH-M30’s. I was happy with the ATH-M30’s, which probably tells you most of what you need to know about my level of audio-fidelity.
Sound is good / quite satisfactory for me. The construction and fit are good - my noggin is on the large side and I’ve had many headphones that were uncomfortable or felt too small.
Three specific callouts:
the left can does not swivel. It folds but it is supposed to swivel, too and it seems fused to the headphone .
if I swap the headphone inputs between cans the signal is touchy on the left can.
be careful when unfolding the headphones. I had a finger get pinched in the hinge and it hurt like a mother
@slipperyp Same issue with the swivel. The sound is good, I do have a headphone amp though. The cable is way too short. I ordered an extension for it. I’m going to leave them plugged in for awhile and just let sound play on them whenever I’m using my other headphones and see if a burn-in period like that makes them sound better, while waiting for the extension.
Well my cable is bad, it plays sounds sometimes but I have to constantly move the cable around on each headphone cup and then it’ll cut out or not play at all.
*Edit - I was wrong. I had the cables switched around since they’re not labeled.
@Anemone342 It’s weird, since it should work the same either way. A lot of reports indicate there’s a right way and a wrong way, though. I guess I won my coin-flip and got it right the first time.
@Anemone342@Qylvaran The cable is stereo to each one, but the left should only pick up the left and vice versa, so you could have a bad cable that only has 1 line working on the ‘bad’ side. I’ve noticed poor trimming of the wood was preventing one side from plugging in completely.
Has anybody gotten a pair of the N501(square) ones that are fully functional? Please say yes, because that’s what I ordered and am or at least was really looking forward to.
@rglee129 Yup. Just unboxed mine. They look great, perfect condition & sound pretty good. They also look great on the wall!
I was VERY careful with them due to others with issues here.
I’ll slap on some Pink Floyd in a min to check them out better.
I’m happy (for now)!
@rglee129 OK. I haven’t used headphones in quite a while. I forgot how spacey Dark Side of Moon was… Cool, man. dig it?
These things do sound great so far, semi comfortable, not that heavy.
Had to turn down the opening to the song “Time”. The clocks would have blown my hearing…
Still need to hear some different guitar (maybe Hendrix or SRV), but it’ll be interesting to see how they sound after breaking in.
My receiver, I can plug them in & just leave them going while listening to speakers.
— End of report—
@rglee129@therealjrn Have an original 1940’s Red Ryder BB Gun on the deer.
Also a couple original 1950’s cap guns on wall.
The Jackalope has a miniature rifle on it…
@rglee129@therealjrn Security Jackalope?
No… The Jackalopes were wanting to take over the property. Luckily, Chevy and Jetta (rest in peace, Jetta) ran out & got it just in time.
Here, they plan and prepare for the hunt:
@rglee129@Stumpy91@therealjrn Jetta was a wonderful amazing loved Sheltie that died last yr due to cancer. She gave us over 10 yrs of joy. Chevy is a 14 yr old Pom-mix that is fully retired from expected duties.
@daveinwarsh@rglee129@therealjrn We had 2 sheltie sisters from consecutive litters. The oldest looked like Jetta.The both lived until the age of 16. We miss them nearly every day. Lately I’ve been calling our 2 current shelties by the names of the 2 departed girls.
@rglee129@Stumpy91@therealjrn sigh… Yeah, I miss J-girl all the time.
Jetta was there no matter what, anywhere on the 5 acres, always there by my side. We considered finding another Sheltie, but Chevy is really slowing down and has lung and heart issues & a puppy would not be easy on him.
Jetta and Chevy were so close, always within 3 feet of each other, so it hit Chevy hard for a while too.
…still makes me sad thinking of her gone. I buried her with a nice marker out in the corner of the orchard, where she chased many rabbits.
I was skeptical but as soon as I used them to listen to some music I listen to fairly reqiently it felt like it wasn’t even the same thing. It’s blowing my mind. Like when I put on glasses when I was a kid and realized trees were made of individual leaves. They “feel” flimsy and cheap. They Sound God damn amazing.
All the bad comments from different purchasers of these headphones remind me (unhappily) of the whole Olio watch ripoff, where you think you scored, but in fact you got screwed! Could be Meh’s new motto!
I got the 500, and I’m listening to RadioParadise on my phone, with the ‘Mellow’ mix station streaming lossless FLAC. Sounds very decent. Not wild about the sheet metal that bangs if you walk around.
@Stumpy91 I’ve been listening and donating to RadioParadise so long, I didn’t know there were other streaming services They have a ‘groovin’, ‘rockin’, and ‘world’ station now though, in addition to their ‘main mix’
So mine shipped from Ontario, and I’m in Atlanta, GA, and were estimated to be here today, but haven’t been scanned again since departure scan, is that normal? How long should I wait until I think they’ve been lost?
@nalesean Same boat as you. Shipped from Ontario, CA, USA which is actually California I have to come to learn. Supposed to arrive by end of day the 10th but no update since departure. I’m in Orlando.
@rglee129 thanks for the reply, that helps me feel a little better than it didn’t just get completely lost. In my experience no updates could mean nothing or could mean a package is lost as soon as it leaves. Hopefully we’ll get them soon, and they will be the non-broken version
@nalesean@rglee129 that’s such a bummer. I wonder what meh really thinks about getting stuck with all these bad units. I assume you tried to change the cable connections. I had something weird happen driving them with my Pixel 4XL. It shutdown and appeared to be playing with no sound. So apparently it takes some juice to drive them.
@rglee129@Stumpy91 yeah, I tried switching cable connections the problem stayed with left, I made sure there were no obstructions and the cable was fully seated and finally I hooked it into my amplifier to make sure it wasn’t under powered
It is such a systemic widespread issue makes me feel like there should be a simple fix. I haven’t pulled it apart and looked at the solder points
@nalesean@rglee129@Stumpy91 Ditto on my right side. Since Verisonix now seems to be MIA, and since Meh just drop-shipped these… I’d say we’re all SOL. $50 wall art.
After UPS proved they are no longer capable of delivering parcels - I finally received one of the 3 pairs on Tuesday and found them to sound delightful out of the box, can’t wait to hear them after break-in. One pair was defective, with one side having a disconnected or defective low-frequency driver. A spectacular deal!
@Pufferfishy Missed the bought 3 pairs, which only one was broken. I used to own a high-end audio store, so I’ve heard a lot of good phones, and these stack up quite well, especially at 49 freaking dollars! They’re well-balanced, detailed, and are just nice to listen to. The bass isn’t boomy or muddy, and I expect it to gain some extension as they break in.
So, if they’re not functioning at delivery, will MEH accept return and refund purchase price? Hopefully, buying from MEH is not a “spends your money, take your chances”
@drslyme yep, meh will give a refund. See the post above from blueyed510. They gave him a refund and he kept the headphones. It sounds like they don’t have replacements though. Meh will usually make it right.
Got mine, they seem great. Had a bit of trouble at first where I was only getting sound on one side, but as soon as I plugged it into my dad’s old stereo set up it was fine.
Just got my n501’s and man, am I missing something? I know open ears sound better but my HE-4xx sound so much better than these. They were more expensive by actual price but 1/4 the MSRP
I got mine and there’s a bad buzz in the left side. I really wanted these - kept at it for nearly a half hour before the order finally went through. Now they don’t work right. And they don’t sound as good to me as my Sennheiser HD280s, but maybe they need to break in. (If they didn’t buzz.)
Finally received my N501s today. My early review: comfortable on my big noggin, I was lucky enough to guess correctly the right/left cable insertion. Playing Jethro Tull Benefit ripped from CD to MP3 on my phone using MX Player. Rock EQ. Sounds great as far as I’m concerned without even playing with EQ. I may move to my stereo and play some vinyl if I can find my headphones cable extension.
My N501 arrived today. They are working and fitting properly right out of the box, and I am happy. Also, the box itself is quite handsome and professional, as is the carry case. Also the UPS driver very carefully placed the shipping box on a slightly elevated aspect of my porch so the box didn’t absorb any moisture from the snow - that was above and beyond! This purchase has worked out quite well for me, based on the first 3 songs.
Mine work (501) great. Oddly (based on what I’m reading here) when I switch the left and right cables, they still sound the same. Is there any way to know which side of the cable goes in which channel? Other than listening to that one Man… or Astroman? song which has a stereo phasing test?
@rglee129 The cable is a ‘splitter’, so both channels are available at each plug. Each side of the headphones will only pick up the signal and ground of the channel they need. Folks that have had issues resolved by swapping sides likely have a bad cable (i.e. don’t have ‘stereo’ at each plug’, a problem masked by swapping sides)
Got my pair on 2/11. Sound fine. Fit great. Both sides work. Wife says I look like a dork and should stay inside with them. Slightly aggravating (Irking!) the wife makes the deal even better!
@mccullal8 They’ll only be as nice as your source music… Head over to radioparadise.com, start streaming, click the gear, then switch streams to Ultra or Flac.
@mccullal8@Stumpy91 RadioParadise is great, No need for On-Demand. If you create an account (free) than you can use their “play something different” button, and their mobile app lets you cache many hours of music too. I’ve heard many great artists and b-sides I’d never think to have requested.
@caffeineguy by “play something different” button, do you mean the “skip” button. I’m looking at the interface in chrome on a PC. Some of these stream player interfaces aren’t so intuitive.
@caffeineguy the interface on the Android app is clunky and frustrating. I can’t figure out how to change from the main stream to the rock stream. Easy with the web based player.
@Stumpy91 Click the music note button… Otherwise, how do you like the mix? Try listening to it for an 8hr day and see what you think of the eclectic mix
My N501s arrived today. I had some trouble with the left ear, but found the cable just needed to be pushed in with more force than the right. I get the feeling the fatal flaw is the cable connections — maybe with non-detachable cables or mono connectors they would’ve been more reliable?
I’d be interested to hear if anyone tries bypassing the jacks by soldering the wires straight in (which isn’t going to be me, because I’m terrified of soldering irons).
Way more detail than any pair of headphones I’ve ever heard. Gonna take some getting used to, but it’s quite possible these will supplant my B&Os if they’re comfortable enough to listen for hours on end. Dunno if it’s the pair of drivers or the hybrid thing (maybe both), but it’s like everything has its own space now. Voices and instruments (when mixed well) don’t mush together or interfere with each other, which has always been the big letdown with headphones.
At first I tried plugging them into my computer at work, but the headphone output on that machine is terrible, and these made it sound even more terrible. Switched to my iPad and it was a whole 'nother story. So make sure you’re plugged into something decent, and if you’re streaming, turn the audio quality up as high as it goes. Spotify’s default setting leaves a lot to be desired anywhere other than in my car.
@caffeineguy Assuming the jacks themselves aren’t the problem — I could picture them securely glued but still not making proper contact, which would suck.
Mediocre build quality-- One side of my N500s has the headphone plug recessed a pinch more than the other side, so the cable constantly pops out. The weight of the cable is enough to pop it back out.
Fun fact for the rest of you. Since the headphone cable is basically a stereo splitter (L, R, and Gnd at each plug), a loose or partially plugged cable can short L to R or to ground out the other, so if you’ve got a problem with the right side, don’t forget to check out/inspect the cable on the left side and vice versa.
For anyone else that wants to unload a ‘bad’ pair, I’d be interested in attempting to fix them since I suspect most issues are related to the cable/jack, and with 2 bad pairs, I might be able to make a good pair. Send me a message!
Did anyone notice if their headphones were shipped from an outfit called Global Prodigy in the L.A. area? I have a notice from UPS saying they have been waiting for a package from them for two weeks now.
I don’t suppose anyone here is unhappy with the fit of their square headphones and wishes they ordered the round pair? Because I have the opposite problem and would happily trade my round ones for square ones. They sounds great. They’re just too big for my head and always feel like they’re sliding down.
wow. happy valentines day to my ears. i feel bad for those who got a bum pair, but I feel like the gamble paid off for me. wow. round pair, sounds almost to good. eerily good. the metal edges are a bit intimidating and the fact only one cup swivels is… odd; the sound quality makes all of that irrelevant though.
Picked up some lossless Metallica and tried out my new cans, I got the round ones. At first I holyshit this is good. Then I remembered it has been a really long time since I’ve had lossless source audio, so I put on my razor headset… It reminded me of the first time I ever heard a CD, we put the same song on the tape player to compare. Like the tape, the sound was fine on the old headset before I tried the new headphones… Now I realized I was listening to muted washed out sounds.
But it’s Friday, I got 30 minutes to kill before someone gets home,so time to jump on my computer and use the headphones how they will be used most of the time.
I started up my FPS game. If you play this type of game you know loud headsets are a must, so you can track using sound. The first thing I noticed was my weapon wasn’t deafening. My first thought was they we’re not as loud, but I had no issue with tracking a player on the fist floor when I was on the 2nd. I then realized the sounds were not muted and washed out. I could pick out the individual sounds I needed to win the game.
.
I wanted to give them to my wife for Valentine’s day, but they would go to waste listening to pop country on a low bitrate stream, so I am keeping them.
Tl;Dr I like my new headphones, I should have bought 2.
My first impression after a quick 15 minute listen is, wow, these are great heaphones especially at that price. I used to be an audiophile (whether that’s good or bad I don’t know) and knew that there was a certain feeling you got from something that was clearly better than what you’d gotten used to. These definitely met that standard but it was clear that something was, well, “clear.”
It was the squarish ones I tried. I also ordered a round (couldn’t decide) and haven’t tried them yet. Thanks Meh this was a good find!
I ordered at 1:46AM ET. Order shows still processing. I have contacted MEH more than once to find out why delayed, and they have yet to respond in any way. Disappointed in customer service.
@drslyme check your spam folder, or junk mail or promotions. But also realize they work 8-5 M-F so they won’t get back to you on a weekend. They will get back to you if they haven’t already.
I got my square ones sometime last week. They sound good, but they’re too small for my head and become uncomfortable after awhile.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
/giphy my ear hurts
@Stumpy91 so, I’m saying this not having listened through a dac or amp yet, but even just listening on my 2019 iPod touch they give great separation on the sound stage between lower bassy notes and instruments and vocals, so even at higher volumes I’m not feeling like anything is getting washed out by anything on the low end, and everything still seems discernable from each other. I definitely don’t regret the purchase, and part of my next office setup does include a new headphone amp, so I feel like in about a week I’ll see the real difference between these and my akg m220’s that cost me just as much.
@ConradHilton that’s great. I really like mine. I’ve listened to music on both my Pixel 4XL and my stereo. I may pick up a headphone amp because my Pixel stops playing through the headphones after several minutes. What headphone amplifier do you recommend?
@Stumpy91 I’m far from an expert on the matter, but I’m getting the objective 2 that massdrop sells because it consistently reviews better than headphone amps that cost five times as much. Also, I’m bummed to hear that your phone doesn’t seem to like your headphones. Glad you’re liking them all the same, though.
Side note, I’ve been listening to mine for about the last three hours, and I’m pretty sure that once these get through their warm in period I’ll be beyond in love with these.
I finally tested my (rectangle) Verisonix -vs- the $30 headphones I got from woot the next week, a pair of Marshall Major II Wired On-Ear Headphones.
I went back & forth several times, listening to the same music.
I must admit that the Marshalls have a cleaner nice bass & plenty high range. They were also a bit more comfortable.
The Verisonix look much better hanging on the wall.
I’ll conduct the test again with Scotch to sharpen my senses…
I went to adjust the pivot on mine, and the weld simply broke off, effectively snapping mine into two pieces. Coupled with the shoddy fit of the headphone plug (that frequently pops out and drops a channel), I’m pretty disappointed. They certainly sounded good for the few hours I got to listen to them. Email off to meh; we’ll see what happens
@caffeineguy Mine did the same. Left cup didn’t pivot for some reason, and ended up breaking it trying to get it to. Was super disappointed as I was really digging the sound quality. Used some JB-Weld, and clamped it together for 48Hrs. Seems to be holding strong.
If mine were to come apart like has happened to a few apparently, I was thinking about seeing if I could get someone to spot weld it. My headphone jacks seem to fit securely.
@Stumpy91 I was testing mine and I could only hear the left and it was playing right and left through it and here it is December 2020 so warranty is defiantly over. Pulled them off and looked and I hadn’t pushed the right plug in all the way! Now they sound great!
Definitely in the bum pair group. Tried them briefly when they arrived (already not thrilled, I have a big head, but they were heavy and hung low, plus small ears, so they didn’t really fit close) and they seemed to work, though couldn’t really get them to hang close enough to my ears to get a good sound. Since I was traveling, carefully put them in their case, in their box, in storage. Really didn’t try to use them until quarantined, and right ear died the first day (only about 3 hours use, then carefully returned to case), left ear died after about 6 hours use (if I play with it, and bend the cord just so I get intermittent sound), so no, not a happy camper. I hope Meh does the right thing and gives me something that works, but, seriously, in the at risk group, not supposed to be going out, my computer is my lifeline, and since people are working from home not really OK to play Hulu or Netflix or the endless press conferences of where I am now allowed to go out what time, to get what may or may not remain of food, toilet paper and paper towels. But, in fairness, Meh has been pretty fair in the past so I am hoping a replacement is on the way (this is my 3rd set of headphones from them is about a 10 months, the first cheap set problems were definitely my fault, second set, the ear buds were a little defective, but meh, and they fall out of my ears, but, little ears, hard to fit, but these were definitely defective and not on me).
@mcc36 Mine are now just wall-hanger headphones. They really don’t have good sound and are a bit uncomfortable after a few minutes.
I write it off as another meh purchase.
They do look good just hanging on the wall though…
Good luck finding your toilet paper!
Meh refunded me, fair, but not my first choice. Pretty sure it is the cord, not the headphones. Ordered something from Morningsave, I’ll just have to be patient until they arrive. I can probably afford to miss a few press conferences at this point, know the drill.
One site I visited says only the right cup is supposed to swivel. The left one although it looks as if it SHOULD swivel, doesn’t.
The right cup on mine swivels fine.
That design apparently supports DJ monitoring (listening to the headphone with one ear and to the external speaker output with the other).
Since the frame is fragile, I suspect that limitation is intended to encourage people to put the headphones into the case when not actually listening through them.
Sound is great. My fist headset of this type. They do get uncomfortable after a while and only one of the pivots work. Glad I bought this headset. Would like them to be more comfortable. Also, the cord is too short.
I kind of forgot about these, and decided to try them out again tonight. Even though they sound good, I’m afraid I have too much tinnitus to enjoy them. If anyone is sad they missed out on the deal and wants to buy them, let me know.
It looks like I picked the right type to get, the square ones. They adjust to your head and fit me pretty good. The others look like there aren’t many adjustments & might get uncomfortable quick.
These headphones have treated me quite nicely for this past year - they were a solid buy. Unfortunately, one of the ear cups has just snapped off. Did anyone else have this problem? How did you solve it?
Does anybody have a link for a working headphone replacement cable?
I bought one that I thought would work but that only gets audio on the left side.
Unfortunately the stock one for some reason “keeps slipping out” of the jack.
@datruandi Look at the barrels of the plugs on the two cables. They should have the same number of rings. If they don’t, you got the wrong cable. I’ll speculate without seeing them that the old one had one more ring than the new one. What you probably need is called a “3.5mm stereo cable”.
@werehatrack the cable I got has the same number of rings still no luck.
Eg HE400SE Replacement Cable Cord for Hifiman HE4XX HE400SE HE400I(3.5mm Plug Version) Headphone Cable, 5.9Ft to 16Ft Extension Coiled Audio Aux Cord (Dual 3.5mm Plugs) https://a.co/d/j9hLQfP
Really enjoyed the sound from my round version of the Verisonix N500 that I got from here in January 2020. But just ran across this forum trying to find after-warranty support or a fix for the hinge that just snapped its welds - I’m guessing the company is long gone. I saw the JB Weld comment and may go that path. Folks I know who weld, don’t do anything quite as delicate at the micro-welds that held the hinge to the headband.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
Specs Guy’s Review
Super crisp highs with quality mids and lows. These weren’t necessarily built like the bass boomers that all the young whippersnappers love these days, but they are surprisingly boomy if you like it like that. They fit well on my large head and are snug around the ears. Plus they’re electrostatic. Not 100% sure what that means, but it sounds cool and fancy. Overall, this pair of headphones really highlights all of the nuance and musicality of “Old Town Road” by Composer/Poet Lil Nas X.
Price Comparison
Review 1 | Review 2
$449.00 at Amazon
Note: Verisonix holds patents using electrostatic drivers in headphones without a booster amplifier. Mitchell and Johnson, aware of these patents, placed orders with Verisonix for one version (model N501). They didn’t buy all of the quantities offered and now appear to be in the process of ceasing operations. Today’s headphones feature the same electrostatic design, just without the Mitchell and Johnson branding.
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Friday, May 7 - Wednesday, May 12
/giphy skeptical
“problem … typically have with moving their heavy and stiff masses around”
Yeah, I have that problem. (Talking about my butt of course, what did you think?)
/giphy perforated-squawky-bedroom
Now you too can save 90% through this one weird trick! Shoppers stunned!
Shocking
Deals like this make me wonder if Meh’s “friend” mrstereohead puts them up for sale on Amazon at whatever price they want and then voila! At 90% off, how can you afford not to buy these??!
@a13z https://camelcamelcamel.com/Mitchell-Johnson-MJ2-Electrostatic-Headphones/product/B01LZH3DF0 The lowest price they’ve been is $114, and that was only briefly. They seem to average around $400.
KHAN!!!
Or Brexit or whatever. It checks out, is all I’m saying.
/giphy Kirk khan
@stinks Great. That link is above already. Well, dammit, why wasn’t the link on the front page?
/giphy le sigh
/giphy noteworthy-packed-mallard
I’m actually in for a pair. Electrostatic 'phones tend to start in the mid $300s, and go up from there (up to about $4k…). I have a kid in college who may someday decide he’s ready to have a pair of “grown-up” headphones. It’s a $50 investment today, for a $300+ “value” gift later. And when he inevitably loses or destroys them, I only have to deal with $50 worth of grief, but I get $300+ worth of guilt in return.
/image auspicious-lean-cave
/giphy auspicious-lean-cave
I am deeply, deeply suspect of these. They are probably crap, and probably unreliable crap at that. The marketing speak is overwhelmingly strong, and I might get my head electrocuted.
But it’s 50$, and even if only the tweeter is electrostat, I must know if it is garbage.
If I remember, I’ll compare them to the set of planars on my desk.
@kizen99 magnapans?
@kizen99 Are you really going to compare a $49 set of headphones to a set of planar headphones? Wow, that’s a fair comparison.
@aarond12 I absolutely am, because they both make sound. (And the planars were purchased used, as last years model for 120$, so it isn’t as ludicrous as you may be indicating.) MSRP: 400 vs 450, Purchased at: 120 vs 50.
‘Meh.’
For about half the price of my Sony MDR-7506’s I’ll give it a shot. #GotWood
Spent a long time deliberating on both models, went with the square ones because my ears are a bit big but now I regret it
@dcm714 thinking about it for myself. Why are you regretting it already? Hurry up and talk me out of it.
@caffeine_dude
It’s petty but I’m not a huge fan of the lettering on the headband. I like the double headband on the round one but it seems highly impractical. But I also don’t have a use case for these… I just buy every over-ear headset Meh sells…
@caffeine_dude I thought the square ones looked too heavy, but I went with them because I think I’ll hurt myself on the exposed metal headpiece on the round ones. And I do like cool logo on top of the square ones.
@caffeine_dude @dcm714 The double headband works well, AKG uses that system, and I only buy headphones that have it.
@caffeine_dude @ypwulby
Hmm. Welp I just asked meh support to switch my order to the other one but considering how these are selling, that might not happen. I did read an uninspiring review of the round ones that complained about them being only semi-closed, for what it’s worth.
@dcm714 I couldn’t decide either. Got the big ear thing goin on as well. So I didn’t decide and got both. Worse case scenario I hate one style and gift a pair.
Yup, I’m in. Nice cans for cheap. Real model numbers seem to be N500 for round and N501 for square.
/giphy worst-rewarding-oyster
@Aspirant_Fool Plussing for the gif.
Noise canceling would make these worth 10% the retail comparison. But these don’t. Meh
@hchavers They are closed back/sealed which one would hope means they block external noise passively. The challenge is to make sealed cans that produce high quality sound. I have some Denon AHD-600 that do a decent job.
I think I bought this just so I can say I now own a pair of $450 headphones.
They misspelled Verizon in the brand copy attempt.
Mitchell&Johnson -Hybrid Electrostatic Headphones
Mitchell & Johnson product showcase – CES 2016
Doesn’t look like these are powered, can anyone confirm that?
@zxinfinity you get the electrostatic benefit with no need for an extra power source, that is why they call them portable
@zxinfinity Confirmed. Not powered. They are headphones with a cord.
@zxinfinity Correct. Verisonix has patents for electrostatic drivers without booster amplifiers. Says it in the copy.
why only 90-day warranty?
@elpepe Probably because they are orphans.
Well, I have to get one. If nothing else, they’ll look cool hanging on the wall behind my turntable. And they might even be good headphones…
/giphy nominal-classy-lilac
@daveinwarsh Looks like I’m replacing my wall display headphones
/giphy abstract-dense-dress
“Frequency Range: 6 - 50,000Hz” Humans can only hear up to 20KHz, and CDs only go that far, so maybe my dog should wear these? What is the source anybody is going to listen to test the upper range?
/giphy respectful-sizable-octopus
@Kyser_Soze Looks like @snapster has put on a little weight.
@Kyser_Soze That is a common misconception and what led to the unfortunate “standard” for CD-quality actually being quite sucky. Of course that was established about 35 years ago. The truth is that you can pick up information from audio which may have components >20KHz, for example the plucking of a guitar string or the high harmonics in a female vocal. When you have to filter out everything above 20kHz, as CDs do, you lose that essential component which can create a more “real” feeling. Of course now “kids these days” listen to compressed audio on their phones and watch TV on 5" screens, and think it’s great, so what do I know?
@pmarin I’m in my 60s and a few years ago my kids had a sound on their phone that older folks like me couldn’t hear, they’d play it and laugh. All my music I’d listen to using these is ripped from CD to FLAC, but it might not matter for me, still, only $50.
@Kyser_Soze Harmonics. Although I can only hear up to about 17kHz anymore (getting old sucks), that means I can potentially hear harmonics up to 34kHz in music. Of course I would need some really good 96/24 audio sources for that. (Yeah, I have some.)
/giphy pervasive-taut-floor
(Perfect GIF for me. That is totally my last haircut. My wife had to redo it because the barber did such a bad job.)
Would these be any significant improvement over a pair of Audio Technica M50x’s?
@barnanator Got these too, am wondering the same thing. I’ve had mine for 4 years and am trying to determine if this is worth it.
@barnanator @ZenithX75 I also have a pair of M50x’s, but I’m a sucker for headphones so I ordered the square ones.
I already have too many headphones but figure these are worth a try, and if I don’t want to keep them I’ll eventually find someone else that wants them.
/giphy brash-breezy-veil
My dear old proper electrostatic Stax SR40 headphones with a proper amp.
From the days when a lack of responsibilities allowed such wonderful luxuries… going to have to wire them up to see if whether they still sound sweet.
If this is the same as the Mitchell and Johnson headphones, this deal is insanely good. I’ve got the MJ2 and thought it was a bargain at $300 when I bought. It’s got two drivers in each earpiece. Low and mids are handled by a dynamic driver. Highs are handled by the “electrostatic” driver, although electret might be more accurate. Unlike true electrostatic cans, it doesn’t require a dedicated electrostatic amp with dedicated high voltage bias charge. It claims to use a series of transformers to generate a bias charge. You don’t get the crazy detail of the big electrostatic cans, but you don’t have the $1K on up price tag either.
@dybbuk and I guess you don’t need whatever the amp costs?
I’ve always been a fan of Mitchell and Webb. In for one of the MJ2s.
@sparkle_motion That’s Numberwang
@sparkle_motion @badbarky I’m looking for a gift for my aunt.
Don’t see any wires in any of the pictures. Are these wireless?
@mike808 No. Portable. But not wireless.
@mike808 they go into auto-mute mode when you disconnect the cord.
@RedOak I know it’s been almost a year, but this is the most funny thing I’ve read all year! Thank you!
I have some electrostatic home speakers that cost me $2K about 30 years ago. I still have them and they work fine, except that several generations of cats have used them as 7-foot-tall scratching posts and one tried to climb them.
The sound was best from exactly one spot in the room, but if you sat there and didn’t move, it was amazing…
/giphy eager-walloping-tank
@pmarin Cats + Maggies = TROUBLE!
This is likely the only time I’ll ever buy pricey headphones. The reviews I read make me hope my poor high-school-punk-band hearing may actually hear some detail for once
/giphy unclear-painted-general
@DarthValiant Sorry dude, but $50 for a pair of good quality headphones doesn’t qualify as pricey. You want pricey, check out a pair of Stax or the Sennheiser HD-800s.
@DarthValiant @swechsler guessing their point was, these are pricey headphones for a Meh price.
@RedOak @swechsler Yup. My headphone budget lies in the “cheap ear buds and $20 closeout AKG’s” range. My personal fidelity is not high enough to enjoy other options for the money. Audiophiles would not be OK with my internal soundscape.
@DarthValiant @RedOak @swechsler I’ve had to throw out “cheap” headphones from meh as they seem to be made from cheap plastic and end up breaking to pieces. I hope these will fare better.
Dammit, meh found my weakness. In for one of each to add to my already ridiculous headphone collection.
/giphy jokey-surprised-crab
/giphy predictable-kissable-way
I’m feeling
/giphy fantastical-influential-baby
KuoH
I’m seeing reviews as old as 2016. If “Mitchell and Johnson … didn’t buy all of the quantities offered,” is it because of Brexit or because these ended up being a total gimic? M&J have had SINCE 2016 to buy them up.
@jimgar this right here
/buy
@shrike1201 Sorry, the
/buycommand is only available to members. Learn more.@mediocrebot @shrike1201 /buy --style “round wood grain”
What the heck? What is this membership thing and how is it different from my VMP??
@shrike1201 You appear to be an ex-VMP as evidenced by your little poop icon. Sorry.
@shrike1201 @therealjrn
@shrike1201 If the credit card on your account expired then your VMP would’ve gone with it. If that’s what happened, contact support and they might be able to restore it for you.
If you canceled your VMP, you are likely out of luck.
@lljk thanks for the tidbit of info. Seems my billing zip code is what changed. Shot an email off to support. Hopefully, this can be rectified, and as a result, I missed out on the squares trying to resolve my VMP issue.
Nothing on Meh has ever piqued my interest to the point of buying. I literally googled a bunch of the details, cause I thought this was surely too good to be true. Super-advanced $400-$500 headphones for $50? If it got five stars at that price, I had to impulse buy a pair. Honestly super excited for them to arrive!
@Muhturrx congrats! And condolences on breaking the Meh-dam.
I’ve beaten up my sennheiser 202s by tossing them in my backpack, so the carrying case on this seems like a good bet!
/giphy dense-exceptional-olive
@jakeline Whoa, 2016 giphy has some issues huh?
@therealjrn I want that gif updated for each year
This sounds suspiciously similar to the Quip toothbrush deal and we all know how that turned out. So in definitely in for one…
@tomdina Maybe we’ll get a Verisonix shirt and limited edition coin.
@heartny Well I happen to be wearing mine as I crawl back into bed at 1:44 EST, long one square pair.
i want to use the wood to make waifu figurines
Wow, these are really selling quickly - 642 so far and rising. Everything points to these being a pretty good deal so …
/giphy navigable-splendid-brick
/giphy petite-absorbed-regret
These will surely be better than the so-called “Polk Audio” headphones I bought from Meh long ago. (My first purchase here, in fact.)
But I only listened to those once and eventually gave them away. The actual points of comparison will be my Audio-Technica ATH-M50x and Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6.
(To me, the Beoplay H6 has a very similar but more refined version of the ATH-M50x’s sound — and is also way more comfortable. I expect I’ll spend more time adjusting to the sound of these, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be tolerable for hours of uninterrupted listening.)
That’s got to be the most Meh of all giphys.
But I’m not regretting it yet.
My Audio Technica ATH-M50x have started to wear out after nearly a decade of daily use. I was thinking about buying a new pair but the research I did said this was a decent gamble and possibly a really good deal so I got them. We’ll See.
/giphy ghastly-powerful-meeting
I’m really not sure what to expect from these but I have to try them out for the price.
I would bite, but I already have a $350 pair of headphones. I have no business having such nice things; definitely don’t need another pair.
Keep it up with the Brexit clearances, though. I’ll scrape together couple grand for one of these.
/image Morgan 3-wheeler
Amazon reviews too low for my dough.
@DFSdave I couldn’t find them on Amazon.
@DFSdave @susanrc10 -
https://www.amazon.com/Electrostatic-Hybrid-Headphone-N501-Verisonix/dp/B019X3WX04
Are they Bluetooth?
@sjk3 no.
But but a quarter inch jack wouldn’t plug into my phone if my phone had a jack. How are people going to know about my cool ass headphones if I can’t walk around with them???
@neveraging I don’t see how this prevents you from simply walking around with them…
@Doodpants @neveraging I think they are 3.5 mm but come with a 3.5 mm to 1/4" adapter.
“1x Aux Cable with 1/4” Adapter Jack"
But I don’t get why the 3.5 mm STEREO plug goes into each ear cup, then merges the 2 sides into the normal stereo plug. Why would it be a 2 channel to each cup, then merge the 4 channels into the 2.
I’m making no sense. Look at the 7th picture, and explain why the 3.5 mm plugs at the headphone side of the Y-cable are stereo, in you please. (You = anyone.)
Will the electro-static nature of these make my long rock star hair stand straight up in the air when I use them?
@arfdawg
yes
What’s up with the 1/4 inch plug, never heard of this type will they work on phone or do you need some adapter?
@JJfezz you plug it into your amp and turn it up to 11 man!
but seriously it is an adapter, so you only use it when connecting to a system with a 1/4 plug, some amp systems have them but just don’t use the adapter and it should connect.
Raptor Jesus said:
“Lacking in natural sound and on the bright side’. ‘fatiguing to the ears after an extended listening session’. Tell me again why I want these?”
I don’t know who Raptor Jesus is and I don’t know whether he’s trustworthy. But he does have Jesus in his name so there’s that.
@Trinityscrew “Bright Side” explained by Paul McGowan…
“Listening to a bright system implies an aggressive uneven balance of sound: skewed towards the upper registers at the expense of the mids and lower regions—glaring. And, glare is something to be avoided.”
I don’t know him either.
I can’t even find these on Amazon. I wanted to look at the reviews.
@susanrc10 There is a link below the description at the top of this page.
The square ones look bigger, so I ordered those.
/giphy renowned-innate-psychic
Is the mediocrity of the servers going to improve so I can buy one?
Looks like we’re in
land
@thismyusername Looks like they tricked a lot of people then. I’m impressed with the sales stats.
\buy
/buy --squared
@itzd4n Sorry, this deal contains 2 unique items and I’m not sure which one you want. You can review how to pick one, or just try ordering from the checkout page.
\buy
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@yourmom Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@simtel20 It worked! Your order number is: informative-liable-tent
/image informative liable tent
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@southpaw Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/giphy classy-circular-orca
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@ElleryTheJones Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@2many2no Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
@mediocrebot
At least there’s no damn captcha.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@Rstoker Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@dvermilion Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
Wow total server fail
@f00l yep…
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@itzd4n Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@AVahne Sorry, this deal contains 2 unique items and I’m not sure which one you want. You can review how to pick one, or just try ordering from the checkout page.
I will consider this my Mystery Brand 5.1 Channel Surround Speaker for a new decade
/giphy cagey-tasteful-quilt
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@longtones Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@AVahne Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
why you would buy a wired anything in this day and age is beyond me
@fastharrydotcom So you have a wireless refrigerator?
@arfdawg not one that plays music, lol…I don’t even own anything to plug these into…what would I need…a whole 1990’s stereo system?
@fastharrydotcom While wireless is nice, it’s not always a necessity. I’m still rocking a wired keyboard and mouse because they remain stationary on my desk.
Plus hours upon hours of playback doesn’t mean you have to charge or swap headphones due to a battery dying.
@theonlybuster fair enough…I’m sure they are fine…but I don’t even own a stereo amp…no less a PC with that plug end
@fastharrydotcom You can buy a mini Bluetooth receiver (that’s smaller than the size of your thumb) for less than $10. Plug that into the end of these headphones & they’re now Bluetooth headphones.
@fastharrydotcom Because wired is better in almost every way: quality, price, compatibility, durability, no fiddling with chargers / getting interrupted by batteries dying…
@fastharrydotcom @InnocuousFarmer
Sounds way better, if one cares …
@f00l @InnocuousFarmer great…so you guys convince me and meh fucks up ordering…again. oh well…missed it
@f00l @fastharrydotcom I set an alarm to remind me to check in at 4 PM to try to get a pair, but in my morning pre-coffee grogginess, I set it for AM. No good deal on headphones for me!
It’s broken. Boo.
@bobthenormal
See a doctor about that.
@bobthenormal you were supposed to notify a doctor if it lasted longer than 4 hours.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@Aussemjared Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
Impossible to score one
@arfdawg Really?
/giphy furry-tropical-gerbil
Twenty minutes of:
‘Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.’ so I give up…
@qmirage - Me too - I count that as $50 in savings. Now to blow it on something else…
@qmirage Took me 15 minutes of retrying to buy a square set.
Wow never seen meh this broken before.
\giphy humorous-likely-lemur
/giphy humorous-likely-lemur
Is the server actually just a Game Boy from 1994 connected to a phone line in Cambodia?
@omiclix Heh. Back in 2000, the company I was working for had their support server crash. As I was working on it, I ran the site from my iBook. We started getting compliments about how much faster the support site was.
Are y’all holding any back for VMP?
@AVahne yep. 4pm EST for VMP
I finally just got an order off the regular order page Maybe keep trying?
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@lemonswithsalt Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
24 minutes and my order went through. 24 minutes to talk myself out of these. Why didn’t I, meh? Why didn’t I?
@Ziggie …and once ordered, you should still have another 60 minutes to cancel.
(too late now tho)
About a 100 “Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.” on multiple devices later, and the square style selling out in the meantime, I managed the round version. But do I want the round ones? I don’t know.
Finally got an order through.
yeah, stellar order processing
If you hit the green button a couple hundred times across three devices you’ll get one eventually.
@Aussemjared
Same account on three devices?
@FirstLast87 yeah that’s what I did.
I slept on this after seeing the offer at 1 AM. Got caught up in the deal paused/computer server failure hype. Now the “proud” owner of a pair. What is the worse that can happen? Looks like I got in just before the dreaded SOLD OUT - YOUMISSED IT message.
Welp, a few dozen tries didn’t get it done. Not meant to be I guess.
4pm EST for VMP
@rrichmon what is VMP?
Sold out! That was fast.
@Citymars YES! no more agonizing over something I don’t really need! take that capitalism!
Wow, took me 27 minutes of non-stop attempts. Seems I was one of the last to get one too. The demand level change from overnight to now was insane.
what is vmp?
@oldtarheel https://mediocre.com/vmp
Meh’s old member “reward” program.
@oldtarheel the only way to get into the grandfathered VMP program at this point is to bribe someone who still has it… to sell their account to you.
(Haven’t heard of bribes to Meh Customer Service being an effective means.)
@oldtarheel @RedOak Or wait until they start a new subsite? Like Casemates?
159 bucks on eBay…
Still room to make some money if I sell them at 129
Sold out before I even got the email…
@holytotemic same here
Too many reviews of one side not working to commit to purchasing unfortunately. I wanted to be into it, but my discipline seems to be strong this morning lol. SOLD OUT while I was typing lol, I do hope these work out as a lot of folks purchased them!
Am I missing something? The reviews on Amazon are NOT good. Poor build quality, muddy sound. Sure, it’s 90% off… but maybe there is a reason for that.
Or maybe I’m must jealous that I missed out.
@vandemusser - What reviews are we talking about? The only link I could find was:
https://www.amazon.com/Electrostatic-Hybrid-Headphone-N501-Verisonix/dp/B019X3WX04
Headphone Guru sez: “…there were still flaws with the production. Verisonix has been successful so far in how they implemented the drivers but cons do exist. I found the vocals to be clear but feltt they were on the bright side. Lastly, the fairly bright signature can get fatiguing to the ears after an extended listening session. The extension of the range into the highs produces sharp effects at times and while beneficial when listening to classical music, does increase fatigue on the user. In the end, these issues are present on the majority of headphones in this price range and are not unique to the N501. Overall, the Verisonix N501 is an able-bodied studio headphone that combines the dynamic and electrostatic technologies to deliver an outstanding product. The N501 is solid headphone and has excellent sound. There are many headphones available in this price range but the quality of the materials used and innovative technology should make this a sure buy for the forward thinking audiophile!”
Make me feel better about NOT purchasing these…
@aetris https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZH3DF0/ref=twister_B01N0QWAVX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1#customerReviews
60% of the reviews were 3 stars or less. Almost 1/2 were 2 stars or less.
@vandemusser That’s an off-brand version.
@kyarou Weird… that’s the link that Meh provided.
@kyarou @vandemusser Maybe people have different expectations when they pay $400. There were some complaints about headphones that came not working properly but that should be covered under the warranty. But, yeah, there were a lot of unhappy campers.
@vandemusser oh, i see that now. that is weird, considering it’s a different brand altogether
@kyarou @vandemusser
From above:
@kyarou @vandemusser That’s the same headphone (Mitchell & Johnson were the supposed purchasers that backed out) But it looks like those reviews are split among models with the MJ2 (same as the square version) being consistently good (or value focused which is blown out by the $50), and the others being, on the whole, bad.
Do they have a mic so you can answer a phone call with them?
@sdansmith No. These have a 1/4" plug which doesn’t allow for it. Only the 4-conductor 1/8" plugs can do that.
@aarond12 Bummer. Deal killer.
Here’s what I love: Receiving my daily Meh mail at 8:34am, seeing something I might actually want, and having it already sold out…
@MrNews Amen
/giphy historical-tough-hour
I got the these are selling fast screen for over ten minutes but just kept hitting try again and it worked thanks to everyone that gave up.
@dino2269 I did it for 29 minutes straight until it sold out. Their servers are just hot trash.
We’ll, dang. That’s what I get for going to sleep early I guess.
Looks like the warranty is 90 day Mediocre.
So many alarm bells… more and more the deeper you dig.
Probably worth 50 bucks, though… probably.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’ll be really interested to hear what those of you who bought them think of them. Good luck!
Well those sold out fast
I got the email at 5:36am my time and tried to purchase by 5:45am… and sold out. What a shame as this was the second thing in maybe three months that tickled my fancy
@rraquel My exact thoughts.
Wow glad I picked these up near midnight last night instead of waiting until this morning
/giphy generous-knotty-memory
Just happened to be up at midnight and didn’t hesitate. Glad I did!
/giphy dainty-respective-lemming
Found the Amazon Reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Mitchell-Johnson-MJ2-Electrostatic-Headphones/dp/B01LZH3DF0/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Mitchell+and+Johnson&qid=1580313166&sr=8-2#customerReviews
Seems like some really love them and some don’t think they’re worth the price. I think $50 is a good price. I just hope they beat out my ATH-M50X
@densa You have to realize that the people who wrote those reviews paid 500 dollars for them so their expectations were probably much higher.
Fwiw - I did an ebay search for sold items and they sell for anywhere from $75 to $150 - several listed for lots more but not sold. (btw I bought a pair - seems like a decent deal to me)
@ilovereality How did you get through
@arfdawg @ilovereality They were available for an hour and a half last night- it was probably pretty easy to get one then.
@arfdawg @ilovereality @sammydog01 Yeah, I dithered around a bit last night. I finally decided my 50 bucks would be better spent on a heavy-duty Origami rack.
@arfdawg @ilovereality @therealjrn What kind of origami needs heavy duty shelves? Do you make it out of lead sheets?
@arfdawg @sammydog01 yeah - no problems last night. Sorry to those that missed them then!
Woke up around 12:30, decided to check the deal, pulled the trigger, and went back to sleep. Glad I did, now.
/giphy adhesive-dusty-coleslaw
@mebisping Groundhog Day sure is weird this year.
@therealjrn Middle of the night, I laughed out loud when I saw that order number. I guess because I had coleslaw for supper, or maybe just because i was still half asleep.
This is why i can never leave this site.
/buy --shape round
@jmkiii Sorry, this deal contains 2 unique items and I’m not sure which one you want. You can review how to pick one, or just try ordering from the checkout page.
@jmkiii @mediocrebot Plus they’re sold out until the 4 pm VMP sale. Lucky you kept up the payments.
@mediocrebot @sammydog01 I was hoping to game the system. I guess I’ll just need to keep my button pushers warm.
Build quality sounds questionable, based on the Amazon reviews.
Got wood?
@Brasssong Nope. Sold out
Man, got up this morning saw the deal, wanted till 8am, clicked buy exactly at 8 and still didn’t make it. I really wanted nice head phones. I guess I’ll get the next set of silly socks instead.
How many degrees do the cans move? Might be decent DJ cans.
Meh should get some martin logan speakers next https://www.martinlogan.com/en/category/our-speakers
@username I’ll buy a pair of those for $50.
I’m looking for a pair of Studio headphones that have a “flat” frequency response across the range of hearing of 20-20,000hz. Anyone know if these fit that bill?
@readnj Never mind! I got in at exactly 4 and busy and sold out!
on deals like this I’m always curious how much meh buyers actually paid per unit and what is the “real” retail mark-up… 5000%?
also not buying Brexit explanation since it is still pending and was a referendum in 2016, just as company was launching.
WOW, THESE ARE SELLING FAST AND WE’RE BUSY PROCESSING OTHER ORDERS. TRY AGAIN IN A LITTLE BIT.
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@TuffGong Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “squared wood grain”
@itzd4n Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@gsrivast Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@jmkiii Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
@mediocrebot Sold out at 4:03 my regretful VMP ASS!
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@dvermilion Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
@mediocrebot booo
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@jmkiii Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/giphy memorable-unguarded-caper
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@gsrivast Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@medz Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
@mediocrebot I got something for you to try in a little bit…
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@jmkiii Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@miskreeta Wow, these are selling fast and we’re busy processing other orders. Try again in a little bit.
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@spleener Oops, sorry. We’re sold out.
WTF ‘VMP only’ and the servers still being v mediocre
@ticklescratch …and now sold out WTF WTF
/buy --style “round wood grain”
@gsrivast Oops, sorry. We’re sold out.
“Busy processing other orders” for 3 full minutes, then sold out. Great. Fix your site Meh. I feel like a Slightly Meh Person instead of a Very Meh Person.
LAME!
Mercatalyst ruined meh.
First time my VMP has been useful in a long while.
/giphy beige-operatic-mime
Ugh, clicked right at 4 and got selling fast about 20 times, until it said sold out.
What the hell! SOLD OUT
What a load of garbage. It’s finally time to stop wasting the money on VMP.
@rework Seems like that’s kinda the message they send to VMPers… with a lot of trial and error this morning I got one buy no thanks to VMP, but I wanted square ones and was hoping they saved VMPs some of those… nope. Well… Meh.
I wonder how many VMP accounts still exist…
@bobthenormal too many, apparently
At least 10, given that the site almost collapsed under the load of all of us accessing it.
@bobthenormal I’m one of them.
@bobthenormal I’m a VMP also. Got a square set around 8:15 am though. Sketchy server then too.
@bobthenormal ONE OF US ONE OF US
Started an order at 1 second past 4PM, and it said processing “lots of orders, try again later” so I kept trying over and over for a few minutes and then sold out. Sucks because I had to have been one of the first to start the order.
Busy processing orders for 4 minutes…then sold out
VMP
also a coronavirus pox on all you who just bought these to re-sell on ebay or whatnot…
How many VMP members are there? And you thought only 32 of us might like a shot. Meh at its finest.
@chefmutt or 11… if people ordered 3
Looks like they had only 33 round and no square for VMP. Sold out at 4:03 I tried as the clock hit 4
Headphones denied!!
Well this has been frustrating. Last night as I was reading the comments the deal was put on pause. I skipped setting an alarm for 5:00 AM PT so I missed the morning sale. This afternoon when I ordered on the dot of 1:00 PM PT I got the selling fast message followed by sold out. Bummer.
@Pamela ditto
And to finalize the insult to VMP’ers - tomorrow’s deal will be a powerbank.
@hankster2 I’m holding out hope for a Contractor Trash bag full of Candy Corn
@dalex @hankster2 lol
Signed on at 3:50 at 4:00 to 4:04 keep saying deal paused, never went to BUY. Then went to SOLD OUT, what’s up? I was signed in and have a VMP account.
@JJfezz I reloaded the page right at 4:00 EST to the second, and it updated with a buy button.
I wanted a set more because of FOMO than need.
/giphy bullet dodged
@G1 Me too. So I bought a pair and I didn’t miss out.
YOU ARE VMP’s!
Show a little backbone and stop being whiners about not getting headphones.
@barnabee Yeah, be a good example for mehmbers.
@barnabee @sammydog01 …I got socks once
@RascalMJ @sammydog01 Me too!
@barnabee @RascalMJ @sammydog01 and cardboard phone holders…
@barnabee @RascalMJ @Stumpy91 And dollar t-shirts
@barnabee @RascalMJ @sammydog01 didn’t we get some funky USB keychain adapters too?
@RascalMJ @sammydog01 @Stumpy91 Yep, we did and mine was really cool. It came pre-broken.
@barnabee @sammydog01 @Stumpy91 … Wait, WHAT!!;??? I got the shirt to, but that’s all I remember. Shirt and socks… Where do I complain?
@RascalMJ Into one of these!
@RascalMJ
@barnabee @RascalMJ @sammydog01 @Stumpy91 @narfcake
All I got was charged extra for sales tax every month.
/giphy fish poop
@barnabee eat me
@medz Fuck you and the state you live in, and that stupid Google Fi code that you gave me.
@barnabee haha! You actually used that code? Sucker born every minute.
/giphy rofl
@medz Well, I’ve got to admit that I did like the $60 discount that it gave me, so I guess I should thank you for that.
after a free pair of cool Mediocre socks, I set my expectations high that it would be a semi frequent occurrence
Thanks, all you kids, for making me feel ancient.
“Why aren’t they wireless?”
“What, no microphone?”
“Are they bluetooth?”
“Never heard of a 1/4” jack."
Welcome to the end of high fidelity as we know it…
/giphy maximum-guided-woodchuck
First time getting denied on the 4pm VMP retry.
NOW I HAVE TO LISTEN TO ANY ONE OF THE OTHER TOO MANY PAIRS OF HEADPHONES I OWN.
Got about 2.5 hours of sleep last night between Apex Legends and my 4:59 AM PST alarm but hoping the headphones are worth it.
I passed based on the 2.5/5 stars reviews on Amazon for shoddy quality and craftsmanship. I’m okay I didn’t pay $50 for disposable, mid end, headphones.
Not a bad deal… just Meh.
@ecanada don’t you think review expectations might be different when paying $450 for headphones? no idea if they are crap, got a pair will report back if I keep em.
@thismyusername if I paid $450 for headphones and the finish peeled after 2 months I’d be livid. If I paid $50 and peel finished i’d be displeased. I wouldn’t be happy nor angry. I’d be… Meh.
Based on the quality reviews from Amazon, they are way overpriced at $450.
@ecanada @thismyusername Ah, but there’s the rub. Seems most folks here just clicked over to Amazon for reviews. If I want to research $500 cans, I’m going to want to hear from some audiophiles…
@MrJazz @thismyusername I can follow that logic. What do the high-end audio boards rate these as?
@ecanada @thismyusername Mostly thumbs up, and that’s in the $350 - 500 category. Any complaints were about the trebly (?) highs, but that’s just the nature of the beast. I viewed this as an opportunity to own a technology I would’ve otherwise had to pass on, price-wise.
@ecanada @MrJazz @thismyusername Ordered 1 of each version for the same reason. I got the n501 today, and the highs sound fine to me. Then again, I liked the highs on headphones like k701, HD800, and others that got complaints for piercing highs as well. I can actually see how they tried to sell these for a few hundred bucks for their sound quality. However, the build quality on these would never be passable at more than $100. Probably among the worse fitting/feeling headphones I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned a lot.
@ecanada @hypersonixz @thismyusername Fairly amazed you got them already. Yes, a couple of reviewers mentioned they’d be more comfy if they swiveled. Didn’t see anything about the build quality, though… thank God they were only fifty bucks. Hope mine ship soon!
@ecanada @hypersonixz @MrJazz @thismyusername Looking at reviews, it looked like the round ones had more issues with fit than the square ones. Hoping mine show up soon…
edit- Mine hasn’t shipped yet!
@ecanada @hypersonixz @MrJazz @thismyusername I have some non-swiveling headphones and I was able to adjust fit by gently twisting the metal below the head strap. It would be a bummer to break them though.
Why do I know that a group of bottom feeders who frequent here will show up on ebay trying to sell a butt-load of these headphones? Seems like that’s the way any decent deal rolls on here. It’s their profession. Half hoping they get burned. Only half mind you.
My order page never got past ‘processing’, but I got 1 of them in the mail today (the N501), and have to say I’m impressed on multiple fronts. The sound quality is better than expected, even without burn in. Meanwhile, the build quality is far worse than expected, even considering $49 price tag.
Had to wiggle the cord in the jack just to get the electrostatic driver in the right side to produce sound. The wood cups look nice, the rest of it looks cheap. Pads are uncomfortable. Headband fits me on the smallest size, when every other headphone I wear I used something towards the mid-larger size.
Not sure how much I’ll be using these due to comfort, but I’m glad i tried them. Maybe the N500 will fit better when I receive them. Either way I’ll probably end up just using my Monoprice m1060 for comfort.
@hypersonixz is the N501 the squarish or roundish pair?
@hypersonixz @Stumpy91 Squarish.
Got them today, the right side volume is like 10% of the left side. No amount of wiggling helped (so far). The left side sounds awesome to my 58 year old ears though. Hopefully Meh has some left and can replace them
@blueyed510 Please post what your resolution was.
@blueyed510 I had that issue and switched the left and right wires and they sound great.
@Stumpy91 Meh’s given me a refund, so now I’ll never know how they sound. Maybe I’ll try to take apart the right earpiece and see if there’s a bad solder joint or something
@densa I tried all sorts of combinations, even using an entirely different cable to drive the right earpiece alone, but no luck. They’re using a y-split stereo cable to deliver the same signal to both sides and just picking off the appropriate channel with the interior plug wiring in each cup, so maybe there’s a poor connection in the right side
@blueyed510 worth checking the internals. Bummer though. I’m supposed to receive mine Saturday.
@blueyed510 DITTO.
@blueyed510 This is exactly my issue. Switching the wires between the two doesn’t help. Stereo stuff that has sound panned to the right is there but sound in both ears is lower on the right side.
@Stumpy91 I got the right earpiece apart, there’s a full stereo jack in the earpiece with only the right connector wired to the speaker, so it doesn’t matter how you connect the cable that comes with it, you’ll still get the right channel from the right earpiece.
I measured the resistance through the connector and between the connector and the driver electronics board, and it’s fine, the connection is good.
The measured resistance of the headphones matches the box spec at 32 ohms, and there’s nothing I can see that’s bad, so it’s a fault in the driver or electronics. The soldering on the circuit board is too small for me to work on, so I’m done with repair efforts.
@blueyed510 bummer. It seems to be a common problem. I wonder how many of the units sold?
@blueyed510 @Stumpy91
All of them, it was a sell-out.
@blueyed510 @therealjrn I meant to say I wonder how many of the units sold have the same problem. I have to stop posting when I’m half asleep.
Got mine today also, the N500 (roundish) and they work fine, and although they are very bright sounding (nothing a little equalizing can’t fix) the detail and separation is pretty astounding for a lower priced headphone. I ran them through various tracks of music I know well and actually heard a few new things in the background mix I had missed before.
I found they fit very comfortably - I have a slightly large head (7 5/8 hat size) but the inner tension band helps hold them well but not to tight.
I like that the cord plugs in separately to the earpieces - this means they’ll be useful for connecting directly to mixer outputs.
I was also pleasantly surprised they came as quickly as they did, via UPS no less, and in a proper new box with the tape applied correctly. Way to go, Meh shipping!
@stolicat My N501s shipped yesterday from California so I’m not sure Meh shipping had anything to do with the packaging. I’m sure they appreciate the shout-out anyway.
@Stumpy91 Hmm, you’re right . Even though the label shows it coming from Texas, tracking history shows them shipping out of Ontario, CA, which is down by LA. Well, however that worked, I hope they can do that more often. Better than stuffing things in the white mailers which the delivery people take naps on or those used boxes that look like they were used for soccer practice
Received N500 today. WOW! I used to be happy with my Polk loudspeakers but now they sound distant and flat. I don’t feel it’s the $8.00 bottle of wine selling for $100.00 effect. All I can say is THANK YOU Meh.
The ETA for my headphones (the square one) if tomorrow.
Funny thing, they’ll be replacing (maybe) the blue Monster Headphones I got in a Fuku long ago. Those sound fairly good to my old concert-burned-out ears. My ears are still ringing after that Deep Purple concert.
@daveinwarsh I love purple.
@Barney loves purple.
@mediocrebot Yes, I do.
@daveinwarsh My ears are pretty wracked also from a lifetime of concerts and doing sound work, and I know I’ve lost some high-end perception and I have tinnitis and I was pretty surprised what an noticeable improvement in clarity and detail these provided. If the square ones are the same as the round ones, you’ll like them.
Mine (square) are truly awful. I am a snob, for the record.
Testing notes: Driving a mix of music and test signals from a dedicated DAC and headphone amp. Nothing premium. (JDS OL DAC + O2)
Build quality: Poor to acceptable. Gaps are uneven and different from side to side. These will be easy to bend if careless. Band adjuster is somehow too stiff and too loose - I think it’s that the resistance is the same as the detents, so it never feels like it engages.
Comfort: A bit heavy, but acceptable.
Freq Response: Poor bass extension - almost nothing below 40Hz. Bass and mids are way below the level of the treble.
Channel balance: Laughably bad - a mono signal sweep will sound like it’s moving left and right as the frequency goes up.
Lawnmower: ‘Something’ went wrong in my pair causing a very nasty ‘card in bicycle spokes’ sound, which was the dynamic driver clipping against mechanical limits. Caused my ear to ring on that side. That’s right! Hearing damage is included on the feature list.
The hum: ‘Something’ went wrong in their crossover, also - playing a bass sweep there’s a very strange ringing that gets excited - like a faint 900hz (ish) sound on top of the bass signal. Some sort of crazy IMD?
Music - Classical: Instruments don’t sound like instruments - because of the frequency notch, violin can range from hard to hear to hard to listen to - high harmonics come through VERY well, but the fundamental does not.
Music - Metal/Rock: Lack of bass and mids makes it very unpleasant.
Overall: 2/10 - There are many wonderful headphones at many price points for many purposes. These are just not good.
For my 54$ I would recommend:
The 17$ monoprice closed back headphones, and some more music to listen to.
OR, Monoprice HR-5C, if you must.
I like monoprice for headphones, as they punch way above their weight.
OR, if you like research and due dilligence, there’s amazing stuff to be had used, but that’s it’s own thing.
Good luck all! Hope you all like yours more than I liked mine!
@kizen99 sounds like your pair is defective, I’d send them back for a refund! QC on these seems to be spotty, which is unfortunate. I must have lucked out, fit and finish on mine isn’t too bad, I went with the N500’s. SQ wise - they’re not bad! Honestly, for the price point I’m pretty impressed! I’m used to balanced speakers etc. So the brighter treble doesn’t bother me (though I don’t mind darker ones either… The Meze 99 classics are usually my daily)
I got my N501’s today, one of the speakers is definitely missing something on the bass. I put it through this test , as well as using it as a monitor for my guitar amp. I’m guessing one of the two drivers in that can is broken.
Even in the working can, the bass is just not there for a lot of the range in that youtube demo. I will say, the music in sounds great on them.
It’s frustrating because the other can sounds great. I’m not sure it has as much range as another pair I got off Amazon years back, the JLabs Bombora:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M0FFXDW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1, but it’s clear. There’s a certain crispness to it that I don’t think the Bombora can match, but the bass resonance for the Bombora is one of the best I’ve heard.
Also, the N501’s are immediately extremely comfortable for me. They’re lighter than I’m used to, and somehow even the lack of swivel isn’t a deterrent. They may be the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever used.
If I can get the driver issue fixed, this might become a staple/favorite, just for the comfort and crispness, even if they can’t hit the bass.
@FSSZilla Crap, I put the Bombora back on and put it through the music test, and even though it’s not quite as “sweet”, I think they outperform the N501.
Since I’m apparently going HAM on these, for example, with the Bombosa, on the Stepped Sine Wave check, from the start, I can hear something, even if it’s a rumbly distorted low-frequency mess. 5 steps in, it’s absolutely audible.
With the N501, the left speaker takes 12 steps be any kind of audible, and it’s extremely quiet.
On the right, 6 steps in and it’s audible.
All cans across all headphones refuse to play the last three steps.
@FSSZilla How’d you record the output from the test?
@InnocuousFarmer I didn’t “record” it with any kind of measuring device, if that’s what you mean, I just did experiments with my ear. I don’t think that invalidates anything though, if that’s what you’re getting at.
@FSSZilla In the beginning of that first video, left is pitched a lot lower than right – “a lot” as in I noticed on my iPhone and I’m not that critical a listener. I assumed it was the results of a test, not the test itself.
That whitish noise starting at about 4 seconds in.
I’m getting the same thing from the other places in the video.
@FSSZilla I’m having the same problem with my 501’s that you are describing. The left headphone sounds like its less than half the volume of the right headphone, and the left headphone also sounds like it is going through a low-pass-filter (as in the bass and low mids are absent). Does this mean the driver is broken? How would it get fixed?
@aoeu most engineer-types I’ve talked to have suspected a bad solder in the left cup. A friend of mine is willing to take a look at it, though I’m not sure how operable these are. It will depend on the problem, but if it’s just a bad solder, then resoldering would fix it. If it’s the actual driver that’s damaged, you don’t have much recourse.
I grabbed both, but only have the N500 (rounds) so far. I have to agree about the stock low end being to weak. I have a collection of headphones and run them through a an Ultra Curve Pro DEQ so I can create digital EQ profiles for each of them. After setting up a profile I have to say these are pretty crazy. I mean it requires some serious boosting 20-70hz (nearly +15 on 20-40hz) and some cutting in the mid range, but man… these are a great value for the quality of sound produced at the meh price! I didn’t need to touch the mid to high end much as they are clean and crisp.
The clean punch they produce in the 30hz range (when boosted) reminds me of my Sony MDRZ7’s which have a 70mm driver. Obviously not as clean, but man for a little 40mm woofer it is working it’s butt off. That being said… without the EQ profile… yikes these are dry.
tl;dr Running through an EQ to boost the lows and cut the mids these are an amazing value. Without… yikes.
@batlin211
Is their anyway for someone to boost these headphones in the same or similar way you did but without the equipment? Also how much of what you were saying with the mids and lows comes to opinion and pretty much verifiable fact?
@JakobRamey I think it is all opinion. What sounds good to one person may sound like crap to another. I have 15 or so sets of headphones that I play around with. I think the ability of the 40mm woofer in these has a lot of potential since it has the electrostatic setup for the mid-highs unlike most of my headphones that are single speaker doing all the work.
I have a little FiiO A1 portable amp (~$20) so I gave that a try. None of the preset EQ curves sounded great compared to other EQ, but they were not terrible. The first EQ profile seemed to be the most balanced, but was missing the punch.
@batlin211 @JakobRamey If you’re listening from your phone or player and have an EQ setting, the “rock” EQ setting is fairly close to the curve @batlin211 created (maybe not quite as much bass boost). It helped even out the 500s I got.
@batlin211 how do you adjust the EQ for headphones? I have a microphone for doing that with loudspeakers.
Interesting people are commenting on bass being weak… I immediately thought it was tuned maybe a tad on the bassy side… Though, I got the N500s due to reviews stating the treble was tamer on that model, so it could be a model difference. Soundstage is awesome. I think I may have gotten a good model, there are no obvious defects visual or otherwise.
Women’s vocals are excellent (Mitski’s Your Best American Girl really plays nicely with these headphones).
I have a decent amount of experience with HiFi and headphones dac/amps. I’m no snob by any means, but I’m fairly discerning. I’m pleased with the purchase. I’d say they probably sound and feel like $100-$125 headphones. But there’s so much competition these days, paying much more than that would feel foolish - the Meze 99 classics go on sale for $160 from time to time on Drop and I’d say those beat these out by a mile on build quality, and on sound too (though I haven’t listened to these too much yet, maybe as they get some hours on them they’ll get nicer)
Is there a ‘break-in’ period for these headphones, like my speakers need?
My Klipsch speakers definitely sounded better after a good 50hrs music through them.
@daveinwarsh that topic is sure to bring a wide variety of opinions, but I would assume they’d benefit from burn in… I’ve never owned a speaker or headphone that didn’t benefit from use when they were new.
@daveinwarsh I thought that a suggested period and method of burn-in was mentioned. It may have been in the original post from meh.
@daveinwarsh I can’t find it so I must be imagining things. Or I read it in one of the many reviews I read.
@daveinwarsh
That’s a long time… I just touch the negative and positive wires to a car battery for a second and that seems to break 'em in instantly.
@daveinwarsh Just bought on Woot “Marshall Major II Wired On-Ear Headphones - Black”, $30.
Now to compare them!
I got the round ones. I was immediately impressed with the audio compared with my ATH-M50s. I was able to hear details I hadn’t before in songs I had played hundreds of times.
That said, I had to hold very still, because the sheet-metal headband and earcup attachment love to make noises whenever I bob my head or clench my jaw, and the cable transmits vibrations straight to the earcups.
Overall, I like them, and they look great. I am glad I went for them. I certainly needed something to replace my M50s with the flaking cracked leather on the headband (I got replacement earcups because the same thing was happening there)
/giphy headbanging cartoon
Got the N501’s today. I literally broke them on the first time trying to put them on my head. The left earcup snapped off from the headband when trying to take them off to make a slight adjustment.
I tried listening but couldn’t feel like I was getting the full effect. They were very weak in the bass department, albeit I am playing from my phone. However, an equalizer did nothing to help.
@zxinfinity Duct tape!
@daveinwarsh lol, the contact point between the cup and the band is so minuscule. Only 2 crazy small fillet weld at 1/8" long (and of questionable quality) is all that’s holding these together. A word to those unfortunate to have bought these… These should not be expected to hold up well for very long at all
I would not even know how to get these to hold up even with duct tape!
@zxinfinity that sucks. Could you try to silver solder it back on? I think that requires a lot of heat though. Or try some JB Weld. That stuff it’s supposed to hold better than a metal weld according to some people.
As far as bass goes, I’ve read that electrostatics are harder to drive than standard cone speakers. Even though these hybrids claim to be easy to drive, your phone might not have enough power for them. You might need an amp for them.
@zxinfinity something like this could help them https://www.schiit.com/products/fulla-1
That’s the least expensive DAC/amp combo I can think of. I have their magni amp and modi DAC for my work desk and it sounds amazing.
@tonylegrone @zxinfinity
Schiit Fulla?
Fulla Schiit?
I feel like this company is trying to tell us something about their products…
Seems like a good match for these headphones, though.
@DennisG2014 @zxinfinity Good eye. I didn’t pick up on that pun until you pointed it out.
Wow. Very pleasantly surprised with the N500 I got.
Seems to have a small “defect” on the left cup where the leather bulges out of the metal a bit, but if I hadn’t been looking for it I wouldn’t have noticed.
I’m not a “snob”, but I appreciate my music. Chicago sounds GREAT in these, just off my smartphone driving them.
I didn’t notice any sound transference as some have mentioned.
Maybe my N500 (Round) is broken, but it sounds incredibly flat with a lot of bass. Maybe both electrostat drivers are broken in each cup? The mids are pretty meh, and the highs sound like they’re coming out of Dollar Tree earbuds. Although the bass seems a little strong I suppose it’s not terrible.
Highs tested with Permutate by Haywyre and Red by Ben Khan. Pretty Awful.
Mids tested with White Noise by Kojaque.
Bass tested with Limit to your Love by James Blake.
I got the round ones yesterday. Overall I’m quite happy with them and they will replace some ATH-M30’s. I was happy with the ATH-M30’s, which probably tells you most of what you need to know about my level of audio-fidelity.
Sound is good / quite satisfactory for me. The construction and fit are good - my noggin is on the large side and I’ve had many headphones that were uncomfortable or felt too small.
Three specific callouts:
@slipperyp I have the same problem with the left can not swiveling. That can’t be intended.
@slipperyp Same issue with the swivel. The sound is good, I do have a headphone amp though. The cable is way too short. I ordered an extension for it. I’m going to leave them plugged in for awhile and just let sound play on them whenever I’m using my other headphones and see if a burn-in period like that makes them sound better, while waiting for the extension.
Well my cable is bad, it plays sounds sometimes but I have to constantly move the cable around on each headphone cup and then it’ll cut out or not play at all.
*Edit - I was wrong. I had the cables switched around since they’re not labeled.
@Anemone342 It’s weird, since it should work the same either way. A lot of reports indicate there’s a right way and a wrong way, though. I guess I won my coin-flip and got it right the first time.
@Anemone342 @Qylvaran The cable is stereo to each one, but the left should only pick up the left and vice versa, so you could have a bad cable that only has 1 line working on the ‘bad’ side. I’ve noticed poor trimming of the wood was preventing one side from plugging in completely.
Has anybody gotten a pair of the N501(square) ones that are fully functional? Please say yes, because that’s what I ordered and am or at least was really looking forward to.
@rglee129 Yup. Just unboxed mine. They look great, perfect condition & sound pretty good. They also look great on the wall!
I was VERY careful with them due to others with issues here.
I’ll slap on some Pink Floyd in a min to check them out better.
I’m happy (for now)!
@rglee129 OK. I haven’t used headphones in quite a while. I forgot how spacey Dark Side of Moon was… Cool, man. dig it?
These things do sound great so far, semi comfortable, not that heavy.
Had to turn down the opening to the song “Time”. The clocks would have blown my hearing…
Still need to hear some different guitar (maybe Hendrix or SRV), but it’ll be interesting to see how they sound after breaking in.
My receiver, I can plug them in & just leave them going while listening to speakers.
— End of report—
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 oh yeah. I have a CBS Master Series vinyl Wish You Were Here I can throw on to test my 501s when I get them tomorrow.
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 ha e you run across anything staying a suggested"burn-in" method? I thought I read it somewhere.
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 When they outlaw gun-carrying deer, only outlaw deer will have guns.
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 No.
@rglee129 @therealjrn Have an original 1940’s Red Ryder BB Gun on the deer.
Also a couple original 1950’s cap guns on wall.
The Jackalope has a miniature rifle on it…
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 Oh! I see now! Every household should have a security Jackalope!
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 @therealjrn “Crown of Creation” - nice.
@rglee129 @therealjrn Security Jackalope?
No… The Jackalopes were wanting to take over the property. Luckily, Chevy and Jetta (rest in peace, Jetta) ran out & got it just in time.
Here, they plan and prepare for the hunt:
@daveinwarsh Your set-up reminds of when I drew this. https://shirt.woot.com/offers/dark-side-of-oz-listening-party And then this https://shirt.woot.com/offers/dark-side-laser-show?ref=cnt_ctlg_dgn_15
@rglee129 LOL! That’s funny
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 That’s one fine jackalope!
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 @therealjrn Is Chevy a Sheltie? We have 2 rescue shelties.
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 @therealjrn Jetta was a wonderful amazing loved Sheltie that died last yr due to cancer. She gave us over 10 yrs of joy. Chevy is a 14 yr old Pom-mix that is fully retired from expected duties.
Got mine today and they sound great. Work perfectly fine. Thanks Meh!
@daveinwarsh @rglee129 @therealjrn We had 2 sheltie sisters from consecutive litters. The oldest looked like Jetta.The both lived until the age of 16. We miss them nearly every day. Lately I’ve been calling our 2 current shelties by the names of the 2 departed girls.
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 @therealjrn sigh… Yeah, I miss J-girl all the time.
Jetta was there no matter what, anywhere on the 5 acres, always there by my side. We considered finding another Sheltie, but Chevy is really slowing down and has lung and heart issues & a puppy would not be easy on him.
Jetta and Chevy were so close, always within 3 feet of each other, so it hit Chevy hard for a while too.
…still makes me sad thinking of her gone. I buried her with a nice marker out in the corner of the orchard, where she chased many rabbits.
I was skeptical but as soon as I used them to listen to some music I listen to fairly reqiently it felt like it wasn’t even the same thing. It’s blowing my mind. Like when I put on glasses when I was a kid and realized trees were made of individual leaves. They “feel” flimsy and cheap. They Sound God damn amazing.
All the bad comments from different purchasers of these headphones remind me (unhappily) of the whole Olio watch ripoff, where you think you scored, but in fact you got screwed! Could be Meh’s new motto!
My review: “meh. Wish I’d spent $5, not $50.”
My N501s are to be delivered today. Wish me luck. Shouldn’t need it but, well meh.
My 501s sound great and are also not broken.
I got the 500, and I’m listening to RadioParadise on my phone, with the ‘Mellow’ mix station streaming lossless FLAC. Sounds very decent. Not wild about the sheet metal that bangs if you walk around.
@caffeineguy what are other lossless streaming sources?
@Stumpy91 I’ve been listening and donating to RadioParadise so long, I didn’t know there were other streaming services
They have a ‘groovin’, ‘rockin’, and ‘world’ station now though, in addition to their ‘main mix’
So mine shipped from Ontario, and I’m in Atlanta, GA, and were estimated to be here today, but haven’t been scanned again since departure scan, is that normal? How long should I wait until I think they’ve been lost?
@nalesean Same boat as you. Shipped from Ontario, CA, USA which is actually California I have to come to learn. Supposed to arrive by end of day the 10th but no update since departure. I’m in Orlando.
@rglee129 thanks for the reply, that helps me feel a little better than it didn’t just get completely lost. In my experience no updates could mean nothing or could mean a package is lost as soon as it leaves. Hopefully we’ll get them soon, and they will be the non-broken version
@nalesean @rglee129 same boat here in Minnesnowta.
@nalesean @rglee129 mine have finally arrived at the local UPS center as of 2:49 am this morning.
@nalesean @Stumpy91 Yes! Mine, too. Out for delivery… Never been this pumped for a Meh delivery.
@nalesean @Stumpy91 Mine arrived. Work and sound great. Phew and yay!
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 mine arrived according to my spouse , looking forward to trying them
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 looks like I got one of the pairs that had only one side working
@nalesean @rglee129 that’s such a bummer. I wonder what meh really thinks about getting stuck with all these bad units. I assume you tried to change the cable connections. I had something weird happen driving them with my Pixel 4XL. It shutdown and appeared to be playing with no sound. So apparently it takes some juice to drive them.
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 yeah, I tried switching cable connections the problem stayed with left, I made sure there were no obstructions and the cable was fully seated and finally I hooked it into my amplifier to make sure it wasn’t under powered
It is such a systemic widespread issue makes me feel like there should be a simple fix. I haven’t pulled it apart and looked at the solder points
@nalesean @rglee129 @Stumpy91 Ditto on my right side. Since Verisonix now seems to be MIA, and since Meh just drop-shipped these… I’d say we’re all SOL. $50 wall art.
Mine are available for sale (cheap as hell) to anyone who wants a pair. Make me an offer.
@UncleVinny Oh hey Vin, I offer to take them off your hands if you pay shipping. Ok?
@UncleVinny I may be interested if mine never show up.
@UncleVinny is the left side working on yours?
@nalesean yep!
After UPS proved they are no longer capable of delivering parcels - I finally received one of the 3 pairs on Tuesday and found them to sound delightful out of the box, can’t wait to hear them after break-in. One pair was defective, with one side having a disconnected or defective low-frequency driver. A spectacular deal!
@margot lol - so other than being broken they’re awesome?
DIPLOMAT! RAT-A-TAT! FAT CAT! AWESOME!
@Pufferfishy Missed the bought 3 pairs, which only one was broken. I used to own a high-end audio store, so I’ve heard a lot of good phones, and these stack up quite well, especially at 49 freaking dollars! They’re well-balanced, detailed, and are just nice to listen to. The bass isn’t boomy or muddy, and I expect it to gain some extension as they break in.
Just curious if 1/3 of the gear you sold at your store was likely to be broken out of the box…
I mean, yeah, $50 is a great price for a great sounding pair of headphones - until they break.
@DennisG2014
Two out of three ain’t bad!
So, if they’re not functioning at delivery, will MEH accept return and refund purchase price? Hopefully, buying from MEH is not a “spends your money, take your chances”
@drslyme yep, meh will give a refund. See the post above from blueyed510. They gave him a refund and he kept the headphones. It sounds like they don’t have replacements though. Meh will usually make it right.
ETA for my rounds is between tomorrow (the 10th) and Thursday (the 13th). No notice of shipping yet. Should I worry?
@watermaker Only if you want to.
@therealjrn Well, I won’t worry. I’ll be happy.
Got mine, they seem great. Had a bit of trouble at first where I was only getting sound on one side, but as soon as I plugged it into my dad’s old stereo set up it was fine.
Just got my n501’s and man, am I missing something? I know open ears sound better but my HE-4xx sound so much better than these. They were more expensive by actual price but 1/4 the MSRP
@rsheldiii I can confirm HE-400s are better to my brain as well.
Chalk me up as another n501 recipient with only one side working. And that’s only if I hold the plug just right.
@DanFielding I had some luck when I plugged it into my dad’s amplifier. I saw some other folks talking about power issues, don’t know if that helps!
@novium It’s the headphones themselves unfortunately. Tried with and without amp, same result.
Some have swapped the cables with success. In my n500 I noticed the wooden trim was blocking full insertion of the cable.
@caffeineguy
/giphy oh yeah
Received my 501’s today and they work without problems. Nice looking. Thank you meh.
I got mine and there’s a bad buzz in the left side. I really wanted these - kept at it for nearly a half hour before the order finally went through. Now they don’t work right. And they don’t sound as good to me as my Sennheiser HD280s, but maybe they need to break in. (If they didn’t buzz.)
Finally received my N501s today. My early review: comfortable on my big noggin, I was lucky enough to guess correctly the right/left cable insertion. Playing Jethro Tull Benefit ripped from CD to MP3 on my phone using MX Player. Rock EQ. Sounds great as far as I’m concerned without even playing with EQ. I may move to my stereo and play some vinyl if I can find my headphones cable extension.
My N501 arrived today. They are working and fitting properly right out of the box, and I am happy. Also, the box itself is quite handsome and professional, as is the carry case. Also the UPS driver very carefully placed the shipping box on a slightly elevated aspect of my porch so the box didn’t absorb any moisture from the snow - that was above and beyond! This purchase has worked out quite well for me, based on the first 3 songs.
Mine work (501) great. Oddly (based on what I’m reading here) when I switch the left and right cables, they still sound the same. Is there any way to know which side of the cable goes in which channel? Other than listening to that one Man… or Astroman? song which has a stereo phasing test?
@rglee129 there is an audio posted earlier in this thread.
@Stumpy91 What do you mean audio? I couldn’t find anything.
@rglee129 Sorry, some of my intended message is missing. Here’s a link to an audio test on Youtube.
@rglee129 The cable is a ‘splitter’, so both channels are available at each plug. Each side of the headphones will only pick up the signal and ground of the channel they need. Folks that have had issues resolved by swapping sides likely have a bad cable (i.e. don’t have ‘stereo’ at each plug’, a problem masked by swapping sides)
@caffeineguy you are correct sir. I played the above audio test before and after swapping cables. Channels stayed correct.
@rglee129 @Stumpy91 Here’s a better Audio Test:
@medz @rglee129 that’s great. I’d never heard that.
Got my pair on 2/11. Sound fine. Fit great. Both sides work. Wife says I look like a dork and should stay inside with them. Slightly aggravating (Irking!) the wife makes the deal even better!
Sound seems just ok to me? My (relatively) cheap Bluetooth headphones have a higher sound quality.
@mccullal8 They’ll only be as nice as your source music… Head over to radioparadise.com, start streaming, click the gear, then switch streams to Ultra or Flac.
@caffeineguy @mccullal8 pretty nice streaming site. They have a lot of artists when you search but it looks like you can’t play them on demand.
@caffeineguy @mccullal8 Amazon Music had HD Music but I can’t figure out how to locate it.
@mccullal8 @Stumpy91 RadioParadise is great, No need for On-Demand. If you create an account (free) than you can use their “play something different” button, and their mobile app lets you cache many hours of music too. I’ve heard many great artists and b-sides I’d never think to have requested.
@caffeineguy by “play something different” button, do you mean the “skip” button. I’m looking at the interface in chrome on a PC. Some of these stream player interfaces aren’t so intuitive.
@Stumpy91 yeah-- It used to be called PSD with their older/last interface.
@caffeineguy the interface on the Android app is clunky and frustrating. I can’t figure out how to change from the main stream to the rock stream. Easy with the web based player.
@Stumpy91 Click the music note button… Otherwise, how do you like the mix? Try listening to it for an 8hr day and see what you think of the eclectic mix
@caffeineguy Thanks for the tip. Do you know if it will taylor the stream to your favorites/likes/dislikes?
My N501s arrived today. I had some trouble with the left ear, but found the cable just needed to be pushed in with more force than the right. I get the feeling the fatal flaw is the cable connections — maybe with non-detachable cables or mono connectors they would’ve been more reliable?
I’d be interested to hear if anyone tries bypassing the jacks by soldering the wires straight in (which isn’t going to be me, because I’m terrified of soldering irons).
Way more detail than any pair of headphones I’ve ever heard.
Gonna take some getting used to, but it’s quite possible these will supplant my B&Os if they’re comfortable enough to listen for hours on end. Dunno if it’s the pair of drivers or the hybrid thing (maybe both), but it’s like everything has its own space now. Voices and instruments (when mixed well) don’t mush together or interfere with each other, which has always been the big letdown with headphones.
At first I tried plugging them into my computer at work, but the headphone output on that machine is terrible, and these made it sound even more terrible.
Switched to my iPad and it was a whole 'nother story. So make sure you’re plugged into something decent, and if you’re streaming, turn the audio quality up as high as it goes. Spotify’s default setting leaves a lot to be desired anywhere other than in my car.
@TheFLP Rather than solder, a drop of hot glue, clear RTV, or even epoxy would probably solve the problem, and would be moderately reversible.
@caffeineguy Assuming the jacks themselves aren’t the problem — I could picture them securely glued but still not making proper contact, which would suck.
Mediocre build quality-- One side of my N500s has the headphone plug recessed a pinch more than the other side, so the cable constantly pops out. The weight of the cable is enough to pop it back out.
Fun fact for the rest of you. Since the headphone cable is basically a stereo splitter (L, R, and Gnd at each plug), a loose or partially plugged cable can short L to R or to ground out the other, so if you’ve got a problem with the right side, don’t forget to check out/inspect the cable on the left side and vice versa.
For anyone else that wants to unload a ‘bad’ pair, I’d be interested in attempting to fix them since I suspect most issues are related to the cable/jack, and with 2 bad pairs, I might be able to make a good pair. Send me a message!
@caffeineguy my N501s seem ok. Can you shave the plastic around the plug and maybe enlarge the hole?
Did anyone notice if their headphones were shipped from an outfit called Global Prodigy in the L.A. area? I have a notice from UPS saying they have been waiting for a package from them for two weeks now.
@watermaker I just got my shipping notice! Sure enough, my headphones have been sitting in CA for the last two weeks! MEH!!
I’m tossing out all my earbuds now. Just no comparison, what used to sound ok now sound cheap.
I don’t suppose anyone here is unhappy with the fit of their square headphones and wishes they ordered the round pair? Because I have the opposite problem and would happily trade my round ones for square ones. They sounds great. They’re just too big for my head and always feel like they’re sliding down.
wow. happy valentines day to my ears. i feel bad for those who got a bum pair, but I feel like the gamble paid off for me. wow. round pair, sounds almost to good. eerily good. the metal edges are a bit intimidating and the fact only one cup swivels is… odd; the sound quality makes all of that irrelevant though.
Picked up some lossless Metallica and tried out my new cans, I got the round ones. At first I holyshit this is good. Then I remembered it has been a really long time since I’ve had lossless source audio, so I put on my razor headset… It reminded me of the first time I ever heard a CD, we put the same song on the tape player to compare. Like the tape, the sound was fine on the old headset before I tried the new headphones… Now I realized I was listening to muted washed out sounds.
But it’s Friday, I got 30 minutes to kill before someone gets home,so time to jump on my computer and use the headphones how they will be used most of the time.
I started up my FPS game. If you play this type of game you know loud headsets are a must, so you can track using sound. The first thing I noticed was my weapon wasn’t deafening. My first thought was they we’re not as loud, but I had no issue with tracking a player on the fist floor when I was on the 2nd. I then realized the sounds were not muted and washed out. I could pick out the individual sounds I needed to win the game.
.
I wanted to give them to my wife for Valentine’s day, but they would go to waste listening to pop country on a low bitrate stream, so I am keeping them.
Tl;Dr I like my new headphones, I should have bought 2.
My first impression after a quick 15 minute listen is, wow, these are great heaphones especially at that price. I used to be an audiophile (whether that’s good or bad I don’t know) and knew that there was a certain feeling you got from something that was clearly better than what you’d gotten used to. These definitely met that standard but it was clear that something was, well, “clear.”
It was the squarish ones I tried. I also ordered a round (couldn’t decide) and haven’t tried them yet. Thanks Meh this was a good find!
I ordered at 1:46AM ET. Order shows still processing. I have contacted MEH more than once to find out why delayed, and they have yet to respond in any way. Disappointed in customer service.
@drslyme check your spam folder, or junk mail or promotions. But also realize they work 8-5 M-F so they won’t get back to you on a weekend. They will get back to you if they haven’t already.
I got my square ones sometime last week. They sound good, but they’re too small for my head and become uncomfortable after awhile.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
/giphy my ear hurts
Less than five minutes since ups dropped the box off on the porch. Already opened them up, and can’t wait to try them out later.
@ConradHilton how did you like them?
@Stumpy91 so, I’m saying this not having listened through a dac or amp yet, but even just listening on my 2019 iPod touch they give great separation on the sound stage between lower bassy notes and instruments and vocals, so even at higher volumes I’m not feeling like anything is getting washed out by anything on the low end, and everything still seems discernable from each other. I definitely don’t regret the purchase, and part of my next office setup does include a new headphone amp, so I feel like in about a week I’ll see the real difference between these and my akg m220’s that cost me just as much.
@ConradHilton that’s great. I really like mine. I’ve listened to music on both my Pixel 4XL and my stereo. I may pick up a headphone amp because my Pixel stops playing through the headphones after several minutes. What headphone amplifier do you recommend?
@Stumpy91 I’m far from an expert on the matter, but I’m getting the objective 2 that massdrop sells because it consistently reviews better than headphone amps that cost five times as much. Also, I’m bummed to hear that your phone doesn’t seem to like your headphones. Glad you’re liking them all the same, though.
Side note, I’ve been listening to mine for about the last three hours, and I’m pretty sure that once these get through their warm in period I’ll be beyond in love with these.
@ConradHilton I’m thinking if I connected my phone to the headphone amp to drive the headphones, I’d be ok.
Listening to Beatles Sgt. Peppers Super Deluxe Edition on Qubuz at 24 bit/96 kHz. WOW. 3 beers in. Social distancing so far successful.
I finally tested my (rectangle) Verisonix -vs- the $30 headphones I got from woot the next week, a pair of Marshall Major II Wired On-Ear Headphones.
I went back & forth several times, listening to the same music.
I must admit that the Marshalls have a cleaner nice bass & plenty high range. They were also a bit more comfortable.
The Verisonix look much better hanging on the wall.
I’ll conduct the test again with Scotch to sharpen my senses…
I went to adjust the pivot on mine, and the weld simply broke off, effectively snapping mine into two pieces. Coupled with the shoddy fit of the headphone plug (that frequently pops out and drops a channel), I’m pretty disappointed. They certainly sounded good for the few hours I got to listen to them. Email off to meh; we’ll see what happens
@caffeineguy Mine did the same. Left cup didn’t pivot for some reason, and ended up breaking it trying to get it to. Was super disappointed as I was really digging the sound quality. Used some JB-Weld, and clamped it together for 48Hrs. Seems to be holding strong.
If mine were to come apart like has happened to a few apparently, I was thinking about seeing if I could get someone to spot weld it. My headphone jacks seem to fit securely.
@Stumpy91 I was testing mine and I could only hear the left and it was playing right and left through it and here it is December 2020 so warranty is defiantly over. Pulled them off and looked and I hadn’t pushed the right plug in all the way! Now they sound great!
Definitely in the bum pair group. Tried them briefly when they arrived (already not thrilled, I have a big head, but they were heavy and hung low, plus small ears, so they didn’t really fit close) and they seemed to work, though couldn’t really get them to hang close enough to my ears to get a good sound. Since I was traveling, carefully put them in their case, in their box, in storage. Really didn’t try to use them until quarantined, and right ear died the first day (only about 3 hours use, then carefully returned to case), left ear died after about 6 hours use (if I play with it, and bend the cord just so I get intermittent sound), so no, not a happy camper. I hope Meh does the right thing and gives me something that works, but, seriously, in the at risk group, not supposed to be going out, my computer is my lifeline, and since people are working from home not really OK to play Hulu or Netflix or the endless press conferences of where I am now allowed to go out what time, to get what may or may not remain of food, toilet paper and paper towels. But, in fairness, Meh has been pretty fair in the past so I am hoping a replacement is on the way (this is my 3rd set of headphones from them is about a 10 months, the first cheap set problems were definitely my fault, second set, the ear buds were a little defective, but meh, and they fall out of my ears, but, little ears, hard to fit, but these were definitely defective and not on me).
@mcc36 Mine are now just wall-hanger headphones. They really don’t have good sound and are a bit uncomfortable after a few minutes.
I write it off as another meh purchase.
They do look good just hanging on the wall though…
Good luck finding your toilet paper!
Meh refunded me, fair, but not my first choice. Pretty sure it is the cord, not the headphones. Ordered something from Morningsave, I’ll just have to be patient until they arrive. I can probably afford to miss a few press conferences at this point, know the drill.
One site I visited says only the right cup is supposed to swivel. The left one although it looks as if it SHOULD swivel, doesn’t.
The right cup on mine swivels fine.
That design apparently supports DJ monitoring (listening to the headphone with one ear and to the external speaker output with the other).
Since the frame is fragile, I suspect that limitation is intended to encourage people to put the headphones into the case when not actually listening through them.
Sound is great. My fist headset of this type. They do get uncomfortable after a while and only one of the pivots work. Glad I bought this headset. Would like them to be more comfortable. Also, the cord is too short.
I kind of forgot about these, and decided to try them out again tonight. Even though they sound good, I’m afraid I have too much tinnitus to enjoy them.
If anyone is sad they missed out on the deal and wants to buy them, let me know.
@UncleVinny I have tinnitus too, but these don’t seem to bother me. The in ear buds seem to be bad even at low volumes. Just my opinion.
It looks like I picked the right type to get, the square ones. They adjust to your head and fit me pretty good. The others look like there aren’t many adjustments & might get uncomfortable quick.
These headphones have treated me quite nicely for this past year - they were a solid buy. Unfortunately, one of the ear cups has just snapped off. Did anyone else have this problem? How did you solve it?
@crambledon yes I had that happen they sit inside a drawer now
Does anybody have a link for a working headphone replacement cable?
I bought one that I thought would work but that only gets audio on the left side.
Unfortunately the stock one for some reason “keeps slipping out” of the jack.
@datruandi Look at the barrels of the plugs on the two cables. They should have the same number of rings. If they don’t, you got the wrong cable. I’ll speculate without seeing them that the old one had one more ring than the new one. What you probably need is called a “3.5mm stereo cable”.
@werehatrack the cable I got has the same number of rings still no luck.
Eg HE400SE Replacement Cable Cord for Hifiman HE4XX HE400SE HE400I(3.5mm Plug Version) Headphone Cable, 5.9Ft to 16Ft Extension Coiled Audio Aux Cord (Dual 3.5mm Plugs) https://a.co/d/j9hLQfP
Really enjoyed the sound from my round version of the Verisonix N500 that I got from here in January 2020. But just ran across this forum trying to find after-warranty support or a fix for the hinge that just snapped its welds
- I’m guessing the company is long gone. I saw the JB Weld comment and may go that path. Folks I know who weld, don’t do anything quite as delicate at the micro-welds that held the hinge to the headband.