Review: dbE Acoustics HP30 Fullsized headphone

It was started when a post started on our local audiophile forum about a loaner program for locally branded headphone. Without wasting times I signed myself in, and fortunately chosen. Now, after several weeks listening and comparing to my other headphone, I would like to give my though about it.

The Package.
dbE HP30 headphone comes with a big cardboard box. You could see from the photo I took how it compared to my Goldring DR150 box I apologize, it seems the photo is missing... will update with new photos. Photo added. The box itself looked nice. Opening it, I found another box which contain the headphone. The inside box is nice and sturdy, but I don't like how the outer cardboard felt, it's felt flimsy.

Open the inside box, and you will find the headphone nestled on cloth covered hollow. It also include a 6.3mm adapter jack and an extension cable, and some papers of course. Overall packages is quite nice, the cloth covered headphone placement help creating expensive impression. I just wish the outer cardboard is as good as inside box. Or ditch the outer box entirely, and print the label and what-not directly to the inside box surface.

The Build.
The headphone holder is made from machined aluminum with brushed finish. It's an open headphone, and you can see the metal mesh with a metal plate printed with the company name. The headphone back is made from some hard plastic, half painted silver inline with the silver holder and metal mesh, while the other half is black.


On top, the headband is covered with a smooth pleather (or what I guess is). It has some padding on it, which felt nice on my head. Maybe the material used didn't had that expensive feeling, especially the material holding the two side of pleather together (and the one hold the velvet pad), but for the price I think it's good enough.

I really like the velvet pad used on dbE HP30, it soft and very, very nice on my skin. It actually smoother and denser than the velvet pad used on my Goldring DR150. The cup is wide and deep, my quite large ears had no problem going inside at all.

At first I though this headphone would press my head like a gripping machine, but when I bend the headband a little bit to place it on my head, I quite surprised how easily it bend. And it the clamp is very nice, not too strong, and not too weak. It just... right. My DR150 had stronger grip than HP30. This headphone bit heavy, on the same scale as my DR150, I think. Wearing my AudioTechnica SJ33 after HP30 or DR150 is like wearing nothing at all, because it's so light, and the clamping force is even lighter than HP30.

Overall, dbE HP30 looked and felt nice. Maybe some would say it looked similar to another headphone from Germany brand, but I had no idea how similar since I don't have the mentioned headphone on hand for comparison. HP30 did look expensive, though.

The Sound.
This headphone is a loaner from dbE Acoustics, so it already burned in. How does it sounded? I think its a neutral one. Comparing it to my AudioTechnica SJ33 and Goldring DR150, dbE HP30 placed right on the middle, maybe little bit on SJ33 side. So middle ground leaning to bright side I think.

While I said leaning on bright side, the treble isn't that bright. My SJ33 is brighter than HP30. The treble is smooth, well extended, with some roll off on highest frequencies. Nothing too glaring, but not too roll of like my DR150 either. Very polite. The treble is pretty nimble, better than my DR150 I think. But then maybe that because DR150 treble is rolled off earlier than HP30. Listening to HP30 after DR150 is like going to a room with lot of open windows and light after a dark, damp and warm sauna room. The treble is just free, airy, and nimble.

Vocal is brighter than my DR150, bit on lean side. But not bright like my SJ33 does. Really, it just like on middle ground between SJ33 and DR150, with HP30 located bit on SJ33 side. Vocals has this airy sound, much more than my DR150. On some vocals (especially on high female vocals), this contribute to nice, and airy vocals, but on heavier vocals (like baritone males, contralto females), this take away those nice chest sound. The King's Singers baritone part on 'Scarborough Fair' sounded leaner, and brighter than on my DR150, which has dark, meaty sound on it. On the other side, HP30 render light vocals of Celtic Woman sopranos better: airier, and nimbler.

Bass is leaner than both my DR150 and SJ33. HP30 sub-bass is pretty rolled off, while the mid-bass is quite polite. Punchy, but nothing like my DR150. My SJ33 has much more sub-bass than HP30. Bass on HP30 is tad looser too. Comparatively, mid-bass HP30 is tad leaner than SJ33. The detail is quite good, almost as good as SJ33 but nothing compared to DR150 (which understandable, seeing the price bracket). HP30 mid-bass is quite good actually, it can hold it's own compared to SJ33 which marketed as portable DJ headphone.

HP30 has a forward presentation, which combined with the airy sound, make vocals quite nice. Guitars sounded crisp, although not as meaty or thick as DR150 but, crispier. The bite is not on SJ33 level though, since SJ33 has this peaky treble which help give more bite to guitars. Strings also had more bite and air to it, compared to DR150, just as flute had. Listening to same song with flute and strings on it, it's like DR150 took dark and mournful side while HP30 take on keening and airy side. SJ33 take cut-your-skin approach.

For musical genre, I think HP30 very good at acoustic with not too many instrument on it. The separation is pretty good, little bit better than my SJ33 because HP30 has more depth to it sound. The depth isn't that detail however, compared to my DR150, but for the price I think it's pretty good. As I said before, SJ33 place all instrument on same distance. HP30 had more 3D sound than my SJ33, but positioning is quite vague, again compared to my DR150 which priced much higher, but much better than my SJ33 which place almost everything left and right.

Heavy metal, speed metal, trash, and those fast paced metals are no go. HP30 relaxed sound just didn't render those speed correctly. But for slow rock, acoustic rock, or folk-rock I think HP30 manage alright.
Fast club song, vocals club song also no go. The sub-bass just isn't enough. Amr Diab 'Maak Bartaah' from his last album 'Banadeek Taala' sounded so lean, the bass just isn't satisfying. At all. For this kind of musics (club, dance and metals), I think my SJ33 is much better choice. Faster pace, satisfying bass (and sub-bass), forward vocals, and more treble to convey the energy.

Classical piece is alright, if you don't mind how HP30 presented all the instruments forwarder than the usual. If you think DR150 turn classical piece into rock concert, HP30 will turn classical piece into LIVE rock concert. It's too forward for instrumental classical piece I think. For this price range, I still think Superlux HD668B as the best headphone for instrumental classical musics.

HP30 is quite forgiving for badly recorded musics and or low quality musics, just like my SJ33. It's quite musical, listening to HP30 you won't focus on individual sound, but to the music itself. Not like HD668B which dissect music so every flaw apparent.


The Verdict.
dbE Acoustics first full-sized headphone HP30 is a nice headphone. The packaging and build looks very expensive. Open design allowing open and airy sound, forward vocals, punchy bass (although rather lean on sub-bass), and moderate to slow pace make it great headphone for pop, jazz, slow musics, vocals, and acoustics. But if you want headphone for fast paced music, or deep, meaty, satisfying bass, you better look else where.

Recommended, if your music taste is right.


PS: it's priced about IDR400.000,00 if I'm not wrong. I use a FiiO E10 DAC on my review.
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Thank you for dbE Acoustics for supplying the loaner unit. It's very nice experience!!!

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Rant #3: Jaben Jakarta

Last Saturday I'm turned 25 years old, so I though I will go and treat myself a nice new full-sized headphone. Jaben got this birthday special offer, so I'm going to use that. Jaben Jakarta is located at Senayan Trade Center, very easy for me to reach just about 30 minutes by public bus (not counting traffic jam). I got to Jaben Jakarta store at 6.30 PM, give or take.

Jaben Jakarta store is rather small, but very cozy. They welcomed me warmly, and after I told them that I was looking for open full-sized headphone, they offer me to listen to some of their demo headphones. I tried an Alessandro MS1i. I rather excited because this is my first time listening to Alessandro, my one-time experience with Grado SR60i didn't impress me much, I found SR60i too bright for me. So gingerly, I put the MS1i, dial the volume pot on my FiiO E10 to zero, play a song and carefully set the volume up. Boy, how I supprised.

MS1i didn't sounded like what I remember SR60i back then. The treble is crystal clear, the vocal is forward and the bass is punchy. Both male and female vocals are so airy and so free that listening to my Audio-Technica SJ33 I felt boxed. Guitar sounded so crisp, and the vocal is forward, just how I liked it.
The sound-stage (or head-stage if you like) is way bigger than the SR60i on my memory. I don't know the pad they used, but it's different to the one SR60i has. Comfortable enough, the headphone just sit on my head. But I don't like how the pad touched my ears. It got rather itchy after several songs lol.

Next I asked for another open headphone to listen to and they gave me Goldring DR150. So, this is the headphone called poor-man's Sennheiser HD650, I thought. I put it on my head, put some song to play, and Holy Sh*t!!! I never knew Fatoumata Diawara's Kanou has those nice bass! And her vocals...so nice!!! Not as airy as MS1i, but with enough breath to it. Compared to MS1i, DR150 is less airy, but also less sibilant. DR150 bass also way bigger than MS1i bass. DR150 made MS1i sounded thin. Not that MS1i is bad, but generally I prefer darker sound-signature myself. I like my male vocals a touch of dark and heavy, and my female vocal to be as clean as possible. Looking from other side, MS1i vocals is sounded much more effortless, while DR150 is rather heavy.

It's a mantra to audiophile and music lovers crowd that before you buy an equipment, try as much as possible to listen other equipments, so I asked for another headphone. Jaben folk told me that the other headphone on my price range that they have are closed back, but I told them I don't mind, so they gave me Shure 440 to listen. OMG! Such high-class customer service!!! Really love Jaben....

How Shure 440 sounded? As a closed back, it doesn't has nice air or breath than Goldring and Alessandro has, but Shure has this nice clear vocal. Vocal is forwarder than MS1i (really, what pad they put on those MS1i?) and very, very clear. I can hear Adele breath when she sang Someone Like You, Live at The Royal Albert Hall. But the sound-stage isn't as nice as neither MS1i nor DR150. Both MS1i and DR150 got better layering, and better 3 dimensional space. The bass is rather weak, tad weaker than MS1i, but much clearer. I think that because of less mid-bass. And also very clean, making DR150 sounded like it had a veil on it.

So, after trading and comparing one to another, I put my choice on Goldring DR150. I want a headphone with good sound-stage and layering, and smoother sound, both are things that my Audio-Technica SJ33 lack. Not that my Audio-Technica bad, actually it's very good and very fun to listen to. I just want more refined sound, and more comfortable for home listening.

Because it's my birthday, Jaben give me some discount. Actually they as me to choose: price discount or gift (it's an Sony Jienna IEM and Jaben headphone stand), but I choose price discount. Why? because those money could go to Brainwavz HM5 when they came here fufufufufufu......

 For you who want to buy or try a nice set of headphone, go to Jaben. They are very friendly, and very warm, and they let you try almost all headphones and amplifiers that they had. They got some very nice offering (like birthday specials, bundle specials), even starting bundle special (they let you pay 60% first, then the 40% twice on two month schedule), and sometime a lucky draw (where they give out a headphone or IEM to a lucky guest).
They even offering me to try the Shure 1440, the newest Shure open headphone (which very expensive), and I had to swallow my saliva and politely reject the offer. After paying my headphone, I rather hurriedly haul my ass out before they offers me another scary headphone to try on. No, my wallet can't suffer those price.

All my rant above actually just an impression, because I only listen them for some time, and don't treat them as a review. I only write my review if I can get my paw on those headphone long enough, maybe several weeks. Right now I'm burning my new Goldring DR150, and I plan to write a review on them after they got enough time to settle to their sound. Thanks for reading this rant of me, lets meet again on the next post!

Rant #2

So, I'm still reading Indonesian version of Eye of The World (1st book from The Wheel of Time series). My progress isn't as fast as when I'm reading the English version. I find my mind rather difficult to adjusting to the way Indonesia language building scenes and atmospheres. And the translation too, rather hard to swallow. Some places name are translated into Indonesian, while some are not, thus creating strange feeling. And there are some translation which, I feel, rather odd and could be better. But then I'm a purist, so maybe for peoples who read this novel for the first time will find the translation good.
I haven't read all the book, so I can't give my review, but so far so good. Just need to open Indonesian dictionary, as lot of words used are seldom used on every-day life. I'm ashamed lol.

I really dislike the paper they used here. Not only it's brown-greyish in color, but also very thin, I literally could see the letters printed on the backside. But seeing the size of the novels, I could somewhat understand it, they must be trying to reduce the cost by using cheaper paper. For comparison, Indonesian version of Harry Potter novels has thicker papers. And the models for the cover.... dear God, I don't think they can find models more different to book descriptions than the models used here. Indonesian version of Earthsea Trilogy has much, much cooler covers...

With the reading pace I'm now, I don't think I can finish the book by the end of the month. I got some assignment from my boss, and by the end of march I got reassigned to our branch of office on Balikpapan, Kalimantan (or Borneo Island, like most European and American knows it). There I got positioned either as Project Engineer or as Business Process and Development officer. Personally, Project Engineer is more inline with my education, but I'm open to challenge :).

Oh, almost forgot, today is my Birthday!!! Yay!!! Happy Birthday to me!!! Happy 25 years old!!! For my self buy present, I planned to go to Jaben Indonesia (branch Jakarta). I want to buy an open, full-sized headphone for home listening. Something which has different sound-signature to my Audio-Technica SJ33 would be the best. Actually I'm waiting for Brainwavz HM5 to come to a local store, but I don't think I'm gonna waiting anymore, it's too long! Maybe it could be my 2nd purchase?!? lol

For you reader of this boring blog of mine, don't worry, I still have about 2 reviews on my pocket, so you don't have to wait me finish reading Eye of The World. Have a nice day!

Rant

Ugh, sorry for making you read this. I just can't make myself to write anything right now. So I'll just rant what I got on my mind.

I got several books to review, several more to read, several to finish (uh, A Game of Throne is just too heavy on politic that it pissing me off). And I just got better after several nasty and sudden attack of fever. I mean, I was sleeping peacefully when I suddenly woke up shivering, I was so cold inside, while outside I was burning. Seriously, my whole body just locked up in this nasty shivering, I can't even get up to switch the light on. Thanks God its better after several hours of sleeping with blanket. The fever went down, but going up again the next day so I skipped work. Ugh, and I got some kind of training scheduled the next day.

The week been hectic, with my fever, two days training, then, I got sick AGAIN. This time I got influenza. So last Friday I skipped work again. Feels better after drinking some drugs. So here I now, not in the mood for writing, reading, even listening to music (which I LOVE, life without music is not life. Yes, I'm music addict).

Got some movies from a friend, just finished Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I. If what I do count as watching as I repeatedly press fast-forward button. I mean, that movie is just..... horrible, as in why-they-even-think-to-made-it? and what-the-hell-the-director-do? (or maybe more correctly put as, who-the-hell-the-director-is?) and is-that-suppossed-to-be-acting? and I-just-want-to-burn-it kind of horrible.

Okay, some scenes is nice, like the wedding (although it wasn't like the novel description. Or what my mind conjure from the novel description, anyway), and when Bella open her red newborn vampire eyes. Now, that's what you call dramatic. But the others? Hell, thanks God I didn't watch the previous movies. Why, because it was such a MESS (okay, the baby is cute). Nothing like the novel said. And yes, I'm purist (as in, novel-to-movie-purist and music-purist).
I think Harry Potter movies was bad (the first is ok, second u-hum, third is ok, fourth meh, fifth bleargh, sixth what-the-hell-is-it, seventh is....dull (part 1) and disappointing (part 2)), but Twilight movies give me new standard for BAD.
It's not films based on Twilight novels, but films loosely inspired by Twilight novels.

My body is tired, my eyes is heavy, but my mind is running 200km/h on the wrong line (t.A.T.u anyone?). Tomorrow is another working day, and I think I successfully annoy you enough by now, so I'll just shut up. Thanks for reading this rant. Bye!!!

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ps: I got two review waiting on my mind: a cheap-but-good earphone, and a debut novel by an American soldier. Yupe, an American soldier write novel. Fantasy novel. Can you imagine that? Army - fantasy novel?!? Okay, I'll shut up for now.