I bought these... TWICE
Written: Apr 15 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: - very sturdy design
- a long cord!!
- great sound for the price
Cons: - volume control doesn't lower volume very smoothly
The Bottom Line: Get the headphones, they're cheaply priced, well built and sound good. You won't regret it
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| jinx4848's Full Review: Panasonic RP-HT455 Consumer Headphones |
I had originally bought this pair of headphones nearly three years ago because they were priced at a mere $35CAD at Walmart, and the specs killed everything else, plus I was looking for something with a big driver unit for bass and nice cups for sound isolation.
They worked perfectly.. but then one day about a year and a half down the road, they finally met their end-- someone sat on them and cracked the headband in half. I should mention that, they still worked after, and I was still using them (with the same sound quality) for a while after when looking for a new set. I was really satisfied with this pair, so much so, that I replaced them with the exact same model off Amazon. It's now been another one and a half years and they're still running great.
If you haven't noticed from the above anecdote, I'm not the type of guy to cherish my electronic equipment.. I'm the type of guy who throws away the case my ipod came in and puts it directly in my pocket with my keys and other metal objects. So when I say that these headphones lasted a year and a half, it says a lot about the quality of these things. They really are very sturdy and well built, which you really don't find very often. I would go as far as to use the cliché, "they don't make 'em like they used to". Just to give you an idea of what I mean, the following is a list of things I've done to the headphones: rolled my chair over the cord many, many times, tripped over the cord many, many times, thrown the headphones a few feet in the air, played extremely loud music for long periods of time, etc.. you can really beat these things up... just don't sit on them.
As for the sound, ..well first, a little background: I'm no audiophile-- which means there's an 80% chance that I'm just like you; after all, few audiophiles would have a $40 budget for "hifi" headphones. Anyway, the sound is great for me. I seldom notice distortion, and that's probably due to my mixer setup than the sound. When I plug the headphones into my iPod they sound really nice, and really loud too. I really don't know what the "jazz" guy was talking about with the no bass thing, if you equalize properly you can really overpower the bass. In fact, when I first got these headphones 4 years ago, one of the first things I remember saying to myself was, "wow these things have crazy bass".
So the rumors are true.. the cord really is RIDICULOUSLY long. But I don't know why everyone badmouths the length of the cord, it's one of my favourite things about the headphones. You will NEVER, EVER find a cord this long shipped directly with a product, which makes this a very unique experience. I find it extremely generous of Panasonic to give me 16feet of cord, but more importantly, extremely useful to have it. I used to use these in my studio where I would jump around from the drum set to the guitars to the bass to lay down tracks. Being able to move around the entire studio with the monitor headphones plugged into the main mixer the whole time is extremely convenient. If this is you, then you will love the cord length. Nowadays, I have the headphones plugged into my stereo in my room while I'm on the computer, but I still find it wonderful that I can get up, go lie down on my bed, or even leave the room (and nearly make it to the bathroom!) without having to take them off. If your bathroom is less than 16 feet from your stereo, you will love the cord length. Some people might say the longness will get in the way, but really, in the case where you're on the move, you can just twist tie the cord up and problem solved-- it's better to have too much cord when you don't need it than not enough when you do.
There's only one minor issue with the headphones-- when you turn down the volume on the volume control, it will sometimes completely lose signal in one of the ears, rather than smoothly lowering the volume in both, but I really don't use the volume control at all, so it's not a big deal.
The point is, these are a pair of headphones that I can see lasting me a long time, because they're not at all cheaply built, and have great sound quality and are extremely versatile. You really can't go wrong for $40 bucks.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jinx4848
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Reviews written: 1
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