Superlux HD-681 EVO (Black)

I bought these headphones because my old on-ear ones were wearing out and I really wanted a nice pair of headphones without spending an awful lot of money. So I did my research and came up with these headphones. Many people say they are very good quality and have an exceptionally low price, and even compete with headphones that are 2-3 times the cost. I received my pair about a week and a half earlier than I had anticipated I would receive them, at the earliest, and I was very surprised and excited. They came in very nice retail packaging and were completely undamaged. These were my very first high quality pair of headphones, and I am not disappointed in them at all. The bass is good and punchy, the treble is nice and clear, and the mids are decent, they could be a little better but are not sloppy or bad in any means, and the sound stage feels huge. The aesthetics are clean, both cables are nice, thick quality audio cables, the carry bag is a nice polyester material, both materials of the ear cups feel very comfortable, and the headband works well. These are a very high quality construction and I feel like they will last me a long time. I enjoy the overall fit of these headphones, I am a guy, but I have a slightly smaller than average head and ears that are also on the small side, so the self-adjusting headband works well for me, and the ear cups don't touch my ears at all, so it is wonderful. I also like that I have 2 cables that come with the headphones, and even if the cables wear out, I can simply buy a new headphone extension cable for less than $10. I have used these to listen to many genres of music, talk shows, games, etc. on my computer and my phone and everything sounds very good. I can hear so many things that I could never hear before in music and in games and it just blows my mind how detailed the sound is and how much of the sound I was missing before. (note: I am not using an external amp or a DAC in any of my testing, the headphones are plugged straight into my phone or computer)Some of my criticisms are as follows: First, plugging the cable into the headphones can be rather difficult, especially while the headphones are on. The mids could use some slight improvement. Be aware that these headphones are very large, and I don't know that I would recommend them to people who would use them while traveling a lot because of their size. They are big, this doesn't bother me much, but I would like if they were slightly more portable than they are. The cable clip doesn't seem like it makes the cable any more securely attached to the headphones than it is without it, but the cable is still attached well. They are labeled as "monitoring headphones," but I would personally not recommend them to be used with this purpose in mind simply because they don't give a true representation of what you should be hearing. With monitoring headphones you want as flat of a frequency response curve as possible, and these don't offer that feature.PROS:-Very good price to performance-Extremely comfortable-Very good build quality overall-Many great accessories-Sound is exceptionalCONS:-Bulky/ not very portable-Mids are slightly lacking, nothing major though-Cable clip doesn't seem to do much-Not good to be used as "Monitoring Headphones" (didn't impact me, but be aware)Despite these few cons, I still rate these as a 5/5 just because of my experience with them and their exceptional performance and features for such a low cost. I would definitely recommend these to anyone looking for a high quality audio experience in any price range.

I ended up getting the HD681 EVO's. I tried them stock for a few days and compared them to the A700x's (it's the only cans I had around to do a side by side comparison, but i have heard many cans before). After some break in, I made some of the modifications mentioned by Solderdude in a PDF. After even more break in, I compared it to the A700x's once more and listened to several differences:Low'sDefinitely way more bass in the HD681 EVOs than the Audio Technica's. Bass was more boomy at first but after some mods and break in (velour, felt removal, covering up some vents, no filter), bass sounded a bit more controlled and punchy. If you want even more controlled bass then install a filter.Mids and highsDefinitely there is a lot to talk about here. From what I discovered, there are two versions of the HD681 EVO's. The newer version comes with additional velour pads and a lot of little factory improvements (better rubber band, different vent covering material, etc.), the old version doesn't. The mids and highs vary between these two as well, mostly around the 5k range where there was a significant -db drop in the older version that has been since improved. The stock HD681 EVOs initially sounded a bit muddled, but after some break in, plus the mods, the sound became way more comparable to the ATs. The ATs still have the edge in sound quality and clarity, but for the price difference, I was absolutely impressed on what the EVO's were presenting to my ears. Besides, many EVO users have reported that these cans get even better after 100-150 hours of break in, so kudos to that.Sound-stageThe original A700s, although i have never tried them, are widely known to have some of the best and widest sound-stage for the money. I have the A700xs and I was blown away when I first heard them. I listened to 3D audio, surround sound videos and games while making my comparisons with the EVO's. The A700xs still have the upper hand by a slight margin, but the EVO's did not disappoint at all and are just behind. There is roughly a 15-25% difference in the sound-stage clarity, but i believe that has to do with the superiority in the AT's mids and highs clarity. However, i believe that in terms of sound-stage depth, there is a significantly smaller margin of about 5-10%, although it felt like the EVOs had a more defined circular stage (more on that below). In regards to pinpoint accuracy, i believe this is very subjective with in recording quality, the amp you use, the type of surround sound technology, your mind and how spatially conscious you are, the modifications you have made to the EVO's, and many more factors. I was able to accurately position sound cues on both cans very well. Both cans have a different way of executing it. The A700xs are good at orientating me when things are to the side or behind, but drowned a bit when things are in front or above, whereas the EVO's seemed to have a slight better circumnaural accuracy. Regardless of which cans you use, accuracy gets VERY confusing when there are a lot of cues at once.After 100+ hours so far i can say that these cans have exceeded my expectations, and they only cost me $37 dollars versus $135. They are definitely comfortable and are getting better by the day. Go Superlux. I ended up returning my A700xs, no question about it.Hope this helps and reply if you have more specific questions.Saludos