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Superlux 681 EVO Headphones Review

Ren

First off, I'd like to say that this will be updated in a week or two after I've fully experienced these headphones. I've had them for less than 24 hours, but I figured I could get this started.

 

 

Price and where I bought:

- $40 w/free shipping @ Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BWUHHYE/ (that url..)

 

 

These are supposed to be the revision models of the Superlux 681's that Tek Syndicate reviewed on Youtube with their bigger brother, the 688B's. There were a few issues with the original 681's that were supposed to be addressed with these (comfort, bit much on the treble, aesthetics), we'll see if they were. These are semi-open circumaural/over-ear headphones, cups that go around your ears and don't rest on top.

 

Scroll to the bottom for a summarized review via rating system (not complete yet) if you wish to avoid all the text.

 

 

 

Accessories list:

- 3.5mm > 6.3mm jack converter

- 1M/3' Extension cable

- 3M/9' Power cable

- Cable clip - for keeping things tidy

- 2nd pair of headphone ear pads - velour! a.k.a. high quality, plushy felt pads

- Durable traveling bag for accessories - headphones do not fit in here and shouldn't be put in there

- Manual

 

Packaging:

- Amazon sent it in a slightly oversized box with cushiony air-filled plastic, very nice

- Product box is pretty standard, triangular folded cardboard to support and protect the headphones from being damaged by weight on top of it

 

Aesthetics of headphones:

- Shiny, somewhat cheap-seeming plastic accents, hard plastic elsewhere

- Steel support bands w/some form of plastic/rubber coating

- Thin but durable feeling headband, looks good

- Preinstalled ear pads are pleather, but don't look cheap

- Surprisingly large size overall

 

 

Time for my opinions.. 

 

 

---Build quality:

Feels rugged, flexed them when I first grabbed em to see how loose the plastic was and how strong the steel support bands were. These aren't something I recommend walking around with anyway, but I'd feel safe dropping them on anything except stone tile/concrete or pavement. There were a few complaints about the headband breaking for some people but I don't know how that's possible without you mishandling them. Those steel support bands are what you should be resting these headphones with, not the fabric support band. The cords are thick but light in weight and don't feel like they tug on you or anything. If you've ever owned an electric guitar, the cord is quite similar to one you'd use with an amp but not as heavy-duty. 

 

---Comfort (initial thoughts):

The 681 EVOs are pretty good comfort-wise. They are very light in weight despite their size (these things seem huge to me, with my huge head). You can start to feel some slight pressure from the clamping force after about 30-40 minutes of wearing them but I've had no problems with wearing them for far longer thus far. Keep in mind, this is with the pleather pads. The preinstalled pads are more rigid foam than other ear pads I've had but feel way more durable. Perhaps I need to break them in a bit before they stop feeling as stiff but they are by no means "too hard". You really can't feel them on your head despite the headband not being very cushioned, which surprised me the most. I've got a large head and these feel like they won't slip off or are too heavy on the grip. I'll revisit comfort after more use and after using the velour ear pads as well.

 

---Sound (initial thoughts):

First thing I noticed after using these is that they are higher on the treble than anything else. I'm mostly a fan of metal and rock, but I do listen to some electronic/house/dance/dubstep on occasion. With rock, I felt the treble messed with the vocals a bit too much. Highs were better than expected and lows are perfect. The extra treble is much appreciated with movies, video games and metal, though. My god, does it make metal lovely. And video games? It exaggerates things just enough to make it feel like you're pretty much right there. I mentioned movies even though I haven't watched any with these yet because the sound from these resemble what you'd experience in a movie theatre, minus a lot of the bass from subwoofers. This is where I begin to complain, as someone who appreciates bass and beef to their sounds. The bass in these headphones is probably the biggest downfall regarding sound. It's definitely not extremely noticeable, but I feel they need an amp to make full use of the quality of sound you have. I'll revisit this later after messing with more types of music for a longer period of time.

 

Disclaimer: I've not experienced high-quality studio headphones before. These are arguably my best pair of headphones to date but the sound quality is easily identified as "beyond just good". In any case, when the rating part of this review comes later, keep all that in mind as I might over/underrate them since I can't accurately compare them to ATH-M50x's or something like that.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for an update in 5-15 days, but I'll try to be active and reply to people, and probably post when I've concluded my review. There will be an overall rating as I mentioned before, 1-10/10 per category. Also, let me know if this looks alright or is too much! I wanna know if I'm doing this right.

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Why is everything called 'EVO' these days...?

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Why is everything called 'EVO' these days...?

Samsung secretly bought large amounts of the shares of companies and is trying to compete with Google regarding controlling markets.

 

 

In all seriousness, I don't know. In this case, it's better than naming them something like "Revision 2.0/R2/V2/etc". The profile of these has definitely evolved from what the original HD 681 headphones are.

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Enderman, on 19 Jun 2014 - 12:39 AM, said:

Why is everything called 'EVO' these days...?

 

Because Evo = Awesome.. :P

lancer_evo9_04.jpg

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