Superlux HD669 Review
Closed headphone for the masses
Since the HD668B launched the superlux gained a lot of popularity among audiophiles and gadget freak alike thanks to it’s superior clarity at very affordable price range. However HD668B do have some serious issue that causes dissatisfactory among with the owner themselves, one of them is that HD668B leaks too much sound, meaning that people can accidentally listen to the music that being played at that time. This is pretty logical however because the design for HD668B is a semi-open type. This allows the headphone to produce wider soundstage which give the most benefit to certain music genre like orchestra and ambient music. One of the great example that uses this kind of design is the infamous AKG K701. It was said that comparing with the likes of sennheiser HD650 and the beyerdynamics DT880, K701 produces the widest soundstage due to it’s semi-open design. With this you can see that this headphone only benefits the owners for indoor usage and nothing more. However the biggest issue I had with the HD668B is that the bass impact that it produces isn’t enough to enjoy certain genre of music such as trance, dubstep and so forth. Fortunately, Superlux did release a model that satisfy this particular crowd, meet the superlux HD669.
Like any other superlux products, the HD669 comes with the medium sized box which contains the headphone and some other components as well.At the first glance you know it’s a closed design headphone, meaning in theory it prevents sound leakage from both inside and outside HD669. This eliminates the very problem that the HD668B owner suffers regarding the sound leakage issue. The earpads that HD669 has are surprisingly bigger then the HD668B. Not only that it also feels softer as well. This resulting on me feel that wearing the HD669 is actually more comfortable than the HD668B itself. However even the comfortable earpads can’t stop me from feeling the clamping force that the HD669 applied to me is as strong as the HD668B during the first time wearing it. Through I do believe that with frequent usage of the headphone, the clamping issue may wear off soon. The entire headband design is pretty much the same with the HD668B through, hence the comfortability comparison can’t be comprehend much at this area. Like HD668B, the cable for HD669 is detachable as well. This allows the cable to be replaced instead of doing the desoldering and all that if there’s any damage happen to the current cable that being used for that particular headphone. Talking about the cable, the headphone comes with the 1m and 3m long cable. Pretty useful if you intended to use short cables if you're using it through portable devices during your outdoor activity.
The build quality is just outstanding for the price given.One thing for sure through both HD669 and HD668B has similar driver overall. The driver’s impedance is 56 ohm, meaning that in theory it shouldn’t depend much from a dedicated headphone amplifier to perform at it’s best. However based from my experience with the HD668B, the headphone itself actually performs way better with an amp applied to it. It gives better soundstage, bass impact and clarity compared to the ones without amped at the first place. I fear that this may be the same on HD669 as well but how much difference could it go from ampless condition to the one with an amp?
I started off with plugging it straight to my ipod classic and nothing more. This means that the headphone is now runs in ampless condition ( Well in technical the headphone is actually powered by the ipod’s internal amp. In this case the amp isn’t powerful enough to bring the headphone into it’s true potential ). The sound signature it gives is just mediocre to my taste, the bass impact is surprisingly lesser than what I expected. This huge turnout for me since I have experienced quite a lot with beyerdynamic DT770 and Audio Technica ATH-m50. Both headphones have the same closed design with the HD669 and they have way more bass compared to any other headphones that I tried so far. From there I always assume that the any closed design headphone will give more bass impact which is suitable for bassheads out there. To make it worse, an unamped HD668B actually produces more bass than the HD669 at this stage, and even then I do find out that the HD668B somehow lacking on bass based from what I mentioned earlier. The mids are pretty decent compared to HD668B. I can still enjoy songs such as “When You Believe” by Whitney Houston since her voice is still lovable to listen to. The soundstage is somewhat small through. When “Made” by Dub Fx being played, I feel that the soundstage needs to be wider for me to enjoy the song more. Clarity wise, it certainly lower than what HD668B can offer right now. The sound separation is pretty hard to detect unless you focus the music really well.The sibilance is pretty noticable as well. This causes some songs especially the ones that suffers heavily from loudness war uncomfortable to listen to. Although what I said here is pretty drastic, but actually all those issues can be fixed by simply altering around with the configuration within the software equalizer. Many owners seems to went through this method and it’s actually works. This resulting of the bass becomes punchy once more while maintaining the rest of the sound signature that the HD669 produces.
After several hours of listening it through the portable device, it’s time for the HD669 to perform with the audio desktop setup. To my surprise, the difference that it took is like day and night! The bass impact has improved quite a lot, not to mention that the clarity level raised significantly as well. The mids however is still slightly recessed and I believe this could be solved by using a tube amp or any solid state amp that has a warm sound signature into it. The solid state amp that I use currently only solves the bass and the clarity issue so far. In “Rock You Like A Hurricane” by Scorpions, the sound layering between the vocalist and instrument are much more easier to notice. The bass that being created by the drum has more impact as well. The soundstage has become a little bit wider as well, this has shown quite a lot in “Heart Of Courage” by Two Steps From Hell where I easily immersed into it. The sibilance has been tamed to a degree that you finally can enjoy songs that you possibly can’t in ampless condition. I highly suggest for all the readers out there to get a dedicated headphone amplifier if you’re going to own this headphone or you’re already own it at the first place. Although the equalizer tweak do the job well but it’s nothing when comparing with the amped HD669 seriously.
It baffles me that such a low impedance headphone could improve so much when using it with a dedicated headphone amplifier.In gaming, HD669 in amped condition gives the best casual gaming experience especially when you’re playing first person shooter games such as battlefield 3 and tribes ascend. The bass impact is strong enough for you to feel the explosion sound effect and so on. For competitive usage however this headphone doesn’t serve well enough comparing to the likes of gaming headphones such as Steelseries Siberia,etc. This is because the soundstage isn’t wide enough to hear the true position of the opponent around you. Not only that the clarity isn’t at the point where the footstep can be heard clearly while the background noise is there.
When comes to movies, as usual the HD669 in amped condition will give the best experience unlike any other. However I do know that certain video player have an equalizer where the user could play around with it for better effect especially if the user itself doesn’t have a proper amplification to power up the HD669.
Superlux HD669 is indeed a great headphone for casual usage unlike it’s brother, HD668B where it focusing a lot on clarity alone then the rest. It’s build quality is solid and the sound quality it produces is still way better then any other at it’s price range. It performs best when you couple it up with a proper headphone amplifier hence it’s highly advisable to own an amplifier if you’re targeting tp buy headphone or you already have the HD669 at the first place!
A big thanks to my friend, Mohd Iqbal for lending this for a while to do a review for this product!Amps and DACs that being used for this review : Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1, objective 2 headphone amplifier, ipod classic 6 genThis post has been edited by Hitman66: Apr 19 2012, 08:24 PM 
Apr 17 2012, 11:17 PM
Cost only about RM48 per set (2 pairs discs/foams), minus shipping. Waiting for your impression 
Quote
What amp did you use? I'm thinking on buying E6.
0.0171sec
0.32
6 queries
GZIP Disabled