Either of these would be welcomed by anyone who loves their music. First from Sol Republic a rather nice set that you build. Second from TDK a set that would not disgrace a recording studio, I would be happy with either.
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Tracks HD
I opened the box to be greeted by the two earpieces and nothing to connect them. I have had headphones with separate cables before but a set without any apparent headband. It’s in the box as a single length with adequate padding for the centre 11cm. As this band pushes through the outside of each earpiece it will fit any head however large or small.
There are two 2.5mm plugs to fit in the earpieces, 25cm of lead before the volume adjust/phone call answer button and then another 90cm before the 3.5mm plug to work with your hi-fi, iPod or MP3 player without problem.
The soft leather covering the earpieces is comfortable even after a prolonged period of use. These are circular at 6cm so unless you have very small ears they fit comfortably on the ear rather than surrounding the ear.
The headband is almost infinitely flexible and while ‘vigorous exercise’ for me is a fast walk to the train station or bus stop I see no reason why they should move even for those who jog or dare I say run around a lot.
There is a small manual with twelve pages in English which includes a guide to how long your ears should be exposed to various sounds according to decibel levels. I found the 115 decibels that describes a ‘loud concert’ with a 15 minute limit rather alarming.
There is a fabric bag provided to carry your headphones, sound quality was excellent as was the comfort on the ears.
The Sol Republic Tracks HD are available from the link below for $129, currently I cannot find a UK price.
http://www.solrepublic.com/
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TDK Signature Sound
These are noise reducing headphones, however even without inserting the supplied batteries you get a rather good sound.
Each arm has 3cm of adjustment so the Headphones should fit most. The ear pieces are oval at 10x7cm and are well padded as is headband with the padding stretching from one side to the other of the headband and the top is also covered.
The eight language instruction sheet covers fitting the batteries and operation showing what the LED beside the on/off slider on the right ear piece is for. I have always found it strange to put LED’s where you cannot see them.
There is a 40mm driver and the 3.5mm jack is hard wired to the headphones by a 1.3metre lead, the first 30cm are dual wires becoming one wire for the last metre of the length.
I remain undecided by noise reduction as in a noisy environment you can here what is being played/said without annoying others nearby but they can be dangerous if you use noise reduction when walking along the street.
The frequency response is between 20Hz and 20kHz and the driver is dynamic. The impedance is 30 ohms without the amplifier and 1500 ohms with it. A drawstring fabric bag is supplied to carry the headphone around.
The TDK Signature Sound Headphones are available from the link below for £149.99 with free delivery.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008X5MO6W?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634
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