Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Portable Cans: Nokia Advanced Music Headphones HS-62.

You may ask why am I reviewing a pair of headphones made by a mobile phone manufacturer? Nokia has dubbed these headphones the Advanced Music Headphones model HS-62. It is part of their range of enhancements that are produced for their mobile phones to be used by people who listen to MP3/4 on their phones. So can we seriously expect audio quality headphones from a communications company? This is what I tried to find out and was pleasantly surprised!

The cans are meant for portable use and can fold up very nicely similar to the portable Sony's and Audio Technica's. The HS-62 are silver in color with a plastic case and extremely thick and comfortable ear pads. What was immediately evident was the comfort. The 3.5mm stereo connector is of robust build and gold plated.


Specifications and Key Features:

  • Hi-Fi Stereo quality for music listening;
  • Stylish foldable headband design for ease of storage;
  • Industry standard 3.5mm stereo jac which is gold plated;
  • Cable Legth is 2m;
  • Frequency response is 20-20000Hz;
  • Sensitivity >100dB;
  • Impedance is 32 Ohms;
  • Maximum power input is 100 mW;
  • Transducers - no information given;
  • Closed back Dynamic.
They are currently selling in UK between GBP21 - 25 depending on where you buy them from?


Reviewing gears:

Source: 4GB MP3/4 Player; 8GB 2.8"LCD TOUCH SCREEN MP3/4 VIDEO PLAYER; EPC-303 MP5 8GB 3.0 Inch TFT LCD Screen Player - Red / Black; Oregon Scientific Music Orbit & Station; Denon CDR-W1500 HDCD Recorder/Player.

Head Amps. & DAC: Little Dot MKI Portable Headphone Amp Amplifier; Cmoy headphone amplifier with Bass Boost Setting in a custom made exotic padauk and zebra wood case (opa2227 opamp); Xiang Sheng 708B Tube Headphone Pre Amplifier; Go Vibe mini USB Audio DAC (Burr-Brown PCM2702).


Reviewing CD and Tracks: Custom made by ripping songs to FLAC than normalized/burnt via Nero9.

CD Tracks: Esteban - Norwegian Wood; Everything But The Girl - I didn't know I was looking for love; The Corrs - Runaway; Acoustic Alchemy - Mr. Chow; The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony; Willie & Lobo - Amsterdam; Tim Weisberg - Party of One; Sleep Station - There She goes; Seattle Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Scherzo); Sim Riney - What was I to you; Rebecca Pidgeon - Spanish Harlem; Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon; Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells.

Rating: From one star (★, lowest rating) to five stars (★★★★★, highest rating), including half a star (☆). Criteria include [Packaging / Build Quality / Accessories / Isolation / Microphonics / Comfort / Soundstage / Sound Quality / Value]

★★★★★-The best
★★★★---Really good
★★★-----Average
★★-------Just OK
★---------Not worth it


Earphones: Nokia HS-62. Closed back dynamic design
Transducer: No information specified, would guess they are 30mm neodymium magnets.
Spec: 32 Ω | 20Hz~ 20kHz | 100 dB/mW Cord Style: 2m, length, Ø3.5mm mini stereo, gold-plated.
Mini Jack Style: Gold plated, sturdy build.
Case: Plastic silver,
Packaging: ★★★ (Typical Nokia bland packaging)
Build Quality: ★★★★ (good medium build)
Accessories: ★★ (No accessories, no adapter, not even a storage pouch - they could do better)
Isolation: ★★★★
Microphonics: ★★★★
Comfort: ★★★★ (Really excellent thick comfortable ear pads)
Soundstage: ★★★★ (impressed with sound stage presentation)
Sound Quality: ★★★★★ ( Very impressed extremely musical, good bass, mids - treble is good, overall well balanced)
Value: ★★★★★ ( In my view this is money well spent and good quality for money)
Remarks: A pleasing and well balanced sound, bass is clean and tight. Well done Nokia, you could however include a carrying pouch!

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