JVCHA-RX700 Deep Bass Headphones

I should mention right at the very beginning that im not a professional reviewer nor audiophile. Nevertheless i do enjoy quality sound and i do have experience with expensive audio gear.I start looking for new headphones several weeks ago after my trusty Sennheiser HD555 broke down on me which made me very sad because it was fantastic companion for last couple of years.After i have read all those hyped reviews on head-fi.org i thought that this simply cannot be true and these £30 headphones cannot be that good. And i kept looking for another alternative.One day my friend who is working in one well known British radio as a sound engineer said to me that they are really goood for the price. And i listened as i trusted his professional opinion.Man im glad i did. I cannot compare them directly with HD555 as they are closed (well almost) and 555's are open but hey this is seriously good piece of kit. In all honesty, i would buy them again even if they cost like £100 . One thing to realize. These are not going to beat headphones in 250----1000 pounds range. Thats just simply not going to happen. Apart from that they will beat or at least match anything else. Im listening to these through my faithful Audigy2 (full) and the performance is simply stunning. I wont go into numbers you can get that anywhere.So in short, if you are serious about music,games,etc and dont want to spend fortune on quality headphose GET THEM! . If you are coming from low end headphones your ears will need to adjust about a day or two to these but afterwoods you will be amazed by clarity and fullness of your new friend. One thing to remember, these are HUUUUUGEE . seriously they are very very big but i love that. For home listening i definitely prefer bigger headphones. If you are planning to use some pocket mp3 with weak output (yes Ypod i mean you and similar rubbish) then they will still sound great but they just wont wake up fully.At the end of this boooring mini amateurish review i want to say one last thing. BUY THEM AND DONT LISTEN TO YOU FRIENDS ABOUT HOW JVC SUCKS, it may be true for rest of their lineup but its just simply not the case with these headphones. Remember i was accommodated to HD555 and still satisfied after purchase.Go for themps: i do not work for JVC or any other audio company. Enjoy your new great (and simply crazy cheap) HI-FI headphones.Audio quality 9/10Build quality 9/10Comfort 9/10Design 8.5/10Value 15/10Mario

Comfortable despite their size. Bass is strong and not too boxy, treble is sharp and precise, however they sound better if a graphic equaliser is used to soften the mid-range as it can be a little prominent in the sound field but tuned right they give a very good dynamic range. Price wise, they are worth the money as they can sound as good as more costlier headphones.

Build Quality/Style:Very large headphone but suprisingly light and comfortableEasy to adjust headband and it holds at whatever setting you leave it at, could maybe do with a few more notches for more precise adjustment.Very good build quality, lots of metal reinforcement, tough thick plastic wherever there can be, certainly no obvious weak points and i would be very suprised if they broke without at least a year of use but i have only owned them for a few weeks.Thick durable cable, 3.5m long so useful for awkward setups where the wire has to run past multiple machines and round corners, or just to give you a more mobility around the room while listening, bit more of a problem for portable users but simply using the cable tie that they are shipped with makes it easier to fit everything in your pockets and stops your tripping over your own cable.Some people complain about them being very warm after extended use however for me the lightweight (for it's size) and comfortable build is fine and i can wear them for days at a time even on very warm days (this is warm for britain however so i can't vouch for anyone in warmer climates)Not in any way designed for portability but they are closed design with pretty solid insulation so you won't leak sound to everyone else on the bus, nor will other peoples conversations drown out your music, far too large to fit in pockets but you can just put them in a bag or just keep them on your head if that's an option although with the aforementioned isolation you will have some difficulty in conversation even when they are silent.A lot of people complain about the styling of these, mostly due to the immense size, however if you aren't too fashion conscious or take the view that you'd rather have people that know about headphones know that you care about function over a form and good sound on a budget (essentially the antithesis of a Beats wearer) then it is possible to wear these out and about and beyond the size it is quite a pleasant design, certainly not ugly. Just very big. You will look like a cyberman.Sound:As a preface to this section i am no expert on sound, this is all subjective and contrary to some others opinions however it is an honest account of my experience with them.Sound is nice on the low end for the price and quite detailed, i definitely found it easier to pick out specific elements of a song with these than with my old Denon AH P372's, and with a much better soundstage. They do have quite a problem with treble and the higher end (sounding quite "hissy" when pushed) but it is easily fixed with slight equalisation.These are definitely headphones that benefit quite a great deal from burn in and they can sound quite harsh out of the box, again especially on the high end, i suggest giving them a couple of hours burn in before making any kind of decision, after 20 hours of burn in they sound very nice and they just get better from there.If you are testing these headphones or just trying to enjoy your new purchase then i suggest listening to Dark Allies by Light Asylum for something that sounds good out of the box and emphasises what these cans can do well. If you want a very clear example of the problem with the treble then i suggest listening to Bangarang by Skrillex, which can be quite painful to listen especially without burn in, although even there the deeper bass sounds are still nice.If you are a dubstep listener then there is no serious need to worry, Cinema by Skrillex is an example of some that sounds good, as does about half of the dubstep out there however it certainly is a genre that benefits from burn in with these headphones.Very good for metal and hip hop, anything with a strong low end, industrial sounds very good. Really a nice all around headphone for the price.

These are very affordable headphones so I'm not going to complain too much. My main concern is not sound quality but the fact that the earpads are covered with this super cheap, paper thin faux leather that starts to peel off very soon, and as a result everything around you is littered with disgusting black plastic flakes. There should be a law against using this material — luckily it's going out of business these days. This is why I'm giving it 2 stars, otherwise I'd rate it 4 stars.So the thing disintegrated in about a year and then it went for a very long sleep until I recently found some quality replacement earpads, so now my HA-RX700 is back in business.As for the bass, it's mediocre at best. In comparison to my Beyerdynamic 770 Pro it's not even in the same ballpark. Otherwise I have no problem with the sound quality, although I'm very far from being an audiophile.Another thing is the build quality. It's made of plastic and it squeaks a lot no matter how you touch it. It's the sound of cheap.At least the earcups are large enough and with the new cushions it's comfortable enough to have them on for hours.