SamsonSR850 Professional Semi-Open Studio Reference Monitoring Headphones

Wow. Gotta write these babies up! These 'phones are outstanding for the money. Mind you, I am an old ambulance driver/EMT and my hearing is shot from siren noise over the years. I need the best headphones I can afford to get the most from my stereo listening to overcome the constant high-pitched tone in my ears from tinnitus. The sound definition from the Samson SR850 is unbelievable. I wasn't expecting much from a thirty-something dollar headset, but the reviews were pretty good, so, why not try a pair?The connection hardware is a light weight but sturdy cord with a combination 1/8" (3.5mm) and 1/4" (6.3mm) gold plated plug. The 1/4" plug can be unscrewed from the inner 1/8" standard plug, giving you plug-in versatility. The connecting cord to the 'phones is long enough to allow you to have good separation between the computer or amplifier and your head, without any limiting constriction between the sound source and your head. They cord is much lighter than most quality headsets that feature heavier coiled cords.The SR850 is lightweight, comfortable, and the fidelity of the sound is as perfect as my old ears are capable of hearing. I would describe the sound as crisp and well defined in clarity. I began the initial test with the tank battle game World of Tanks Blitz. The echo of the gun could be heard booming across the valley and the sound is realistic, down to the thump-boom of the shell hitting home. The engine sounds of the tank were rumbly and the muffling when the hatch was closed made you feel like you were surrounded by the low rumble of the engine and the crunching of the tracks outside the armor shell. Very realistic.Next up was music. The lovely harmonies and sweet instrumentals of the bluegrass band, The Cox Family. Outstanding clarity and very well balanced with these headphones. The lyrics were crisp and not muddled at all, even better than my $200+ studio headphones. And, because the head cups are semi-open, I can still hear the sounds in the room around me. Voices come through very clearly compared to my closed ear studio set. You get very good situational awareness with these 'phones.The cans are lightweight and comfortable as well; the velour padding helps a lot. The only drawback is entirely personal. On my head, I need just a little bit of padding so the headband does not fit too low and I am sure I can find stick-on padding to add just a bit of vertical crown support. One thing that helps are the spring-loaded over-the-head wires that allow the headphones to fit securely to the sides of your ear. The padded earcups are rounded so they fit well over the ear and you can adjust the earphones so they sit "just right" on your head and the circular form does not impinge on your ear like some of the rounded-rectangular inner profile cups do if you need a little forward or backward "swing" to find that "just right" sweet spot for the headband on your head. The headband is a separate piece from the support rod/wires and is wide enough to be pretty comfortable and secure, but a little bit of padding atop the crown would help.All-in-all, if you purchase the Samson SR850 it will be money well spent. I am going to get another pair as a spare, they are that good, and that affordable. They definitely won't break the bank!

TLDRIf you just want great sound for an absurdly low price, everything else about these headphones will be totally fine. Any complaint I have about these is purely to demonstrate that there are reasons to buy more expensive headphones if they fall within your budget. But for what these go for, I whole-heartedly recommend these for anyone who doesn’t know if the advantages of open backs are worth it, aren’t sure how much they want to spend but still want something that sounds good right now, is a just starting audiophile, is a creator on a budget, and/or wants a second/backup pair with little to no compromise on sound.SOUNDPurely based on sound, these punch so far above their weight that I really don’t care much about any of the other features. There’s not a ton of presence in the low end, but it is clear enough for anyone buying/expecting open backs. Absolutely fantastic for instruments and vocals, some of the clearest sounding mids/highs I have enjoyed for <$200. The overall stage is impressively wide and rich. I genuinely got confused listening to these at first because I kept hearing things from different parts of the room or my house, but it was actually just parts of songs I had never heard before. There is something magical about being able to hear things from far away clearly without that clarity crushing it into the vocals/instruments. There’s a good amount of sparkle in the top end can be harsh to some. I would recommend running these for 20-40 hours, either while listening or even just running off your phone overnight for a week, and then reevaluating. It’s not magic, but it can take a little edge off the top. If it still sounds harsh up in the stratosphere, I actually recommend lowering the volume before EQing these. When I was first burning these in, I found these harsh. But I realized that the high sparkle was giving a shimmer to percussion and synths that I had flatly not heard with other headphones before. I strongly recommend being open to what these do in the highs even if feels like too much at first. Synths and bass are okay, but don’t suffer in these areas any more than my more expensive headphones. Where I will say the bass excels here ties back into hearing things from far away with clarity with losing distance/space. Echos sound incredible on these, so real percussion resonates more than I’m used to hearing. It gives the bass more density without being louder or punchier. At <$40, I am genuinely shocked with how much I gravitate towards these for sound.BUILD/DESIGNThe entire build is plastic and doesn’t feel amazing, but somehow still feels and looks better than <$50 headphones from big companies (e.g. Sony, skullcandy jbl, etc). Granted, the design is completely derivative of a much more reputable brand, but for two Andrew Jacksons I couldn’t care less. The plastic headband isn’t the most rigid in the world, but the design makes the auto-adjusting faux-leather headband work easily and securely. By using a wired design instead of a solid headband, the unit is remarkably light. The earcups swivel in 360 degrees, albeit not very far. The 3.5 jack is very sturdy, but the side leading into the headphones is just okay, given it’s not replaceable. The earcups don’t feel great to the touch and have a crunchy sound when compressed, which can be annoying when adjusting or putting them on. This did get better over time after being worn in however.COMFORTAll these factors considered, the headphones are just okay in terms of comfort. For how light these are, I’m a little surprised that these create a slight amount of pressure on the top of my head. Obviously everyone’s fit will be slightly different, but the trade off with an auto adjusting headband is that the pressure on the faux-leather that pulls the band up is applied directly to the user. I thought the band was uncomfortable at first, but if I adjust the headphones, I actually find the cheap part resting against my head almost imperceptible. It’s only when the pressure has been applied long enough that I begin to notice. It’s not enough to stop wearing necessarily after short-medium listening sessions, but certainly worth adjusting every once in awhile. While I’m lukewarm on the pads in terms of build, they do a great job of keeping the headphones in place while in use. Despite feeling/sounding crunchy, I actually didn’t mind them for comfort. I thought I would feel the cheapness pressed right against my head, but just like the faux-leather band, it’s not the material itself that gets comfortable. In this case, the semi-on ear and tendency to sweat are more uncomfortable than the cushions themselves. The size of the cups belies that depending on your ear size, part of the cup may rest on your ear. While this is more preference, I think more people will notice sweating in these. It’s by no means horrible, but pretty much unavoidable.THE RESTThe cable is more of a studio length, but not a big deal. These run at 32 ohms, which is important because at this price, you can’t be recommending headphones that require a dac that costs more than the headphones themselves (that being said you can use a better dac, and yes, they sound even better). That coupled with the autoadjusting headband means anyone can pick these up and they will sound/feel great. You don’t need extra equipment or to fiddle with the fit, they just work. They sound great with content, Spotify, flacs, with or without a dac, with everything and in every way. I use these for two main cases: going for walks and listening to music with other people. For $35 i don’t worry about damaging my more expensive headphones while I’m out and about plus I can hear my surroundings clearly and walk safely. When I’m listening to music with other people, I can talk to them about the music without hearing my own voice in my headphones. While these are two very specific cases, I hope they demonstrate that these don’t need a perfectly quiet room to sound amazing, even though that’s obviously where they sound the best. I’ve been learning that hearing music in all its spaciousness interacting with the literal world around me often sounds better than a perfectly isolated, but relatively stuffy closed back. I used to think I preferred balanced sound across the board, but these have a bass roll off and sparkle in the highs that bring out a side to many instruments I didn’t realize I care about. These headphones add a shape and quality to different sounds that have broadened the way I think about and appreciate listening to music.

wonderful purchase. these things work great and sound quite good. extremely good for the price. about a year and a half after i bought it the cord began to fail, but it was easy enough to make a repair on granted you know what youre doing. the headband has recently begun to delaminate but thats only after multiple years of use, and i am more than happy to purchase the cheap parts to keep this pair working. great purchase.