Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsAt first detested - and then I found out what the issue is.
Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2021
I am not a teenage girl listening to thumping bass drums and bass guitar. I am also not a sound engineer who sits all day with a pair of headphones on his head trying to get sibilant cymbals to sound "just" right. I am not hearing impaired. I am just a regular mature human being who loves music and does some online jamming. To date I have used, of all things, an old Plantronics Gamecom headset ( I have never played a game with it). It worked just fine for me, though its bass was quite low and its high end not very loud, but the big cans were comfortable. Problem is, its polymeric headband snapped recently and it has now become a completely new brand of headset: Duck-tape Model 1. It looks like hell but it works. Nevertheless, the time had come to buy a new set of headphones, because I had discovered Jamulus online jamming. Folks were much taken with the sound I was getting out of my Daion acoustic guitar and Shure SM58 mic while wearing the Duck-Tape Model 1 headphones as monitors. I was VERY keen NOT to lose that sound. All now depended on the headphones.
Initial evaluation:
When I initially received the One Odio phones, I eagerly put them on. My disgust was profound. I had bass booming through my head. I tried to sing with these on, but it felt like I was singing with my fingers stuck in my ears while suffering a seriously bad head cold. I wrote a scathing review that I never sent. I was so horrified by the sound, that I ripped off the headphones and threw them in a corner in anger and disgust.
When I related my experience and frustration to other folks, the most consistent recommendation was that I should buy a set of Sony MDR 7506 headphones as being the supposed industry standard. One single person told me it would be a mistake.
When the three times as expensive Sony set arrived, I eagerly put it on. The horror, anger, disgust, and disappointment was sickening. Given the heap of money I had spent by now, I persevered and tried against all odds to make my guitar sound as good as it had before. The only way I could get even close, was to dial the High end ( 12kHz) of my Mackie 1202-VLZPRO mixer down by 6dB and the so-called MID-Range (2.5kHz) by a whopping 15dB from where it had previously been. This was insane(!!) Even so, I simply could not get back my "sound to die for" ( as some had called it). The Sony set was EXCRUCIATINGLY treble. It was truly painful. This likely means that the people who like it have a hearing loss in the 2.5kHz range, which happens a lot. The Sony also exhibited the overwhelming teenage girlie boom box bass that had caused me throw the OneOdio in the corner. So, the Sony was actually worse.
In total frustration, I went off to the local music chain store, tried a whole horde of headphones and came home with a returnable AKG set. These were distinctly closer to the Duck-tape Model 1 set, had less bass than either the Sony or the OneOdio. Having readjusted my mixer for the AKG set, I thought it wise to put back on the Duck-tape Model 1 (Plantronics) headset. What a surprise! With the settings for the AKG, the old headset sounded great!
By now my frustration, apprehension, confusion, and general unhappiness should be clear. So, I thought I'd do one simple thing. I would try to look up the old Plantronics headset on Amazon, and I FOUND IT. It is no longer available, but the interesting point was the first line in the description: "Open-ear design keeps you connected to the game and your surroundings". Hang on! How come no one had ever told me about "open back" or "open ear"? The lack of this causes the debilitating "head cold" effect when one has to sing wearing headphones. Only now, after more than a decade, do I realise that the fancy perforations on the Duck-tape set are not just for show; they are real openings with a red sponge behind them. That is why I can sing while wearing them. I never knew!
Armed with this realisation, I collected the OneOdio set again from the Corner of Death in the room. I plugged them in and adjusted the headband to try and lift the cans a little from my head. It worked to some degree. The sound was G-R-E-A-T!..... much better than the old Duck-tape Model 1 Plantronics set. The "Sound to die for" tone of my guitar was back... and better.
Now I just have to figure out how to keep the OneOdio headphones from clamping completely shut around my ears. There needs to be a space.... and their website shows no open-back headphones.... or they are well-disguised.
For now I'll be using the OneOdios as the best solution until I can find suitable open back headphones with useful bass.